October 4, 1940 DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and the Legal Chronicle 2 Heartiest Wishes for A Happy New Year from Flint, Michigan WHAT ABOUT INFORMATION? Rosh Hashonah Greetings to All! By BERNARD G. RICHARDS Director of Advisory Council of Jewish Information Bureau ARTCRAFT PRESS EXPERT PRINTING SERVICE HARRY SNELL 2214 N. Saginaw Phone 2-8062 Flint, Mich. LE SHONO TOVO TIKOSEVU ALGER Appliance Service Parts 8 Service for All Makes Washers - Refrigerators - Vacuum Cleaners. etc. Dial 2-4944 212 E. 8TH ST. Flint, Mich. The new interest in collecting and disseminating information about all phases of Jewish life and public activities may be an encouraging sign of an awaken- ing communal consciousness, but a disappointing element mani- fests itself in a lack of conscious- ness or consistency with which the work is pursued. Here, as in other fields of Jewish endeav- or there in rivalry, competition, and lack of coordination as well as lack of regard for respect for precedence. The establishment of an information service seems to be a signal for others to estab- lish a new agency and duplicate the effort. The attempts of dif- ferent organizations to outdo or HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL AUTO BODY SHOP Spray Painting Body Rebuilding Upholstering - Auto Tops - Straightening Metal Bumping - Frame and Axle SUNOCO GAS SERVICE STATION PHONE 2-4422 CORNER AVENUE A and LOUISA ST. FLINT. MICHIGAN ROSH HASHONAH GREETINGS TO ALL' AL the GLASS MAN PHONE 2-2648 1018 AVENUE A FLINT, MICHIGAN Best Wishes for a Happy and Prosperous New Year' McLOGAN AUSTIN THE CHINA CLOSET Fine China. Glass and Gift Things 517 SOUTH SAGINAW STREET FLINT. MICHIGAN PHONE 9-5121 HAPPY 1E•:1: YEAR TO All! • SANITARY LAUNDRY All Branches of Laundry Work Finished Faith Washing a Specialty 321 7/, Avon Phone 9-3732 FLINT. MICHIGAN Rosh Hashonah Greetings to Our Jes3t) 1-rstrlds HAMADY BROS. fi Automobile Shoppers Food Markets Better Market et better Quality Food I.VW Prices HINT. MICHIGAN NEW YEAR TO A1.1.! PALMER RADIO 8 APPLIANCE CO. R. PM NII Norge Washers. Ironers. Refrigerators. Gas and Electric Ranges and Oil Burning Heating Equipment Zenith. Sparton and Detrola Radios Phone 2-5177 1110 N. SAGINAW ST. FLINT. MICHIGAN activities, has continued to an- swer innumerable inquiries from New York and other cities and from Jewish as well as non- Jewish circles. In the direction of obtaining support the original small list of contributing members has now been increased to over 300 and a number of central and nation- al organizations which have co- operated from the beginning, as- sist the Bureau with annual sub scriptions. Federations and Wel- fare Funds in a number of cities have also manifested their sup- port by making allotments, the Bureau having previously made application to these communities and filed the necessary reports with the National Council of Federations and Welfare Funds, Inc. Beyond answering immediate replace each other in fact, has a lengthy and unseeming history, lending itself to serious admoni- tion as well as to comical treat- ment. For many years there was an organization and a publication carrying on Jewish educational and cultural work among Jewish students at colleges and univer- sities. Then, without any regard to the history and the accom- plishments of this activity a new body seeking reasons for ex- pansion and the adoption of new slogans, entered the field, and having larger means practically eliminated the other organiza- tion. We had here in New York the original committee which con- ducted the boycott against Ger- man goods, which pushed the work ahead against all odds at the time when even the "demo- cratic-forces" in Jewish life with- held their support from the boy- cott. But soon two central or- ganizations representing "the masses" who quite suddenly dis- covered the boycott formed a joint council to promote the ban on German goods and services and after a while the original boy- cott organization, having