The number of Jews in our town according to the statistics is 25,000, the greater part – craftsmen. Making a living is difficult. Many are unemployed, trade is low and competition is strong. Emigration to America grew last summer because of hunger. Physically capable youth who can work in agriculture left beyond the Atlantic. Now emigration has dwindled, not because the economic situation is better but because the people who emigrated told them of bad conditions. For the past 2 years rent pay decreased. Poor people left town and 'middle class' became poorer and the rich ones replaced them. Good, big houses are left with no tenants. There was hope for a higher rent because two quarters of town were burnt down.

The very rich are to blame because all businesses depend on those who have a lot of money and they have the power to broaden trade and revive it so that the poor can make a living. In our town they are stingy and do not support those who should be supported. Small shops burst like mushrooms with big competition. Even the train station and the soldiers stationed here do not help. If the very rich attended to all that they would benefit the poor. In addition to the bad economic situation, there is a spiritual lack – a place to read Hebrew books for those who crave to learn.

[Signed:] Yehoshua Vinderovitz.