The Denver Jewish news., 1922-10-04

When / finally got to DIR. Lee n.
Frankel in his luxuriously appointed
Office. in the Metropolitan Life Insur-
ance Company. missed that
poise. that remarkable self-cOntrol that
is so characteristic of him. Getting to
see him was no easy matter. He had
Just returned from Europe WHITTIER he
had gone as the head Of the commits
sion appointed by Mr.. Louis Marshall.
president of the American Jewish Re-
lief committee. to act as the eyes
of the Jews Of America and see how
our people abroad were faring. He
had been away since June 29th. and
he was working at top speed to catch
rp with some of the most important
matters that demanded his attention
MS Vice-PreTident Of the Metropolitan.
And though we had fixed time that
seemed convenient to him. there were
so many officials OF the company ella
moring for ."just one minute" that.
unlike his usual method. he had to
ask me TO wait little longer.
But the knowledge that I was wait
ing to talk to him and what We were
10 talk about brought bac. to his
mind, in vivid fashion. many Of the
things he had seen. And. as found
out very shortly. 1t was this that 40
depressed this man who during the
course of the last quarter century has
seen human misery In its many and
most tragic forms the sick. the
MANNED. the halt. the blind. the hnndi-
capped. the widowed. the orphaned.
1 could not help expressing my sur
prise.
"Never. in all my experience. have
seen anything like this" he ejaculat-
ed. II have never aeen such misery
have ffeser stes stseh poverty. luye
never seen such suffering. scf'
The Bridge Of signs"
"Iet me give you one picture" he
went on.
"At Rovno the Polish authorities
have set up a detention pen into which
arc herded the thousands upon thou
sands of repatriates-those indescrib'
able unfortunates who fled from war
and pogrom and who are now making
their way hOmeward after undergoing
God only knows whnt misery. what
tortures of hunger. cold and disease
during the Intervening years \ strong
stockade has been erected so that none
may escape before they have heen in
spected and passed. A bridge leads
across the stockade to the feeding sta
tion. where these unfortunntes get u
hunk of blackbread and something
called soup
"An old man was being led across
that bridge by girl. apparently ms
daughter. Bent with age. and shamh-
lifig in gait. there was something about
that unkempt. hOary head that con-
yeyed the impression that once In
those happy days before 1914. that OLD
man had been 'somebody'--a merchant.
or a rabbi perhaps. Now--he was GO
ing across that bridge for hunk OF
ack-bread. for nj bowl of something
called soup'-and all he wore to cover
his ,akedness was an overcont
Nothing else except some straw wrap
ned about his feet.
"Fourteen In One RoOm."
"And here is another picture: ! had
gone to see how things were going
with some of the orphans VIII" are the
wards of the Joint Distribution COM
mittee. Thanks to the splendid gen
erOsity of the Jews of this country.
"When, we talk of caring for or
phans in Europe. we doa't mean hy
this that we are taking care of The
particular child alone. 1t means. in II
very large number of cases. that by
the money we are giving for that or
phan, we are making it possible not
only for it, but for its widowed moth
Ell to live better than they could with
out onr help.
"This was one of those cases. we
found this orphan and her mother III
fair cOmfort--that is. they lived de-
Gently in one room But from the at
Joining room came three other widows.
who were not yet receiving support.
Three families-fourteen persons IN
aIl-in one room hate to think OF
this picture hate to think of the
sort of life they havc to live-if you
can call that living" DIR. Frnnke'
calculated.
"And that brings me to what ron
slider the most important. the most
pressing of all problems still confront
ing us in our efforts to aid our people