The Chicago subscribers to the Keren Hayesod ["exchequer" of World Zionist Organization] will gather for their annual convention at two o'clock this afternoon at the Hotel La Salle. Dr. Joshua Thon, Chief Rabbi of Cracow, Poland, and member of the Polish Parliament, will be a guest at the conference. He will address the meeting. No funds will be solicited and all friends of Zionism are urged to attend.

The meeting has, officially, two tasks: to hear a report on the activities of the past year, and to elect officials and create an efficient organization for the coming year. The conference, however, actually has a more important task to perform than listening to a report and electing new officials. Its main task is to lay the foundation for the next Keren Hayesod drive, which will begin at the end of March. The work in Palestine is growing and the colonization problem is becoming more difficult and more complicated because the 2number of halutzim who have to be colonized is constantly growing. It is obvious that the income of the Keren Hayesod must grow. Today's conference will seek ways and means of increasing the income of the Keren Hayesod in Chicago and the Middle West. One must admit that the Keren Hayesod in Chicago has grown considerably, despite internal and external difficulties, and that it receives a great deal of support from all Chicago Jews who are interested in the future of our people.

Dr. Weizmann received ten thousand dollars in cash when he made his first appeal in Chicago in behalf of the Keren Hayesod, in February, 1921; Nahum Sokolow made the same appeal a year later and received seventy thousand dollars in cash; when Dr. Weizmann came to Chicago last year to make a second appeal for the Keren Hayesod, he received one hundred ten thousand dollars in cash, and about fifty thousand dollars was sent to him during the year for the Keren Hayesod. The Keren Hayesod drive this year must bring in not less than three hundred thousand dollars because thousands of halutzim in Palestine must be colonized as soon as possible. The colonization budget for the next 3twelve months is nearly double that of the last twelve months.

Can Chicago raise three hundred thousand dollars? It can and it will raise this sum if all the Zionist forces in Chicago work as hard as they possibly can, and we hope that they will do so.

The synagogues raised eighteen thousand dollars in cash for the Keren Hayesod two years ago; last year they raised thirty-five thousand dollars, and this year they will have to raise eighty thousand dollars. The ten presidents of the ten largest synagogues in Chicago can raise this sum, if they seriously want to.

Congregation Anslie Liebowitch, thanks to the work of Mr. M. Zevin and Sam Rosenthal, raised eight thousand dollars last year for the Keren Hayesod. It should raise twelve thousand dollars this year; it can do so, if the synagogue makes a serious effort.

Congregation Kehilath Jacob gave six thousand dollars last year for the Keren Hayesod. Let Messrs. Sam Ginsburg, Alex Eisenstein, and Mr. Goldberg make every effort this year and raise then thousand dollars. If Mr. Weil of the Ohavey Sholem Synagogue, Mr. Salk of the Russian Synagogue, Messrs. Friedman, Kagodsky, and Schaffner of the Knesses Israel Nusach Sford Synagogue, Messrs. Marmorek, Miller, and Teitelbaum of the Congregation Tiphereth Zion, Rabbi Margolin and Mr. Halpern of the synagogue on Maplewood Avenue--if all these gentlemen will work a little harder this year than they did last year, if they will work really well, they will be able to double their quota easily. In short, the [Orthodox] synagogues can raise eighty thousand dollars; the Zionist organization, with its new and strong forces, must raise one hundred twenty thousand dollars; the Conservative synagogues can raise thirty thousand dollars; the fraternal organizations can raise thirty thousand dollars, and the balance can be raised by various affairs and by individuals.

Anybody who knows Jewish Chicago, its great philanthropic and Zionist 5achievements, will admit that Chicago can raise three hundred thousand dollars for the Keren Hayesod. The success of this year's Keren Hayesod drive depends upon today's conference, and upon the banquet which will be given later in the evening in honor of our esteemed guest, Dr. Thon.

The problem of raising this money is a problem of organization. The proper organization of our forces will depend upon the work and example which our leaders set before the masses.

Are there fifty Jews in Chicago who are idealists enough to give up their business and family interests for a week, perhaps two weeks, and go out and raise money for the Keren Hayesod? We put this question before the members of the executive committee of the Keren Hayesod, which is to be elected today; before the members of the Zionist executive committee, and before the synagogue presidents, who recently began to show signs of great activity; this question may also be asked of the rabbis, who are concerned in public affairs.

The success of the Keren Hayesod drive this year is assured if fifty prominent Jews of Chicago will volunteer to make this great sacrifice. We cannot see how we can raise this year the modest sums raised last year, if we do not have fifty volunteers.

We hope that the presence of Dr. Thon will help to arouse the necessary enthusiasm for this great and sacred task. Every thinking Jew in Chicago should realize that we will never build Palestine, if we do not build it within the next ten years. It is quite possible that ten years from now we will not have the unique opportunity that we have now because, after all, the English government expects some practical results over a definite period of time. Our readers know that this period is no more than ten years. Palestine will remain in the hands of the Arabs or the English, if, during these ten years, we do not accomplish what we must accomplish.

Today's conference of the Keren Hayesod must create the moving and driving force for the coming campaign. If the conference succeeds in doing so, it 7will become a historical conference because it will bring to the foreground the great moral forces of Chicago's Jewry. No serious, thinking Jew should fail to attend the Keren Hayesod conference today. Do your duty and be there!