COMMUNICATIONS
OUR JAFFA CORRESPONDENT.
To THE MACCABAEAN:
In the August issue of THE MACCABAEAN your Jaffa correspondent speaking of the “Mismanagement” of the National Fund money, among other things says: “Only re- centily at Lydda, Mr. B. Their, the manager of the Jewish N. F. in Palestine, engaged Arab laborers to plant the young olive trees of the future Herzl forest. The Poale Zion raised with anger, etc. destroyed everything the Arahs had nlanted ”
About the same incident I read in the official organ of the Russian Zionists (Dos Judische Volk, Num. 7, March 19, 1908, Wilna) and it is told in a different way entirely. In the report that the Central Bureau of the Russian Zionists received through Prof. Otto Warburg from Engineer Berman, who has charge of the planting of the Herzl forest, and not Mr. Their, as your correspondent has it, the latter says: "The work in Lydda is progressing. At first I had engaged Arabs, but they are now replaced by Jewish laborers since six days. In spite of my earnest trying to get Jewish workmen at first, I could not procure such, but at last came a group of Jewish laborers from Petach Tikvah who agreed to work steadily. I am very much satisfied with their work, etc.," and absolutely nothing is mentioned of an actual destruction of trees, as your correspondent reports it.
Those that have some idea of planting trees, know that this is a seasonable work and must be done in the right time in order to have the best of success. It is therefore self-evident that Engineer Berman was obliged to engage Arabs as Jewish workmen Icould not (to our shame be it said) be secured.
Would he be waiting with the planting, it would probably mean an entire postponement of the work for another half or whole year.
The object of this letter is not to defend our officials, they can do it themselves, but your correspondent, being annonymous, very often misstates facts and consequently misleads the readers of your magazine.
For the sake of truth, I hope that you will investigate this matter.
TO CORRESPONDENTS.
MORRIS ALEXANDER, Newark, N. J.—The president of the Zionist Congress holds office only during the sessions of the Congress ; he is not a permanent official. The head of the Zionist organization is the President of the Smaller Actions Comite, who is, at present, David Wolffsohn, of Cologne. (2.) There are a number of Jewish plays, fit for production by amateurs. A great deal depends upon the extent of amateurishness of the players. Dr. Nordau’s “Dr. Kohn” is a good “heavy” play. Tchirikow’s “The Jews” is another. Lighter plays are the one-act play by Louis Lipsky, “The Shofar,” the same author’s “Vice-Versa,” for children, Sholom Aleichem’s “Zusaet und Zuspreht,” etc., and a number of plays in Yiddish.
IMPORTANT MEETINGS.
Thursday evening, Sept. 3, under the auspices of the Central Committee of the Peale Zion of America, mass-meeting to be addressed by His Excellency, Mundji Bey, Charge d’Affaires of the Turkish embassy in the United States, Dr. Isaac A. Hourwich, Dr. H. Solotaroff, and others, to adopt resolutions expressing the sentiments of the Poale Zion on the Young Turks’ movement.
Saturday evening, September 19, at Clinton Hall, mass-meeting under the auspices of the Zionist Council of Greater New York. Dr. Isaac A. Hourwich will speak on "The Turkish Constitution and its Possibilities for Zionism." Other speakers: the Revs. Masliansky and Seff, and probably Dr. J. L. Magnes.
During the past few years, a number of excellent Hebrew schools, under private auspices, have been established in New York city. These schools have abandoned the use of Yiddish, and prefer English, whenever they can employ it. In addition they are fully informed on the principles of modern pedagogy. One of the best of these schools is that managed by Phillips and Lunevsky, in Harlem. ***