The Washington weekly post., 1899-10-24
PROGRESS OF zl0NISM.
Gigantic scheme TO Return the Jews TO
Palestine.

Gigantic Scheme TO Return the Jews TO
Palestine.
L ZangviII In the New Lippincott
1t was IN Philadelphia. the City Of
Brotherly Love- that the first piece OF
work for modern Zionism was achieved.
For here. in Baldwin's world-famOus
works, was turned out "a Mogul locomo-
tive engine. having three pairs of coupled
wheels and a two-wheeled swing bolster
truck. for the Jaffa and Jerusalem Rail
road"
The whistle Of that engine is the key
note of the new movement. Palestine is
no longer the mystic dream-plaCe of an
gels and prophets, the land whose very
soil Jewish thought figured as anima ed
with a holy adherence of murder, hcen-
tiousness. and idolatry. 1t is a country
like any other, only worse. The electric
cars whiZZ past the medieval peace Of
Milan Cathedral. and lions Hin is no
longer safe from the Funiculaire. The
worlds childhood is passing, with all its
charming and fantastic visions of fairies
and tiends, and even in Jerusalem. Whit
mans years of the modern, years of the
unperformed" must have their taTdy turn.
And, in harmony with this modern Wei
tanschaung, comes the prospectus of
Zion. Limited" the conception of THE
Jewish Colonial Trust" with its capital of
two million pounds in one pound shares,
for the regeneration of Palestine and its
ancient people.
But no one in the world has harder
row 10 hoe than the Jewish ideallst,
mocked by an unbelieving generation, Ii
beled by antagonists, harasSed by coad-
tutors, Jealous or jealous, his sanity ques-
toned by his foes and his originality by
his friends. What filth L must wade
through he writes to me pathetically.
1t may be the real founder of modern
Zionism was the pious Rabbi Mohilewer
of Russia. But what is the use of quar-
reling over the Slories OF an unaccom-
plished movement, or distributing the lau-
rels ere the day is won? II is enough for
the moment that under Herzl's leadership
the cause of ZionisIh has made vast
strides, that since he began his propa-
ganda organs have been created or cap
tured for Zionism IN almost every capital
of Europe. as we'll as in the United States,
and that the ioint-stock scheme for rails
ing the sinews of peaceful war-HerzPs
individual conception-has already at
tracted nough-one-eighth-of the two
million pounds demanded by the Prospec-
tus TO Justify going to allotment II the
children OF Israel have not yet gathered
from the four quarters of the world they
have at least sent their shekels. The ap-
plications for shares would gladden. the
heart of a collector of stamps.
When the teomship was first launched
q son of Philadelphia and the protector of
an American Jerusalem, Mordecai Manuel
Noah Whose fame Noah's Times and
Weekly Messenger yet preserves), prOphe-
sled that il was the steamship which
would ingather the Jews from the four
corners of the earth. And who can doubt
but that steam ana electricity-whiCh
have given our earth. nerve system
must transform the problem of Israel?
The object of Zionism is not, however
to insather Israel or to fulfill the proph-
ecies. No great wave of national emotion,
of longing for theater in which to work
out national or religious ideals, has
passed across the globe, like some wire
less message, finding rapport in the Jew
ish soul everywhere. Jerusalem has been
indeed a goal of Jewish pilgrimage; but
the aspiration has been to die there, not
to live there; or, if to live, then in that
secuestered student life which is only a
shadow of living. Religious and racial
emotions are indeed enkindled by Zion
ISM but they do not enkinde II. Zionism
Is not the outflaming OF the nations spir-
it, Israel has been tco eowed and Grip
pled to be capab.e Of active energiZing,
and had not Pharaoh become too out
rageous, Israel would never have dreamed
of going Zionism Is not spontaneous
combustion: it is the flame of the ham
mereG explosive
There are nearly thirty colonies in Pal
estine and Syria. and If the majority do
not pay, they will. If the ROtschild and
Hirsch colonies have made such little
headway, IT is beca Ise they have been
philanthropic schemes. not the outcome OF
self-sustaining enthusiasm. Il started
colonies, not 20 promote ZiCnism." Baron
Edmond de ROthschild told me, but 10
give work TO the Jews / saw starving IN
Palestine. and also 10 disprOve the notion
that Jews could not be agriculturists.'
