Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-11-26

vested. anu we nave alFoaQy o0CtdfcO oa-
vidends Of 8 per cent to our shareholders.
They have invariably refused. however. to
take the money. and ask that the dividends
be added to the general fund. know the
pure and SINGLE: but this. It seems to me.
shows they are something more.
| A Movement Of the Common People.
where does this money come from. Mr..
| ZangwHl?"
'"The movement toward the acquisition
| Of Palestine is being supported by gifts of
Jews from all parts Of the world. A little
| OF 1t has come from the rich and prosper
Gus, but the most Of 1t from the poor. In
deed some of our subscriptions are so small
that five families have dubbed together to
| buy one fye-dollar share of stock. Many
| aid by purchasing stamps of the Jewish
national fund and adding these to the reg
ular postage of every letter they send out.
These stamps cost about cent apiece. so
tnat when man puts one on q letter he is
giving cent to the cause
| But do you expect to buy Palestine with
this money!"
IF we could buy 1t, we would be glad
to do SO. but its political situation is such
that 1t will probably be impossible to buy
It outright. Nevertheless IL we could show
the sultan that we had an enormous fund
of money to develop the country and that
we could add to the prosperity of that part
OF his dominion and to his revenues there
from ne would probably give the land over
1
IL as one of his dependencies"
How about the fund Of Baron de
Hirsch?'
THAT amounted to $50 200 600 It was left
by him to establish colonies and homes for
the Jews of the world. and its trustees
nave attempted to do this by purchasing
land and sending poor Jews to South Amer
lea and elsewhere. Their attempts 80 far
have been failures and of late they have
been applying the income from this vast
sum to scattering charities. This Is con-
trary to the idea of Baron De Hirsch. and
we hope to be able to direct the fund.-
eventually. to the Zionist movement, and
more especially toward the requirement OF
Palestine. If we could show the sultan
that we had $50,OO0.OOO back Of us, there
would be little trouble In getting him to
consider our proposition. II we can ac-
qufre Palestine, we believe we can make 1t
prosperous country and from there we
can spread out into ancient Chaldea and
other fertile parts OF Asia Minor. l should
like to see the rich lands along the Tigris
and Euphrates worked by our people"
The Jews of the World.
How many Jews are there. in the world.
MIR Zangwill?'
There are probably about eleven or
twelve millions. There are something like
100000 in Russia, about 100000 In Aus
tria-Hungary. 6OO,OO0 in Germany, about
$50 in Great Britain and Ireland AMI
more than million and a half on this
hemisphere. Altogether there are about
100000 In Europe and several hundred
thousand in Asia and Africa There are
about 5000 Jews In Palestine and the
number is steadily increasing. Many of
those who have settled in the Holy Land
are tillers of the soil.''
The Twentieth Century Messiah.
At this point in conversation Mr.
Zangwill asked me if had ever heard Of
Dr. Theodor Herzl, the founder of the Zion
list movement, and went on to speak of
him. referring to him as a twentieth GEN.
fury Messiah.
"Dr. Herzl,' said he, was the editor of
the Neue Freie Presse, the leading news
paper of Vienna, and also a dramatist and
author of note. About seven years ago he
announced his project of getting Palestine
for the Jews by practical methods, and at
once began to put his words into action.
He called a. world congress. and Jews from
everywhere sent delegates. They came by
scores from Russia, Austria and every
other country Of Europe, and there were
many from the United States and from
Morocco, Algeria and other parts Of Africa.
The convention was a success, and
since then annual meetings have been held
once year, and the organization. known
as Zionist Is working toward this end
all over the world We have Federation
of American Zionists in this country. We
have altogether several hundred thousand
members.
After starting the movement" Mr.. Fang
will continued, ''Dr. Herzl devoted himself
to It body and soul. He travelled over
Europe. seeing the leading men Of each
country and interesting them In It. He OBJ
tanned the support Of Joseph Chamberlain
in England; he so interested the Emperor
of Germany that he gave him an interview.
and the pope to such an extent that he re-
ceived him and approved of his scheme.
DR.. Herzl visited Constantinople and had
two interviews with the sultan. He made
such an impression that when he left the
sultan said: That man Herzl is a good man.
AS he looks, SO, imagine the Christ might
have looked DR.. Herzl was in many ways
Twentieth Century Messiah.
This work." Mr.. Zangwill went on, was
kept up by Herzl for seven years, and all
at his own expense. He might have had
salary from the Zionist fund, but would not
take it. At the same time he was carrying
on his bread ana butter work of writing
The result was he overdid and died a few
months ago. He left nothing, and we are
now taking subscriptions to fund for his
family"
The Sultan Offers Lands.
but did Dr. Herzl have no success with
the sultan, Mr.. Zangwill2' asked.
mot as to Palestine" was the reply.
"The sultan offered to give him lands about
Palestine, where the Jews might settle and
form colonies of their own. These lands
were not taken, as Dr. Herzl did not want
to ask anything Of the sultan but Palestine
ITSELF"
WIdt WdS ZIG PIoJSCS " cStdbAAoA lDC
Jews on the peninsula Of Sinai?''
THAT was brought forth Immediately af-
ter these interviews with the sultan" said
Mr.. ZangwiIl. Finding that they could
not Immediately get Palestine. the Zionists
thought 1t might be well to establish colon
les nearby, from where they could move
over into Palestine as soon as that country
could be acquired. Egypt Is. as you know,
now a dependency Of Great Britain, and
It Is practically ruled by the British govern
ment. You may also know that the sands
of the desert will blossom like the rose IL
they can only have water Now, we planned
to take the peninsula of Sinai, which was
the wilderness through which the children
of Israel wandered for forty years before
they came to the Promised Land, and irri-
gate it by the waters Of the Nile. We
were ready to build canal to the Nile to
carry the water there, and the project
seemed to be an engineering possibility.
When it was brought before the British
foreign Office, however. anu before Lord
Cromer. the British administrator Of
Egypt, 1t was not seen how the water could
be spared and the project tell through