The Maccabaean

I

CAN Palestine be made economically self-sufficient? Will it ever be able to supply its own essential needs? Whether the answer be yes or no, all will admit: That for an indefinite time to come Palestine will have to be economically dependent. Its essential economic needs will have to be supplied from abroad.

Agriculture is expected to be Palestine's basic industry. In the matter of the food supply, at least, we all hope Palestine will eventually become independent. But the agricultural process, and in particular intensive agriculture, is impossible without a vast array of equipment in machinery, implements, fertilizers, etc. And all of these things, with the possible exception of fertilizers, will have to be imported from abroad.

a Sr a nr a Certain industries, principally those for which agriculture supplies the raw materials, are expected to flourish in Palestine. Among them may be mentioned the industry of canning and preserving fruits, vegetables and fish, tanning leather and making shoes, spinning and weaving cotton and wool into cloth and making garments. But the equipment for all of these industrial processes will have to come from abroad. And industries are being projected for Palestine which will be dependent on importation even for their raw material.

But the import business will have to do much more for Palestine. For will there not be a vast residue of wants which Palestine's agricultural and industrial life will for a long time, perhaps never, be able to supply? Consider the proximate future. Not only will Palestine have to have from abroad building materials, wearing apparel, including headgear and footgear, and the various utensils and furnishings of civilized life; in the proximate future Palestine will have to import from abroad even foodstuffs. The proximate future—the critical, the formative period of a Jewish Palestine—will be wholly dependent on the import business.

No walk of life in Palestine, no section of the Palestinian population, no individual inhabitant of Palestine will be free from a greater or lesser dependence on the Palestinian importer. Certainly not the Jew in Palestine who will seek to maintain an American or European standard of living. The import business is bound to be at least as vital to the life and development of Palestine as roads and harbors, as vital as transportation and communication facilities, as vital as light, heat and power. The import business is clearly as universally necessary to the people of Palestine and economically as indispensable to the country as any public utility commonly recognized as such.

II

The import business is manifestly vital to the success of the Jewish venture in Palestine. Its importance is particularly great in the first stage of economic development. It behooves us, therefore, to determine without delay whether the current method of conducting this business, which we may call the competitive method, can be counted upon to meet the situation efficiently.

But we must first have agreement on the meaning of the term efficiency. A man goes into business and endeavors to run it efficiently. To what end? To the end that he may be successful. But how does he measure his success? By the amount of money that he makes. In his case, therefore,

efficiency is in direct proportion to profits. The final goal of all his activities is to make as large profits as possible.

Now, we are anxious to see the import business, so vital to Palestine, operate efficiently. But to what end? To the end that the exporters abroad and the importers in Palestine may make as much profit as possible? Decidedly not. We may have nothing against it that they should make profits. But profits cannot be our test of efficiency. The goal which we have to set up for the import business in Palestine—our efficiency test—must be: That it should minister adequately to the economic needs and the economic development of the country. With this understanding as to the meaning of efficiency, let us see what are the factors involved in an efficient solution of the import problem. Little more than to enumerate them can here be attempted.

First of all, in face of a multitude of competing commodities there should be a careful determination of which are the most suitable for Palestine. Illustration of the importance of this procedure is the fact that the Zionist Engineers arrived at the most suitable tractor for Palestine after an investigation which took months and which involved an examination of a great many different makes of tractors. And closely allied with this matter is the necessity of as large a measure as possible of standardization. Nowhere is the need for this so urgent as in supplying parts of machinery and buildings. And let it not be supposed that standardization necessarily entails a dead uniformity. For it is possible to have rich diversity under basic uniformity, a diversity which will satisfy the demands of individual taste and special conditions and a uniformity in accord with the requirements of economy and efficiency.

Without attempting to go into all the details of administration, some of the essential administrative problems must be included among the factors involved. A continuous and prompt adjustment between supply and demand must be regarded as a factor in an efficient import business, always bearing in mind efficiency not for profit but for service. Both under-supply and undue oversupply must be prevented. While a command of adequate storage and warehouse facilities, at both ends, is largely a matter of progressive development, it necessitates a well-regulated co-ordination between these facilities and the growing volume of the business. But what is even more vital to the solution of the import problem is a control of adequate shipping facilities. And in the present state of the world tonnage market, an adequate supply with the best terms could probably not be secured without governmental assistance.

But the most vital factor of all in the efficient solution of the Palestine import problem —always bearing in mind efficient service, not efficient money making—is the matter of price to the ultimate consumer. The consumer must be provided with commodities not at the highest possible prices but at the lowest possible prices. To expose the consumer to the necessity of paying the highest possible prices for his industrial and every-day consumptive needs is to expose the development of Palestine to serious handicap and sure retardation. It is almost literally to lay a mortgage on the whole economy of Palestine. For, the cost of the primary equipment is an initial interest-bearing charge which, if excessive, will lie like an incubus on the industry, while high replacement and expansion costs are sure to retard its development. Moreover, in agriculture, high prices are