Ohio Jewish Chronicle, 1918-12-27

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THE COLUMBUS JEWISH CHRONICLE
I   I Hfstoricni^Cbmmlaslo     V ' , •
I   .       °^OWo ITEEKLY DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF JEWISH PEOPLE OF COLUMBUS AND VICINITY
VOL. 1
COLUMBUS, OHIO, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1918.
No. 34
SCHIFF GOES TO EUROPE TO DIRECT WAR FUND
Schiff, Jewish Welfare Board, and George Gordon Battle, for the Salvation Army.
New York. — Mortimer L. Schiff, chairman of the finance committee of the Jewish Wel¬ fare Board, and George W. Per¬ kins, of the Y. M. C, A., were among the passengers sailing on Thursday of last week on the Mauretania. They have gone to Europe at the request of the committee of eleven of the seven accredited war . work organiza¬ tions and will probably remain abroad about two moihths. .
In co-operation with Raymond B. Fosdick j chairman of the Commission on Training Camp Activities, and with representa¬ tives, Mr. Perkins and Mr. Schiff will co-ordinate the work of the various organizations,' supervise the expenditure of the funds col¬ lected in the recent drive, elimi¬ nate duplication as far as pos¬ sible and devise the' best means of spending the large fund.
JEWS IN LITHUANIAN GOV¬ ERNMENT
BEGINNING OF SELF GOVERNMENT IN
PALESTINE
Jewish ^participation in the Lithuanian Government is now an accomplished fact according to a cablegraih received by the Zionist Ogranization of Amer¬ ica, announcing that the govern¬ ment accepted all of the condi¬ tions formulated by the Lith¬ uanian Jewish parties and the Zionist conference. The fol¬ lowing Jews ' have entered the government:
' Advocate Rosenbaum as Under Secretary of Tirade and Industry; and Rachmilliewicz as Under ^tate Secretary of Trade, and 'industry; and Dr. Wyonski as State Minister for the Department of Jewish Af¬ fairs. '   A banquet tendered in honor
of the new bishop of Lithuania The signing of the armistice is described as benig an impres-
and the coming of peace have partially changed the purpose for which the money is to be , spent and the changes in this direction will be the subject of -k.. close   study   by the delegates.
Special problems have arisen in trial readjustment after the connection with the army of oc¬ cupation and a study will be made of these conditions and suggestions carried into effect after approval by the committee of eleven.
Questions affecting the indus¬ trial   readjustment   after   the troops are demobilized .will be studied 'from the viewpoint of 1,.- .. the armies in Europe, and solu-
" ¦yphs will be offered after con- sideratioi'i cti;h.e .entire problem! Not the least of trie q^uestions that Mr. Perkins and Mr. Schift will give careful attention to will be the relation of the army to the civilian population.
The committee of eleven, sup¬ ervising the expenditure of the $204,000,000 found includes the following: Chairman, Raymon'd B. Fosdick; vice chairman. Dr. John R. Mott; treasurer, Cleve¬ land Dodge; George W. Perkins, Y. M. C, A.; James J. Phelan of Boston and John G. Agar, Na¬ tional Catholic War Council (K. of C.) ; Mrs. Henry P. Davison, Y. W. C. A.; Myron T. Herrick, War Camp Community Service; Frank Vanderlip, American Li¬ brary Association; Mortimer L.
sive demonstration for equal rights for all nationalities in Lithuania.
COLLECT $107.30
For the purpose of securing funds for the rehabilitation of Palestine, the Jewish historic hbmeland, the Margolis Zion Society of Columbus last Sun¬ day conducted a Jewish Flag Day collection. Fifty volunteer couples supplied with Jewish flags of white and blue bearing, the shield of David made a house to house canvass in the Jewish district offering these flags for sale. The sale which this year was under the supervision of Harry Benson, President of the Mafgoljs Zion, Society.^ netted $107.30.
In the light of their bright hopes, almost certain as to the future, the Jewish settlements in Palestine are beginning to ac¬ quire a more systematized and ordered mode of administrating their communal affairs and are evolving certain agencies that may be regarded as the germs of future self government.
