The Maccabaean

THE course of the Zionist movement from its inception to the present imminent realization of its political program has failed to impress us with the urgency of the economic problem of a Jewish Commonwealth. Zionist thought and policy were directed towards creating or utilizing political opportunities. Hitherto all attempts to deal with the economic or "practical" phases of the Jewish restoration have been either fragmentary or theoretical. Furthermore, owing to the natural inertia of human thinking we do not yet realize the imminence of dealing with the economic aspects of the restoration. This inertia must be overcome.Mr. Mohl, who is the Exec. Society of Engineers and Arch. engaged in the investigation the Unit of One Hundred Thou. this article. —ED.

Mr. Mohl, who is the Executive Secretary of the Zionist Society of Engineers and Agriculturists, has been actively engaged in the investigations connected with the idea of the Unit of One Hundred Thousand, which he discusses in this article.—Ed.

assurance and every industry in the economic calendar can be just as speedily proposed and disposed of. The proposers are aglow with their ideals of social justice and their pro-

posals therefore are divorced, from what should be their very core, namely the consideration of economic efficiency. Instead of grappling with these proposals in order to make them contribute with the maximum efficiency to the economic needs of the Jewish Commonwealth, their chief concern is to find a field for the application of their particular social hobbies. Therein lies the vice of their method or mode of approach.

Let it not be understood that any aspersions are here cast upon any of the principles advocated. It may well be that we shall be forced to the same principles in consequence even of a terra firma approach, but those principles must be an outgrowth of life, not an imposition upon life.

The Laissez Fairist

There is still another false method of approach. And that is the method of the economic laissez fairists, who think of Palestine as a locus where the modes and habits which obtain in America or England should naturally be transplanted. In other words, having lived and worked under certain well established conditions and methods, they inevitably think in terms of their own surroundings. They cannot base their thinking on the fact that the economic life of Palestine is yet to be created and under conditions peculiar to Palestinee A proposal is made for building railroads just as though we knew the location, character and quantity of the things to be transported on the railroead. The proposal is made apparently without reference to the peculiar shape of Palestine. A little thinking in terms of Palestine would preclude any proposal for cross-country railroads, for, since the country is so narrow the transportation of goods to the coast and back could be much more economically effected by means of trucks over good highways than by rail. For, in the first place, whether the railroads are there or not, the local highways must be there; and the latter do not involve the upkeep of terminals, rolling stock and road bed, and in addition, the loss of time entailed in the carrying, loading and unloading at these terminals where the distance to be covered does not warrant such a procedure. For it is clear that in order to transport goods a distance of say, twenty-five miles, it would be highly uneconomical to first load the truck at the factory, take the goods to the terminal, unload, load again on the cars, cover the twenty-five miles, then unload again at the other terminal, reload on another truck and take it to the point of destination. Sidings are out of the question; the size of the industrial plants will not justify them. So far as the railroad is concerned, it would mean maintaining an expensive equipment and large overhead for the sake of business which would require no more than about five cars