any kind of labor in the factories and from keeping open places of business, except food stores. Further, early in the fall, the High Commissioner ordered that bills of exchange shall not be protested on Saturday, Friday or Sunday.

In the United States suggestions were urged for the solution of the problem of work on Saturday in a radical and thorough-going way. The United Synagogue of America adopted a resolution at its twelfth annual convention, New York, May 11 and 12, to call a conference of employers and labor leaders with a view to establishing a five-day labor week. In the fall of 1924 the executive board of the Central Conference of American Rabbis went on record as favoring the introduction of the five-day week in seasonal industries.

FACILITATING OF SABBATH AND HOLIDAY OBSERVANCE.As in previous years (see YEAR BOOK, Vol. 24, (5684), p.25f), during the year under review, incidents have occurred in many countries showing a tendency to accommodate Jews in the matter of the observance of the Sabbath and the Jewish holidays. In Poland, the government permitted Jewish recruits to register on the 9th instead of the 8th of October, which was the Day of Atonement. In that country the President of the Sejm agreed to postpone its opening for one day because of the last day of Succoth. In Egypt, at the request of Senator Joseph de Picciotto Bey, the Senate decided, according to press reports, not to hold meetings on the Sabbath day.

Various governments also granted furloughs to Jews in the armies and navies. In the United States, the Jewish Welfare Board in coöperation with local communities, ar

ranged, for those who could not go to their homes, religious services for the High Holidays in 125 army posts, naval stations and hospitals which were located in the United States, the Philippines, Hawaii, Panama and Haiti. More than 1,500 persons participated in the services. In Great Britain, the Admiralty granted leave of absence to Jewish officers and men of the navy for the two days of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and, in addition, eight days of Passover, two days of Shabuoth and two days of Succoth. The Admiralty also ordered that in each case men should be enabled to reach home by 4 P. M. of the previous day.

As for Jews in the civil service, early in the year under review, Congressman Emanuel Celler of New York complained to President Coolidge concerning the practice of the Post Office Department of dismissing employees, Protestants, Catholics and Jews, who abstain from working on their respective religious holidays. In Abyssinia it appears that the government is taking measures to free Jewish civil service employees from working on the Sabbath day and on the Jewish holidays. The matter there is complicated by the efforts made by the government to abolish slavery. Later in 1924, the Regent issued instructions to officials providing that "no man should be compelled to work against his will and without remuneration, and that nobody should be obliged to work against his will on Saturday or on any other of his holidays.”

THE PROPOSED CALENDAR Reform.—It was related in "The Survey of the Year 5684" that the League of Nations appointed a Committee of Inquiry to consider questions relating to the reform of the calendar. One recommendation considered by the Committee was that the year be

divided into 52 weeks of 7 days each, leaving one or two to be considered as blank days or non-week-days. This recommendation meant that one or two days at the end of the year would not be counted at all, and thus each year the Sabbath would move forward one day and sometimes two days. It appears, however, that this recommendation did not meet with favor. In the middle of February, opposition was voiced by a Jewish committee consisting of the Chief Rabbis of France and Great Britain, a representative of the Rabbinical Council of the Agudath Israel, and Mr. Lucien Wolf, representing the Jewish Joint Foreign Committee. The Chief Rabbi of Great Britain was authorized to speak also in the name of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. The Committee stated that the Jews were not opposed to the fixing of Easter or to other reforms of the calendar provided the Sabbath was not made movable. At this writing, the matter is still pending and indications are that no changes will be formally proposed for some time to come.

SHEHITAH.-The agitation against Shehitah, begun in England in 5683, continued during the year under review, but on a smaller scale. The Slaughtering of Animals Bill introduced by A. Shirley Benn, which passed upon its second reading in the House of Commons, lapsed when the Parliament in which it was introduced came to an end.

It is worth noting that during the year under review, Professor T. B. Wood, Professor Joseph Bancroft, and Mr. L. F. Neuman, director of agriculture, all of Cambridge University, jointly investigated the Jewish method of slaughtering animals and reported, first, that it was untrue that there was a sufficient blood-pressure in the brain of

the animal after the cutting of the throat to delay the loss of sensibility; second, that the control of the eye muscles was lost in ten seconds; third, that the fall of blood pressure was so rapid that sensation could only exist for a fraction of that period, and, last, that there was no cause for complaint on humanitarian grounds against the Jewish method of slaughtering, if efficiently carried out, as was usually the case.

On the whole, the past year, it would seem, has witnessed a decrease in the intensity of the campaign against shehitah compared with that of the previous year. In CzechoSlovakia, the City Council of Pilsen submitted a memorandum to the Minister of the Interior demanding a suppression of the Jewish method of killing animals. Also in Germany in the province of Mecklenburg, there seems to have been an agitation against shehitah. The press reported early in 1925 that the government of Mecklenburg assured the rabbi of the city that it was not its intention to interfere with the Jewish method of killing animals.

KASHRUT.-During the year the Supreme Court of the United States finally passed on the constitutional validity of the so-called New York State Kosher Law. The court held unanimously (Mr. Justice Brandeis taking no part in the consideration of the case) that it was within the rights of the State of New York to pass a law that any person shall be guilty of a misdemeanor who sells "any meat or meat preparation and falsely represents same to be Kosher", or sells "in the same place of business both Kosher and non-Kosher meat" without exhibiting in his window a sign reading, "Kosher and non-Kosher meat sold here".

In Poland the government ordered that Jewish soldiers

should receive money instead of food during the High Holidays so that they may provide themselves with Kosher food. On the other hand, the Budget Commission of the Sejm rejected the motion of Deputy Feldman that Jewish soldiers in the army be provided with kosher food. It is noteworthy that the members of the Commission belonging to the liberal parties, the peasant group “Wizwolenie" and the P. P. S. (Socialists) voted in favor of the motion.

THE SYNAGOGUE.-Complete statistics of Jewish congregations in this country and in other countries are not available. In the United States over seventy new congregations were organized during the past year. Of that number, 15 congregations maintained either Sunday schools or week-day schools. The former figure is exclusive of the new congregations organized in connection with over twenty-five community centers and young people's Hebrew associations which came into being during the past year. Complete information with regard to congregational organizations in Jugo-Slavia was published during the year. There were 111 organized communities, including 28 of the Sephardic rite and 76 of the Ashkenazic rite. These 111 communities had 92 synagogues and 33 rabbis. The budget of all the communities in the country was 8,500, 000 dinars, of which 1,428,520 dinars was the budget of the community of Zagreb, the largest Jewish community in the country.

As for central organizations, in the United States, the United Synagogue of America held its twelfth annual convention in New York, early in May, 1924. It was rereported that there were affiliated with the organization