Exactly two years ago the drive for the Restoration Fund was started in Chicago under the chairmanship of Judge Hugo Pam. The auspices under which the drive was inaugurated were very favorable, the times were good, everybody was prosperous, and the pending appointment of Sir Herbert Samuel as High Commissioner of palestine was a source of inspiration to every Zionist and non-Zionist alike. Justice Louis D. Brandeis was at the head of the movement, Judge Julian W. Mack came to Chicago to help conduct the drive, and a great number of volunteers participated in the drive. Great enthusiasm prevailed in all Zionist circles in Chicago. The hope was expressed everywhere that the drive would net at least a quarter of a million dollars. Scores of people underwrote from one thousand to five thousand dollars, and everything seemed so easy. One of the most popular and most active communal workers in Chicago, Mr. James Davis, was the treasurer of the Restoration Fund, and the general press took notice of what was going on in the Zionist camp. Success was at hand. But after 2seventeen months of driving and campaigning, and speechmaking and collecting, the sum of seventy-three thousand dollars was collected. To the present day the adherents of the old Zionist administration are still proud of this achievement.

The Keren Hayesod drive of 1922 was started in Chicago under unfavorable conditions. Everybody complains of bad times, everybody is losing money, everybody is tired of giving, and so many people have so much to say about the split in the Zionist organization. The adherents of the old administration are not only not participating in the Keren Hayesod drive, but actually sabotaging it. A considerable number of old Zionist workers in Chicago ignore the Keren Hayesod drive altogether for reasons of their own, and the number of those who participate in the Keren Hayesod drive is but a small one. But in spite of all these unfavorable circumstances and conditions--the lack of prosperity, the philanthropic exhaustion on account of the preceeding relief drive, the 3so-called split in the organization and the consequent sabotaging of the Keren Hayesod on the part of some adherents of the old administration--seventy-five thousand dollars have been collected in cash, not in seventeen months but in two weeks, and it is not only possible but probable that twenty-five thousand more will be forthcoming before the end of the month.

We do not say that we have reason to brag about the success of the present Keren Hayesod drive in Palestine. From the point of view of the present needs in Palestine, the drive was not a success, because Palestine needs half a million dollars a month, and if Chicago Jewry could only afford to give one hundred thousand dollars for this year's Keren Hayesod drive, we cannot possibly see how the Zionist organization can make both ends meet. But from the point of view of the achievements of the past, the Keren Hayesod drive in Chicago is a tremendous success. Comparing the above-mentioned figures, one must admit that Chicago Jewry has never responded so nobly, so quickly, so generously to 4an appeal in behalf of Palestine, and taking into consideration that the first seventy-five thousand dollars collected in cash for the Keren Hayesod drive is only a beginning, one must be honest enough to admit that the Zionist workers in Chicago have done well. We say, of course, that they could have done much better, for we believe that eight out of ten Jews in Chicago have the cause of Palestine at heart and are ready to support it financially. Only workers are needed to go out and get the money. We hope that the Chicago Zionists will now make a great effort to collect all that can be collected. But even these seventy-five thousand dollars in cash must be considered a success. Mr. Louis D. Brandeis and Mr. Mack have never during their administration gotten more out of Chicago than the leaders of the present Zionist administration, and we doubt very much whether the old administration would have scored such a success in Chicago as has the present.

Of course, knowing the needs of Palestine and knowing what is at stake, we are by no means in a jubilant mood, but we say frankly and candidly that there is 5no reason to be pessimistic. The second Zionist delegation is leaving Chicago with the consciousness that Chicago Jewry is noble and generous and will respond to an appeal in behalf of Palestine. Mr. Sokolow and his colleagues are also aware of the fact that although the number of volunteers in Chicago is but a small one, it will nevertheless do all that it is expected to do and that it will not give up its work and will not end the drive today or tomorrow. The drive will go on until after Passover, and we hope that when the drive will be over, the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand will be collected in cash and a similar amount pledged.