The national conference of the Jewish National Fund, having presented President Roosevelt through Senator Alben W. Barkley with a replica of the Golden Book, devoted the last of its three-day sessions today to plans for raising funds towards the J.N.F.’s $6,000,000 wartime program during the coming year.
In a series of resolutions the several hundred delegates, meeting at the Hotel Statler, stressed the need for intensified land purchase in Palestine and other forms of aid to the Jewish homeland in view of the war.
President Roosevelt, in a message to the conference read by Senator Barkley, during a broadcast ceremony of presenting the Golden Book replica, sounded a call to “all free peoples” of the world to rededicate themselves to the ideals and principles of democracy, and in so doing to uphold the inherent right of all peoples, regardless of race, creed or color, to live in peace, to follow the religious teachings of their fathers and to assure the welfare of individuals.
The Golden Book, representing the tribute of 1,000 American organizations and groups with an aggregate membership of 500,000, was presented by Dr. Israel Goldstein, president of the J.N.F., as “a token of gratitude from a people which knows how to cherish the champions of the weak and the spokesmen of the free.”
Replying, Senator Barkley said: “I am sure the President will cherish this gorgeous book to the remainder of his days and his children and grandchildren will bless you for this recognition of his great service. The original will repose in the City of David, the City of God. What a wealth of historic memories this day must rekindle among a race which, from Moses to Brandeis and Frankfurter and Einstein, has enriched every field of human endeavor.”
At the conclusion of the ceremony a motion, offered from the floor, was adopted to plant a 1,000-tree grove in Palestine in Senator Barkley’s honor, for which several communities immediately subscribed funds.
Dr. Chaim Weizmann, in a message from London, stated: “We are doing all we can to secure a political basis for the upbuilding of Palestine under new conditions after this war, but whatever the frame, land and work on the land will represent the strongest guarantee of our achievements.”
At the opening session Saturday night the 1,000 delegates and guests heard Dr. Goldstein call for reintensified efforts for Palestine land purchase as a factor in the Holy Land’s defense.
Financial reports submitted by I.M. Kowalsky and Jacob Sincoff, co-treasurers, and Mendel M. Fisher, executive director, showed that the American J.N.F. had remitted to Palestine during the year $1,800,000 for new land purchase, representing 65 percent of the fund’s world income. Next to the Red Cross, the J.N.F., in its popular collections, has the largest number of volunteer workers and contributors, counting more than 250,000 men, women and children, the report showed.
Other speakers included Leon Gellman of Mizrachi, David Wertheim of the Poale Zion, Harry Grayer of the Order Sons of Zion, Sara Feder of the Pioneer Women’s Organization and spokesmen for local organizations.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
