produce another sweet singer like the Shepherd King, another prophet like Isaiah, and maybe, even a lawgiver like Moses. Thus the first official act of the Zionist organization in Palestine after the British conquest was the laying of the foundation stone of the Hebrew university, on the 24th day of July, 1918, on Mount Scopus. For the renaissance of the Hebraic culture in Palestine is among the sacred aspirations of the Jewish people. A Jewish Palestine will make it possible for the Jewish Nation to take its rightful place as a member of the family of nations, and will enable them the better to serve humanity. We merely ask for the opportunity and for the establishment of such political conditions in Palestine as will make its realization possible. We are a peaceful people. Our future is the plowshare and not the sword; the book and not the spear. Mr. BURTON. How far do you anticipate that the Jewish people shall have political control in Palestine. Mr. STONE. In the mandate recognition is given to what is called a Jewish agency. In all matters relating to the Jewish people in Palestine the Gov ernment will deal through that agency with due regard for the rights of all other inhabitants. Mr. FISH. It is a commission. Mr. STONE. It is a commission representing the Zionist organization pursuant to the Balfour declaration. The Palestine Government deals with the Arabs through an advisory body. Mr. BURTON. Made up of Arabs? Mr. STONE. Yes, of Arabs and others. This is a forecast of a situation similar to what it is in Switzerland where you have different races or nations living side by side speaking two or three different languages without being oppressive. Mr. FISH. The situation is that England has a mandate in Palestine. England is the only country through its mandate with power to enforce peace over there. If you try to set up in Palestine a Jewish state you could not create it or protect it because the Jews would not have sufficient force themselves, but it must be understood that the Jews themselves hope eventually to create a state there which they will control, and if they fail to get enough of their people to go over there, of course, they will never have a state. Mr. STONE. In conclusion I wish to state that America's attitude has been misrepresented by our enemies. The opponents of a Jewish Palestine have taken advantage of America's silence and have represented America to be hostile to the establishment in Palestine of a home for the Jewish people. Of course, we know that this is not the fact. Nevertheless, it is a source of encouragement to the forces of violence to which hopes are held out of the withdrawal of the Balfour declaration. The adoption of this resolution which favors the establishment of a home for the Jewish people in Palestine will have the effect of clarifying America's position and will declare that to be a fact which we know is a fact, namely, that the American people are friendly towards the Jewish aspirations in Palestine. Mr. LINTHINCUM. There ought not to be any question about it. But what I am deeply interested in is what developments in the line of productivity go on in Palestine. I am personally interested in knowing that. In these various settlements how much land has been purchased, and so forth? I think the future of the whole movement depends on how much you can make the soil of Palestine again produce. Mr. STONE. Mr. Lipsky covered that point. I would be guilty of repetition. Mr. LINTHICUM. Have statistics been filed to that effect? Mr. STONE. Yes. Gentlemen, the resolution before you embodies the faith of the Jewish people and gives expression to a longing which has never forsaken them. Forty centuries of history look down upon you-a history written with the tears and blood of the Jewish people. The adoption of this resolution will be a source of strength and inspiration to us and will be in harmony with the great ideals and traditions of the American people. Mr. Chairman, I thank you for your courtesy. Mr. FISH. I will introduce Dr. Herman Seidel, chairman of the Palestine Foundation Fund. The CHAIRMAN. Proceed. STATEMENT OF DR. HERMAN SEIDEL, BALTIMORE, MD. Doctor SEIDEL. Mr. Chairman, I am chairman of a committee of the State of Maryland for the Palestine foundation fund, organized by the Zionist Organization. I am, therefore, speaking for about 6,000 Baltimoreans, members of the Jewish faith, who have contributed to this fund, expressing in this substantial way their sympathy with the movement. As to the question that was asked: "What will we gain if Congress adopts this resolution?" I, as an American citizen, may say that it is, perhaps, more for sentimental reasons that we request of Congress to adopt this resolution. It is sentimental in that way that we American Jews would like to feel that the work we carry on for the rehabilitation of Zion meets with the sympathy of the representatives of our American Nation. We would like to feel that "the land of the free " expresses its feelings of sympathy to the most oppressed people. While it is true that the American Jews have all the liberties and all the privileges in this country which they desire. It is obviously impossible to make America the home for the