than neutral, they sought a greater say in the allocation and distribution of
funds. To avoid a rupture over relief, Schiff therefore proposed a small
commission headed by Judah Magnes, a man palatable to both sides, to
survey distribution in Europe.^70
His criticism of Zionist relief efforts notwithstanding, Schiff plunged
readily into work for Palestine. Again personal contacts served him well.
From his friend and ambassador to Constantinople, Henry Morgenthau
(who as a Jew was a target of German intimidation) and from Morgenthau’s
successor, Abram Elkus, as well as from a few other witnesses, Schiff and
his circle were alerted to the deplorable conditions in the yishuv. They also
learned of Turkish suspicions of foreign Jews, Zionists in particular, and of
Turkey’s idea of a mass expulsion of Jews. Not only was Schiff in a position
to turn directly to Red Cross officials, asking for medical supplies on behalf
of Jerusalem’s hospitals, but he freely requested permission from Secretary
of State Lansing for certain families in Palestine to enter the United States.
In line with Morgenthau’s suggestion, he spearheaded the establishment of
a free loan society for Palestinian Jews and a special fund for orange grow-
ers. To ensure that the monies for Palestine reached their proper destina-
tion, Schiff arranged with business contacts at Standard Oil for the safe
transfer of funds. He and the committee also investigated and disproved a
curious story, circulated in Morgenthau’s name, that Turkey was prepared
to sell Palestine.^71
His eyes on Turkish ill-will, the banker resented the Zionists and their
“dangerous” nationalistic ideals all the more. He was willing to work to-
gether, he said, provided the Zionists recognized the right of Jews to hold
different views, but he was at best grudgingly cooperative. He charged
that, in their constant attempts to bypass the stewards, the Zionists ear-
marked the greater portion of their separate relief fund for the yishuv—
help that would have proved hopelessly inadequate had non-Zionists not
come to the rescue—at the expense of European Jews. More worrisome, he
agreed with Morgenthau’s private assessments that the nationalists incited
anti-Jewish feeling in Turkey. His fears were borne out in 1917 when Ger-
man philologist A. S. Yahuda and Zionist leader Max Nordau reported a
massacre in Palestine. Once again the diplomatic network of the AJC was
called into service, but a bitter Schiff became increasingly convinced as the
war ground on that the irresponsible Zionists were working solely for their
own political agenda.^72
A Jewish CongressQuarrels over wartime relief were eclipsed by a stormy debate within the
community on an American Jewish Congress. None denied the need to
214 Jacob H. Schiff