The Washington herald., 1917-03-19
SPURS jews To GIVE
TO GIANT relief fund
Selfish Qualification Declared Like
Making Merry at Funeral. -

| Every Jew in washington-in America
is expected to contribute to the $1,000, 900
fund pledged to aid the 'war-strfcken
Jews OF Europe in 1917.
A stirring appeal for immediate con-
tributions to this fund has Just been made
by the joint distribution committee rep
resenting the American Jewish Relief
Committee. the Central Relief Committee
and the Peoples Relief Committee. Felix
M. Warburg Is chairman Of the Joint
committee.
The appeal reads:
Have American Jews become oallous
10 the sufferings of their brothers and
sisters, fathers and mothers In the war
zone7
The question Is asked in all sincerity.
Certain It is that our Jewry seems. in
large measure, to have lost sight of its
manifest duty.
Has the novelty Of giving worn on?
Does any Jew feel that he has done all
that 10 required of him?
DO We labor under the delusion that
the urgency Of the situation Is less acute
than formerly; that less help Is needed;
that the pangs OF hunger grow fainter
with time; that because many have died,
the living have ceased to suffer from cold,
from starvation7
IF there is any such delusion It L. time
It was dispelled
Need Steadily Increases.
On tho contrary. every fresh report re-
ceived from Russia, from Poland, from
Lithuania, Galicia, Bulgaria, Serbia. Ru-
mania, Turkey. Syria, Palestine, tells the
same story. 1t Is that the longer the
war lasts the moro difficult 1t becomes to
mako American funds stretch to do the
work demanded Of them Every report
tells of soup made thinner, of smaller
nd nf
mothers and children waiting for a bit
OF bread. We know that all too often.
the supply is exhausted long before the
ends of the lines are reached.
From the Jews Of every country come
appeals born of desperation asking that
the funds be increased-that money be
sent quickly or that 1t may not avail.
And yet American Jewry. with its own
flesh and blood involved in this mael-
strom Of agony, is complacent, self-satis-
fed, enjoying every good thing that
money can buy. that peace and plenty
can provide. In every city In our land.
Jews continue to enjoy material pleas
ures. to engage in festivities, to stage
social functions, to spend with lavish
hands to crafty self. to indulge the van
ity, to give evidence of the prosperity
that is theirs.
God OF our Fathers!
1t is as though we were making merry
in a funeral house.
The joint distribution committee has
just authorized an appropriation of 81. 900 =
600, to be divided as follows: S22S. 900 to
Austria-Hungary and Galicia; 81, 900 for
Turkey and Syria: $4,000 for Palestine;
5000 for Bulgaria; 5000 for Serbia, in
Guiding Monastir; 5000 for refugees from
Palestine in Alexandria; $4,000 for the
occupied parts of Rumania, and 800, 900
for Russia.
The sum Of $4,000 was authorized to
be sent for the relief of the Jews in
Poland and Lithuania, and this money
will be sent as soon as the approval Of
the State Department has been obtained.
Insufficient Funds on Hand.
These appropriations were IN excess of
the amount on hand
Now that our treasury Is divested of
all the funds on hand 1t becomes i'm
perative that we raise 100000 at once
in order to extend relief in Poland, Lith-
uania and Galicia, when the opportunity
to forward the money presents itself.