The suggestion that a committee of representative American Jews be sent to Palestine in connection with obtaining a loan for the rebuilding of Palestine was repeated by Mr. Henry Morgenthau in an interview with a representative of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Mr. Morgenthau, who first made the suggestion while in Palestine, named Felix M. Warburg, Julius Rosenwald, Herbert H, Lehman, Jerome J. Hanaurer, Frederick Brown, Benjamin Winter, Samuel C. Lamport, Jacob Sperber and Dr. Joseph Rosen as members of the proposed committee to study the situation in Palestine and obtain an accurate picture of conditions there.
“Palestine,” Mr. Morganthau said, “cannot be rebuilt merely through charitable donations. Only when a large loan will be obtained can 500,000 or more Jews be settled in Palestine. The men I have mentioned are best fitted to ascertain the prospects of colonization in Palestine, They represent expert banking, agricultural, manufacturing, transportation, merchandising and realty knowledge, and their judgment would carry the weight of authority necessary to crate that confidence in the loan which it requires in order to be successfully launched.
“Should this committee come to an adverse conclusion with regard to the possibility of large immigration to Palestine, it would finally dispose of Palestine as the means for a practical solution of the Jewish question,” he stated. “Palestine would then be destined to become a cultural center.
“I do not believe that the British Government has an obligation, on account of its Mandate, to endorse such a loan, The loan would have to be based entirely upon the confidence of the Jewish public in the authority of this committee and in its belief in the future of Palestine.
“The Jewish settlements in Palestine have made great progress since I was there last. When I stood upon Rothschild Boulevard and Herzl St. in Tel Aviv, I was impressed by the remarkably rapid growth of this Jewish city. But I wonder whether the foundations of this city are sound. If the Committee which I spoke of found that the introducing of new industrial enterprises would be feasible, the loan of $50,000,000 would then create opportunity of employment for the newcomers. I discussed this plan recently with Dr. Ruppin, who until recently was the head of the Zionist colonization work in Palestine and he felt, as I did, that only through a large loan could development in Palestine attain that scope which it requires to effectively absorb the immigration into the country.
“1 left Palestine a sadder and wiser man,” Mr. Morgenthau continued “Sadder, because of deep sympathy and commiseration for those Jews who have left East European countries on account of political, economic and religious persecution and have come to Palestine as a land of refuge, but find themselves unadjusted and without means of earning a comfortable livelihood. Wiser, because I have seen so much idealism and beauty of mind in the class of Jews who have flocked there and because of the very real progress that the Jewish population has made.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
