(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
“There are three and one half million Jews in the United States of America. Hundreds of thousands of our fellow Jews in the United States have not yet contributed one dollar toward the rebuilding of Palestine. If we are able to persuade an additional 100,000 American Jews to contribute to the United Palestine Appeal, the larger part of our task will be well provided for and we would have no anxiety for the future,” Dr. Chaim Weizmann, president of the World Zionist Organization declared today when he announced his intention of going to the United States shortly for a stay of several months to participate in the United Palestine Funds Appeal which seeks to raise $5,000,000 this year.
Dr. Weizmann, in a statement issued to the press through the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, reviewed the Zionist situation from the standpoint of Palestine and the relation of the Jewish communities to Palestine.
“Thanks to the devotion and enterprise of the old and new settlers, the development of the Jewish national home is going on at a most satisfactory pace. This pace, however, cannot be maintained unless the Jewish communities in the diaspora come forward more generously, with greater speed and provide capital both national and private which is urgently required to build further upon the foundations already laid,” Dr. Weizmann declared.
“Without an adequate response, a response coming promptly, it would be impossible for Palestine to absorb the tens of thousands of Jews who are pressing to enter the land and to satisfy the gaping, basic wants which are clamoring to be filled, and to maintain the present tempo of development which barely serves the larger purpose. Not to go forward now means a retrogression and also a probable serious crisis,” the president of the World Zionist Organization declared.
PRAISES LORD PLUMER’S ADMINISTRATION
“We have ample reason to be satisfied with the administration of Field Marshal Lord Herbert C. Plumer, the British High Commissioner of Palestine. During his brief stay in Palestine he has inspired confidence in his judgment and fairness. He has applied with vigor and precision, the principles underlying the policy of the mandatory government. He has won the respect and appreciation of all classes of Jews who are engaged in the reconstruction of Palestine. His experience as an administrative and military leader has aided him in dealing with the difficult economic and political problems of Palestine. The fair attitude he has adopted, the fair policy he pursues, effected a stabilization of the political conditions and furthered the development of the land.
“What is most encouraging is the splendid demonstration of self-reliance and enterprise of our Jewish settlers. This is being appreciated more and more as the facts become more known. The early settlers lacked even the ordinary equipment of the pioneer in other countries. Their zeal and devotion, however, moved mountains. What the Jews of the Diaspora have given to Palestine in terms of money may seem large in their eyes. In the presence, however, of the great task which confronts us, this contribution is woefully insufficient. What the pioneers have given to Palestine, money could not purchase. They suffered elementary privations, hunger and sickness. Through physical and mental endurance they have learned how to make a living in Palestine. They desperately clung to the soil, refusing to be pried loose by any suggestion of retreat, until they have conquered a lasting position for the Jewish life in Palestine.
“There are now about 150,000 Jews settled in Palestine. Twenty-five thousand of them are occupied in agriculture; 20,000 in industrial pursuits. They have brought industry and commerce into the land, the meaning of which was not known in the land for hundreds of years. With their own hands they have built a thriving city, Tel Aviv, which now has a Jewish population of over 32,000. They are developing Haifa, Palestine’s port; they are clearing the Bay Acre region and draining the swamps of its hinterland. Jewish farm labor is transforming the Valley of Jezreel into a fertile, profitable land. The Jews have brought electricity into Palestine. Tel Aviv, Haifa and Tiberias have illumination and power sufficient for small industries. When we came to Palestine, the Jewish workmen knew nothing concerning road building or house building. Look at the roads they have built today. Look at the houses they are erecting in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem. One would be astounded to learn that all this development is the product of Jewish labor which was self-taught and self-directed.
“The number of small and large industries which are to be found in Palestine today, according to a recent census is not less than 150, all growing concerns. The Jewish industrialist in Palestine begins to find his way to the markets of Cairo, Beirut and Bagdad and is establishing trade routes that will be of great value when development is made on a larger scale. I may be permitted to add that if the budget of the Palestine government shows a surplus of about £1,000,000, as reported in the past two year, I think that everybody familiar with conditions will acknowledge that this is due to the creation of large taxable values by the Jewish settlers. This shows that the measure of prosperity in the country is largely due to the new Jewish population,” Dr. Weizmann stated.
