Omaha daily bee., 1904-11-27

Holy Land are tlers OF the SOIL.
At this point I'm our conversation Mr..
zangwill asked me II | had ever heard OF
DR.. Theodor Herzl the founder of the
Zionist movement, and went on to speak
of him, referring to him as a twentieth
century messiah.
The Twentieth Century Messiah.
OR Herzl," said he. was the editor o,
the Neue Freie Presse. the leading news
paper of Vienna, and also dramatist and
author of note. About seven years ago he
announced his intention of getting Pales-
tine for the Jews by practical methods,
and at once began to put his words Into
action He called a worlds 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 ana
from Morocco Algeria and other parts OF
Africa The convention was a success ana
since then annual meetings have been held
and the organization known as Zionist r
working toward this end all over the world.
We have a Federation of American Zion
lists in this country. We have altogether
several hundred thousand members.
After starting the movement" Mr.. Zang-
will continued "Dr. Herzl devoted himself
10 it body and soul lie Travelled over
Europe, seeing the leading men of each
country and interesting them in 1t. He OBJ
tained the support of Joseph Chamberlain
In England; he so interested the emperor
of Germany that he gave him an inter-
view. and the pope to such an extent that
he received him and approved or 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
good man. AS he looks, so, l imagine, the
Christ might have looked DR. Herzl was
in many ways like the Christ. We some
times call him the twentieth century Mes
siah.
This work." Mr.. Zangwill went on, was
kept up by Herzl for seven years, and all
at his own expense He might have had a
salary from the Zionist fund, but would not
take IT, At the same time he was carrying
on his bread and butter work OF writing.
The result was he overdid and died few
months ago. He left nothing, and we are
now taking subscriptions TO a fund for his
family"
But did Dr. Herzl have no success with
the sultan, Mr.. Zangwll?" l 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"
What was the project to establish the
Jews on the peninsula OF Sinai?'
THAT was brought forth Immediately
after these interviews with the sultan" "
said Mr.. Zangwlll Finding that they
could not Immediately get Palestine the
zionists thought It might be well to estab-
lish colonies 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 II Is practically ruled by the British
government. 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 irrigate 1t by the waters Of the
Nile. We were ready to build n canal to
the Nile to carry the water there and the
project seemed to be an engineering possi-
blity. When It was brought before the
British Foreign office, however, and before