EDITORIAL
ACADEMIC ZIONISTS
For a number of years now we have heard of the inroads made into the American universities by Zionism, and we know of a large number of young men who are Zionists, intensely interested in the problems of Jewish life, and competent, now that they have made a place for themselves in the world, to be of service to the movement.
But the number of Jewish university men who actively participate in our movement is not as large as we have right to expect. Although many of them are students, their studies do not inspire them to action. Capable of literary expression, they seldom contribute to our periodicals, and to the discussion of Jewish issues. They have decided opinions; they are political Zionists, but aside from the fact that their status is known, they render us no service. They label themselves Zionists, and they are content with the solution of the dilemma of their own lives. Their Zionism, it would seem, is essentially intellectual.
In the meantime, our movement in America is in crying need of the devotion of the university men, with their training, their knowledge, their broad outlook on life. We lack devoted, intelligent leaders, and we have a right to expect that they shall come from the ranks of the university men.
In England, we are glad to say, the University men are coming to the front as active workers in the organization. Men like Mr. Simon, Mr. Norman Bentwich, Mr. Harry Sacher, and others who need not be mentioned are transforming the movement there into a potent force in the lives of English Jews. They have the authority of men of thorough education. They have the devotion which Zionism ought to inspire in every one who prides himself on being a Zionist.
When will our university men cease being "closet-men?" When will they come back to our people and lead them?
AN AGRARIAN BANK
We are not in a position to substantiate, with details, the report that the Jewish colonial Trust has obtained a concession from the Turkish Government for the establishment of an Argarian Bank in Palestine. We understand that the funds required for such a venture have been available for some time. They have been provided by influential Zionists in Europe, but owing to legal difficulties, it is not possible to say any thing further in the matter at the present time.
JEWISH PRIDE
A NEW YORK Jewish periodical that prides itself upon its dignity and caution, has a symposium in its New Year number on "The Jew in English Fiction" to which a number of English and American novelists have contributed. Dr. Joseph Jacobs prefaces the symposium with an article on a certain reprehensible habit of modern novelists, which is, the persistent introduction in novels of Jewish villains. Is it good taste to invite gentile authors to explain in a Jewish weekly, a matter which to the artistic sensibilities of the novelist cannot be explained except by reverting to a prejudice found in life itself? Mr. Zangwill, the only Jewish novelist who contributed, hit the nail on the head when he wrote that the painter of manners does not aim directly at philanthropy. He paints life as he sees it, and as a rule, he reflects, in his vision of truth, the prejudices of his environment.
A REVOLT AND IT’S MEANING
That fifty students out of fifty-eight have left the Baron de Hirsch Agricultural School at Woodbine, N. J. indicates with striking effect the quality of the administration which has attended the work of the Baron de Hirsch Fund in the United States. There has been serious trouble in the school ever since the new superinten-