WEIZMANN WANTS CONTRIBUTION OF DIASPORA JEWRY TO EQUAL THAT OF PIONEERS
“I say this not in order to praise those who have made the transformation possible. They do not desire any praise. Nor do I say this in a spirit of boasting, for we Zionists know the distance we have yet to go until that Jewish national home will indeed be a reality. I mention this in order to make apparent, first, the absence of a balance between what our pioneers have achieved and what the Jews of the Diaspora have contributed toward this result, and, secondly, to impress the Jewish communities all over the world with the thought that this bustling, devoted Jewish activity in Palestine requires a correspondingly larger support from Jews outside of Palestine. The pioneers themselves cannot be expected to provide the larger capital required to redeem this land, and that it requires so much sacrifice before it becomes the land of fulfillment.
“The Fourteenth Zionist Congress in Vienna has fixed the annual budget of the Palestine Foundation Fund (Keren Hayesod) at £600,000. Adding another £400,000, which is to be collected by the Jewish National Fund, the agency designated to purchase land in Palestine as the inalienable property of the Jewish people, we have a requirement of one million pounds for this year. However, between 3,000 and 4,000 Jewish settlers are coming to Palestine monthly. During the past year the total Jewish immigration to Palestine was 31,000. We may look forward that, for the coming year, the immigration will be not less than 50,000, 25,000 of whom, at least, will be a burden upon the national capital of the Zionist Organization. This has not taken into account that even those who are coming with their own means must be provided with schools, medical aid, hospital service and other social benefits from the Keren Hayesod funds. Unless the present budget is largely increased, it will be impossible for the Zionist Organization to serve the needs of Palestine and its growing population. There is an urgent need for more land for agricultural development, which must be purchased at prices which are going up.
“The question of government land for the Jewish colonization has been brought to the attention of the Colonial Office on several occasions and the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations has favorably considered our just cause for grievance. Whatever the decision of the Palestine government may be in this matter, we must continue to purchase land for agricultural purposes and provide for the preliminary cost of agricultural equipment, if we are to prevent the over urbanization of Palestine,” he stated.
“Palestine is a land without adequate credit facilities. There is a need for the influx of capital for industrial and commercial development, operating as a reinforcement of the credit institutions which we have already established. Vastly more capital is required for the General Mortgage Bank, the Industrial Bank and a variety of important cooperative financial institutions. It is quite clear that the total required is far beyond what the most sanguine at the Vienna Congress had in mind. Those who want Palestine established as a Jewish land must be prepared for unusual sacrifices.
GRATIFIED TO LEARN AMERICAN JEWS APPRECIATE RESPONSIBILITY
“Another difficulty faces us. We hoped to relieve to some extent this year the inequitable burden falling upon the Jewish community of the United States of America. Last year American Jews contributed about 60 percent of the total budget, the balance was provided by the recuperating Jewish communities of Poland, Germany and Roumania. Polish Jewry is, unfortunately, now involved in a desperate financial and economic crisis which destroys all hope of its participating during the coming year. Other middle European countries which showed signs of revival are again hanging in the balance. It is therefore to the United States of America that we must looke to extricate us from our financial difficulties. I am gratified to learn that our friends in America are appreciative of the responsibilty which devolves upon them. With their usual spirit of enthusiasm they are preparing to do their utmost to help us out of our difficulties.
“The United Palestine Appeal for all Zionist funds has been organized under the chairmanship of Dr. Stephen S. Wise, whose name is a household word in American Jewry and, for that matter, in American affairs in general. Supporting Dr. Wise are Mr. Nathan Straus, the eminent and beloved philanthropist, Mr. Samuel Untermyer, president of the American Keren Hayesod and, I presume, also Mr. Louis Marshall and Mr. Felix M. Warburg, who, last year, aided us so much with their direct, personal cooperation; the leaders in the American Zionist Organization, Louis Lipsky, Henrietta Szold, Bernard A. Rosenblatt, Morris Rothenberg, Dr. Abba Hillel Silver are, of course, in the vanguard.
The general director of the United Palestine Appeal, Mr. Emanuel Neuman, who was responsible for the organization of the American Keren Hayesod, Mr. Herman Conheim, the general treasurer and Benjamin Winter, who, I am glad to know, is the chairman of the New York campaign, and Max Blumberg, the treasurer of the New York campaign. My colleague, Nahum Sokolow, who has been in New York for several weeks, remains to give his valuable cooperation until the end of February. I have received word that Nachman Bialik, the outstanding figure of Hebrew literature and Dr. Schmarya Levin, the well known orator, are on their way to the United States and there is every prospect of my visiting the United States shortly for a stay of several months.
“As I said, this is a critical year in the Zionist endeavor. We are reaching the top of the hill. The most difficult stretch has been performed, but we dare not risk a set-back through lack of means to maintain and extend the operations. The goodwill of the civilized world is with us, the leaders of thought, the administrators and governments of all lands give us their moral encouragement,” Dr. Weizmann concluded.
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.
