(Special to the Courier) Pittsburgh, June 22: A holiday spirit reigns in Pittsburgh; Zion hums everywhere. Wherever you may go and wherever you may be, you hear Jews talking of Zion and the great Zionist convention that opens tomorrow in the Memorial Hall.

A great number of delegates arrived in Pittsburgh to spend the week-end there. Because of the proximity of the "convention city", many western states will be represented at this convention. The delegates from Chicago and its neighboring towns arrived Friday morning. The majority of delegates, however, will first arrive tomorrow morning [Monday].

The pulse of American Jewry at the present moment, beats in the William Penn Hotel where the headquarters of the convention are located. Questions about the convention, as well as about Zionism in general, are being warmly discussed. The most heated debates carried on, however, are those concerning the 2"district plan" which [the Zionist officials] wish to adopt.

Our own Max Shulman and Judge Hugo Pam are preparing ammunition to fight this plan. According to this plan, the Knights of Zion and other independent Zionist organizations will be eliminated, and in their place district committees will be formed which will be directly under the supervision of the American Federation of Zionists.

The opposition is carrying on an active campaign among the members in the lobby of the hotel. Among the "lobbyists" are several women delegates from North Carolina.

The leaders of the Federation were a little worried by the propaganda that is being carried on against their plan. They therefore called a pre-convention conference for tonight at the Zion Institute. And there, plans will be formulated to combat the campaign of the opposition.

In the same Zion Institute, an informal reception and dance was given this 3evening in honor of the delegates.

This morning, the rabbis delivered special sermons in all Orthodox synagogues. And other sermons were delivered between the early and late evening services.

The convention opens tomorrow with a huge parade from the Zion Institute. It will be reviewed from the Young Men's Hebrew Association building by many prominent personages, including the mayor and other city and county officials. The parade will pass through the Jewish district and then will go to the Memorial Hall.

The parade will be made up of four divisions. The first division will be comprised of children marching eight abreast under the leadership of Marshall Joseph Marcus. This division will carry the noble slogan, "The Future Defenders of Jewish Democracy".

The second division will be comprised of six hundred and eighty Jewish mothers whose sons are in the army, and will be called, "Jewish Mothers of Democracy".

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Among them will be Mrs. S. Goldstein, who has ten grandsons and one great grandson in the English army, eleven grandsons and one great grandson in the American army, and other grandsons in the Jewish battalion. Mrs. William Wolk will be the marshall of this division.

The third division will be composed of members of the local women's organizations. The marshall of this division will be Mrs. Finkelpearl.

The fourth division will be led by Isadore Bernstein. This division will be composed of men's organizations, specifically, seven synagogues, ten lodges, all of the Zionist societies, the Young Men's Hebrew Association, and many organizations from various cities.

At the head of the parade there will be policemen, followed by a group of soldiers--fifty young men dressed in the uniform of Palestinian Guards--then the Jewish children carrying flags of all the foreign countries, and then the local rabbis riding in automobiles. Last of all will come the four divisions.

Tomorrow night a formal reception will be given in honor of the delegates.

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At this reception the program will be given in Hebrew. The speakers will be Shmarya Levin, Rueben Brainen, and Dr. Ben-Zion Mosensohn.

Brandeis Receives Bessarabian Delegation

At this convention many interesting developments will arise which have no direct bearing upon Zion, but which have great significance for the Jews as a whole.

One such factor will be the presence of a delegation from the Bessarabian verein. This delegation is headed by the president of the verein, Leo Lerner, who is here to interest Supreme Court Justice Brandeis in the case of the Bessarabian Jews. In accordance with the Bucharest Treaty, these Jews are now under Roumanian rule.

Justice Brandeis will receive the committee tomorrow morning. This movement, to interest the American government in the Bessarabian Jews, is supported by Mr. Adolph Krauss of the B'nai Brith, by United States Senator James Hamilton Lewis, and by all the Jewish congressmen.

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The Pittsburgh newspapers are devoting a great deal of space to this Zionist Convention, and one of them, the Pittsburgh Chronicle-Telegraph, devotes its main editorial page to the convention.