Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-23
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A Jewish Rabbi Replies to
William E. Curtis.
PRACTICAL BEGINNING
COLONIES ALREADY FLOURISH
ING IN PALESTINE.
The True Aims Of the zionists - No
Wholesale Migration
Proposed.

Proposed.
BY REV. JULIUS T. LOEB.
In a scathing article published in The
Evening Star of December IA last Mr.. w. Il.
Curtis severely attacks the Zionist move
ment and pronounces 1t a grievous failure.
Mr.. Curtis holds out but a gloomy prospect
for those who strive so earnestly to lift the
Jewish people out Of the quagmire OF cap
tivity,'' and he seems to be quite earnest In
his Satire remarks. as II carrying convic-
ton with his superficial views of the sub
ject. Yet an exact and impartial study of
the situation will bring about decision di-
rectly opposed to that maintained by him.
His first argument against Zionism is that
Jews are no longer a pastoral or an agricul-
tural people; that their commercial instincts
are too strong to allow them to prosper out
side of trade and manufacturing industries.
I know not whence Mr.. Curtis has received
the impression that the proposed Jewish
state was to compose tribe of herdsmen
and tillers of the ground. Are the French
men, the Germans, the Swiss and the Dutch
all tillers of the ground? And could not the
various mechanical trades and manufacture
ing industries be planted at the jewish state
If Jews could have enlivened many an
other state by their potent tnstrumentahty,
why should they not be enabled to i've ana
prosper in a legally assured nome. where
they shall not be thwarted in their pur-
suit of happiness; where they shall meet
with no moIesta ton on account of their re-
ligton, nor ostra cism because of their racial
distinction?
The Needs of Palestine.
Palestine, being the keystone of three
distinctive continents, Is assuredly in need
of upbuilding and of medium by which
the manifold wares of the different coun-
tries should be introduced into the other
regions, and whereby the diverse inhabit-
ants of the several lands should DE brought
into mutual intercourse and benefit by the
closer relations of each ether; so there can
be positively no better or more expedfem
agency for carrying out this purpose than
the settlement therein of a peaceful, sober,
Industrious and politically Independent ele-
nfent are the Jews, and who should be
established on an autOnomic basis under
Turkish suzerainty. This would insure
the peace of the Jew, and with 1t, in
great measure, the peace of all the world.
Look at the matter from whichever point
you may, it is perfectly plain that this
time hallowed spot is as If destined by fate
to remain holy ground,D consecrated for
an all-one brotherhood of humanity, under
the fold of a universal God. None of the
ground to its own political ends of self
ACKNOWLEDGMENT unless it risk thereby It's
own very existence.
Therefore it is the sane and sound advice
of the ZioniSts: Give the land without
people to the people without land! Let
the vast tracts of Judea be repeopled with
the children of it's natural possessors, the
nation which has long since thrown on
the indictments of war, and the praclicai
world will thereby learn a lesson or prac-
teal peace and actual tranquility.
Jews and Moslems.
Mr.. Curtis admits that the Jews get
along better with the Moslems than with
any other of their neighbors; that they
ara favored by the Sultan of Turkey ana
have his confidence, and that this ruler
declares s.he never was injured by a Jew
The sultan's recognition of the late LIT.
Theodor Herz the originator OF political
t,fonism, and his most cordia! receptlon
granted to the latter on several occasions
MAY, 1901, repeatedly; January, l9O2, ana
August 1902 proves beyond doubt thal
She sultan does not look with disfavor upon
the scheme.
What inducement could coax those VINO
are successful and contented elsewhere into
that dreary country?" asks Mr.. Curtis. Inc
same inducement as prompts every specu-
Iator to invest his money in foreign ter
ritory or distant isles In the expectation
of future advancement. Those VINO are
willing to invest will do so by their own
accord while those who are unwilling or
unable to invest need not venture. Ana
this question, too, was solved by the iate
DIR Herzl, who proposed a Jewish 30
ciety" and Jewish Company to settle ana
invest Palestine with the consent of the
powers.
II has been said and written time and
again that Zionism does not purpose to
create a wholesale emigration of Jews from
ali the quarters of the globe or "a reas-
sembling of all the living children of Israel
as Mr.. Curtis sarcasticaliy puts IL. BUT the
sole aim and object of the Zionist movement
is TO create legally assured home for such
of the Hebrew race who slave In their So
called .4fatherIand'' without the slightest
endowment or privilege of home. And that
portion of the Jewish people which shall
have settled in Palestine shall be enabled to
manage it's own affairs and protect the In
terests of Jews all the world ovsr
Mr. Curtis argument that the land is not
capable of supporting all Jews, therefore,
falls to the ground. Firstly, all the jews
are not expected to emigrate., secondly,
nearly all the modern nations live not on
the productions of their own soil and are
not agrfculturists; SO the Jews need not all
depend on the produce of the earth. Thirdly,
there is q vast portion of uninhabfted land
in Palestine which IS large enough to satisfy
the reasonable requirements of a nation.
And If needs be, recourse can be had to
settlements In Mesopotamia, in the old Chal-
daic and Jewish lands around Palestine.
which the sultan had already offered to
Herzl. And, fourthly, despite Mr.. Curtis
gloomy view of the subject. 1t has been
proven by the latest geological researches
that the soil of the Holy Land still main
tains it's energies and richness Of yore. and
the least effort will show its latent fertility.
A beautiful demonstration of this truth Is
afforded by the the Jewish colonies In Pal
estine Several thousand Jewish families
live and thrive on the soil OF the Holy
Land.
In the brief period of one score years a
wonderful transformation was effected. The
once barren land has been turned into vine
yards. orange groves, olives, orchards of
various species of fruit and green fields
Astounding with wheat, corn, barley and
other plants.
To produce such an effect as this one can
imagine now much of energy and persever-
ance were necessary for novices In agTicul-
tural pursuits. And yet, most of all the
seventeen colonies In existence today are
In prosperous and fourishing condition. The
colonists of Rishon-Le-Zion and others
have been paying their debts regularly and
will soon become independent land owners
or planters
Jewish Colonies Flourishing.
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