The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1884-01-04
BARON ROTHSCHILD.
The Letter Written by Him in Defense q
the Jews,

The Letter Written by Him in Defense a
the jews,
Baron AnseIm Won RothSchild. Of
Vienna. wrote the annexed letter 10 Rof-
Prediger 5toecker, OF Berlin, the lnstiga or
OF The anti Semitic agitation III Germany.
He says:
VIENNA November. 1881.
To the Court Preacher, 6tOecker:
Sniff l am correctly informed, your
physicians once advised you TO take plenty
of exercise, and since then you have been
almost constantly employed inanti- Semitic
movements. This matter really concerns
me very little, for, thank God, Austria has
not. vet advanced so far on the path Of in
telljgence and refinement as to possess a
"Judenhetze, " such as the cultivated city
of Berlin can boast Of. But still, | should
like to call the attention Of your reverence
to certain grave errors which have crept in
to your speech, recently delivered in the
German Parliament.
You said in that address, behind me
stand the millions" You are mistaken; the
| millions stand behind me, and if you doupt
this you are respectfully invited 10 visit my
counting house, where ample proof shall be
given you. You contend that "the Jewish
usurers have ruined all classes of people. "
Now. pray tell ne, my dear oo@ct preacher,
who goes to the Jewish usuTer? Is il not
those whose credit is exhausted? And if
their fellow-men will not trust them any
longer, are not they already ruined before
they seek this last resort~-the Jewish usureT?
This is only another of many cases where
the Jew is made the ~scapegoat for the often
Sc, Of his neighbor. j
You say further that the Jews, out Of al
prJpOrtion to their numbers. assisted bv
talent and capital, exercise a mighty intiu-
ence In tho~C community. | am really sur
prised that this should surprise YOU. As if
tale It had not. from time immemorial, held
the scepter. Would you rather that this
world should be ruled by fools than by wise
mon? And as far as the disprCportoA of
our numbers is concerned, We Jews cannot
help but feel highly tiatteled if We possess
more talent than orr GENTLE cOuntrymeu.
And as for our power as capitalists, this is
the result of our business genius and eeOnO-
my. Why do not the Christians initiate us?
Do we hinder them from earning money or
from saving il?
The Jews should be more modest" you
say. 1t is true that modesty is a most de-
sirable virtue, suited alike to Jew and Cen
tile, but as Goethe has it, Only scoUndrels
are modest" Now, amongJews there are so
few scoundrels, and then really it is much
easier for a court preacher to be modest
than for a jew. II court preacher dis
plays that commendable virtue, his flock
will bow before him and exclaim: so
mighty and yet so modest. Let a Jew be
modest and he is kicked and spuIned, and
the mob say, Served him right"
You aver that the Jew in Lessing's ma
than is no Jew at ali, but n Christian.
IE:4L H. ~, S;nhk I v,;Olk Car Apo No,,.
Preacher Stoecker is no Christian, but an
| apostate Jew who has banded himself with
| some harbarous relic of the middle ages TO
prosecute a miserable anti Semitic agita-
tion. But l will not say this, as I would
not desire to so grossly insult my co -relig-
ionists.
Your friend Bachem is of the opinion
that the people are backing him. I will ad-
mitthat there is a people in his wake, but
as a German philosopher once said: There
are enough wretches in the world to back
any bad cause" Your friend also INDUCES
in the crushing accusation that the Jews
are grain spectators. Now, do you know
who was the first Spectator in grain?
None other than the jew, Joseph, in Egypt,
although at that time there was no court
| preacher to discover any crime in his ac-
ZION, and the people were grateful to him.
In one Of your discourses you once ex
| claimed: Look at Herr Won B~leichroeder.
He has more money than all the evangel.
ical preachers put together" Now, I am
sure that Herr Won Bleichroeder has never
| said: Look at Court Preacher Stoecker.
He earns more money bya sissis Sermon
than a hunarTed Jewish firms do in a whole
yeesaf.
/ In conclusion, if you will not admit hat
the Jews have any good qualities, You viii
at least not envy them for the little meney
! they may possess. II in spite OF their
wealth they cannot prevent, in the year of
1881, the formation of an agitation against
them, what would become of them if they
had no money? 1t is true The Jews put
some value on wealth, and / must say that /
would rather be q rich Jew than q poor
| Christian. But then, are there not poor
Christians who would rather be rich JewsP
Even you, most reverend sir, might, per-
haps, be willing to change positions with
me land I fiatter myself that you would not
make so bad a bargain. For myself, / can
only say that if / were not Rothschild, ]
should stiil be very far from wishing N.Y.
self the Court Preacher Stoecker.
Very respectfully,
80 A. Won RoTHscHILD.