Jewish people. We, as individuals, are free and as such, remain true to the country of our adoption; but the Jewish people as a whole are not free. There is only one place that has sufficient attraction to us Jews, where we would bring sufficient sacrifices to make it a home for the Jewish people and that place is Palestine. The Balfour declaration does not intend, and we do not intend in any way to abrogate or restrict the rights of the people now living in Palestine. Palestine is very much underpopulated. There is room for many more to come in and settle. I will, with your permission, read an excerpt of an article from the New Palestine, of April 7, 1922, written by J. Ramsay MacDonald, of the British Labor Party, who visited Palestine some time ago, and who describes what is going on there. Among others he describes the valley of Esdraelon, where the Jews from Eastern Europe are displaying their pioneer work in Palestine. For you might know that at this time there are hundreds of thousands of Jewish young men ready to emigrate into Palestine if we only had the means to provide for them. There are thousands near the borders waiting to enter Palestine. Here is what he says: One afternoon as I was crossing the plain of Esdraelon, close to the spot where Saul fought his last fight and fell before the Philistines, I was met by a country cart and jolted over some mile or two of unmade road to one of these new Jew.sh camps at Nuris, on the northern slopes of Mount Gilboa. Just beyond the spring, where it is said Gideon selected his army of the 300 men who 'lapped of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth,' I found their tents. Most of them were in the fields, but the anvil in the smithy was clanging, saws and planes were go.ng in the carpenter's shop, through an open door I saw a dentist at work, and in the kitchen pots and pans were rattling. "The community consisted of 150 persons, selected from those who, as members of the labor corps, had worked on road making for 12 months. They had settled upon a large piece of land, between the railway and the top of the hill, part of which is a swamp and all of it practically out of cultivation. There they are planting 14,000 eucalyptus trees of 60 varieties, 4,000 pines, 500 cypresses, 10,000 olives, together with apple orchards, vineyards, tobacco plantations, and orange groves; they are starting nurseries for the supply of plants, especially trees; they are digging and preparing the land for cultivation; they believe they are relaying the foundations of a new Zion." This is a description of only one camp. There are many more like this. This shows that it is within the Jewish people, especially of those countries, to make Palestine again the center of civilization. It should be the privilege of the House of Representatives of our United States to pass this resolution of sympathy with such work. It should be the privilege of any Christian nation to help make the cradle of Christianity again the center of civilization instead of permitting it to remain a land of devastation and epidemics, which it has been now for many centuries. In this and other countries you may still hear about the difficulties from without and within. We still have opposition; we still have many Jews who oppose Zionism; we still have some Jews who are in fear of a Jewish state, who fear they will be considered unpatriotic. There are some who have not come to the understanding that they could help the Jewish people and at the same time remain good patriots of the country of their adoption. There are many difficulties, but the faith that the bulk of the Jewish people possess, faith in the restoration of Palestine, must ultimately overcome all these diffi culties, and Palestine will be rebuilt. Let us have the record of the sympathetic expression of the American people for the restoration of Palestine by the most oppressed of the nations. I thank you. STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN PHILIP HILL, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF MARYLAND. Mr. HILL. Mr. Chairman, I wish to file a number of telegrams which I have received from representative organizations. The CHAIRMAN. Very well. (The telegrams referred to are as follows:) Hon. JOHN PHILIP HILL, [Telegram.] House Office Building, Washington, D. C.: BALTIMORE, MD., April 17, 1922. The members of the congregation Adath Bnei Israel, Baltimore, Md., in prayer assembled, respectfully petition you to vote in favor of resolution introduced by Senator Henry Cabot Lodge and Representative Hamilton Fish approving establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine. Your cooperation and support will be greatly appreciated. ADATH BNEI ISRAEL CONGREGATION. Similar telegrams were received from the following-named congregations: Beth Hamedreth Hag Odel, Mogn Abraham, Shaarei Tfiloh, Mikro Kodish, and Rodfei Zedek. Hon. JOHN PHILIP HILL, BALTIMORE, MD., April 17, 1922. Representative of Maryland in United States Congress, House Office Building, Washington, D. C.: One thousand members of the Hebrew Young Men's Sick Relief Association, Baltimore, Md., in meeting assembled, April 16, respectfully petition you to vote in favor of the resolutions