create a body with men of authority at its head,
and the living forces of the Jewish people, or at least a considerable
portion of them, at its back. The forces and the men do exist. They
have only to be gathered, united and grouped.

Who is to do this organizing work? My reply is unhesitating: American
Jewry. I should be happy to say: here is a task for the Zionists'
organization which exists, which lives, which is prepared for work of
this kind, and which has to consider its carrying out as its natural
function; but I shrink back from giving this near-lying answer. Many
pre-eminent and influential Jews whose good Jewish sentiments no one
has a right to doubt, persist in considering Zionism as a party
tendency against which they raise objections. Now the representations
of the Jewish people before the governments must not be a party
affair, but ought to be the cause of the entire people and must
embrace all its parts. The invitation must therefore be issued by
personalities who repel nobody at the outset by their pronounced party
color. Moreover, these personalities must necessarily belong to a
neutral country, so as to leave no room for the argument that
according to the political definition of the hour they are enemies and
to co-operate with them would mean disloyalty to one's own country.
Only in the case, which I hope will not be realized, of the United
States also precipitating itself into the whirlpool of the war, would
they be bound to transfer their initiative to the Swiss or the Dutch
Jewry. The first labor of the initiators should consist in inviting
the existing Jewish organizations of all countries to have themselves
represented by a delegation on a permanent board or committee. It
would be a matter of regret if they refused, but this ought by no
means to be a reason for discouragement nor for discontinuing further
endeavors. In this case the initiators would simply have to do
fundamental work and try to fall back on elements that at present
stand outside, or intentionally keep aloof from, existing
organizations. It would be the business of the permanent board to
secure financial co-operation that could be called upon under given
circumstances, and to cause Jews of standing in every great country to
approach their government, to submit to it in time the aspirations of
the Jewish people, and to procure its approval and sympathy for them.

"_Not an Instant to Lose if We Wish to Prepare_"

Out of the pea