Dr. Weizman, head of the Zion Administrative Commis 'sion, in his report on the work of the Commission, and touch¬ ing upon the activities of the Jewish colonists in Palestine says the following on the s* 0- ject.
"In two directions, the first step towards self-government had been taken by the colon¬ ists." "In the month of June came the time when taxes had to be gathered in from the popu¬ lation. The usual system of levying taxes in Turkey is that a certain official or Commission of officials comes into your vine¬ yard or into your orchard and says: "The harvest, of this year will be worth say two or three thousand francs. You have, therefore, to pay at present or later on, at some date, 10 per cent of your revenue in kind," In practice this 10 per cent very often means 20, 30 and in cases it has been known to mean 50 per cent—because the actual harvest does not correspond with the estimate, and the mar¬ ket prices vary. Add to that the usual abuse and corruption of Turkish officials, and you will have a picture of what.tax-pay¬ ing in Turkey means. The Brit¬ ish  apthorities   examined  this
cussion and delay which would create a most undesirable period of uncertainty.
question    and    considered    it necessary to introduce one re¬ form, that taxes should be paid not in kind but in money. That in itself was a profound benefit. The Comm/ssion submitted to the British authorities a request that in the Jewish colonies the taxes from- the Jewish colonists should not be taken by an Arab Commission,  but  by  a Jewish Commission.   This was the first experiment in local self-govern¬ ment, an experiment which has yielded   brilliant  results.    The income of this year, although the harvest is about 25 to 30 per cent  lower  than  for  previous years,   owing   to   the   conse-' quences of the War, the income which  the   British  authorities obtained from hte Jewish colon¬ ies was alinost double what it was last year—and it has cost the Jewish colonies almost 40 per cent less.  .
How this indifference came about those who know how taxes are gathered in Turkey wil clearly find out. A similar experiment has been carried out or was on its way to be carried out in the organization of the Police. The British authorities thought it possible ^to organize a Jewish police for the Jewish people, a police which later on developed into a general Jewish police organization. These two attempts are quite enough to illustrate that, although this way of organizing self-govern¬ ment Jewish communities is a slow one, yet with the help and goodwill of the authorities it is a way which will lead to the de¬ sired results.
POLISH LEADER
Says His Government Is Making Restitution for Pograms.
JEWISH CONDITIONS IN RUSSIA
London.—^The Polish leader, Zalevski, who is now in Switzer¬ land, in a telegram to the Board of Deputies here gives an ex¬ planation regarding the attacks upon Jews in Lemberg and out¬ lines what has been done to bring those responsible to jus¬ tice. He further states that the Polish governhient is already making restitution for the dam¬ ages which have been sustained by the victims of the pogrom.
Zalevski asserts'that the pro- grom in Lemberg was made by criminals, who, as a result of the armistice, were released fr^m prison. Sixty of the rioters have been executed and fifteen hun¬ dred others have been impris¬ oned.
According to Zalevski, the Po¬ lish government is already pay¬ ing damages to Jews who have suffered, and an investigation Commission of Jews and Poles is now engaged in making an in¬ vestigation into the recent po¬ groms. In order to satify the Jews, it is also planned to have an international commission to make an independent investiga¬ tion.
Reports from other sources, however, indicate that only Jews of the assimilationist type have been appoiilted on the Investiga¬ tion Commission.
(From a Correspondent.)      ] A further important effort to reorganize Russian Jewry was made by the Conference of the Jewish Communities of Russia which was held at Moscow on June 30.    It was attended by 133 delegates' from thirty-nine communities, grouped in parties as follows: 53 Zionists, 20 Ach- duth   (orthodox), 16 Bund, 13 United Jewish Socialists, 9 Poa- lei Zion, 7 People's Party, 2 Peo¬ ple's Group and 13 Independent. The Conference was opened by the  Zionist,  J.   I.   Levite, who said that the natural develop¬ ment of Jewish communal life had    rendered    necessary    the creation of a central institution which should be called upon to strengthen   the   existing   com¬ munities, to promote the forma¬ tion    of  new   communities   in places where they did not exist, and to serve as a link between the   communities,   and   which should thus mark another step forward in the introduction of Jewish national autonomy. Re¬ solutions were passed, with the unanimous  consent of all  the parties, for creating a Jewish Communal Federation, and for introducing a uniform system of communal   administration   and
JEWISH HERO DIES FOR UNITED STATES
pogroms. The Jewish asso¬ ciations accordingly requested the government to permit them to form Jewish' self-defense or¬ ganizations. The government replied that the Soviets were sufficiently powerful to suppress at the outset any anti-Jewish ex-f cesses that might arise."
