The Denver Jewish news. [volume] (Denver, Colo.) 1915-1925, 1920-06-23
Special Weekly Letter
from New York
DEPARTURE OF GALICIAN COM
MISSION-THE JOINT DISTRI-
BUTTON COMMITTEE AND THE
LANDSMANSCHAFTEN- FEEDER
ALTON OF JEWISH CHARITIES
MAY FACE IMPENDING CRISIS.

The Galician Commission. consisting
bank director. Mr.. Eisler. and the edi'
tor. Mr.. Frostig. has finished its work
in this country. and all the commits
siOners but DIR. Tannenbaum have de-
parted for Europe. DR.. Tannenbaum
for personal reasons has decided to re-
main in the United States and may he
come permanent resident of this
country.
Before the Commission left. a meet
ing was arranged by all the Galician
relief organizations to do honor to its
members, to wish them happy jour
ncy and to ask them to convey to the
stricken Jews of Galicia the heartfelt
greetings and sympathy of their
brethren in America. WHAT the Com
mission has accomplished during its
visit to this country was properly re-
ported upon at this last meeting. These
achievements are of interest both TO
the Jews of Galicin and Of America.
A discussion of them must not he over
looked.
1t is almost beyond dispute that the
Commission held about the hest men
that Gnlician Jewry affords. All OF
them are very prominent Jews and
are accepted authorities in their speci-
fic fields. They all worked with great
energy and fervor. and managed dur
ing their comparatively short visit to
meet with all the relief workers of the
Galician Jews in America. Their work
has perhaps resulted in intensifyins
the relief efforts of these workers.
This increase in effort has not been
sufficiently marked to enable us to
speak of an absolute success for the
Commission in this province. All the
Galician relief societies together have
pledged the meagre sum Of $150000
FOR the relief of thefr old home towns.
and the greater part Of 1t was alreadE-
collected before the commissioners ar
rived here
But instead of sending the money
across to save the starving aifl relieve
the distressed, they allowed%it to re-
main in this country for ex ended pc
riods of time. The problem has been
to dissuade these organizations from
persisting in their policy of sending re-
lief money thru special commissioners,
and to get them to send it thru the
Joint Distribution committee. In this
respect. the Gnlician Commission may
not claim any decisive achievement or
success.
The Commission did win pronounc-
ed success in consequence of its ncgoti-
ations with the Joint Distribution
committee. 1t was announced at the
farewell meeting in honor of the COM
missioners that they succeeded in NOV
ing the Joint Distribution to assign
larger monthly sums for the relief OF
Galician Jewry. What may be serious
ly questioned is whether the attain
ment of this Success is enough to
balance the tremendous expense and
the great effort involved in sending
the Commission to America.
Rather strange is the phenomenon
which has appeared rs n result of the
relations between the Joint Distribution
Committee and the various Landsman-
schaften. Most of the Landsman-
schaften are organizations IF East Side
Jews of avowed Zionistic and national
istic professions Their chief critic
ism of the Joint Distribution Commit
tee has been that its leaders come
from the assimilationist circles. ana
that they cannot understand and work
for the interests of the whole Jewish
people. In their relief work policies,
the situation seems to be reversed.
While the assimilationist leaders of
The Joint Distribution Committee de-
clare that in this critical period no
line must be drawn between Jew and
lew. but that all Jews must be aided
on the basis of the Committees re-
sources and their needs, our national
lists Of the East Side do not recognize
This broader principle. They have or
yaniZed their relief work on the basis
of provincial factionalism. thru the
medium of the Land, manschaften
which seriously disturb the smooth
working of the common organization
supported by American Jewry united,
and by their narrow outlook and To-
calized scope burden unduiy the path
of national Jewish relief effort
This anomaly would perhaps appear
more tOlerablc if its effects were not
so disastrous, if it did not hamper the
relief work itself. The fact is. how
ever. that the relief work is hampered
Continued on Page Two.)