The record-union., 1894-08-04

teresting place TO visit. All along the
curbs are ranged the carts with fruits,
fish, meats. bottled goods, vege-
tables, etc., and clothes for men and
women. Here one can get bargains OF
every sort, and there is much haggllng
over the price before the purchase IS
made. The American penny is too
large a coin 10 serve them, and they use
checks as credits on the dealer TO sub
divide the copper. In all foreign coun-
tries the cent or its equivalent is divided
four or i've times.
Across the sidewalk from the carts are
basement shops. Some of the houses
were once residences Of well-to-do New
Workers, and the old-fashioned carved
knockers still hang on the doors. But
the buildings are badly begrimed and
worn, and are forced into the service OF
trade. went through the market street
recently with squad Of Health Depart
ment Inspectors on raid. They led me
into places | never had thought OF seeing,
and showed me traffic that was astonish-
ing. In one shop, fishmonger's store,
were six black, long bearded statesmen
chopping, weighing and delivering all
sorts OF finned things to a crowd OF push
ing, grimacing customers, mostly
women. The blacks reeked with oil and
water and the floor was soaked. 1t was a
cellar under a basement, but the pro-
prietor looked prosperous and contented.
His was perforce a system of quick sales
at small profits, but he was evidently
making money.
Chinatown in Sacramento is never at
It's busiest hour so crowded and alive as
is this quarter of New York. Nor | street
fuller OF queer sights. There is no gam
bling OF peculiar nature. The young
men have game, but it is played quietly,
with very little talking and no gesticulat-
ing. But there are shops which sell
things never seen west of the Bowery.
These people eat, as do our Chinese.
articles of food unknown In any but their
own markets When there, and the shops
swarm as they do on market days and in
the early morning, the streets are filled
with strange figures, women, children by
the thousand and men, all young. Where
the old men go is hard to tell. They are
surely not in the streets. The women
wear wigs always after the most youthful
boundary OF middle-age is passed, l am
informed because OF a religious precept
of theirs, which is or seems to be not OBJ
served by the more Americanized people
of this immortal race.
The Jews of the East side are not TAX
ing on our peculiarities III any percepti-
BILE degree. English is almost useless
among them. 1t Is neither spoken nor
understood, except by the very youngest
members Of the families. German they
understand, but that even they speak
with strong accent. Into this German,
filled with rs and ks, they introduce a
few English words, as do the Germans
in speaking our language. But not only
in language, but in custom, habits and
diet they retain their own. A curious
effect OF their European training In strict
regulation and Government interference
is their untailing observance of police
and Board of Health rules. Since New
York has been trying 10 register all
births, deaths and marriages these for
eigners have been the readiest to comply
with the laws. American families, min
listers and physicians are often fined for
neglect to send notices of these events;
the naturalized foreigners sometimes
omit to obey, but these most ignorant
and ill-informed of all races in the city
never fail. They submit, too, TO the
rudest kind of police interference with
trade and domestic concerns and never
rebel. They are said by policemen to be
the ''softest of snaps" as subjects of ex-
tortion and illegal taxes. The precincts
in which they live are desirable ones for
police Captain to control.
To their religion they are the most en-
thusiastic OF devotees, but as celebrated
among them the very imposing rites of
the Hebrew Church are by no means
pleasing. In the first place, the worship
ers are inexplicably subdiYided. Every
two or three tenement houses have their
own congregation and Rabbi. They hire
a small back room and worship together
till g quarrel occurs, when, after wild
fight over the sacred scrolls, they split
and get separate rooms. The police make
q practice of attending these fights. but
of Interfering only TO prevent too much
noise. As the combatants do not use fists
or clubs, the Irish policeman thinks no
harncan be done. Hair is pulled, faces are
scratched and clothes are torn, but few
are the wounds that require an ambu-
lance The only serious danger is that Of
fire. After angry worship, lamps and
candles are left TO set fire to the building,
and several fatal incidents of this kind
have come to my knowledge.
In vice and crime also these Russian
and Polish Jews are far behind their CO.
religionists. 1t has been a proud and just
Hebrew BOAST that the people of that faith
have furnished an infinitiSlmal proper
ton of this nations criminals. The Jews
on the east side have several very shock
ing vices, and this frequently appears in
the Police Court. Cruelty to wives and
children has come often to my notice; but
/ found that in instances of this kind the
husband or father was usually physi-
cally degenerate man. Their favoriLe
crime is incendiarism. In their practice
of it they are inhumanly heartless and
sly. There is not shadow of doubt that
many fatal night fires among them are
set for the insurance. Convictions are
few. but sufficient to prove the prevail
ence of this terrible form of enterprise.
Naturally these people are shrewd in
business. Their first aim is always to
acquire property, and as landlords they
are the hardest the poor have. They take
tenant houses. heavily mortgaged, on the
narrowest of margins, and these have
justified to me their uncompromising
policy by showing that they cannot wait
for rent. They are frantic to keep up
possession and they spare no one. In the
coldeSt days OF winter they set the back
ward unemployed out into the street,
standing sharply on the law. 1t is these
capitalists who personify all that class to
the hard-pusned Wage-earners and rent
payers. 1t is these men the orators have
in mind when they describe eloquently
the hard-6sted, Implying capitalist, who
presses them so hard and makes their
lives so miserable.
Still, these refugee Jews are solving
their problem. The orators, when they
save a few dollars, buy a house on a
margin. forget socialism, and squeeze
their nelghborS for more margin to buy
more houses. Then they pass on goodly
estate to their children and move away.
Gradually they creep uptown and cross
town, and soon will be between Wall
Street and Fifth avenue. There is no
plan of their future It is sure to be sub
stantial and may be even splendid. Itis the
work of generations, but they live for
their descendants. They hold to the
family life and their view of it is broad
vista of many childrenunto the third and
fourth generations. This eye for the
coming races is one of the secrets that has
made the Jew persist down all the ages.
a mystery always to the practical man
who sees him grow rich and respected
and the socialist who sees him survive