Herr Naiditsch gave some striking details of the great activity which prevails' in the; field of Hebrew and Yiddish cul¬ tural work. Publishing offices and funds are now at the serv¬ ice of Jewish literature to an extent never before known. In Moscow, too, the quarrel be¬ tween the Yiddish and Hebrew languages has become less vio¬ lent, .and both parties'are anx¬ ious to find'a modus vivendi. The chief publishing offices are Hatechijah, founded by a num¬ ber of prominent Zionists, and the one recently founded by Herr Stibel with a capital of five million roubles; this lattet* is de¬ voted solely to Hel>rew literat¬ ure and art. One of the chief projects of this office is to issue a "library of world literature," consisting of translations into Hebrew of all the chief Europ¬ ean classics. This office is under I the direction of the well known
taxation.    The headquarters of, Hebrew writer,. DaVid Frisch- the Federation will be at Mos-'mann.   The Yiddish publishing
cow.
With regard toi the general situation' of the Jews in Russia one can not do better than quote some remarks made in an inter¬ view (reproduced in the Jud¬ ische Rundschau of August 2)
office, Volksbildung, with a capi¬ tal of 100,000 roubles, ancl in¬ cluding among its shareholders members of all Jewish parties, is also issuing the Yiddish clas¬ sics in good and cheap editions,;
while  the  Hebrew  educational by the member of the Greater 1 organization, Tarbuth,  is  pub-' Actions    Committee   and   vice lishing a magazine for children.
CAPTURES HIS OWN COUSIN
Morris Rivlin, of the Amer¬ ican Jewish Legion, left this country for the war zone.'with the first battalion. His cousin, Joseph Rivlin, was an officer in the Turkish Army and was one of five Turkish Jewish prisoners taken in the battle near Salt in General Allenby's Palestine Drive. It was Morris Rivlin who captured his cousin whom he found in such distress that decent food and clothes were al¬ most unheard of luxuries to the Turkish officer;
JEWKHS.A.T.C.MENTO RECEIVE PAY SOON
WHAT IS TO BE DONE WITH TURKEY?
Herbert Sidebotham, Distinguished Military Critic, Proposes An
Asiatic iBalkans.
From Herbert Sidebotham, the military critic of the Lon¬ don Times, in an article concern¬ ing General Allenby's achieve¬ ments in Palestine, comes an in¬ sight as to what will be the at¬ titude of Great Britain toward -the' disposition of the fruits of his victory.
Speaking of the English vic¬ tory iri' Palestine, he says, -'In the first place we desire to main¬ tain our olid policy of setting up a buffer state between, possible enemies and the Indian Empire. This buffer state in^ the past was Turkey, but Turkey has proved her unfitness, after long and pa¬ tient trial, to fulfill what was her true rule in the East. She can never aga.in be trusted ias an im¬ perial power, although it is to be hoped that there may be fu¬ ture for her in the parts of Asia which are still tnainly inhabited by the people of Turkish race.
"Secondly, in place of the old Turkish oligarchy we propose to set up an Asiatic Balkans, con¬ sisting of a new Jewish State in Palestine; a new Arabia^ an au¬ tonomous Armenia, and a re¬ vivified Persia. What are the conditions of success in the new
experiment we are . making? They are these—first, there must be an end of Turkish rule under any form in the provinces of Arabia, of Palestine, of Ar¬ menia and Mesopotamia. If we are creating new states in ttrhich the experiment of freedom is to be; tried, let us do it boldly and have done once foir all with the old policy of relying on Turkey. Secondly, whatever political so¬ lution is reached, the idea of con¬ dominium must be definitely re¬ jected. If we are setting lip a hew Jewish State in Palestine, let us do it whole-heartedly, in reference alike to the historical past of the Jews in Palestine and to the problem of the future de¬ fense of the country. On such questions as this, which are partly military and partly po¬ litical, -there is no one who can speak with such authority as General Allenby and he should certainly be given a voice in their settlement."
