A JEWISH COLONY.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 2631, 5 August 1908, Page 7

A JEWISH COLONY.

J. T. 0. SCHEME. SETTLEMENT IN WESTERN AMERICA. . ADVICE TO ZIONISTS. (BI TELEQItAI'H —TRESS ASSOCIATION—COriKIGHT.) • London, August 3. Mr. Israel Zangwill, tho well-known novelist, at a meeting of tho Jewish Territorial Organisation (called tho J. T. O.) announced that, a scheme was afoot to settle a largo number of Jewsj upon land in tho' Western States of\ America. v ' Air. Zangwill urged avoidance of the Eastern cities, and begged Zionists, whoso Palestine schemo was impossible, to join the J. T.'.O. movoment. MR. ZANGWILL AND THE ZIONISTS. The Jewish colonisation movement has two branches. The Zionist Congress (the last "ono was held at The Hague in August last year) aspires to a politically and legally-secured home for the Jewish people in Palestine. Mr. Zangwill and other .Jews are against Zionism so far as it is exclusively directed to'tho possession of Palestine. He and tho Jewish Territorial Organisation, which was formed oil a split ■ from the Zionist Congress, believe in colonisation in any suitable place oversea.

Last year Mr. Zangwill was negotiating in Australia for. a Jewish area, and wrote a somewhat remarkable letter, in which ho warned Australians of the dangers of an empty country. Towards the' closo of thq year the choice of himself and his friends-seemed to. have fallen ■ on Africa, with East Africa for preference, Now, it would seem, Western America is to be tho object'of the new exodus. In a speech'as recent as March last, Mr. Zangwill said that the Jews wero politically'tramps and vagabonds. "A J.T.O. land for'those who could not bo Britons was an absolute necessity of tho Jewish, political situation, and men of tho highest distinction had unanimously pointed .to South Africa ,qs a land which had every appearance of being the land of their quest. .It was unthinkable, that the .Jewish people should not follow up that quest to the end, and the J.T.O. arose to preach tho right policy and rightduty." The present'condition'of the Jewish world is thus described by .the Editor of "The Jewish Yoar Book": "In; a year which has been marked by social disturbances in nearly every country in . the world it was only to be expected that the Jewish question wonld reflect the prevailing feeling "of unsettlement. The 'Judenschmerz,' which is always with us, has been much intensified (luring the'past twelve, months, far from lifting the clouds have descended in (in ever-thickening gloom. It is no,exaggeration to say that in this twentiethcontury tho condition of the majority of Jews, presents a picture of abject misery such as even the worst periods of the Middle Ages could not have exceedod. With tho whole of Eastern Europe bent upon their extermination or, expulsion, and tho civilised countries of tho West less inclined than ever to receive them, the outlook for fhe time being seems almost hopeless. ' The koy to the situation is, of course, Russia, where five or- six of tho eleven millions of Jews, still reside. There the forces : of reaction are, in the ascendant. The Revolution, of which so much was hoped; has been arrested, and the TJnion of tho Russian People enjoys -the open, patronage of the Tsar." .