ONE day, about three years ago, the war news from the dominions of the late Czar contained a more than usually painful shock to those Jews for whom the Printed Hebrew word still holds a powerful sentimental appeal. The cables of that day conveyed the information that the old established printing house of the "Widow and Brothers Romm" in Vilna had been partly demolished, and that all the metal found in the establishment, including stereotypes and plates, had been requisitioned by the Russian military authorities to be recast into bullets.
Shortly afterward a like report came from Warsaw, where the German military, in quest of all kinds of metals for war use, made similar disposition of Jewish printing houses in Poland. Then followed the mass expulsions from Kovno, Grodno and other provinces, which caused the abandonment by Jewish refugees of their libraries and the destruction by vandals of great quantities of Hebrew books accumulated in centuries.
On the occasion of a discussion on these heart-rending conditions at a Zionist meeting in Chicago about that time, a member rose to inquire whether in the opinion of those present it was not the right time to organize an association whose purpose it would be to establish in Palestine a modern, well-equipped printing house as soon after the war as conditions would permit.
The proposal took root and at subsequent meetings the subject was further considered, and the discussions finally materialized in the adoption of a resolution to form an association for the purpose of establishing in Palestine a Hebrew printing plant to be known as the Jerusalem Printing Works, with the following objects in view:
1. To print, publish and supply Hebrew books, both religious and secular, to the Jewries of the world; 2. To carry the considerable industry of printing on a large scale into Palestine and make it a Jewish national industry, as befits "the people of the book;" 3. To produce a superior grade of printing for the University and schools and for government uses; 4. To further the economic development of the country by creating an export business of Hebrew books to supply the needs of the Jews in other parts of the world; 5. To form a center around which shall group themselves those who have a message for their people or for humanity and are in need of the printing art to convey the message.
Today the Jerusalem Printing Works Association is an embrionic reality. In accordance with the resolution given
in substance above, an agreement of trust has been drawn which provides for a capital stock of 4000 shares of $50 each —a total capitalization of $200,000. Ten dollars is to be paid on each share at the time of purchase (and a dollar additional to cover administrative costs); twenty dollars more when the stock has been fully subscribed and the remaining twenty dollars within one year thereafter.
At a meeting of prospective subscribers recently held for that purpose, an agreement and declaration of Trust were adopted, of which the following are the most salient points:
"BE IT KNOWN, That we, the subscribers, have formed an Association to establish and conduct a Hebrew printing works in Palestine, under the name of the Jerusalem Printing Works Association, there to promote industry and culture, and to that end we do hereby declare and agree that the following are and shall be the fundamental articles of this our Association:
“1. This Association shall be composed of subscribers to its capital stock which consist of two hundred thousand dollars in money of the United States, divided into four ‘thousand shares of fifty dollars each, and payable ten dollars on each share at the time of subscribing plus one dollar on account of administrative expenses, twenty dollars on each share when the capital stock has been fully subscribed, and the balance of twenty dollars on each share within one year thereafter, at such times and in such proportions as the trustees shall appoint.
"2. A general meeting of the subscribers and shareholders of the Association shall be held as soon after the capital stock has been fully subscribed as possible and annually thereafter, at such times and places as the trustees shall appoint, by written notice mailed to each of the registered subscribers and shareholders, at least thirty days prior to the meeting, at his address as the same appears on the books of the Association.
“(a) There shall at such general meeting be elected from their number fifteen trustees, five of whom shall hold office for one year, five of whom shall hold office for two years and five of whom shall hold office for three years, and at each annual election thereafter the successors to the trustees whose terms shall expire in that year, shall be elected to hold office for a term of three years, so that the term of office of five directors shall expire in each year, and shall in all cases hold office until their successors have been elected and accepted this trust.