The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-04-03
THE JEWS IN FRANCE.
Hatred of the Race Due to Their Su-
periOr Business Faculty,
London Daily Mail.

London Daily Mail.
To the majority of the people of this conn
Try the Jew is person who buys our old
clothes, deals in ancient pictures and lends
money to folk who wish 10 borrow
IN q word, Jews follow callings in which
D r,iII rs OF more value than muscle. No one
VIII qehy that the commanding position
1hey nave acquired is mainly owing to nat
uraI ability, fortified by sharpening of
the faculties consequent upon the persecu-
tlon they sustained in the past
Still, as we have ourselves no inconsider
able share. of financial ability, we have so
far been able to hold our own with the Is
raelite. Therefore the spectacle of a Hherfv-
loving nation like the French engaging i'm a
furious anti-Semitic agitation is to us in
comprehensive.
Yet this attitude of the French nation is
not so unreasonable as it appears Supreme
as Is the genius of their race in the world
equal talent in business. They are rich he
cause they are frugal, and having. as stat
eo q much keener eye for beauty than for
business, and regarding with scorn what
Lley regard an US as the "shOpkeeping in
sunct the Jews of France for ali pracfi-
cal purposes, control the destinies of the
Their triumph. however, has a deeper sig
niflcance. II assumes the shape of retribii-
tion The French Jew is not a newcomer in
the country, for as the synagogues of Po-
land, Germany, Russia and Holland have
aValled themselves more of the steamboat
than the railway to get rid of their surplus
population, nine-tenths of the Jews in
france to-day are the descendants of the
race which before the revolution in 17Sg
were subjected to tho most cruel nersee1I-
ton.
For a time-under Napoleon-a change for
the better took place. In 1907 they were
practically invested with the rights of citi-
zenship, but the imagination Of the Emperor
which had been kindled by their sufferings
soon cooled, and in the following year Iney
were degraded to their old position.
But freedom was at hand. The revolution
of 1880, which abolished the Roman Catho-
lie creed as the state religion of France
gave birth to a decree, proposed in the
Chamber by M. PreVerich, that the minis
ters of the Jewish faith should receive sal
aries from the state in the same proper
lions as were paid to the different sects of
the Christian religion-namely in proper
ton to the numbers Of the congregations.
From that moment their fortunes were as
but it was the republic which laid the
foundations of their present great power
power of the Jews in this country is con-
fined to the influence derived from the pos
session of enormous wealth. Our institu-
tions are unfettered, and the Jews have
little hand in the molding of political
parties. In France ii IS the reverse.
Spreading over the land. and filling innum-
cradle official posts, they have contFived to
obtain not only firm footing in commercial
enterprise, but in the machinery of govern
ment as well.
AS no religious statistics were given at
the last census in France, the number of
Jews in that Country is rot accurately
known. For some reason or other, their
Journals declare lndJ JHey 90 not NUMBER
10000 BY those best qualified to judge the
numbers approximately are nearer 100000.
Whether Dreyfus be guilty or not of sell
ing secrets to a foreign power. the French
people do not seem TO care He is a jew,
and that is enough for them. The press
has Joined in the outcry, and the Jew Is now
a target for the malice of the boulevards.
Jews will not do any hard or useful work,
say the French, and in the newspapers
correspondents are gravely requested to
say whether they know of any Jewish lock-
smiths gunsmiths, blacksmiths, builders,
miners, or members OF similar callings.
They are told that the Jews devotion 10
usurv has clemoraiized the country. When
whole nation rises almost as one man
and declares that the property the Jews
IIsurv and fraud. it is a grave question as
Ia what will be the result. In France cries
equally loud have dice away because the
grievances has been a sentimental one. IN
this case the crusade appeals to the purse.