Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1913-04-02

meO1ately Tell prey to the Roman
legions. Synagogues we're destroyed,
cities burned, great masses of the
people ruthlessly slaughtered, and the
land entirely devastated. Thus com
pletely bereft of his home, the Jew
has since been an outcast among the
nations of the earth.
Seeking refuge in other countries,
bis trials increased. In Spain he
suffered all the barbarous cruelties of
the Inquisition. In England, France,
Germans and especially in Russia the
hardships have been no less, He Was
circumscribed in his rights, by
DEGREES and laws of the ecclesiastical
as we'll as the civil powers. Not al
lowed to belong to any guild of
mechanics nor engage in any form of
art. he was compelled to subsist
almost entirely by some mercantile
occupation. which his oppressors
scorned. Not allowed to own or rent
land in the country districts, the
Jews have been herded together in
the very narrowest quarters of the
cities known as the Ghettos. There
especially on holidays, they dared
not leave this prison pen, only to
suffer instant death. They have been
plundered by lawless barons. again
and again robbed of their pecuniary
claims, owned and sold as serfs by the
emperors, butchered by mobs, and
finally burned in thousands by the
crusaders. Deprived of every means
of education. the Jews have craved for
knowledge. Some have bartered the
last coin for book so their children
could learn. They have been torment
ed by ridicule, abusive sermons, and
threats, and even marked in their
dress with signs of contempt. Always
heavily overtaxed, there was but one
occupation remained open. and that
forced upon them by law was
usury. The first Jew who loaned
money on interest complained bitter.
~ Of the necessity which compelled
him to resort to such an occupation,
but the taxes must be paid, and that
was the only hope. Thus the life of
the Jew in the feudal ages was one of
unrelenting persecution, the horrors
of which. we can scarcely realize.
The shame of modern civilization
is that the conditions surrounding
the Jew are scarcely better.
The Russian Jew is still imprison-
ed in Ghettos, and enormous taxes are
still imposed on him. Although the
barrier to education is being broken
down, it is small process, for as
yet only very small percentage of
the Jewish children are permitted tc
attend schools. Forced to serve in
the army the Jewish soldiers need not
expect much reward, as they can never
attain even to the position of the
lowest Office. The prosecutions are
somewhat lessened, but still it wanld
be no new crime in Russia if on some
cold stormy night, band of Cossacks
would steal quietly out to a Jewish
suburb set fire to the buildings, drive
the frightened people from their
burning homes with whip and saber,
and mercilessly slaughter them. In
the morning the frozen bodies of the
dead could be seen among the white
stones of the Christian cemetery.
This last occurred in the very dawn of
our Twentieth Century.
Is this Justice? Is it right that
such treatment should still 60 on in
our century of light and liberty
When nations are supposed TO be en-
lightened, when civilization has SO
far advanced, is it just that this race
should still be ground down and left
to perish in their own blood2
1t is shame and a disgrace that
in this age. these people who have
done so much toward the enlighten-
ment of the world should still be
subject to such treatment
What have the Jews done to merit
respect3 Let us notice their achieve
mepts in behalf of the progress of
the world.
They we're the first to bring about
the idea of sole and just God. and
the first to worship that God, This,
the beginning of vast religious
development, is the greatest contribu
tion of all the races of antiquity. and
for this the Hebrew should hold a
prominent title of respect in the heart
Of every Christian man and woman.
Many Of the great laws of justice
found in our institutions today are
taken from the code of the Israelites,
the work of that great Hebrew law
giver, Moses.
They have also given us the idea of
brotherhood, and shown us the neces-
sity of pure home life.
Te Won ~uoY11d 1oorn tho lesson of kbo