World Press Digest

M. Regnier, the French Minister of the Interior who is now in Algeria to investigate the causes of Arab unrest there, received Dr. Ben Djelloul, the Arab leader of Constantine, who is alleged to have been largely responsible for the massacre of the Jews there last August. The Manchester Guardian, reporting this reception, states:

Ben Djelloul, it is reported, explained to M. Regnier that the incidents then were purely local in character and did not in any way represent the state of mind of Algerians generally. All the same, it could not be denied that some of the victims were usurers who charged twenty per cent interest a month, and the exasperation of the Arabs was, to say the least, understandable. Nevertheless, such excesses were most regrettable, and the Moslem town councillors of Constantine were anxious to cooperate loyally with the French authorities.

“We are ardently French,” Ben Djelloul said, “and we intend to remain French, for it is certain that we shall be less well treated under any other tutelage. We only ask that those who are worthy of it should not be excluded from the privilege of assimilation.”

SEES HEBREW U. AS ‘GREAT LABORATORY’

The New York World-Telegram, commenting editorially on the tenth anniversary of the Hebrew University, says:

It is easy to get enthusiastic over the pastoral struggles of the Jews in Palestine to make arid and dusty wastes fertile and fruitful and a happy place to live, while building industries and local utilities.

But the tenth anniversary of the Hebrew University in Palestine yesterday recorded a type of pioneering possibly unique in the history of the world. As the conquest of a barren and stubborn soil has proceeded, high culture, beginning small, has grown till it is now flourishing. The Palestine university is becoming not alone a home of the humanities but a great laboratory for agricultural and medical experimentation into Near East problems—a great hope for ignorant, disease – ridden, science-destitute peoples living in backwardness and squalor.

DISPOSITION OF SAAR REFUGEES

The Herald Tribune, reporting on the fate of the Saar refugees, says:

The League of Nations decided to comply with France’s request that it assume responsibility for refugees from the Saar. The International Office for Refugees, financed by the League, which issues passports generally accepted by governments, was made responsible for protecting about 3,300 former inhabitants of the Saar who left after the Nazi victory in the January 13 plebiscite. Some 800 refugees from Germany who went to the Saar before the plebiscite will be turned over to the Commission on German Refugees headed by James G. McDonald.