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THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE, May 9, 1975 — PAGE 10
Crown Prince Alrfhito And The Jewish Question
by JUDAH RICHARDS
Is Japanese Crown Prince
Akihito Jewish? How about Casey
Stengel? Bob Dylan? Treasury
Secretary William E. Simon?
Are there any kosher
restaurants in Davenport, Iowa?
Where is the largest Jewish con
gregation in the United States? In
the Soviet Union? In the world?
The questions —t almost any
Jewish question you can think of
— keep coming to the Jewish In
formation Bureau by telephone, by
mail, sometimes even by personal
visit. The inquirers are as varied as
the population of the United
States.They may be young or
elderly, students or cab drivers,
business or professional men,
Jewish or gentile, farmers or ur
banites. The offices on 57th Street
in New York City are constantly
humming with activity — between
seventy-five and a hundred
questions in average weeks, several
times that number under special
circumstances.
Sometimes the J.I.B. can refer
the caller to an appropriate agency
to get the needed information or
assistance. In more than half the
cases, however, the Bureau must
come up with the answer, using its
own extensive files and in some in
stances undertaking substantial
research.
The J.I.B.’s reference materials
were accumulated over the years
by the late Bernard G. Richards,
who founded the Bureau in 1932.
BGR, as everyone called him, died
in 1971 at the age of 94 after a dis
tinguished career as author, jour
nalist, and historian. His
knowledge was so encyclopedic
that he could answer the great ma
jority of questions without con
sulting any reference work. But
over the years he collected a large
and comprehensive library, which
is the basis of most of the work of
his successors in the Bureau today.
More than just an observer and
chronicler of events, BGR played a
leading role in the American
Jewish community for many years.
From 1906 to 1911 he served as
secretary of the Jewish Communi
ty of New York City. In 1915 he
had a major part in the formation
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of the American Jewish Congress,
serving as executive director until
1932.
Focusing attention in the early
stages of the congress on the
problems of the Jews of Europe
during and after World War I,
BGR and others tried to make the
new group as inclusive as possible,
incorporating elements in the
Jewish community ranging from
the right to the left.
The continuance of the Jewish
Information Bureau has been en
couraged by BGR’s friends and
associates over the years in this
and other communal activities —
such leaders of the Jewish com
munity as Samuel Blitz, Eleazar
Lipsky, Werner Cahnman,
Charles Madison., Mitchell
Leventhal, Samuel Rothberg,
Morris Goldman, Sol Ash, and
Robert Szold. The work of the
Bureau, which depends on con
tributions from the public to meet
its operating expenses, is carried
on today by BGR’s children: his
son, Judah A. Richards, an adver
tising and marketing executive, as
chairman; his daughter, Ruth
Eisenstein, and her husband,
Myron Eisenstein, who is vice-
chairman. BGR would, of courie,
be happy to know that his children
are contributing their time and ef
fort to the Bureau he established,
and in fact have often used funds
of their own to help it continue
functioning.
But he would be equally happy,
one can be sure, that a number of
young people are becoming in
volved in the Bureau, for BGR
always felt close to youngsters and
had many young friends. Among
—turn to page II
THE RATE INCREASE
AND YOUR
ELECTRIC SERVICE
Straight Talk from
Bob Scherer
President,
Georgia Power Company
The Georgia Public Service
Commission has approved a $116
million increase in electric rates for
Georgia Power Company’s retail
customers.
This sounds like a lot of money.
But it is below the amount which
studies of Georgia growth show is
necessary to meet present and future
electrical needs of our customers in a
balanced manner. In fact, it is below
even the level of emergency relief
approved earlier by this same
commission.
The immediate effect of this
decision is to call a halt to our future
plans for nuclear generating plant
Georgia Power Company
A citizen wherever we serve®
construction. National energy experts
largely agree that nuclear power is the
major long-term solution to the elec
tric power problem—from both a
supply and cost standpoint.
Price increases of any kind are
never popular and we would not
pretend to think they are. But costly
construction of new generating and
transmitting facilities is necessary to
continue serving you. We’ve invested
$2-1/4 billion in rive years ending in
1974. Higher rates would not com
pletely pay for such construction;
however, they would help our com
pany achieve a stable financial rating
so we could sell the required stocks
and bonds to raise needed money for
that construction.
In the next few weeks we will be
studying carefully what can be done
with this lesser amount, and how it
will affect your electric bill—and your
future service. As soon as new rate
schedules are worked out, you will be
informed fully.
I pledge to you, however, that
we’ll be working harder than ever to
make every dollar count; we may have
to cut still more construction projects
and we shall continue to exercise the
strictest controls over our budgets
and payrolls. I plan to report to you
periodically on what we are doing. In
the meantime, if you have questions
or suggestions on this vital subject
I would appreciate hearing from you.
Write:
Bob Scherer
P.O. Box 4599
Atlanta, Georgia 30302