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"Here is a matter fraught with deep significance and I hope my words may, perchance, fall like seeds on fruitful ground in Poland. I raise a question, the answer to which lies not in the deliberations of the Chicago conference nor studies in America, but which must come from Poland. It must come not merely from the Polish Jews but from the Government of Poland. Poland has lately floated a loan of some seventy million dollars. This money is to be used largely for the economic rebuilding of the country.
"A handful of Polish Jews have lately organized an agricultural society. Inspired by the success of the Russian work, they yearn for the soil. Such yearning is to be heeded and should receive the fullest sympathy. To be specific, I call attention to a tract of four or five million of acres of marsh and swampy lands in the Pinsk district belonging in large part, as I am informed, to the Polish Government. This land adjoins similar land in White Russia, drained, ditched and cultivated by Russian Jews. Such land cannot be used unless it is ditched and drained. Land in White Russia, similarly located, costs $30, to $40, an acre to drain. With modern machinery adapted for ditching and draining, the cost could be reduced considerably.
"This land, as I am reliably informed, now lies idle and unproductive. Twenty-five to thirty acres will support a family. This would not be farming such as in the Ukraine and the Crimea, where large acreage per family is needed. One million of these acres ditched, drained and equipped should support 40,000 families.
"Is it possible to hope that the Polish Government would make a grant of this land? Is it possible to hope that the Polish Government would, like Russia, make substantial loans to help in the development of these lands through the settlement of the Jews? Is it possible to hope that a program might be evolved whereby American aid could be enlisted?
"To none of these questions do I dare venture an answer; but I do draw attention to the existence of these lands, and the existence of what at least furnishes the hope for a possibility of agricultural Jewish work in Poland.
"It is not unthinkable that the success of the Jewish agricultural work in Russia is known and realized by the Polish Government, and that Poland, which will gain immeasurably in economic strength by increasing her crops, might give favorable consideration to such a plan. Here, then, at least lies a hope, a potential direction for activity, a goal for which to strive," Mr. Rosenberg declared.
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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.