Aiid last of all, he effectively disposes of the attempt that has recently been made to create the inference that General Allenby is among those who are tbiiiking of Palestine in terms of interna^ tionalism.
Many of the Jewish S. A. T, C. boys who have been discharged from the service by order of the* government and Ayho have not as yet received their pay, will be gladdened by the news that steps are being taken by local and Washiiigton authorities to re¬ lieve them of their financial straits as soon as possible.
The following is a letter sent to the Columbus Jewish Chron¬ icle by-the Headquarters of the Students' Army "iTraining Corps, Ohio State Univerity:
Dear Sirs — Within a very short time Washington will send funds to the Quartermaster bf this detachment to pay men dis¬ charged from this unit who present their final statements ac¬ companied by their certificates of discharge.
As soon as the above funds arrive I will write you ajgain, asking you to publish my letter.
I would appreciate it very much if you would publish this letter in order that all unpayed meii may know where they may secure their pay.
Thanking you in advance, I remain.
Very truly yours,
Norris S. Oliver,
' Major Infantry. U. S. Army. Com'dg.
With the termination of their service in the S. A. T. C, the Jewish members, unlike many others, have not dropped out of school, but have chosen to con¬ tinue their courses at the Ohio State University.
inches'and* belolv it" are''^v6rked the figure of a leopard, lion, tiger, lamb, calf, cow and child. This was inspired, the artist said, by the following passage from Isaiah, foreshadowing'the peace of the world:
" 'The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together and a little child shall lead them."
HOLD MEETING OF PROTEST
Bids  Father  Not  to  Worry- Rabbi Enelow  at  His Bedside.
PRESENT EMBROIDERED
PORTRAIT TO WILSON
Rittsburgh, Pa. — President Wilson before sailing for Eu¬ rope acknowledged the gift of an embroidered portrait of him¬ self done by Ephraim Flescher and asked for a translation of the v^rords in Hebrew upon it. The portrait is twenty by thirty
New York, N. Y.—Justic Ja¬ cob Panken presided at a meet¬ ing of 8,000 Jews in Madison Square Garden on December 11, who had gathered to demand of the civilized nations of the world that persecution of the Jews should cease. The chief speaker was yi|acob H. Schiff, He spoke bitterly of conditions in Poland, and said that before her national rights are granted at the Peace Conference she should give a gdarantee that she will give freedom and liberty to all within her domain, including the Jews whom she has mis¬ treated. Meyer London read a resolution of protest which he will introduce in Congress.' The Peace Conference will be asked to secure for Jews justice, free¬ dom, the right to live and the right to develop in the countries where they have hitherto been persecuted. Another speaker was Scholem Asch, the writer.
Jacob H. Schiff has- written a letter to Secretary McAdoo sug¬ gesting that it .would be best for the public and the owners of railroads if it were announced as early as possible that the Government is going to re linquish control of the railroads on January 1, 1921. That would permit the final closing up of the situation before the present administration goes out of of¬ fice. If Congress were asked now to make a. new law to give the Government <:ontrol for five years there would be much dis-
Tell my father not to worry. I did it for my country," Harry Leuer of Company H, 16th In¬ fantry, sent this message home to his parents through Rabbi H. G. Enelow, of New York City, who is in France as a represen¬ tative of the Jewish Welfare Board. Rabbi Enelow was at the bedside of the wounded boy, and remained with him until the end.
That this splendid spirit of self-sacrifice is characteristic of the Jewish soldier is corrobor¬ ated by no less an authority than Major General Leonard Wood, commander of the 10th Division, who recently spoke at the dedi¬ cation of the Jewish" Welfare Board building, at Camp Funs- ton, Kansas, recently. He told of the splendid service rendered by Jewish men with the naval and military forces of the United States, and said:
"When the call came for men to fight the battle for democ¬ racy, the Jews were among the first to answer the call, their Service being given • cheerfully and freely. Their work has been done well ancl they have made good soldiers."