introduced by Senator Henry Cabot Lodge and Representative Hamilton Fish, approving the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine. Your cooperation and support will be greatly appreciated. I. W. DAVIDSON, President Hebrew Young Men's Sick Relief Association. Similar telegrams to Mr. Hill were filed by B. Stern, president of the Council of Mizrachi Zionists' Associations of Baltimore; the Oir Hanzirach, of Baltimore; and the members of the firm and employees of the Iron King Overall Co.Mr. LIPSKY. The Zionist Organization of America had no adequate notice of this hearing, otherwise we would have presented here authentic resolutions and sentiments in regard to favoring this resolution from 1,100 different sections of the United States. Mr. FISH. I was going to explain to the committee that it was due to my fault, but due intentionally, perhaps, that I did not notify many of your organizations, because we are limited in time. What we had originally hoped was to hold a meeting to-day, hear two or three organizations, and then vote on the resolution. The chairman has called another meeting after this one, however, for Thursday, and hopes to have the vote Thursday. If there is no further business to come before this meeting the committee will stand adjourned. (Thereupon the committee adjourned to meet again to-morrow, Wednesday, April 19, 1922.) COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, The committee met at 10.30 o'clock a. m., Hon. Stephen G. Porter (chairman) presiding. Mr. FISH. Mr. Chairman, could we not hear from some one who is opposed to the bill at this time? The CHAIRMAN. The usual procedure is to let the proponents of the measure present their statements, and then let the other side answer them. Mr. FISH. There could be no objection to hearing what they have to say. They are here, and I presume would like to be heard, and we would like to know the grounds of their objections. Of course, you are more interested, perhaps, than anyone else in that, because you are the author of the measure. The CHAIRMAN. I would like to keep the proceedings regular. Mr. FISH. I do not think the matter is very important, and we are ready to proceed. I understand that Congressman Rossdale, of New York, would like to make a statement in favor of the bill. STATEMENT OF HON. ALBERT B. ROSSDALE, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK. Mr. ROSSDALE. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, Congressman Perlman, my colleague from New York City, requests that he be recorded in favor of the resolution, as representing the sentiment of the people of his district. If he were here this morning, and he would be here were it not for the fact that his committee is in session at this moment, he would express himself in favor of this resolution. He has asked me to say for him that he is very much in favor of this resolution. For myself, as representing 391,000 people in my congressional district, I desire to say that they are very much concerned and very much interested in this question. My constituency is probably 50 per cent Jewish, and my people in that district are very much concerned about this question, because all of the 2,000,000 Jewish people in the State of New York and the more than 3,500,000 Jewish people in the United States are deeply interested in this question, as are all the Jews of the world. I believe that the sentiment for Palestine as a Jewish homeland will solve the problem of the centuries. This resolution expresses the traditional spirit of the American people, of kindly helpfulness to all of the oppressed peoples of the world. It will involve us in no entanglements with any other nations, and, in effect, will be an expression of the sentiment of the American people toward this project which has been promised by Great Britain to the Jewish people. Indeed, in the late World War there was. a heavy enlistment of Jewish young men in the United States who were not of American birth, but who enlisted in the regiments that our allies formed in this country to fight in Mesopotamia; about 4,000 men enlisted in this foreign legion, and there was given the express promise that in the event of an allied victory Palestine would be restored to the Jewish people as their ancient homeland. The British Government in the Balfour declaration has expressly promised that Palestine would be restored to the Jews, and I believe that it would be a splendid thing for the American people, for Christian America, to go on record as favoring this project of restoring Palestine and giving to the Jewish people a homeland. Mr. CONNALLY. The gentleman refers to 3,000,000 Jews in New York. Mr. CONNALLY. What percentage of those Jews does the gentleman estimate would probably migrate to Palestine in case it should be established as a Jewish home? Mr. ROSSDALE. I can not answer that question. I can not say how many would migrate, but I do not believe that any American Jews will leave America to settle in Palestine. Mr. COOPER. The great consideration was to make Palestine a home or asylum for those who wished to escape the butcheries that come about at intervals in in continental Europe. Mr. ROSSDALE. The gentleman has exactly expressed the situation