The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1913-10-03

life seems to be to sit with folded
arms and watch the kaleidoscope of
the street. Myriad children swarm
under foot. shouting back and forth
to each other, sometimes in Yiddish,
sometimes in English, usually in SEN
fences Of both tongues.
Changing, Yet changeless.
The very fact that all of this life is
so precisely like the life of the East
side eight or ten years ago naturally
makes one curious to understand
what has become Of the influence Of
the public schools, the playground
centers, the settlements, and all the
other innumerable philanthropic char
table and educational institutions
which have been established there
for many years. AS one walks through
the streets there are few, If any, evil
dences of progress, 1t is still an or
thodox Jewry. Ten years ago thou
sands upon thousands of boys and
girls, young men and young women,
were looked upon as Americans in
process" One naturally asks what
has become of the Americans or what
has happened to the process.
In the answer to this question lies
one more of the interesting features
of this situation. The lower East
side is in the nature Of great hui
man sieve. Here the immigrants
come and locate Immediately they
have landed, for In this Ghetto they
find a life in outward semblance sim
liar to the life Of the Ghettos they
have left in Europe. Every one
speaks Yiddish and consequently ig-
norance of English is no drawback.
Jewish customs prevail. The pre-
vailing atmosphere is Jewish. Here
they are at home. The schools, the
settlements, and the social centers
are open to their children, who are
never slow to avail themselves Of the
advantages and opportunities offered
them But as soon as the younger
generation has secured ever SO slight
foothold, they are seized with the
desire to move uptown" so they go
to the Bronx, to East New York or
to Brownsville, making place for the
more recent arrivals from Europe.
Thus it is that the East side while
composed Of different population. is
still the same; while changing 1t Is
still unchanged. The fiux Of life
which continues month after month
expels from its borders those who
have become slightly Americanized.
At the same time, receiving others OF
the orthodox type who maintain the
standard of life and keep unsoiled
from the world about them the old
time atmosphere of the Ghetto.
In certain respects the East side of
today Is better East side than Of
ten years ago. For one thing, there
Is less criminality of a serious char
acter. Formerly young boys. scarcely
out of school. took lessons from ex-
perienced pickpockets and practiced
their trade among the throngs Of the
East side streets and the Bowery and
on various crosstown cars which in
tersect the Ghetto. But little time
ago an ordinance was passed which
made "jostling" in crowd misde-
meanor and a penal offense. This
practically broke the backbone Of the
pickpocket ring for jostling is essen
tial to the successful operation Of
pickpocketing on the part Of novices.
The old-time Fagin no longer exists
and the youth of the East side have
learned that pocketpicking does not
pay. Gambling exists because gam
bling will always exist in Jewish
population. It Is temperamental and
racial trait. Municipal judges inform
me that drinking Is on the increase
among the Jewish population OF the
East side This has never been q
racial characteristic. Drunkenness,
like total abstinence, has heretofore
been unknown, or practically 80.
among this population, but latterly
there has been tendency. especially
on the part Of the younger genera
ton, toward the consumption Of spdre
ituous liquors, which has resulted tn
q marked increase Of drunkenness on
the part Of the younger Jews.