The Denver Jewish news., 1923-02-21
BY GEKsHoN AGRoNsKy

IbN hNth'.N'N
Copyright, 1923. Jewish Correspondence
Bureaub
An interview with General Storrs.
Governor of Jerusalem, dcbnrred from
talking politics, while interesting. per-
haps even stimulating. to the inter
viewer. and frightfully disappointing
to the public. 1t is perhaps not unlike
the experience of public come to II
concert where the virtuoso declines to
play. And 50 while one understands
why the Governor does not wish to he
quoted ON political questions concerning
mitigate all the hurt.
The list of questions we eagerly
scrnwled across II neatly folded sheet
was impressive. 1t became less formid-
able us the Governor announced that
MS an official he could not discuss
political matters. 1t shrtInk to almost
nothing by the time the interview got
under way in the lobby of the Plaza one
rainy Thursday afternoon.
Governor Storrs. whom we were see
ing not for the first time. was his
cordial. cheering self. He wears his
mufti with the same British grace rs
his uniform imparting that air of sol
dier turned statesman. which is found
in all statesmen who in the Great Emer-
gency turned soldiers. English gentle
abated despite the all too visible ply
steal fatigue under which he was Ia
boring. We We're encouraged to pro-
ceed, the Governor replnying only to
those questions he considered relevant
10 an unpolitical Interview.
well, SIR we were going to be
gin. ''yOu have been Governor Of Je-
rus;ilcm over five years. Much water
has since flowed under that little bridge
Governor while Palestine's fate was
still In the lap of the spolesmen for
the Nations. When you came you
found Turkish misrule. sub-trOpical
u
hopclessly divided population. You
wonderful British administrators work.
cd one miracle after another. You
have had the military administration
replnced by n civil government with n
Jew presiding over it. You have rout-
cd the vennl officials. abolished bribc
giving and taking. inspired the popu-
lation with sense of security and
Justice. YOu have been building roads,
improving communications. encourag-
ing agriculture, giving n new lease to
life. to trade and to industry Reports
of these things have reached us and
cheered us. But you have been doing
something else. besides which practical
achievements i'm statebuilding are friv-
olGus and insignificant You. the Brit
ish. are supposed to be translating into
an insuper,ible, irreducable superb act
those promises which are writ large
upon the Mandate you have been grant
ed by the League of Nations. You are
supposed to be assisting and facilitate
ing the Jew on his thOrny path towards
the achievement of that object''-the
Jewish National Home. After five
years, Sir. with six thousand miles he
tween us and the National Homes site.
will you not say. whether or not you
can see the Homeland arising and how
soon?"
TO, At. los,
nothing if not political, and it had re-
gretfully to be abandoned, unuttered.
Haltingly we asked, "Sir. what of the
future of Jerusalem?" Deliberately this
reply was dictated:
Given capital and sympathetic in
terest from the outside world. especial
ly America, the prospects of Jerusalem
are eminently satisfactory" said the
Governor. Thanks to II vigorous
Municipality, the city is n great deal
cleaner. and consequently more healthy,
then it has been for about two thousand
years. Building is progressing favor
ably. as the traditional aspect of Je
rusaem is of interest and Importance
to the greater part of the civilized
world--Jewish. Mohammedan. Chris
tian-special care is needed to see that