4
DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and the Legal Chronicle
September 19,
19
Ann Arbor, Michigan Extends Sincere Rosh Hashonah Greetings
Is Colonization in Argentina a Failure?
By MRS. ARCHIBALD SILVERMAN
Editor's Note: The author
of this article is now touring
South America on her second
visit within three months. In
this analysis she presents the
problems of the Jews who live
in the original Baron de
Hirsch colonies, once consid-
A happy and Prosperous New Year
Diehl Wreckers
GARAGE SERVICE
Parts for All Makes of Cars
Reasonable Prices—Glass Reset
1773 PLYMOUTH RD.
PHONE 2-2327
ANN ARISHR, \I I'll.
New Year's Greetings to All
J. J. HAMMER
AGENT
Sinclair Refining Co.
1635 S. STATE ST.
Ann Arbor, Mich.
New Year's Greetings to All
MUEHLIG 8
LANPHEAR
Hardware
311 SOUTH MAIN ST.
PHONE 2-3277
ANN ARBOR. MICH.
Season's Greetings and Best Wishes
AMERICAN
RUG CLEANING
WORKS
ered the "answer to
landlessness."
Jewish
Wherever I have gone, either
through the Argentine or here in
the United States, I have been
asked, "How do the Baron de
Hirsch colonies compare with the
colonies of Palestine?"
My answer is, "There is no
comparison. There can be no com-
parison. It would be unkind and
unfair to the South American
colonies to compare them with
what has been accomplished in
Palestine."
And yet, Zionist though I am
—and as such intensely opposed
to the mass colonization of Jews
anywhere in the world outside of
Palestine—I am going to try to
be the most objective in summing
up my observations.
My first stop was 50-year-old
Moiseville, 35 kilometers from the
nearest railway station and four
hours by rail from either Rosario
or Santa Fe, the nearest cities.
Moiseville, one of the first col-
onies, is today an all-Jewish town
of about three thousand inhabi-
tants. This town is the hub of
the 'many scattered colonies in
•
that section.
The Unpaved Roads
Due to the heavy rains, not
only were Moisesville and the
nearby colonies almost completely
isolated from the outside world,
but even when the roads were
considered "passable" I had to
.ide the 35 kilometers in a dilap-
,dated truck. That was the only
vehicle in town that could navi-
gate the deeply rutted, clayey
mud roads.
In he town itself I found the
anpaved streets equally impas-
sable, except at street corners
where planks were laid for pe-
destrians to cross the wide-span
ditches which run parallel to the
aalewalks.
The houses, too, took on the
forlorn, neglected look of the
unpaved roads and the perpetu-
ally open ditches, filled with ref-
use that breeds flies, mosquitoes
and disease. Whether or not I
imagined it, the people, too, had
an "I don't care" sort of look
and manner—all of which made
of Moisesville a most depressing
spot. It was not at all like the
busy, bustling supply center it
Rosh Hashonah Greetings
JOE'S SNAPPY SERVICE
332 S. MAIN
1032 GREEN ST.
, Ann Arbor, Mich.
PHONE 8115
ANN ARBOR, MIcll
A Happy New Year to All
SHORTY'S
WELDING SHOP
H. HUNAWILL, Prop.
PORTABLE EQUIPMENT
Expert Electric and Acetylene
Welding and Cutting—Boilers
Motor Blocks —.Wheel Cut
Downs Pipe Thlw in g—
Trailer Building.
24-HOUR SERVICE
CALL 6010
117 N. First Street, in Rear
Nights—Call H. Hunawill
1604 Westminster Place
ANN ARBOR, MICR.
Le Shono Tovo Tikosevu
Prekete's
SUGAR BOWL
Home Made Icre Cream El Candies
Beer—Wine
The Best Meals in the City
109 S. MAIN ST.
ANN ARBOR. MICH.
Rosh Hashonah Greetings to All
W. H. L. ROHDE
BUILDERS' SUPPLIES
202 E. MADISON
PHONE 2-3271
ANN ARBOR.