TWELVE HUTS DEDICATED
Twelve Jewish Welfare Board huts were dedicated during the last month at demobilization camps throughout the country, it was announced by Colonel Harry Cutler, chairman of the Board. Huts were erected at the f o 11 o w i n g cantonments: Camp Bowie, Texas; Chicka- mauga National Park, Tenn.; Camp Custer, Mich.; Camp Fre¬ mont, Cal.; Camp Funston, Kans.; Camp Grant, IU.; Camp Johnston, Fla.; Camp Lewis, Wash.; Camp Merritt, N.. J.; Polham Naval Training Station, N. Y.} Camp Pike, Ark., and Camp Travis, Texas.
president of the Jewish Com¬ munity of Moscow, J. A. Naid¬ itsch:"'
'In the governments which at present compose what is called Great Russia," he said, "there are now about one million Jews. The most important Jewish communities,' besides Petrograd and Moscow, are Saratow, Sa¬ mara, Astrakhan, and Zarit^in, and in Siberia, Omsk and Ir¬ kutsk, .where flourishing •com¬ munities have arisen, mostly composed of refugees from exist¬ ing communities. With regard to their economic position, Jews of Great Russia can not complain. The, refugees frorii Poland and Lithuania are particularly ac¬ tive in the economic sphere. The Jewish political center is at present at Moscow. The great Jewish associations which have their headquarters at Petrograd are at present occupying them¬ selves chiefly with the .repatria¬ tion of the refugeee and with restoring to. them their means of livelihood.
"On the part of the Russian Government there is no tend¬ ency noticeable towards the sup¬ pression of Jewish National ac¬ tivity. The Jewish Commission which at first proclaimed the combating of. Zionishn and of the Congress movement as one of its chief tasks, has up to now achieved nothing of any conse¬ quence. Although no permis¬ sion was asked for th6 summon¬ ing of the Conference of the communities, no obstacles were placed in its way by the authori¬ ties. It has to be admitted, how¬ ever, that a distinct increase of the anti-Semetic feeling is to be noted in a large part of the Rus¬ sian people. The fact that Jews are at the head of the Bolshevist Government has been turned to account in many circles of the Russian intelligentsia to repre¬ sent the Jews as responsible for the Riissian reverses, although the most prominent leaders of Russian Jewry and all, Jewish Socialist parties are against the Bolshevist Government. In some places there was even a fear of
"Shethilim," and a number of text-books.. The Zionist Central Committee in Russia recently voted a subvention of 10,000 roubles monthly to the Petro- grader Tagblatt, which has now removed to Moscow and which, though highly popular, cati not secqre sufficient subscribers owing to ;the defective postal service.  .
CHARITY
TO BE CASH
GIVEN IN
In view o fthe many appeals for charity addressed, to the publife at this time of the year and the generous consideration which these appeals receive. Secretary of the Treasury Car¬ ter Glass has issued a timely warning against the use of Lib¬ erty Bonds and War Savings Stamps of previous issue as donations instead of cash.
His reasons for doing so are clearly and convincingly ex¬ plained in his authorized state¬ ment which follows:
"It has been called to my at¬ tention that large ^numbers of charitable organizations have from time to'time solicited con¬ tributions from the people oif the country arid in their appeals have stated that Liberty Bonds and War Savings Stamps would be received in lieu of cash.
"These charitable people seem to overlook the fact that so long as the United States govern¬ ment is under the necessity of selling additional amounts of its bonds,'the taking of bonds of previous issues by such charit¬ able organizations and the con¬ sequent .resale of such bonds in the open market, has a tendency to depress the price and makes it more difficult for the govern¬ ment to obtain the money it needs upon reasonable terms.
"i thereforj? request that charitable organizations refrain from makihg any sugg;e8tion to the public that they will accept Liberty Bonds or War Savings Stamps unless for endowment funds to be held for permanent Investment."