The Denver Jewish news., 1925-09-10

I
the Fourteenth Zionist Congress In Vienna
on Thursday. August 2Tth, was that Of DR.
stephen ). Wise. President OF the American
Jewish Congress. head Of the Jewish lnsti.
tute OF Religion, and a lending member OF
the American Zionist Delegation to the
Congress Dr. Wise's special reference ia
the Crimean colonization plan Is Of especial
ilinellness, In view OF the forthcoming con
ference In Philadelphia. A complete tran
script from the address. as taken from the
minutes OF the Congress, IL given below)
DR.. Wise took the chair and excused
himself for holding his speech in Eng
lish. DR.. Wise then described the
three main phases of the development
of the Zionist movement in America.
The first phase was the time of Zionist
pioneering and of small beginnings
when only a small band of enthusias-
tic Zionists held the flag of the move
ment high in America. This phase
dated from the beginning of the Zion
ist Organization of America in 1908
till the beginning of the war. The
second phase was like fairy tale.
He then went on as follows:
1--WE were ready and prepared in
America to work for Zionism in 1914.
We were ready both from the point of
view of Jewish life and of American
social relations. If ever there was
lucky constellation it was then. The
president of the United States was a
man full Of the warmest sympathy for
the Zionist cause. Equally fortunately
we had Zionist leaders who were able
to take rich advantage of Wilson's
sympathy for the Zionist cause. After
the end Of the war came the third
phase and shortly thereafter there
took place a change in the leadership
of the Zionist Organization of Ameri-
ca. personally was not active in the
administration Of the z. o. A. during
the last four years but l can publicly
testify that the ad.a..aisaxstion Of the
American Zionist since 1921 displayed
extraordinary strength, ability and
energy combined with blameless at
titude. This administration enjoyed
the support Of the great leaders of
the world organization, DR.. Weiz-
mann, Sokolow, Lovino. Motzkin, ETC.,
who occasionally came to America to
strengthen our work. l believe that
it would be beneath my dignity as
Zionist and as a man if did not men,
h,t b.
was the good fortune of Zionism to
have as the leader of the American
organization man of great spirit, of
statesmanike wisdom, of scholarship
and devotion-Justice Louis Brandeis,
who together with Mack. Straus,
Frankfurter, Flexner and others held
the reins which they surrendered four
years later.
''ln the last few days number of
questions have been put to me which
| should like to answer here. | was
asked what ! as an American Jew
thought OF the demonstrations in
Vienna and the threatened excesses.
Ny answer as American and as Jew
ist. If some day n non-Jewish
Congress will be held in Jerusalem it
will not be necessary to patrol the
streets.
'In the second place come to an
other question: when in 1914 | un-
dertook my first trip to Palestine the
Turkish government demanded that l
accept red ticket which entitled me
to remain 60 days in Palestine. / re-
fused this ticket. Today, thanks to
the League Of Nations and the Man
datory Power | can journey to Pales-
tine freely. You are unable to go
freely to America. This is evidence
for the statesmanlike wisdom of a
Weizmann, a Herzl, a Nordau, who
years ago prophesied that time will
come when every door would be closed
to Jews. Therefore one door should
be held open. The prophesies have
been realized. All doors are closed.
Only one is open, the Jewish door to
Jewish Palestine. This is my answer
to the question in regard to the immi
grafton restrictions of America.
Before ! take the chair | wish to
say a word in regard to a very i'm
portant problem which will probably
receive the attention of the Congress.
| believe such to be my duty as an
American jew. In any case speak
for myself and not as the representa-
tive of the American Zionists. A few
months ago resolution was taken in
America to again take up the work
conducted by the j. D. C. As far as
l know there was little or no consulta-
ton with the Jewish communities and