There is no lack of talent in various fields in Jewish Chicago. We have talented engravers, painters, writers, orators, actors (dramatic, comic, and tragic), vocal and instrumental musicians, inventors, dancers, baseball players, wrestlers, fighters, swimmers--in short, talent of every description. We are particularly rich in talented performers of instrumental music. There are on the Jewish streets of Chicago many Jewish children who show signs of becoming virtuosos on the piano or the violin. They are all undeveloped talents. Many of them cannot fully develop their talents because they lack the means; others, because they do not have the proper encouragement from their teachers, or because their parents or relatives, who could afford to help them by giving them music lessons, refuse to do so. The dark life of the Ghetto has dulled our understanding [of the fact] that it is necessary to "push" a talent forward so that it can keep 2on developing. Most of our talented people who have become successful, are self-made. Their genius has overcome all obstacles and thus we now have celebrated violinists, pianists, and singers.

As I have said before, there are on the Jewish streets of Chicago many young Jewish boys and girls who may become celebrated pianists or violinists. Pay a visit to the music studios, beginning with Isidor Buchhalter's studio on the West Side and ending with the Chicago Musical College, Downtown, and you will be convinced of that. You will also be convinced that there are adult Jewish boys and girls who have magnificent singing voices, who could become, by the grace of God,opera and concert singers, but who lack the means and the teachers. America doesn't have teachers who can train an opera or concert singer. To become an opera or concert singer, one must go to Europe and it costs money to become a trained singer in Europe.

We have many societies in our city, some of which are entirely superfluous and useless. They duplicate well-established societies; they try to do, 3or think that they are doing charity work. Actually they are good at money-raising, most of which is wasted. Why shouldn't all these superfluous societies unite and form one big society to help develop our talented young people and to help them become famous? Would it not be better for us citizens of America and members of the eternal people, if we sent talented pupils to Europe every years so that they could study there and become the great artists which they should be?

On the West Side of Chicago, there is a young Jewish man, Jacob Amado, a singer. He has a brilliant future ahead of him; he may become a concert singer. He cannot however, achieve that goal because he lacks the means. He is poor, and to earn his board and clothing, he works at various occupations. He does not work steadily because such a man has no patience to work. Very likely, he is not an efficient worker, either. Occasionally he goes hungry. He studies music with a downtown teacher, Mr. Joseph A. Shuvikerath, who does not charge him anything for the lessons, and who, occasionally, shoves a five dollar bill into his pocket because he recognizes that Amado 4has great talent. Others who have heard Amado sing, know that he has great talent and they appreciate it, but they either cannot help him or they have their own troubles.

Jacob Amado is thirty-three years old, of Spanish-Jewish origin. He has been a resident of Chicago for the past twelve years. Nobody discovered his talent; he discovered it himself and began to sing. No other member of his family sings. Who knows, maybe a great great grandfather of his, during the time of the Inquisition, sang the eternal melody of Kol Nidre in one of the secret places in Spain and made the walls shake with the power of his voice, and that the power of that singer has been inherited after so many years, by his descendant.

When Jacob Amado began to sing, he aroused the interest of his listeners who encouraged him to study. Lovingly and gratefully he remembers S. Rosenberg and S. Brotzky. They helped him with their advice, and told him to attend the opera and concerts, and to study.

Jacob Amado has a tenor voice, a rare tenor voice. His range is very wide. He sings powerfully, sweetly, warmly, and poignantly. He has a powerful voice and can reach notes outside the range of the average tenor. You see, you feel, you understand that he still has something to say, that he needs only training to unlock the great treasury of song and music that is latent within him.

Jacob Amado sings almost all of the important operas. He knows them all. He is familiar with all the arias, knows them thoroughly, and understands them, and now he sings them so wonderfully well that he transposes you to a new world, a world full of beauty and poetry. For a long time after Jacob Amado has finished singing, your ears still ring with the youthful freshness, the power, and beauty of his tones.

Jacob Amado has sung at a few concerts that his teacher, Joseph A. Shvikerath, and others have arranged for him. He was very successful. The New York Musical Courier said that his voice had a bewitching, vibrating, and strong 6quality. Musical America said that he had a very fine voice, a voice that was in a class by itself. The Chicago Musical News said that nature rarely produces a voice so large, persuasive, vibrant, and warm. Herman Devries in the Chicago American said that the character and timbre of Amado's voice was like that of the voice of the celebrated Italian tenor, [Enrico] Caruso. Dr. Alex Sher, a well-known musician, and Madame Rosa Olitcka, world-famous opera and concert singer, are also of the same opinion. The writer of these lines heard Amado sing, in their presence, capably and brilliantly accompanied at the piano by Professor Buchhalter.

The critics admit that Jacob Amado is not perfect but they prophesy a brilliant future for him. They see in him a concert singer of a rare caliber.

A singer like Jacob Amado needs no better recommendation. What he needs now is money to go to Europe, to perfect himself in his chosen profession. Others among us who are us talented and poor as he is also need money. Jacob Amado is only one example of the talented people who will either be 7forced to sing in movie houses, at weddings, banquets, or to lose their talents completely unless somebody helps them.

Why don't our useless, unnecessary societies transform themselves into a society whose task it would be to raise funds to develop the talents and perfect the art of such artists as Jacob Amado?