The Denver Jewish news., 1919-04-02
Norman Hapgood On
Jewish Commonwealth
PRESIDENT OF THE LEAGUE OF
FREE NATIONS ASSOCIATION.

FREE NATIONS ASSOCIATION.
| ZiOnism is, in one respect at least,
as interesting to other peoples as ii
| is to Jews. If we leave out the re-
| ligiOus basis for it. it still has per-
fcctly sound foundation in the essen
tial principles of democracy. Demo-
cracy can he conceived in two ways !:
One is u process of standardiza tion. of
Increasing uniformity. or wiping out
all the differences that have made
the past picturesque and multifOrm.
and ushering in Il period when every
one thinks alike. dresses alike. and
has similar customs. The other and
Iuore fertile method of conceiving IL
includes the encouragement of the
special traits Of different individuals.
nations and races. From this point
tor the Chinese, the Hindoos, the Rus
slams, the Germans, the French, the
Italians. and the British to become
practically uniform in their mental pro
cesses and in the gifts that they de-
velop. Progress has consisted in the
development Of different attributes of
which the most useful and interesting
are kept alive.
In my opinion the two most notable
races that we have had since the
dawn of history are the Ancient
Greeks and the Jews. The Greeks had
more artistic quality ami intellectual
briIliancy than any other people. but
the Greek civilization and Greek gen
ius disappeared. The Jews, who have
provided the religious and ethical in
spiratiOn and Orientation of the mod
ern world. have shown n supreme
power TO survive. In spite of their
being scattered for centuries and sub
ject to the fiercest persecution. as
well as to the temptation of comfort
that lay in merging themselves thru
inter-marriagc, they have persisted as
a distinct people. and their influence
on world thought is vastly out Of
proportion to their numbers. 1t would
lie 4 misfortune to the future to have
these special traits disappear, and II
Is from this angle Of Deinocrdcy as d
varied and interesting system of life
that Gcntilcs are as much interested
In ZiOnism as are jews.
Incidentally a possible interest Of
Zionism for non-Jews may he found
in the link between Eastern and
Western methods of thinking that Pal.
cstine may offer. The Jews are an
Oriental people largely occidentalized,
With Arabia and Armenia free. the
near East will play a large role in
the culture and also In the practical
affairs OF the world. The mutual in.
tluence of Orient and Occitirnt will
he more likely to be peaceful and help.
| ful thru the existence of this connect
ing link of thought; and this point,
IN the present relations of Europe and
Asia. may well develop intO high i'm
| pCrtance.
In what l have said It is implied
that Zionism makes for the preserva-
ton of characteristic Jewish traits.
This seems to be indisputablc. The
| Zionist Movement is not primarily
! tnaterialistic movement. 1t il u spirit
ual movement. 1t is based on the de-
sire of the Jews to have center for
their natural civilization, for their
characteristic culture. The Hebrew
Language. which in the opinion OF
hnl ~, tu
Greek in richness, is to he the Ian
suage of the Jewish population in
| Palestine; a Hebrew University is
| under way. The soil is poor: life is
| hard; and most of the people who go
TO Palestine will go because of ideals
that move them. Not only will Pal
estine AS an ideal he q real enconr-
agement to the best things in the jew
| ish genius, but 1t also will tend to
prevent the Jewish traits from running
into undesirable attributes. We all
know that every individual and ever!
tlation has the defects of its good
qualities. The strenuousness and de-
termination OF the Jews, rightly di-
i rected. make for the strongest and
most elevated condnct. Wrongly di-
rected by unfavorable circumstances.
they make for certain roughness III
the race that am confident will
become rapidly less when the Jewish
mind all over the world Is focused
on its ideal home and when it no
| longer feels itself to be n people with
no center of its own. This does not
mean, of course. that any attempt will
be made to get all the Jews to Pa'-
cstipe. 1t does not matter how many
are there, and indeed no very large