The Denver Jewish news., 1923-01-03
BY GershOn AgrOnsky.

Copyrighted. 1929, Jewish Correspondence
' Bureau.
Things that are forgotten in the daily
lium,lrum cares and anzicties are often
forced upon ones consciousness by
something so small as II news item. If
the world we live in. an advertisement
such as appeared in the Personal col
nmn Of II metropolitan daily recently
telling of healthy young man who
offers his blood for TRANSMISSION to some
one in need Of healthy young mans
blood, is sufficient to adjust our think
ing 80 that the focus of interest Is
transferred for the moment at least
from ourselves to the thing called the
World and its strange ways.
The rcadjustmcnt of the focus need
not always bc from the pleasant to the
unpleasant. The process may he re-
versed. Take Palestine. Assuming ii
to be the focus of interest of n large
body of Jews. what is it about that
country the interested persons usually
read and hear. Strife. bigOtry. i'll
trigue. threats sometimes vciled but
more often clustering. these and the
usual waillng about deferred hopes and
,lisappOintments, constitute the daily
tread of the student of Palestinc's
progress and problems. Because the
construction of n hundred houses in Tel
A,,f., Re, ;,, tho nt,,r .,f fl,fnDc
satlOnal than the suicide Of Halutz.
and the settlement of several hundred
people on the land less "ncwsy" than
,sesuitry attacks by marauding Arabs.
one hears more OF suicide and maraud-
Ing than Of building and planting.
1t took two news items this week to
focus the attention of the reading pub
lie to the constructive phase of Pal
cstine development: the announcement
the early part of this week of the float
ing In London of the x12.5O0.OOO ma
tiOnal' loan, and the report today that
the Tel Aviv BOND Issue is on sale in
New York The loan is. of course. the
hHutT OL tHe vi
The Tel Aviv bonds are the affair of
the Jewish people in America because
an American Jew unlcrstOOk to sell 1t
here Compared to the loan. the x'lO,-
600 bond issue Is pnltry thing. 1t is
designed to aid the development of one
municipality which happens to be the
only Jewish municipality in the world.
The loan has a wider range. 1t is de-
signed to promote the development of
all Palestine. The loan is at least half
spent. the British Government having
advanced huge sums on account of the
loan, which sums Sir Herbert Samuel
applied to mighty good use. The Tel
Aviv bond issue is neither raised nor
spent. The drive" is just being
launched by firm of non-.Icwish bank
ers whom Bernard \. ROscnblatt. as the
representative in this country of the
Zionist Executive. has appointed as the
fiscal agents.
And there is the rub. Shortly after
his return from Palestine Mr.. ROsen-
blatt told the writer the trouble with
The bond issue was that 1t was so small
few bankers cared to handle it. Had 1t
been 75O.OOO pounds instead of 10 600
pounds, he said, any banker would have
been glad to take it. 1t is good issue,
glistening with advantages and profit
10 the purchaser, but little one. The
writer then thought the objection rather
frivilOus. Not being II fnancier. he
imagined any firm of Jewish bankers
would be proud to handle the first bond
issue in Jewish history. But IL appears
the writer underestimated the objection
and Overestimnted the Jewish bank
ers With trouble in Smyrna and the
Turks intransigeant and the Arbas re-
calcitrant-these objections have been
heard before-do You think Jewish
bankers would take the chance" Har-
vey Fisk x Sons took? Not much! E.
And so the issue was hawked about
town. and il at last offered for sale.
1t will he taken up, of course. THE
Township~ of Tel Aviv undertakes to
grant a first charge on all its revenue
whatever kind and nature to the hold
ers of the bonds :. for all interest
and capital amortization due thereon"
This sounds like pretty good business.
1t will not be taken up. perhaps. before
the Jews are scOlded good and hard