The record-union., 1899-06-24


reft of the privilege of following the
pillow. bereft Of the privilege of entering
the professions or even of becoming an
artisan, he was forced, as a mark of
degradation. and against all his incli-
nations, against all the habits Of his
national life, to become q hawker and
petty trader, and thus began what
has since proven to be the most brill
liant commercial career in the world 8
history
Little did the Roman conQueror or
Roman statesman know of the powers
of the Jew or the destiny that he had
been chosen to fulfill Little did Rome
dream that long after its vast empire
would be a thing of the past, long after
its brilliant victories would be effaced.
from human memory. long after its
material greatness would be crumbled
to the earth; the Jew would live and
thrive, and be potent factor in the
most important affairs of the civilized
world
Nor do we find that the Jew was kept
degraded only while under the heel Of
Roman Emperors. This was but the
beginning His woes, his sufferings
niiu ms ucS duduuOilS, sWtIt SILL LII III
er increased when church became great
er than State and when, under the
guise of holy ZEAL there were added
all the religious cruelt1es, all the ex-
quisite physical fortunes that the hui
man mind could devise That such
cruelties as were perpetrated against a
defenseless people, could be permitted
to go on for nigh unto eighteen hun
dred years, seems almost incredible and
but shows how the human mind can be-
come warped and human senses blunted.
Let US, while at thiz point, listen to
what Martin Luther has to say con-
corning the treatment of the Jews. I'VE
should set fire to their synagogues and
schools, and what cannot be burned
should be covered over with earth, that
no man may ever discover stone or
brick of tive are to do this for the
CORY CT our Lord and Christfani y. Burn
all their houses and lodge them in
stables like gypsies, in order that
they may know they are not lords in
this land, but in captivity and misery.
Burn all their prayer books and Tai
muds, forbid the Rabbits under pain of
death to give Instructions deny Jews
the right of protection on the highways,
for they have no business with the
land Being neither lords, farmers nor
merchants nor anything of the kind,
they are to remain at home; you lords
shall not and cannot protect them, I'M
less you would take part in their abom-
ination. Put a fall ak, mattock or
spindle in the hands Of every young and
strong Jew or Jewess and compel them
to manual labor"
If such were the sentiments of man
foremost among the reformers Of his
time, what was the Jew to expect from
others less enlightened and still more
savage in their disposition?
What other race that the world. has
ever known could have outlived zcondi-
tions such as these? What other, race
starting in commerce where the jew
started, in spite of being despised, hat
ed, plundered, prosecuted, robbed and
cheated, could become foremost among
the civilized nations as race of fnan-
ciers and merchants?
But what of the vices of the Jew
which, it Is claimed, promoted his ILL
treatment? True 1T is that the Jew de-
veloped the vices of the trader and
money-Iender; vices that were foreign
to him when living as a nation in Ju
dea; but instead Of being accredited to
their proper cause, these vices have
wrongfulIy been labelled Jewish vices.
The wonder is not that the Jew has
vices, but that he has so few Of them.
What other race under the canopy Of
heaven has undergone a 1.-THE of the suf-
ferings and prosecutions imposed upon
the Jew and has retained so many vir-
tues? 800
The history of the Jew makes it plain
that he has been blessed not alone with
talent, but with. that much higher and
rarer Quality-genfus. The genius that
enabled Abraham, reared in and sur
rounded as he was by an atmosphere Of
idolatry, to conceive the idea of the
oneness and the spirituality Of God; the
genius that enabled Moses to give to
the world the matchless code of morals
embraced in the Ten Commandments;
the genius that enabled the prophets in
Israel to give us that great book of
books-the Bible; the genius that made
it possible for a nomad and pastoral
race to transform Palestine into a YER
liable garden, to make the vine, the fig
and the olive thrive where they had
never grown before; the genius that
through Jesus and Paul, could give the
world the magnificent moral and spdr-
itual results achieved through Christi
anity; the genius that, enabled, the
smallest among the peoples, to time
and again resist the most mighty among
nations1this same genius when forced
as it was into barter and trade aided
the Jew to advance himself from the
pawnshop to the banking house, from
the peddlar's pack to the helm of COM
merce.
Were it. possible to arrive at the
amount of Jewish capital to be found
in the United States alone, and were it
possible to arrive at the annual amount
of business transacted by the Jews Of
America in banking and commercial cir
cles, the results. considering that as a
rule the Jew has come to this country
penniless and unknown, would be most
astounding.
Were we to add to this his CONNER
cial transactions throughout the
world, we would find it to be the most
extraordinary showing ever made by
so limited number of people in. the
history of civilization.
= To what are we to attribute this most
remarkable success? How is this Won
derful growth TO, be explained? Can it
be that the Jew possesses some mystic
power that enables him to escape the
hazards, the difficulties and the dangers
of commercialisnn? Can it be that he
has found some easy read to success,
some path where obstacles are not to-
be encountered, where difficulties melt
away and where success may be grasred
by the simple outstretching of the arm?