The times., 1901-04-07

! proletariat among them is proportionate-
| ly much larger than it is among other
| people; and thus it came about that the
! Jewish quarters IN all the large cities
! were already well filled when they were
| almost at moments notice. called up
| on TO receive double triple the number
! they already held. The actual number of
| the Jewish poor was thereby greatly in
creased; for many family that had been
wealthy or in easy circumstances in Rus
sia, GaIicia, or Roumania, had been re-
duced to want and been compelled to take
| its place among those who needed the
help of their brethren This help was
freely and cheerfully given all the world
| over. Great sacrifices were made by the
richer Jews to meet the pressing needs OF
the hour. and, with no help from the out
side world, excepting the London Man"
sion House Fund in 1882, the thousands
and tens of thousands of immigrants
| were cared for. The Jewish charitable
organizations the development of which
| has been during the latter half of the nine
teenth century the brightest spot in Jew
| ish communal life, rose to the demands of
| the occasion, and the more than princeiy
| munificence of Baron and Baroness Maur-
| ice de Hirsch, in regard to the Russian
Jews. may justly be looked upon with
! pride.
! New Ghettos however, were formed in
nearly all the cities to which these i'm
migrants came; and this name for the
habitat of the poorer Jews became again
| familiar, aided by the popularity which
some modern noveists had given to it,
| In the Middle Ages and down to our own
time the Jews had been forced by the
| State to live apart in such Ghettos'
sometimes for their own protection, some
times to preserve the outside world from
| contact with them. The modern Ghetto
is a voluntary gathering of the Jews for
! the purpose of mutual help and from
| feeling of reciprocal obligations. To the
| outside observer it presents an unsightly
| appearance; it is the abode of poor peo-
| pie and it's population is usually strange
| in dress, manners, and speech. The
sweating system (Which in one form or
another is to be found in all these Ghet-
| tos). has been a dreadful incentive to-
ward grinding theN face of the poor: and
the results of too great a boarding are
often quite apparent so that the general
| morality of the Jews in these Ghettos
norant of the language Of their new home
are a prey to the evi-intended, who
make use of their ignorance for their
own commercial and political advance
ment This has been notably seen in the
city of New York, where a lax city gov
ernment has permitted the vampires Of
society to fasten their fangs upon the
Ghetto and TO produce conditions which
call for the active interference of all
| those forces which seek to stamp out
crime and vice. But, on the other hand,
to one who is acquainted with the inner
life OF the Ghetto the virtues which have
hitherto chara cterized the Jews-indus-
try and sobriety-are still to be found
there; much more frequently than in
those parts where the richer classes con
gregate and whose wealth enables them
to withdraw their doings from the public
gaze Its members are as industrious as
bees in hive: and though extremely liti-
gious drunkenness is unknown and actual
crime is comparatively rare.
In order to correct the abuses of the
Ghetto. two things are absolutely neces-
sary-thc increase of the actual number
of Jews there must be stopped, and the
erowdlng into certain distinct fields Of
work must be brought to an end. A de-
termined effort has already been made to
force the new immigrants into less crowd
ed parts of the land to which they come.
In this country this is being done by the
United Hebrew Charities. and notably by
the B mai Birth. distinct clannish
feeling has. however, to be overcome, and
fear of venturing into an unknown
country where the Immigrant will be sur
| rounded by people who do not understand
his peculiar social and religious customs.
| That the Jew has taken by preference to
certain branches of trade and work Is
due to the fact that anti-J iegisla-
tion has for centuries closed many walks
of life to him, and the guild organization
excluded him vigorously from many
spheres OF activity. Then, too his richly
developed home life has induced a GER
tain distaste for occupations which take
the wage-earner out of his home and
away from his family. That, however
these inherited instincts can easily be
overcome is clearly seen whenever the
occasion offers. Even in Amsterdam
where three-fourths of the diamond in
dustry is In the hands of Jews, there are
to be found Jewish cobblers, cigarmakers.
ers, watchmakers. etc. In the East End
of London there are. it is true. 10000 Jews
who are engaged in the clothes-making
trades, but the rest of the 10000 Jewish
wage-esrners of this quarter are scatter
cd over all possible branches of work
masonry. Woodworking, textile indus
tries. furniture-making, capmaklng, and
the like. The same is true of New York
where although the number of Jews en-
ployed In the tailoring industries is dis
proportionately large, the following list
of Hebrew unions shows how far afeld
the Jewish workman has gone: Cap
makers. Cap-blockers. Shirtmakers, Mat
tressmakers Pursemakers. Liberty Mu-
scal Union. Jewish Chorus Union, Jew
elers' Union, Tinsmithers' Union, Bill
posters. Walters Alliance Architectural
Ironworkers, Hebrew Typographical Tn
ion Tobacco Cutters Papermakers.
Bookbinders. The same is relatively true
of all other countries where Jews live in
large numbers. 1t is also a popular mis-
conception that the Jew has an innate
dlstaste for agriculture. His continued
commercial life, forced upon him for
many centuries has. 1t is true disaccus-
toned the Jew to the life of tiller of the
soil But the Jewish State was largely
an agricultural one; the legislation of
the Bible and the later law books was
clearly intended for an agricultural peo-
pie; and Jews have never shown an nm
willingness to return again to the soil
In Southern Russia there are today 225
Jewish colonies with a population of 100
600. In Palestine there are now more