ganization in this country. Yet the success that has attended this initial effort justifies the declaration that it contains tremendous possibilities for the movement, and that its continuance is bound to result in great benefit to Zionism and the enrollment of the bulk of ‚American Jewry, in one way or another, under its banners. If the work is to be continued, it will have to be mapped out on somewhat different: lines, but with no essential modification of the scheme as originally outlined. It will take a number of years before the entire country can be covered, and then it will take an additional number of years properly to organize the Jewish communities along Zionist or Jewish nationalist lines. The work is big enough to require the services of four to six men, including at least two Yiddish-speaking agitators.: The wonderful response which my poor efforts met are convincing proof that failure is impossible. Let the right men engage themselves in this work. They will be given a willing, aye, an eager hearing even in the camps of the alleged upposition. Their reasonable demands on behalf of the move- ‚ment will be granted. But it is not to be expected that those who have lived and prospered away from the maelstrom of Jewish life, and who have been lulled into lethargy by their leaders and teachers, shall be so mentally equipped as to accept at once the underlying philosophy of our movement. It is sufficient for the time being that the discovery has been made that, despite the virulent opposition manifesting itself in press and pulpit, and in spite of the denunciations of disloyalty to American institutions that have been hurled against us by self-appointed leaders of Jewish thought, a willing ear and a willing heart are turned to the advocate of Judaism, even in those communities where the opposition has been strongest and loudest. With persistent, intelligent and dignified effort, we shall be able ultimately to swing the major part of American Jewry in fovor of every plank of the Zionist platform.
As chairman of the committee on organization, I am bound to say that I am not at all pleased with what I have seen of our organized movement during this tour. Of course, there are some exceptions, and these are very
luminous ones; and they simply prove that if the Federation of American Zionists had been organized on a different basis, our movement would have stood much higher in the opinion of American Jewry, and would have been better off in a financial way than it is at the present time. Of most of the societies, it must be said that they are mere collection agencies of a not very effective sort. It is not that the membership of our organization is of a poor quality, but that our present method of organization is faulty. It is a mistake to imagine that by reducing the dues of the federation to a minimum, a large membership will be gathered together; on the contrary, it works the other way, and it is noteworthy that the societies whose dues are as low as fifteen cents a month are the poorest in membership, and that the societies whose dues are larger have a larger membership and a more representative membership. I am thoroughly satisfied that a higher rate of dues will place a society on a more dignified basis, and will win for it a greater respect from the community.
A complete reorganization of the movement is what we shall undertake sooner or later—the sooner the better. This reorganization, it seems to me, should have for one of its salient features a minimum tax far in excess of the present federation due, which should provide for the adequate support of the Actions Comite, of the Federation and of the various Zionist institutions. Such a reorganization would, in my judgment, appeal to a very large number of well-to-do people in American Jewry, and it would be easier to organize them on that basis than on the present basis. I would not, by any means, eliminate those who have stood by the organization for so long, and who have helped the Federation to exist all of this time; but even among the very poorest of our adherents, it would be found easy to collect a higher tax than the present one. The resolution that was offered last year by the delegates from New York to increase the Federation dues from 25 to 50 cents was correct in principle as far as it went. And I believe that raising it even to a higher sum would not work out disadvantageously to our move-