New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-11-11
The Soul of the East Side
By E. Miller Editor Prod Weekly the East Side

for half tones; he rejects the curve
together with the nuance. His lines
must be straight, his angles right.
Owing TO his religion he accepts only
that which is absolute and perfect.
And while he is ready for all sorts Of
concessions when they are necessitated
by the demands of practical life, he
will never countensrce the principle
of compromise in the political or COM
munal relations Of his millieu.
The Jews came 20 America in quest
OF a freedom which was not theirs IN
their old country. But there are two
kinds of freedom. There is theoretl-
cal freedom which is absolute, and
there IS practical freedom which IS
necessarily limited. The East Slider
cannot acduiesce in freedom with lIml-
tations. and is panied when confronted
with realities.
In their old countries the Jews were
drafted for war By governments which
were not their governments, Tor causes
which we're not their causes. lney
hated those wars and they dreaded
those drafts, and they dreamt Oh
America, where they heard there were
10 wars. no compulsory military ser,
vice. and where no government could
conpel a person 10 do things OF wnlcn
ne did not approve.
Thus. when this war broke out, and
Congress passed the select draft Ia"
and the East Side discovered that ne
might be compelled to fight whether ne
approved OF il or not. he began 20 ieel
ne II though some one had cheated h!m
ont of America. Of his America, Of the
countrv as he had pictured 10 TO NM
self before ne came over here. lie dlu
not bemoan his own ignorance OF me
fact because it did not tit IN with ms
conception Of things as they ought
70 be.
Whether an East Side Jew is Of Rus
sian Polish. Galician or Rumanlan
birth. he was treated and Disseminated
against. as stranger, often as an
enemy. ere he landed in America. Il
Is therefore natural that the FAR,
transatlantic republic. the tales or
whose fabulous wealth, might, free
dom and glory. and, above all, whose
complete emancipation Of al the preJu,.
dices OF religious. racial and pohtlcal
Intolerance and bigotry-that al TINS.
i-aped and mantled in feyerlsh ngures
of desire and hope, appeared as q new
phantom land Of promise, still more
enriched and beautifed and elevated
BY the very misery and humiliation OF
the men and women who were yearn-
ing in their old homes for America.
The first touch Of concrete American
reality was a terrible shock 70 the
East Side immigrant. The bards OF
America. on the other side, we're only
singing 10 them about the beautiful
things, the good things this country
offers TO every one, and they never
told them OF the work and the PAIN
and the struggles and sacrifices that
gave America what it has.
And here came the disappointment
here came the bitterness.
Not 10 every East Slider. Not into
the heart Of every Jew, but into the
hearts Of many.
Not all the men of al the natipns
are suffering from the "Weltschmertz.
The bulk Of humanity does not bleed
from wounds which are not theirs. The
Jews less than the others. because
thew have too much Of their own
"Schrertz." They were not much per
turbed down here on the East side
when the Central Powers sent IN their
ultimatum 70 Serbia; not much more