dangling constantly over his head, shaking like an autumn leaf at
the sight of an inspector or even a plain policeman; who has seen
this little Jew transformed, under the influence of the struggle for
existence and an independent life, into a free American Jew who
holds his head proudly, whom no one would dare to offend, and who
has become a citizen in the full sense of the word--no one who has
seen this wonderful transformation can doubt for a moment the
enormous significance of the emigration movement for the 200,000
Jews that have found shelter in America.

Idealistic influences rather than realistic factors were at work in the
Palestinian colonization movement, which proceeded on a parallel line
with the American emigration, as a small stream sometimes accompanies a
large river. The ideas preached by the first "Lovers of Zion" were but
slowly assuming concrete shape. The pioneer colonists in the ancient
fatherland met with enormous obstacles in their path: the opposition of
the Turkish Government which hindered in every possible way the purchase
of land and acquisition of property; the neglected condition of the
soil, the uncivilized state of the neighboring Arabs, the lack of
financial means and of agricultural experience. Despite all these
drawbacks, the efforts of a few men led to the establishment in the very
first year of the movement, in 1882, of the colony Rishon le-Zion, near
Jaffa. Subsequently a few more colonies were founded, such as Ekron and
Ghederah in Judea, Yesod Hama'alah, Rosh-Pinah, Zikhron Jacob in
Galilee--the last two founded by Roumanian Jews. Called into life by
enthusiasts with inadequate material resources, these colonies would
have scarcely been able to survive, had not their plight aroused the
interest of Baron Edmond de Rothschild in Paris. Beginning with 1884,
the baron, pursuing purely philanthropic aims, gave his support to the
colonies, spending enormous sums on cultivating in them the higher forms
of agriculture, particularly wine-growing. Gradually, the baron became
the actual owner of a majority of the colonies which were administered
by his appointees, and most of the colonists were reduced to the level
of laborers or tenants who were entirely in the hands of the baron's
administration. This state of affairs was unquestionably humiliating and
almost too hard to bear for men who had dreamed of a free life in the
Holy Land. Yet there can be no doubt that under the c