suffer- ed additional losses of personnel remained behind. Now the original boycott or- ganization has gotten its "second wind" and with the boycott work having been taken away from it, it is entering the field of defend- ing general Jewish interests and combatting anti-Semitism. In other words it is competing with the organizations which first en- croached upon its own business. Some observant Jews Who permit themselves to ask occasional ques- tions still wonder why "The Me- norah Journal" could not have received the support that was gathered and serve the purposes that were pursued with the es- tablishment of the Jewish Social Studies. We witnessed only re- cently a change in the conduct of the work of Jewish education involving the replacement of an effective and popular educational association, which event, in the opinion of the present writer, is nothing less than tragic. These are only a few of the strange instances of rivalry and competition testifying to the dis- order and chaos which prevails in American Jewry. To be sure, some changes and substitutions of activities may in the long run be justified by marked accom- plishments, but it is not on rec- ord that authentic Jewish opin- ion or recognized Jewish groups were ever consulted about ap- propriating the activities of or- ganizations which previously oc- cupied the field. The Jewish Information Bu- reau, established in 1932, largely through the instrumentality of a group of communal workers, which was then active in the Jewish Council of Greater New York, had not yet finished its initial struggle of the first year before an announcement was made of the establishment of the Jewish Statistical Bureau. The persons who were devoting their spare time and means towards the development of the Jewish Information Bureau were in close touch with the gentlemen who organized the Jewish Statistical Bureau. They would have made every concession possible to com- bine forces and to prevent the establishment of a rival bureau which essentially belongs to the same field and in a sense repre- sents a luxury in the sphere of gathering information and con- ducting research work. Statistics usually come within the scope of experts and these as a rule know how to satisfy their needs. The Information Bureau continued to struggle and the Statistical Bu- ren apparently made even slow- er progress, but one thing was definitely achieved ; the possible supporters were broken up into separate groups with accompany- ing confusion and the dissipation of an awakening interest in the work of collecting and distribut- ing Jewish information. However, the Jewish informa- tion Bureau, without attempting to enter any of the specialized fields of research that remain problematic and concentrating on the task of furnishing general information on all phases of Jew- ish communal organizations and LE SHONO TOVO TIKOSEV Forrester Construction Co. AMOS C. ROOT GENERAL BUILDERS Dial 3-8412 325 W. Paterson Flint, Mich. LE SHONO TOVO TIKOSE 'L Flint Beverage Distributors Frankenmuth Beer and Ale Miller's High Life Dial 9-6601 420 N. Chevrolet Flint, Mich. See RICHARDS Page 3 Ri5SH HASHONAH GREETINGS TO ALL! COMMERCIAL TRUCK CO. 221 Harrison Phone 3-8111 FLINT, MICHIGAN ROSH HASHONAH GREETINGS TO All! Baker Business University E. E. BAKER. Pres. 5TH FLOOR, INDUSTRIAL BUILDING FLINT, MICHIGAN Best Wishes for a Happy and Prosperous New Year FLINT PISTON SERVICE CO. PISTONS FOR ALL MAKES OF CARS PARTS FOR ALL CARS 704 North Saginaw Street Phone 2-3118 FLINT, MICHIGAN ROSII HASHONAH GREETINGS TO ALL' HERBERT N. BUSH INCORPORATED DRY GOODS WOMEN'S WEAR Curtains and Draperies 510-518 SOUTH SAGINAW ST. FLINT, MICHIGAN ROSH HASIIONAI 1 GREETINGS TO ALL! NEWALL 8 BRAUN INSURERS PHIL. J. BRAUN Established 1886 712 F. P. Smith Bldg. Phone 2-9163 FLINT. !MICHIGAN Rosh Hashonah Greetings to Our Jewish Friends CITIZENS FUEL CO. R. J. GOULD COAL — FUEL OIL — COKE COMBUST IONEER AUTOMATIC. COAL STOKER 410 Harrison St. FLINT. MICHIGAN Phone 2-0165