SINCERE HOLIDAY GREETINGS.
•
The Ann Arbor Press
A. J. Wiltse, Mgr.
317 Maynard
Ann Arbor, Mich.
should by now have become, for
Argentina and Palestine
strong religious and Zionist back-
the many surrounding colonies.
No one refers to "me," "my," grounds. Hence, isolated though
In the colonies where each col- or "mine" in speaking of the they were in this far-flung (wt._
onist owns from '75 to 350 hec- tremendous progress made in the post of civilization, they always
tares of land (a hectare is two colonies, where oft-times on less fell back on their Judaism and
and a half acres or ten dunams), than 2,000 dunams (200 hectares Zionism to keep them within the
I found that rarely does' anyone 100 or more families are settled. Jewish fold. As one colonist ;),:t
cultivate much of his acreage.
The difference between the two it, "The closer we came to und,-..
Until this year corn was planted
—Argentina
and Palestine—lies standing and loving this soil, ti.c
in many places, but with a sur-
more we yearned for our soil, t h e
in
the
private
ownership on the
plus of over six million tons of
soil of Eretz Israel."
one
hand,
and
the
collective
co-
corn worrying the government
(since even the destruction of this operative development on the
surplus constitutes a grave prob- other. One is concerned with build-
lem), no more corn is being ing a home for himself and for
Happy New Year to All'
raised. With the cultivation of himself only; the other concen-
only enough vetetables for his trates on building through him-
own use, a few hens and a couple self a homeland for his people.
of cows, the farmer uses his land It is this fundamental difference
mainly for grazing purpose—cat- that spells the doom of Jewish
colonization as such in the Galuth,
tle and sheep..
while it dipresages the success it
For this work he usually em- is already proving itself in Pal-
305 MAYNARD AVE.
ploys Argentinians. He himself estine.
PHONE 8805
supervises. Rarely does one find
Ann
Arbor, Mich,
I
visited
a
number
of
colonies
the younger generation, and prac-
tically never the women, tilling in the vicinity of Moisesville,
the soil or performing other man- among them the "Colony of the
Twelve,", which means that where
ual labor.
there N.% ere formerly 30 Jewish
The children are sent to schools colonists there are now only
A Happy New Year to All
in the • cities after their 11th 12 left. So, too, there is the
year. The women devote them- "Colony of the Fou•," where in-
selves to housework just as if 'stead of the 24 Jewish families
they lived in the cities. The m- which had settled there, only four
Paint and Body Shop
oult is the following:
remained. The vast ranches were
Body Repairing. Refinishing
On my expected arrival in the sold to non-Jews. The original
and Painting
"kampf"
(individual farm) I settlers or their descendants live
round the farmer, his wife and in the cities.
Phone 4323
W. Huron St.
family, all dressed up to wel- ' True, thereare still a few of 206
Ann Arbor, Mich.
come the guest. I was immediately the older farmers, who, having
shown into the house where I wrested success out of a soul-
usually found a beautifully set trying experience, have really
table, with fine linens, silver, become attached to the land. They
glassware, and dainty refresh- have remained in the colonies and
ments prepared in my •honor— they are the ones who so bitterly
all very much in best city style. denounce th 0 ones who have fled.
Rosh Hashonah Greetings to All'
Invariably, they eagerly started
I found warm-hearted • Jews in
the questioning, for they were the colonies of Baso-vil-basa,
httngry for news from Pales- Entre-Rios and Dominques. In
tine!
4Dominques I met that remarkable
Russian-Jew, Zacharov, expert
Drift Back to Cities
When, finally, I asked them to colonizer, who went there 50 years
tell me about themselves, their ago as teacher and leader. It
beginnings, and the development was pathetic indeed to note
of their colonies, they shook their sorrow and disillusionment as he
heads sadly. They bemoaned the confessed his heartbreak and dis-
fact that too many of the color, appointment in the outcome of
ists were drifting back to the colonization in Argentina.
