The Maccabaean

IN 1884 I visited Palestine and became impressed with the idea of Zionism to the extent of subsequently writing an article on the subject, which was published either in the London Jewish World or in the Jewish Chronicle, I do not now remember which.

In this article I favored starting the development of Palestine on industrial rather than on agricultural lines. I favored the opening of factories, to be operated by up-to-date machinery, for the manufacture of such staple goods as would find a market in the Mediterranean countries and in the interior of Asia and Africa. In fact, I was in favor of converting Palestine into a new New England, when commerce and industry on American lines would be

NO This, however, was to be but the beginning. Successful commerce and industry were soon to open the way for safe financial ventures, when capital would come forward for the construction of aqueducts to afford an ample supply of water for irrigating and manufacturing purposes. The agricultural restoration of Palestine could then be taken systematically in hand; when reafforestation could be undertaken, when the ancient vineyard terraces could again be supplied with earth; when hill and dale, when mountain-side and plain, could again be made to blossom as the rose, when a new Palestine would arise, perhaps surpassing in grandeur the Palestine of the days of old. .

But presently I bethought me of the Turk, and I was driven to the conclusion that if the Turk excels in anything he excels in the art of converting something into nothing; that in matters of progress he is uniformly inert and reactionary. And my dream faded into dim nothingness.

Nevertheless, was the mass of the Jewish people to continue its existence in the humiliating congestion of the Pale? Was no home to be found for them in all this broad earth?

Then the though occurred to me that Lower California could afford such a home. Right across from San Diego I could see in dim outline the boundary dividing the American from the Mexican side of California. On the American side worthless desert lands had been converted by irrigation into some of the highest-priced farming lands in the United States, and what had been done on our side of the boundary could be done on the other side.

And yet that body of land, Lower California, capable of supporting in comfort several times the number of the

Among the recent converts to Zionism of prominent Americans is David Lubin, the American delegate to the International Institute of Agriculture, which was organized by the King of Italy, and whose headquarters are at Rome. For many years Mr. Lubin was a strong opponent of the Movement, particularly because he did not believe that the project for the establishment of a national homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine was feasible so long as that country was dominated by the Turk. The capture of Jerusalem by “General Allenby’s army and the continued success of the campaign following the British declaration in favor of establishing a Jewish national homeland have caused Mr. Lubin to recast his former opinions.

converts to Zionism ans is David Lubin, e to the International re, which was organ- aly, and whose head- e. For many years ong opponent of the rly because he did congested Jewish people of Eastern Europe, contained, at that time, but 33,000 inhabitants. Why could not some arrangement be made with the Mexican Government for the sale of Lower California, so as to form there an autonomous Jewish State under the joint protectorate of the United States and Mexico?

roject for the estab- al homeland for the Every now and again the problem under considera- stine was feasible so tion would recur to me. At was dominated by times the more logical and ure of Jerusalem by eloquent arguments of the rmy and the con- Zionists almost won me campaign following over, and the dream of aun in favor of estab- tonomous rule in Palestine for Israel seemed to assume onal homeland have shape; when, alas, again the o recast his former Turk came to my mind, and I again realized that reliance upon him would be as reliance on a rope of sand; and the dream vanished.

ihen, unexpectedly, came the important announcement by the British Government for the “establishment, in Palestine, of a national home for the Jewish people.”

Here, then, there seemed to be no illusion, no rope of sand. This was the declaration of one of the chiefest among the nations of the earth, of a nation whose word is its bond. Thus, all of a sudden, as when the brilliant sun emerges from behind a thick bank of black clouds, there came Light; and at last there is held out for the Jewish people the glorious prospect of emancipation, of Freedom.

So then, it seems that the age-long dream is about to be realized; Palestine is again to become the Land of Israel. Nay, more than this; for the restoration promises to be pregnant with momentous possibilities. England may presently find that the restored Jewish Commonwealth could, in time, serve a valuable purpose. It could serve her as an effective buffer State, safeguarding her possessions in North Africa and India. And, in that event, is it not likely that England would find it to her advantage to extend the boundaries of this proposed Commonwealth?

It might thus come to pass that such a Commonwealth would, at last, be bounded by Egypt and Arabia on the southwest, extending as far north as Antioch, thence eastward to the Tigris, and stretching downward, southeast, to the Persian Gulf.

But what service, as a buffer State, could the Jewish Commonwealth render England? Service of the highest importance; for the restoration of this people would place each of the units composing the Commonwealth under lasting and solemn obligations to England. It would then become incumbent on the Jewish Commonwealth to be the