proval of Zionists. The technical high school, about to be founded at Haifa, for which Mr. Jacob H. Schiff has made such a generous contribution, will be an achievement of the Hifsverein due to Zionist inspiration. It is noteworthy that Schmaryahu Lewin, who at the last Congress, was the reporter on education in Palestine, has now been the successful apostle of the Hilfsverein in America on behalf of that high school, of which much may be expected.
Every Congress that has hitherto been held has had an importance of its own, every one of these greatest of Jewish gatherings has been an imposing manifestation.
of the living and growing desire for the resettlement of the Jews in the historic land of Israel. But this Congress stands before a new and pregnant fact. The gates of Palestine, as of the whole of Turkey, will be thrown open to the competitive enterprise of the world. We Jews are favored by our vivid national consciousness and by the potential capacities of our people on Palestinian soil. It is a matter of the most serious import to the future of the Jews, if, by not utilizing both of these inestimable advantages, we were overtaken by others in the race for economic and moral supremacy in the ancestral home of the Jewish people.
An American Consul on Palestine
THE commerce and industry of Palestine for the year 1907 were seriously affected by the failure of agricultural crops, caused by the severe drought that was general throughout this section of country. The rainfall was much less than normal, the spring rains especially being light and ceasing earlier than usual. The land not having received sufficient moisture to carry the growing crops through the dry season to maturity, a total failure of agricultural crops resulted in most localities, and only a very light yield was produced in the most favored sections. The suffering caused thereby has not been so great as in like periods of the past, although it has been the worst failure happening in this land for the past fifteen years. Fortunately it was confined to the cereals, other crops having been slightly affected, if any at all. The fruit crops were abundant and of fine quality, and to this source of supply may be, attributed the better economical and industrial conditions that have prevailed, as the products of the olive orchard and the vine are the principal sources of income and food products to the cultivators of the land.
The orange growers were blessed with bountiful crops, which were marketed at profitable prices, for all the product of 1906. This gave a greater impetus to the business, and the area for growing this crop was greatly extended during the year 1907. The returns for the 1907 crop were a complete reversal of former business in this industry, heavy rains and severe windstorms having injured the fruit, so that on the whole the growers met with heavy losses.
The orange industry is handicapped by frequent rough water at Jaffa, which prevents the entrance of vessels, thereby causing a delay of sometimes more than two weeks in the shipment of the fruit, and as the principal market is Liverpool, the shipments thus delayed become unfit to make the long voyage, and serious losses result. Unfavorable weather also affects the fruit during transit, from which heavy losses occur. The character of the crop in Spain and other countries nearer the English market is the most potent factor in governing the prices for the product here.
Notwithstanding the difficulties with which the orange growers are confronted,