All honor 10 the noble pioneer. but his
millions have naturally imp5ded the WORK
they have made possible, aud, sustained
and weakened by this bO1ndiess Teser-
voir, his colonies have had more officials
than laborers. while rumor huns with
far graver instances OF maladministra-
tiOn. Baron Hi.sch was even less a Zion
ist His object was not 10 integrdtc Is
rael, but 10 disintegrate IL. % break up
the vast congestiOns Of Jews In Galicia
and Russia. He was less Moses than the
Destroying Angel, who, according TO the
Ialmud. il also messenger Of love. The
report Of the HiTsch Colonization AssO-
ciat.on-Wtth It's benehcent activities all
the world Oger-is a pathetic record OF q
heroic effort 10 Toli a rock Up noun
tain. II may be prOphesled tina; what
ever pcr-iOn Of the EerZl tTO millions
goes 10 persuade Jews 10 De what they
are naturally inclined 10 BE- will b4 as
pTcfiticss In the first generations al least.
II Is waste Of force 10 YOKE a winged
creature 10 the pillow. ard II twenty
centuries OF artificial selection have mad
or the Je" an ganizing and impatient
brain. one must await the equally slOw
processes Of Tevers!on 70 the rural tenn
Ieramt III b force OF the new life IA the
open ai=.
II is impossible 20 believe that the Jewish
commercial Gss..us should fai even iu Pal
es;ine. Already several factories are run
ming pTofiab!y; a tobacco plantation mas
becn es,aa iished. muiberry-tre=s have
Leea gianted Tor The rearing Of silkwOrms.
the to1ese Die cOgnac and claret Of the col
cries are selling ~ Europe. ana with the
further opening up 0f the European mar
ket IA esjine cCu-d export not Only the
truciform rOHeTH. the m0lhes-Of-pea.I
rementos, and the oilVe-WOOd carvings
Of the holy bazasrS. bur alsO olive ard se-
same oil. soap, conserved fruits sweets.
perfumes, &c The Turkish rule may b.
corrupt, but the Jewish trust could farm
the taEes. The Turk a. least has no. per-
secuted the jew, perhaps because The Jew
especially IN his Oriental embodiment. 10
rcllglOuhly akin 70 the Aohammetlaa.
both are monOtheiEts a service IN a
mosque Is very He a service in a Eyng-
gOgue- And u the Turk Is a religious
cousin. the Arab Is a racial cousin. Or
Herr : willingness 10 make the Holy
FIacer' Of jerusalem eEtrzteTrltoFiaL. ks
the Vatican 81 Rome. suggests z possible
compromise with ChFisseugOm The
chances of a new crusade the Jew would
have 10 take. Ike the eel he l. used 20
p-iHs ss+Aiir4 dt5fs. Shyni1 ne hi.lselE
establish an lnq1!s.tiOn. the jewish here
ties could ~ 10 more Christian lands
Turkeys present embargo on ihe JeWlEn
immigrant Tea j. plays Into DR. HerzFg
hands As FOR the Official exprrssfou AZ
Washington that Turkey will not sell Pal-
estlBe. il IL only a theatrical death-blow
20 Zlonism: the dsZger-Diade slips back
Into the haft. To bay Palestine l. NOT
quite the scheme. and even II Il we're. the
SuliaB's mind II not a fixed quantity. Sui
~ ~.
tans We cannot, perh1ps. remove ths
Alps. but who ever heard of A anaiify IN
politics. even when flxed In a treaty. BE-
E.des. az one who has bargained for hours