Astonishing, But Not True
“SPECIAL DESPATCH.—Mr. D’Avigdor Goldsmith, of the Jewish Colonization Association spent a Sabbath this month in New York while on his way to Montreal. The Baron de Hirsch Trustees, with commendable zeal, organized a large mass-meeting on the East Side, and Mr. Goldsmith told a large audience of Russian Jews how the IKA spends its funds and of the splendid plans it has for work in Canada and Texas.”
DENIAL.—The above report was denied by the Baron de Hirsch Trustees. They admitted that Mr. Goldsmith was in New York one Sabbath, but to their knowledge, he did not speak to Russian Jews.
Diplomatic Judaism
The leaders of New York Jewry were very careful not to be involved in any public act of interest in the propaganda of Gershuni, Lieber or Maxime, but when Alaydin and Tschaikowsky (socialist-revolutionists) addressed a non-Jewish audience at Carnegie Hall, Judge Samuel Greenbaum, Mr. Jacob H. Schiff and other leaders were seated on the platform. In the company of Mark Twain, William Dean Howells, Dr. Lyman Abbott and the Friends of Russian Freedom, no one, presumably, would take the trouble to pick out a Jew here and there.
An Uncompromising Foe!
The Bund and the Bintel-Brief still hold the fort in the N. Y. Vorwarts. That is the affırmative side of the Vorwarts’ policy; opposition to all forms of Jewish nationalism—Zionism, Territorialism, Poale Zionism, Socialist-Territorialism, is the negative side. With Karl Marx held fast (o its bosom and the red flag of cynicism waving, the F’orwarts hopes to destroy its opponent, Die IVahrheit.
The Slogan of Federation
In New York they go about matters differently. A federation of Jewish charities is desirable, practical, and necessary. But a num-
ber of Jewish institutions, narrow-minded and petty, object to having their personal honors taken away from them. Then the Federation of Contributors is formed to coerce the recalcitrant institutions into conformity. A number of the munificent givers mass their donations and threaten the institutions with their disfavor if they refuse to federate. This is the application of the boycott to charity. At a meeting of the directors, held this month, the leaders for the first time discussed their affairs in the open. The result was several eloquent and adroit speeches, sharp talk, and a defiance of the so-called "Charity Trust." Mr. Louis Marshall used the term and he is an authority on "trust" law.
A Russia Patriot
Counsellor Gruzenberg, who is not a Zionist, but who accepted the Zionist program in Russia in order to stand for the Duma, has now repudiated Jewish nationalism and is heard from this month in a speech in defense of Count Tolstoy.
Deficiencies of the Community
New York Jewry is so earnestly engaged in puffing its own good works, that one dares not criticize it or to suggest improvement without running the risk of being charged with Chillul Has-shem. We venture to offer a list of activities in which New York Jewry is deficient, compiled by Dr. J. L. Magnes in a sermon this month:
“Provision for the Jewish blind, the deaf and dumb; the care or after-care of the insane and defectives generally; provisions for the recently arrived immigrants; deserted wives; the care of Jewish babies and advanced cases of tuberculosis; employment bureaus for immigrants; day nurseries; a Jewish diet kitchen, etc. etc.”
Important Jewish News
From a Jewish religious journal: “The Pope to-day (March 6) received in private audience Eugene Meyer, Jr., and his sister of New York.”