Description:

Louis M. Brandeis World War I-Era TLS Re: "The Economic Possibilities of Palestine"

A 1p autograph letter signed by Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Louis Brandeis (1856-1941) as "Louis M. Brandeis" at center. July 10, 1918. [Washington, D.C.] On laid custom stationery with Brandeis's address at "Stoneleigh Court / Washington D.C." (a French style multi-story luxury apartment building built in 1905) embossed at top. Expected wear including light toning, isolated foxing and ink impressions, and flattened paper folds, else near fine and very dark. 5.875" x 8.875."

Justice Brandeis wrote this congratulatory note to Nellie Straus (1892-1933), the author of the article "The Economic Possibilities of Palestine," which had been published by the Federation of American Zionists several months earlier, in May 1918. Brandeis wrote in part: "Let me congratulate you and the cause on your excellent paper on The Economic Possibilities of Palestine…"

Nellie Straus (the future Nellie Staus-Mochenson) was a journalist and translator of "The Congress Addresses of Theodor Herzl" in 1917, and Arthur Ruppin's "Syria: An Economic Survey," also in 1918. In "The Economic Possibilities of Palestine," Straus reasoned that economic factors must motivate Zionist resettlement as much as religious or cultural ones. Straus gave a brief statistical analysis of the topography, temperature, rainfall, crops, animal husbandry, mineral wealth, industry, commerce, transportation, and tourism of then British Mandatory Palestine to prove that immigration there was economically feasible. "Such, then, in brief, are the resources, or rather, the latent possibilities of Palestine, which it behooves us to envisage neither from the point of view of the philanthropist nor of the individual settler but, in so far as it lies in our power, as economists and statesmen" (Straus, "The Economic Possibilities of Palestine, p. 8-9.)

Straus was of Ukrainian- and American-Jewish heritage. Her mother, Rosa Welt, was one of the first practicing female ophthalmologists in Europe, and her father, Louis Straus, was a successful New York businessman. Nellie and her husband Bernard Mochenson, both Zionists, relocated to Palestine after World War I ended; Straus died there in 1933.

Louis Brandeis was the son of Jewish Czech immigrants. He grew up secular, but became increasingly involved in supporting Jewish repatriation through Zionist organizations after 1912. Brandeis became the most high-profile Zionist in America after his appointment as the first Jewish Supreme Court justice in 1916. Brandeis would sit on the bench until his retirement in 1939.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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June 28, 2023 11:00 AM EDT
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