THE MACCABAEAN
A Monthly Jewish Magazine devoted to the Zionist Movement and Jewish Life and Letters.
EDITORIALS
THE NATIONAL FUND COMPLAINT
THE National Fund Commission takes us to task for commenting unfavorably on the intention of that commission to send a special agent to this country in order to establish an American Sammelstelle for Zionist funds.
The point we made in the editorial referred to by Dr. Bodenheimer in his letter was that Cologne had been acting during the past few years in a manner disrespectful to the claim of the American Federation for a right to a voice in matters affecting Zionist work in the United States. In justification of the position we took, we mentioned the coming of Herr Wolffsohn, the news of whose projected visit had come to us from Canada; the recognition of the Chicago Knights of Zion as a Federation against our protest and without a hearing having been given us when recognition was accorded the Knights; the dismissal of our request that an effort be made to establish a branch of the Jewish Colonial Trust in New York; and the many decisions of the Actions Comite with reference to work in this country, without the least attention being paid to our legitimate demand for participation in such decisions.
It is current opinion in Europe and especially in Cologne that the United States affords an excellent source for the collection of Zionist funds, but that American Zionists are too far away from Europe to entitle them to any voice in the larger affairs of the Zionist movement. The American Zionists ought to produce the financial results, and Europe will administer Zionist affairs without them. American
Zionists do not know what is going on; they are a materialistic people, who can be made to give money, but it would be folly to submit any question for them to decide.
The American Zionists resent being relegated to such an ignominious position in the movement. We claim for ourselves the same rights as are accorded all other Zionists. As for being informed on Zionist affairs, it is the fault of the administration if we are not so informed, but we do not admit that we are not informed on the larger Zionist issues. The Zionist movement must remain as a democratic organization, and any attempt to consider American Zionists as the "contributors" to the movement is bound to be disastrous.
It is obvious to our readers that we meant no criticism of the National Fund as such, when we included its activity in America as one of the points that gave ground for our general criticism of Cologne. As a matter of fact, the National Fund commission is anxious to remove the ground for the criticism we made by having one of its officials remain with us for some time to come not only to establish the Sammelstelle in New York, but also to become acquainted with American Zionists in order in the future to avoid any misunderstanding and the better to be able to take action in matters affecting the fund in this country.
We for our part welcome Herr Hugo Kaufman, who is now in New York, and hope that he may be able to gather a fund of observation which will be used by the commission to the advantage of the movement in this country. Herr Kaufman's presence has in itself done away with many misunderstandings, and it is probable that before he has concluded his work, amicable relations with the rest of the Zionist administration will have been established.
THE ENGLISH MANIFESTO.
THE declaration of a program issued by a number of English Zionists is a welcome evidence of the introduction of Anglo-Sax-