The Twin City star., 1914-03-27

DDS the Jews aggressiveness and for
| wardness. the Jews capacity for COM
merce and finance, are all racial char
acteristics, unalterable, ineradicable.
| It is the French savant Renan who is
the phrase, "anti-semitism' in char
acterization and explanation Of the
prejudice against, and hostility to. the
Jew. He, too, based it all on racial
grounds. The antagonism Of the gen.
| tile world to the Jew is the racial an.
| taeonism between Aryans and Semites.
But is the Jew Semitef Who knowsf
What does the word "Semite connote.
The distinction between Aryan and
Semitic is purely linguistic. Because
certain nations are found speaking
kindred languages they are grouped to-
gether as constituting a distinct branch
of the human family. The Hebrew Ian
guage and the Assyrian Arabic, Phoe-
nician, ETC., being akin, those who spoke
them are supposed to have been eth
nically related, constituting a group of
Semitic peoples, corresponding to the
principle of grouping is applied to the
Arvans.
But the Hebrew language is in the
Bible itself spoken of as the language
Of Canaan, the country which the
Israelites subsequently, occupied. In
other words. having settled in that
country, they adopted its language,
even as all ma tions that come to Ameri:
ca adopt the English language as their
own: What language the Israelites
originally spoke we do not know. What
,eoy country their first ancestors migrated
from, we do not know. The traditions
on this point, recorded in the Bible
itself, vary.
lect akin to that Of another national
group, may live in the same or in con-
'tiguous territory, and still not be re-
lated to it by blood, not have. sprung
from the same stock. The component
elements of modern nations amply illus
kindred Of the Arabs. Assyrians, .Phe::
.nicans, etc., and therefore, unrelated
and alien to any member Of tho So
called Aryan groups Who knowsi
Tho Modern Jew.
Take the Jew as he Is at tho pres
ient time. What Is there that chaTac-
terizes him as BELONGING to q separate
race, to q separate branch Of the hu-
nan family trees Is it his physique,
his .physiognomy, his mind, his charac-
teri The Jew Is in all. these respects
Jew Of one country differs in ali these
respects from the Jew Of every other
country, provided they are all native
to their respective soils, or, still bet
ter, have lived there for several gen
erattons. That which commonly passes
e the Jewish type is really the type Of
the people occupying the rim OF the
Med Msditesransan basin. where ths Jews
Centuries. The Jew who has lived in
Russia for many -generations 10 COM
pletely assimilated to the 6lav type;
while the Jew Of Germany. with tho
Same number Of generations back Of
him, 10 cast in the Teutonic mold.
, A great deal Of rubbish 10 being
said and written about the Jews pc
Jew 10 this or that or the other thing;
he possesses or lacks this or that or tho
other endowment Of heart Or mind. II
all the traits, good and evil, that have
been predicated Of the Jew were ao-
tually imprinted by nature upon some
living being, there would be produced
a monstrosity the like Of which tho
world has never seen. The Jew, as .
Jew, excels in nothing, nor does he
The fiction that the Jew Is tho world 2
foremost figure in commerce and
finance has long been exploded. How
many Of America g multi. millionaries,
captains Of industry and heads Of big
business are Jewsf The Jew does not
held the worlds purse-strings, thus
the power Of debating war or
scientist to the contrary
That the Jew has
urtil now been SO largely and conspic
uously represented in trade and com.
merce is entirely due to his peculiar
his unfortunate history.
When all avenues of useful activity
but those Of petty trading and money
lending were closed to him by his op-
pressors. what could he do but take to
petty trading and money-lending, and
acquire 2 cunning therein that has at
how quickly he Is abandoning them |
now in favor Of the learned and skilled |
useful trades and even |
agriculture. Has not the Jew really |
greater results In the domains |
Of letters, science and philosophy than
In the spheres Of commerce and
But even here he % not pecu.
lisrly gifted. Others have done equal.
The Antagonism Religious.
No, there is nothing about the Jew
TO mark him of as belonging to . sepa.
rate race. The bond that has united
the Jews the world over Is q national
bond. Ttey have had the
same faith, the same past, the same
hopes and aspirations. Once they were
. nation. When the national bond
broken, and they were scattered over
The world, their faith united them, and
they continued to cherish their ma
tional memories and national hopes.
They mingled with all other nations
and all other groups Of the human fam.
ily. and, where allowed to do 50, be-
same In all respects, except that Of re-
ligion. like them. integral parts of
Them.
It 10 in this sphere, the sphere Of 70.
ligion, that the Jew, as q Jew, has
really distinguished himself. He has
produced the longest line Of prophets,
preachers Of righteousness. tribunes Of
The people. propagandists Of Justice and
peace, beginning with Moses down to
.he very latest of them, Joseph Fels.
Being the most oppressed Of all peo-
,les, his soul became the most sensi-
i've to the world g wrongs, and, when
gifted with the necessary power, he
'ane clarion note for justice and
peace. But who would claim this as
! peculiar racial traitf
Equally, the antagonism to the Jew,
It least during the last seventeen cen.
uries, has sprung from q religious
ource. When the Jew was stamped
jefore the world as the. crucifer. of q