as it is.. It would solve all of those troubles growing out of Jewish persecution in all the countries of the world. It would give them a place to go, and it is the only place to which they can go. It is a place that belongs to them, for it is their ancient home. Mr. COOPER. The feeling among the Jews that they would like to have a country of their own is not different from the feeling among the Norwegians who a few years ago separated from Sweden and restored their old monarchy. It is because they would like to have a country of their own. Mr. ROSSDALE. Yes, sir; that is it exactly. Mr. SMITH. That is the sentiment among Christians of the world, also-that is, they would like to have Palestine restored. Mr. ROSSDALE. Yes. Mr. CONNALLY. My question was not prompted by that thought. I understand that thought, but since the gentleman has expressed such an interest in the Jews of New York, I wondered whether any considerable element of them wanted to go back to Palestine, or whether their interest was merely in the interest of the Jewish race. Mr. ROSSDALE. Practically none of the Jewish people here would emigrate to Palestine. Their roots are firmly embedded in America. I do not know of any Jewish people, among my wide circle of acquaintances among them, that would go over there. In all probability there might be a few idealists who would go there with the idea of assisting the cause in a philanthropic way, or in order to help others there. As for any emigration of American Jews to that country, I do not think there would be any. Mr. SMITH. They would probably make pilgrimages to Palestine? Mr. ROSSDALE. Yes, sir; they would do that, and they would contribute to the establishment of the various industries there in the same way that American Christians would do. The Christians in America feel deeply about this matter. The Jewish people gave Christianity to the world, and the Jewish people want to restore Palestine as a Jewish homeland. In doing that, they do not want to conflict with Christian ideas or Christian ideals. They do not want to make it a country exclusively for Jews, because those who know the Jewish people know that the Jews are a very broad and very liberal people and noted for their kindliness toward all other people. Mr. COOPER. One of the provisions of the Balfour declaration, I believe, is that, in the event of the establishment of a Jewish homeland there, or a Jewish government, there shall be absolute freedom of religious worship guaranteed. Mr. ROSSDALE. Yes, sir; freedom and equality for all races and all creeds, and, also, all civil rights and equality under the law. They are not going in there to take the land away by force or trickery from those who now possess it, but they are buying every farm and every acre of land that they are settling upon. They are clearing off the stony fields, draining the swamps and marshes and reforesting the desert land, which has lain waste for almost 2,000 years. It is in every way an admirable undertaking, and it is a project that I believe Christian America will look upon with a kindly feeling and kindly, helpful spirit. In fact, the whole Christian world approves of it, and, as it progresses, as I hope and believe, it will become the natural place for the merging of the streams of Old World Jewish migration, and in a great measure solve the Old World Jewish question. Mr. LINTHICUM. I understood you to say there were about 2,000,000 people of the Jewish race in New York? Mr. ROSSDALE. Yes, sir; but those are only approximate figures. I have not the exact figures, but I believe that my State has about 2,000,000 Jews in its population. Mr. LINTHICUM. How many of them are in New York City? Mr. ROSSDALE. About 1,500,000 of them are in the city of Greater New York, and there are about half a million scattered throughout various other parts of the State. I believe there are about 1,500,000 Jews in other parts of the United States. However, those are approximate figures. Mr. LINTHICUM. What is the population of Greater New York this morning? Mr. ROSSDALE. The official figures are something like 6,000,000, or slightly over 6,000,000. Mr. COOPER. I read in two papers last night that if you took a radius of 19 miles of New York, or the same that London has, there would be 7,600,000 people in New York. The statement was made that that is larger than the population of London by about half a million. Mr. LINTHICUM. By 344,000. Mr. COOPER. It was something like that. Mr. ROSSDALE. Palestine has been in possession of the Arabs under Moslem rule for many centuries, and Moslems have not much regard for those ancient monuments that have to do with the establishment of the Christian religion. The preservation of those monuments is of as deep concern and interest to the Jewish people as to the Christian people. The settlement of the Holy Land· by the Jewish people would mean that the Judea of the Bible would become the Judea of the present and of the future. It would be a splendidly interesting and beautiful place for Christians to visit. They would rejoice to have all traces of the centuries of blighting Moslem rule removed from that wonderful land of the Bible and see that place restored to what it was in ancient |