A merican (fewish Periodical Oilier
June 30, 1944
CLIFTON AVENUE • CINCINNATI 20, OHIO
DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and Th. Loyal Chronic!.
S
THE CARRYING CAPACITY OF PALESTINE
By WALTER CLAY LOWDERMILK
EDITOR'S NOTE—Dr. Lowdermilk, assistant chief of the Soil Con-
servation Service of the United States Department of Agriculture,
is the author of "Palestine, Land of Promise," published by Harper
and Brothers this spring. He has recently served as adviser on
so il problems to the government of Free China.
It was during a study of land limit for immigration into Pal-
use in the Old World, suggested estine. What, precisely, is eco-
by the Congressional subcommit- nomic absorption? Th e answer to
tee of Appropriations for Agri- this question takes us back to the
culture, to investigate how Amer- basic structure of a civilized so-
ican farmers and stock men could c .. iety. The carrying capacity of
profit by the experience of the the earth for a human population
Old World, that I became espec- , in the final reckoning, as sim-
ially interested in Palestine. For p is.e as the carrying capacity of
l range for cattle—it is meas-
there in the midst of the run- the
down, misused, and under-used used by the production of food.
did of the Near East, the splen- I But, in the case of human popu-
did work of Jewish agricultural ations, transpo station and ex-
settlements gave promise of a ,ch"nge of food make it possible
new day in those old countries, i o concentrate people in cities
and of a revival of their ancient beyond the food production of
.
prosperity.
local areas•, likewise, eivis
people may
These settlements are some- be concentrated within a coun-
thing new under the sun. Cov- try beyond its food production
ering about 6 per cent of the capacity if that country has goods
total area ranging in location and services which other coun-
from coastal plain malarial tries are willing to accept for
marshes to the rocky highland their food export. Thus Britain,
slopes of Upper Galilee and the the first country to be industrial-
salty soils of the lower Jordan ized, now support 40,000,000 peo-
Valley, the Jewish agricultural ple—four times as many as at
villages may be considered at the beginning of the nineteenth
series of demonstration projects century—though it grows only
proving a number of facts of half the food required by this
the highest importance as to the increased population.
The upper limit of the eco-
future and possibilities of land
conservation, not only in Pales- nomic absorptive capacity of a
tine but in the entire Near East. geographic area depends on many
Unused and unwanted lands of factors. Among these are (1) the
local Arabs have been bought inherent fertility of the land base,
by the Jews at prices five- to (2) easy access to adequate raw
tenfold what we would pay for materials, (3) suitable means for
similar lands in California. Most developing power, (4) access to
generally these lands had been nearby and safe food supplies,
made unsuitable for cultivation (5) the genius and skills of the
by erosion. Much costly prepara- people themselves. In the case
tory work had to be done before of Palestine, what—on the basis
they could be used. Such reset- of the still incomplete data at
tlement of land is clearly no our command—are the answers
commercial venture from which a to these five questions?
First, as to the inherent fer-
10 per cent return can be ex-
pected. This is rather an econo- tility of the land base, the geo-
my of survival aimed at the sal- logic structure, geographic set-
vation of a people, and must be ting, and climate of this small
put into the same economic cate- corner of the Near East have
gory as war.
combined to make it unusually
The Jewish cooperative settle. productive. In climate, natural
ments which are redeeming the vegetation, and physiographic
soil' of Palestine are organized in features, Palestine is very like
an elastic fashion which enables California, except for Palestine's
them to absorb great numbers of added advantages of great lime-
refugees quickly and train them stone springs and better soils.
to establish new villages or work The Holy Land was beautifully
in industries. This feature of the farmed and conserved for more
agricultural settlements must ip than a thousand years, then, for
terest all students of the Eurb- the last thousand years, was al-
pean Jewish refugee problem. lowed to fall into ruin and mis-
Two to four millions of human use. Soils washed from eroding
beings are being hunted down slopes choked stream channels
like beasts, and are hoping and across the coastal plain, causing
trying to flee the scenes of their malaria-infested marshes to form.
misery, They look to the United Grazing of sandy lands into the
Nations for a solution, and they ground along the coast released
press for admission to Palestine. sand dunes that moved inland.
The question, arises at once as to But when intelligent measures of
whether Palestine's economic ab- conservation, sand dune fixation,
sorptive capacity is adequate.
drainage of swamps, restoration
The term economic absorption
has been used to set an upper
See PALESTINE—Page 12
Your Next
Detroit Edison
Bill
THE
DETROIT EDISON COMPANY
2000 Second Avenue, Detroit 26, Mich.
ilefuree Duararll
1:06F\ 50
YWR °. 'CCWNT
METER
Huss ecl,
263
NUM9ER
111
1245 67
com-
See telephone directory ler location of our
mercial offices.
without
Office hours: 8:30 m.
a. lo 5 p.m.,
131115 may be paid on or before J gency.
ble date
charge A an authorized a
ol at net
Ora
be accept
of bills by ed
mail
will midroght of except
before
the day
by
mailed
Payment
not be
amount if postmark
Cash should
bill
is
due.
tee
registered letter.
.14144 eigetha
SIMPLE,
PRACTICAL
It will be simpler — easier to
read — a convenient size — and
more practical in several ways.
It will be small enough to slip
into your pocket. With all its ad-
vantages, it will also help the
war effort
SAVES PAPER,
For one thing, the new bill will
save paper Envelopes are elimi-
nated, and this saves 25,544
pounds of paper a year. In
addition, the new post card bill
will save manpower and trans-
portation
CONVENIENT,
1'111.1'1'1('.\ I. .%112EIrrISE11ENT
1
•
Vote For a Man
You Can Trust
Joseph
H.
CANTOR
•
Is a business man with an established
record for efficiency and honesty.
BY electing him as STATE SENATOR
fo r the 5TH DISTRICT you will avoid
runnin g into the danger of disgracing
our community.
RE SURE TO VOTE FOR JOSEPH H.
CANTOR AT THE PRIMARIES
JULY 11TH.
•
Paid for by a Friend.
YOUR Edison bill will
soon begin to come to you in
post card form.
MANPOWER,
TRANSPORTATION
This is a wartime emergency
measure. But we are sure you
will like the new bill for its own
good features—even without the
paper and manpower saving it
makes possible. It is a good
method that has been tested and
proved People like
We believe you will, tot.
DETROIT EDISON COMPANY