How the Relief Fund Was Administered.*
FROM the abstract of the auditor’s report it is evident that up to May 31 last, a total of $308,496.13 was received by the Provisional Executive Committee for its various funds comprising the Zionist Emergency Fund, the General Palestine Relief Fund and transferable funds for institutions and individuals in Palestine, which have been entrusted to our Committee for transmission. Of this amount $206,420.37 have been transmitted to Palestine during the period of this report.
I wish to say right here that the actual amount of money forwarded by me to Palestine since the outbreak of the war is $346,834.92. This is explained by the fact that in addition to the funds considered by our Committee, we have forwarded considerable sums for the credit of other committees, as the American Jewish Relief Committee and the Central Relief Committee. The above amount includes also $12,282.76 received by the Carmel Wine Co. after the outbreak of the war and prior to the accepting of transferable funds by our Committee, for transmission of institutions, individuals and general relief in Palestine.
Methods of Transmission of Funds.
Since the formation of our Committee our greatest worry häs been how to find a safe and expedient method for the transmission of funds to Palestine, the Post Office, express companies and banks having discontinued the issuance of money orders and drafts on that country. At one time it was actually impossible to send money to Palestine for a period of six weeks. Our first remittances were made, through the courtesy of the Standard Oil Co., to Ambassador Morgenthau, Constantinople. He, in his turn reforwarded the funds on board of the U.S. warships to Jaffa. Soon afterwards, however, the blockade of the Dardanelles began and we had to look for some other methods for the transmission of our funds. About that time Mr. Wolf Gluskin, of Rishon-le-Zion, who was in London then, cabled us that the Carmel Companies in London and Alexandria were in a position to receive and transmit funds to Palestine. In view of that fact and that international conditions were changing rapidly at that . time, and what was possible one day might become impossible the next day, I limited my first remittance through this channel to $10,000. Fortunately, Mr. Gluskin succeeded in obtaining a permit from the Egyptian Government for the exportation of gold to Palestine for Jewish relief purposes, notwithstanding the fact that Turkey was at that time already at war with England. At the same time gur Committee was successful here in enlisting the aid of the U. S. Government. Owing to the courtesy of our State Department and Ambassador Morgenthau, our representatives in Alexandria were enabled to forward our funds, from time to time, by special messenger, on board of either of the U. S. warships eruising in the Mediterranean. Our carriers took our funds on board the ship in chests sealed by the U. S. Consul at Alexandria consigned to the U. S. Consul at Jaffa for Dr. Ruppin,
*From the Treasurer's report to the Provisional Committee.
chairman of the American Jewish Relief Fund. In the course of time a regular committee was formed in Alexandria for the purpose of handling these funds, with Mr. Norman Bentwich as chairman and Mr. Gluskin as treasurer. Thus, a steady means of communication with Palestine was attained and we were enabled to transmit our funds with satisfactory regularity for a period of over six months.
For these facilities our thanks are due to the English and French Governments for their permission to export gold from Egypt, as well as to the Turkish and German Governments for guaranteeing the inviolability of our funds. We also owe a debt of deep gratitude to Ambassador Morgenthati, to the U. S. Consuls in Palestine and Egypt, and to the brave Commanders of the U. S. warships in the Mediterranean for the kind interest which they have taken in our cause and the readiness with which they have helped us in every possible way.
Distribution of Funds in Palestine.
The first relief money for Palestine consisted of $50,000 cabled early in September by the American Jewish Committee to Ambassador Morgenthau. Our Committee, through the generosity of Mr. Nathan Straus, contributed $12,500 towards this sum with the understanding that the money be entrusted to a committee headed by Dr. Arthur Ruppin, Manager of the Palestine Bureau of the Zionist Actions Committee. This was also in accordance with the recommendation of Mr. Morgenthau. Without consulting our Committee further in the matter, the American Jewish Committee cabled to Constantinople its wish that Mr. Ephraim Cohen, of Jerusalem, and Mr. Aaron Aaronson, of Caiffa, be added to the committee. Their instructions were interpreted in Palestine to mean that the relief committee should consist of these three men, Ruppin, Cohen and Aaronson. With the assistance of Mr. Maurice Wertheim, who brought the $50,000 to Palestine, they organized the Committee accordingly, giving supreme control, with veto power, to each member in his district. Thus, Jaffa and the Judaean colonies were assigned to the control of Dr. Ruppin; Jerusalem and Hebron to that of Mr. Cohen, while Mr. Aaronson took charge of the third district, comprising Caiffa, Safed, Tiberias and the Galilean colonies. The actual relief work was to be carried on by local committees organized by the general committee and headed in each district by the respective member of the general committee.
The methods of administering relief varied greatly in accordance with the local needs in each city or colony. In the cities, and especially in Jerusalem, soup kitchens had been opened and food was otherwise dispensed to the needy, while in most of the colonies the relief extended was mostly in the form of loans, to enable the recipients to go on with their work and continue to employ their Jewish laborers. An important feature of the relief was the opening of food stores by the committee in several centers, in order to provide the poor with the necessaries of life at cost prices and thereby preventing the soaring