Drift of Jews to Cities in Zion is Deplored

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The problem of land speculation in Palestine and the drift of Jews from colonies to towns is discussed in the British press as the most outstanding negative social consequence of the growth of Palestine.

“Many newcomers to Palestine find it a simple way of investing their capital to buy land, build a house, and rent it out in tenements to other newcomers,” the Manchester Guardian writes.

“The progress of building, accompanied by a feverish desire to get rich, which is intensified by a small class of speculators, is leading to a fantastic raising of land values,” the paper continues. “A similar process is taking place with still more mischievous results, in the plantation land which is available for small holders. Fantastic tales are told of persons or companies which have made hundreds of thousands of dollars through the buying and selling of land in the last few years.”

PREDICTS SETBACK

Predicting that “there is bound to be come setback to this fictitious prosperity” and that “some persons will be ruined,” the correspondent expresses the opinion that the impetus that brings people to Palestine is now so great that it is unlikely that the period of expansion will be followed by an economic slump.

“One of the less welcome social consequences of the pace of Palestine’s growth is the drift of the Jews from the country to the towns,” the correspondent observes. He compares the last census, of 1931, with the present number of Jews in Palestine and establishes that during the last few years the movement “back to the towns” has assumed great proportions. Those Jewish laborites in the villages who were not tied to the soil by the possession of a house and a plot of land have been attracted to the towns by the high wages paid there, the correspondent points out.

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