instrument of Cabinet purposes"
with regard to Palestine.
Report on Combatting Bias
Significant gains have been made
by the American Jewish Congress
during the past two years towards
the guarantee of full civil liber-
ties for all Americans, particu-
larly in the field of equality of
educational opportunity, it was
reported by Dr. David Petegor-
sky, national executive director
of Congress.
Dr. Petegorsky warned, how-
ever, that increasing domestic re-
action and the hysteria being de-
liberately fostered might undo
those gains, unless determined'
counter-offensives were launched.
"In view of the present attitude
of the American Government with
regard to Palestine. tension be-
tween the great powers and in-
creasing domestic political insta-
bility, it may become far more
difficult to continue asserting the
right of the Jewish people to
statehood in Palestine, the need
for protection of political, eco-
nomic and social rights of the
Jews in many lands and to fight
for the full civil rights of all
Americans," he said.
Other Addresses
Declaring that the "dominant
pressures in the country are
toward an uncritical conformity
and toward a reluctance to pre-
serve the civil rights of unpopular
groups," Prof. Walter Gellhorn of
Columbia Law School warned of
a trend toward "thought control."
Dr. Charming Tobias, a member
of the President's Committee on
Civil Liberties, speaking on "Seg-
regation in American Life," con-
demned segregation because of
race, creed or color because it is
"un-American in spirit and prac-
tice and because it is an insult to
the Creator."
Dr. Harold Taylor, president of
Sarah Lawrence College, spoke on
"Bias in Education."
Rabbi Morton Berman said that
"the Administration's reversal of
its policy toward a Jewish Com-
monwealth is tantamount not only
to a betrayal of the Jewish people,
but of the United Nations."
Discuss Immigration Bill
Under discussion at the meeting
was the Wiley-Revercomb Bill,
now pending before the Senate,
which - limits the total number of
displaced persons to be admitted
to the United States to 50,000 a
year-, for the next two years. The
bill and its restrictive features
were criticized by speakers "as a
discriminatory measure" and a
"discredit to the noble humani-
tarian and moral traditions of
America." --
Pledging a continued • fight
toward the goal of "full equality
and freedom for all Americans,"
Shad Polier, vice-president of the
American Jewish Congress, told
the delegates he believes that
such equality can be achieved.
Dr. Stephen S. Wise, Congress
president, in his message to the
convention, termed the American
change of policy on Palestine as
"one of the great moral tragedies
of history." "The American Jew-
ish Congress," he asserted, "is re-
solved to give to the Jewish state
all which unequivocally loyal
American Jews can give to the
Elect 5 Jewish Deputies in Romania
Ferguson, Youngblood .
Sponsor Measures to
Admit DPs to U. S.
Danger to World Seen by
Prof. Laski in Zion Betrayal
NEW YORK, (JTA) — There
will be massacres of unarmed
Jews from Algiers across Africa
to Iraq and Lebanon, if the UN
fails to solve the Palestine •prob-
lem, Prof. Harold J. Laski warned
in an address to the 1,200 dele-
gates at the convention of the
American Jewish Congress.
"If the men who rule us let
things drift outside the Middle
East as they have let things
drift within its boundaries, there
will be no Jewish problem be-
cause there will be no Jews," the
former s chairman of the British
Labor Party said. "The world
will not listen to your warning
and mine. Let us pray that it
may recogniZe swiftly that • the
echo of the first guns fired in
Palestine after May 15 will echo
around the world, for they will
be the first shots fired in that
third global war which will end,
for our generation and our chil-
dren's, the prospect of civilized
life."
`Cynical Betrayals'
He termed the present state
of affairs in Palestine as "one of
the most cynical betrayals in his-
tory" and feared there will be
"fatal inactivity" in the United
Nations on solving the Palestine
problem. He emphasized that he
does not doubt that in the event
of such a situation, the Jews in
Palestine will fight.
