The times., 1899-09-03

( Third-Can Jews do anything to improve
the situation?
Fourth-The Jews have no party; they
are participants.
Fifth-Will the persecution ever come tc
an end?
Sixth-What has become of the Golden
Rule?
Point No. I've must grant proposition
No 1, for several sufficient reasons. The
/ Jew is not a disturber of the peace of any
/ country. Even his enemies will concede
/ that He is not a loafer, he is not a sot
he is not noisy, he is not a brawler nor a
rioter, he is not quarresome In the sta
tistics of crime his presence is conspicu-
ously rare-in all countries. Thai
/ the Jewish home is a home In the truest
sense is a fact which no one viii dispute
| The family is knitted together by the
/ strongest affections; its members show
each other every due respect; and rever-
ence for the elders is an inyiolate law OF
i the house The Jew is not burden on the
charities of the State nor of the city; these
! could cease from their functions without
affecting him When he is well enough. be
! works; when he is incapacitated, his own
: people take care of him.
These facts are all on the credit side
of the proposition that the Jew is goou
and orderly citizen. Summed up, they
certify that he is quiet peaceable, indus
trious, unaddicted to high crimes and bru-
tai dispositions; that his family life is
commendable; that he is not burden upon
public charities; that he is not beggar;
that in benevolence he is above the reach
of competition. These are the very quint-
essentials Of good citizenship. If you can
add that he is as honest as the average OF
his neighbors-. But ] think that ques-
tion is affirmatively answered by the fact
hos hn "a II The
basis Of successful business is honesty; a
business cannot thrive where the parties
to il cannot trust each other. In the mat
ter of numbers the Jew counts for little
in the overwhelming population of New
York; but that his honesty counts for
much is guaranteed by the fact that the
immense wholesale business of Broadway,
from the Battery TO Union Square, is sub
stantially in his hands.
The Jew has his other side. He has
some discredftable ways, though he has
not monopoly of them, because he can
not get entirely rid of vexatious Christian
competition. We have seen that he sell
dom transgresses the laws against crimes
Of violence. Indeed, his dealings with
courts are almost restricted TO matters
connected with commerce. He has a
reputation, for various small forms of
cheating, and for practicing oppressive
usurys ana lot burning nlmsel1 out 10
get the insurance, and for arranging cum
ming contracts which leave him an exit
but lock the other man in, and for smart
evasions which find him safe and COM
Portable just within the strict letter of the
law, when court and jury know very well
that he has violated the spirit of it. He
is a frequent and faithful and capable
officer in the civil service, but he is charged
with an unpatriotic disinclination to stand
by the flag as a soldier-like the Christian
Quaker.
Now, If you Offset these discreditable
features by the creditable ones summarized
In g. preceding paragraph, beginning with
the words, These facts are all on the
credit side,' and strike q balance, what
must the verdict be? This, think: That
the merits and demerits being fairly
weighed and measured on both sides. the
Christian can claim no superiority over
the Jew in the matter OF good citizenship
Yet in all countries, from the dawn Of
history, the Jew has been persistently and
implacably hated, and with frequency
prosecuted.
Point No 2.-"Can fanaticism alone
account for this?"
Years ago / used to think that 1t was
responsible for nearly all of 1t, but latter
iy have come to think that this was an