723 N. University
It was he who told me that
cities. The children would not re-
main on he soil. Most of them there are today about 3,500 Jew-
Phone 4514
ish families on the soil. "But,"
we•e selling their farms.
he added, with a tear in his
Ann Arbor, Mich.
When 1\ asked to be shown eye, "for every family that has
around, I was taken to the pas- remained, three families have dis-
ture gateway. The cattle or appeared.„
sheep were grazing in the dis-
In summing up, I want to
tance. The poultry was kept in point
A out the following:
a primitive hen house where a
After 50 years of experimenta-
few hens managed to exist. I did h tion in the Argentine,
nist only
A Happy and Prosperous New Year
find a few farms specializing in have the Jews there not con-
dairy products, but these were tributed culturally to Jewish life,
the exceptions.
but to my mind, it is a miracle
I could not help but compare that they have survived as Jews.
this picture with that of the Fortunately they were Russian,
colonies in Palestine. I make the Polish or Lithuanian Jews with
comparison not in a derogatory
sense, but only to present more
New Year's Greetings to All
vividly the picture of coloniza-
Ann Arbor's Most Modern and
tion in the Argentine.
Complete Food Market
Varsity Flower Shop
I . E. lg.:RHINE
In the Argentine, each farmer
1119 S. l'N11 EILS1TY
is concerned not only with creat-
ANN ARBOR, MICH
123 E. WASHINGTON ST.
ing a livelihood for himself.
Henche, it is his comfortable, al-
PHONE 2-3111
most city-like house which is his
goal. The farm is a means to an
ANN
ARBOR, MICH
A I 1 appy New Year to All
end, the "end” being a corn-
fortable living for his family
and himself. True, he himself
has worked hard. It was certain-
ly no easy task at best to trans-
form himself from a Russian
Rosh Hashonah Greetings
city dweller to an Argentinian
347 S. MAIN ST.
farmer, but he dces want his
PHONE 4014
children to have an easier life than
ANN AltBoR.
he has had. At a very early age
they are sent to school away
from the dull primitiveness of the
colonies. Later he bemoans the
fact that the young people take Season's Greetings and Best Wishes
Camp Support—Artificial Limbs
to the professions and remain in
Sick Room Equipment
the cities.
Surgical Instruments
In the colonies of Palestine, on
Splints, Trusses, Hospital Supplies
the other hand, one rarely thinks
Sheet Metal Contractors
or speaks in terms of self. A visi-
tor • is proudly shown, first, the
332 S. SEVENTH ST.
320 SOUTH STATE ST.
children in their school and kin-
dergarten, then the heavy-uddered
PHONE 2-1451
PHONE 2-3109
cows with their Hebrew names,
ANN ARBoR Ott •ii
\ NN
or the newly-born calf that came
in the night. (I once saw a stal-
wart young thalutz weep because
a calf came still-born.) Then
there is the new incubator with
its six thousand or more tiny
SEASON'S BEST WISHES
chicks pecking their way out of
their shells, the modern, sani-
tary hen house, the recently-dug
artesian wells, the intensive vege-
table farming as a result of•
plentiful irrigation, the recently'
completed houses for which they
had been waiting for 12 years
Manufacturers and Dealers
or more. At long last, the dwell-
SCIENTIFIC
INSTRUMENTS—CHEMICAL
ings are being turned over to
the children of the Youth Aliyah,
APPARATUS—REAGENTS
while the long-suffering, hard-
working chalutzim remain for a
while longer in their inadequate,
200 E. LIBERTY
oft-times leaky shacks. At lunch
time, we adjourn to the mess hall
ANN ARBOR. MICH.
where a substantial meal is served
simply.
Craft Press
Printers
YAHR BROS.
Francisco
Boyce Photo Co.
CAPITOL
MARKET
QUALITY
BAKERY
THE QUARRY
Inc.
B. H. GRAF 8 SON
EBERBACH SON CO., INC.