It is much easier to create wrong impressions than to dispel them."
Mr. Yellin stated, however, that although the "red-ticket" was still in force, there had been no instance in which the restriction had been carried into effect. He also remarked that the restrictions on the acquisition of land had again been relaxed.
"It is quite true that there has been a press campaign against the Jews," added Mr. Yellin. "This has been engineered largely by the Christian Arabs. The Christians have acquired considerable landed property in Palestine and they have lately begun to feel the pinch of Jewish competition. One paper, called Carmel, has been especially bitter, and has endeavoured to incite the Mohammedan press also to attack the Jews. I took occasion to see the editor of a leading Mohammedan paper, who had been particularly singled out, to lay before him the true facts of the case and to endeavor to prevent him from following the invitation so pointedly extended to him.
"There ought to be no complaint against the Jewish settlers, because in nearly every instance they have brought into cultivation land that was formerly barren. The Government revenues benefit to a very considerable extent, and the natives receive good employment. It is quite noticeable how the condition of the Arabs is improved near the Jewish colonies. They are better fed, better housed, and have more constant employment than elsewhere. The agitation is, therefore, perfectly groundless, and as I have shown, is based on purely selfish motives."
"Hebrew is being increasingly used as a living language. This is to be attributed mainly to the kindergartens, where only Hebrew is used. The children use Hebrew as their vernacular, and it is curious to note how the parents are forced to learn to speak Hebrew in order to be able to converse with their children. The little ones are thus largely educating their parents! Hebrew is now quite a common language in Jerusalem. In the colonies, of course, it is the principal language in current use. There, the people are more shut off from intercourse with the outside world, and Hebrew has more chance of becoming acclimatised. The Govern-
ment is quite favorable to the spread of Hebrew. More than one Minister has expressed surprise at the small use made by the Jews of their national tongue. All they ask is that the Jews should know Turkish as well."
Death of A. L. Levinsky
A cable from Odessa received here on Friday, October 28, brought the sad news of the death of the well-known Hebrew writer, communal worker and Choveyi Zionist, Alchonon Loeb Levinsky, who passed away at the age of 53. "In the death of A. L. Levinsky," says a writer for the Yiddish Press, "modern Hebrew literature has lost a writer of great charm and the Zionist movement an energetic and important worker.
"In the Hebrew literature he occupied an important place on account of his feuilletons, which were distinguished for genuine Jewish humor and satire. No other of the Hebrew writers could wield such an influence through the feuilleton or humorous article as did Levinsky. Being by nature endowed with the gift of seeing the cheerful and humorous aspects of life, he considered it a sacred duty to entertain the Hebrew readers and to cause a smile to light up the faces which have otherwise been clouded by care. Levinsky's feuilletons were a great relief from the fearfully serious and complex problematic articles which abound in modern Hebrew literature. As a matter of fact, Levinsky would also touch upon these problems but he would do this in such a graceful and clever manner, that the readers mind would become illumined without being wearied. In his early years the deceased devoted himself to the writing of articles and of moral reflections, and he also wrote considerably in the Russian and the Yiddish languages.
"His first feuilletons appeared in the Hamalitz, in 1889, and at once, he attracted the attention of Hebrew readers. To the Hebrew monthly Hashiloach, he afterward contributed a number of clever articles under the pen-name of 'Rebi Korev.' With Achad Haam, the first editor of the Hashiloach, he did not agree. He was a plain every-day Zionist, one of the soldiers of the Zionist army, and Achad