Bitterly attacking the "British
abdication from moral obliga-
tion" and the "immature con-
fusion of American leadership"
with regard to Palestine, Prof.
Laski said that "first and most
responsible" for the present de-
velopments in Palestine is the
British Government.
"But," Prof. Laski continued,"I
think the American Government
must bear its share of guilt—less
heavy than ours, but heavy.
Also Blames the Jews
"I think we Jews cannot es-
cape our share of blame—British
Jews because they „did not see
the pattern of power politics in
which. Palestine was one thread;
American Jews because they
thought that successful lobbying
meant the genuine acceptance of
vital principles and were too oft-
en as eager to deceive them-
selves as to confront the hard
facts; Palestine Jews who suf-
fered great provocation and wit-
nessed the enactment of a hor-
rible tragedy, but did not pre-
vail upon an indefensible group
among them to desist from using
indefensible means for an end to
which they were never propor-
tionate; and world Jewry because
it failed to convince the Arab
masses that the development. of
a Jewish homeland would be an
Arab liberation as well as a Jew-
ish achievement."
Pointing out that the British
Labor Party had pledged itself
to abrogate the British White
Paper which restricted Jewish
immigration and land acquisition
in Palestine, Prof. LaSki charged
the present Labor Government
with not observing its pledges: He
accused British Prime Minister
Ernest Bevin of playing "a sin-
ister role in the story" and said
that Colonial Secretary Arthur
Creech-Jones "became a passive
Page Threq4
1510 J EW Sj-1 4 NEWS
Friclay, April, 9, 4948:
WASHINGTON — Senator
Homer Ferguson of Michigan, to-
gether with five other Senators,
have taken the lead in sponsoring
a bill for the admission of 200,-
000 DPs in the two-year period
starting July 1. The measure was
given the green light for early
action by the Senate Republican
policy committee.
The other five who joined with
Senator Ferguson in pressing for
liberalization of the DP admis-
sion bill are Senators Smith,
Cooper, McGrath, Saltenstall and
Morse.
At the same time' Rep. Harold
F. Youngblood (Rep.), Detroit;
introduced in the House a bill to
admit 600,000 displaced persons
and "expellees", such as a Ger-
man "who is out of or expelled
from his country of former resi-
dence as a result of events sub-•
sequent to the outbreak pf
World War II and is unable or
unwilling to return."
BUCHAREST, (JTA) — Final
returns of national elections re-
veal that all five Jewish candi-
dates named to represent the
Jewish population in the Roma-
nian parliament on the govern-
ment bloc ticket were elected by
heavy pluralities.• They: are:
Prof. Maximilian Popper, pres-
ident of the Federation of Jewish
Corrimunities and one of the coun-
try's outstanding PhySiCiaris;
is not a member of any party and
enjoys wide popularity among
the Jews in Bucharest; Hersh Lei-
bovice, an attorney, and secre-
tary-general of the Federation,
who • has played a leading role in
Romania's war crimes trials; Ber-
cu•Feldmann, a CoMmunist, who
has been active in the trade union
movement all his. life; Marcel
Fisher, and Eduard Manolescu.
.
.
•
Judea that is to be, thereby not
only meeting our obligation to
our fellow-Jews, whose political
homelessness must forever end,
but likewise proving our worth
as sons and daughters of the
American tradition."
Dr. Wise was re-elected presi-
dent. Albert J. Silber of Detroit
was elected a member of the
national executive committee.
General Joseph T. McNarney,
former commander of American
occupation forces in Europe,
urged the Government to take
immediate action to permit the
entry into this country of large
numbers of displaced persons. At
the same time HIAS, Hebrew
Immigrant Aid Society, called
on Lt. General Lucius D. Clay,
American Military Governor in
Germany, to make available air
transportation to DPs in Amer-
ican and British sectors of Ber-
lin who have been issued U. S.
immigration visas. McNarney's
appeal was made at the conven-
tion of the American Jewish
Congress.
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