New-York tribune., 1922-04-23

vi acrimonious debate and
disquletrng recrimnation. Violent cx
parte statements only increase the pre-
VaiIlng confusion Of thought, and it ia
high time that an attempt should be
made to treat the problem dispassion-
ately'
The statement that ut cannot be
SAID at this time Of day that there is
no Jewish problem" is due to no less
sober an English newspaper than The
London Times" The passage appears
in its review of Hilaire Bellocs chal-
longing book just published here, "Thc
JeWs.' 1t promises to arouse more
controversy than any other book Of the
year.
Hilnire Bclloc occupies a position Of
his own among English writer's. By
birth a Frenchman--he spent his
youth in France and did his period Of
military service in the French army
he became as a naturalzed English
man more English than the English.
An excellent student Of military his
tory, he sprang into sudden fame dur
ing the war as q writer on strategy.
His war articles. followed with the
closest attention by thousands in Eng
land, brought him a circle Of readers
TO whom before he had been hardly
name.
He is equally we'll known as ono Of
the most delightful Of English essay
lists and as one of the most contro-
versial of political writer's. He sat
for short ttimo in Parliament as a
Liberal, but ordinary party politics
have little interest for him. SO far as
he can be identified with any group he
belongs to the school of Gilbert X.
Chesterton, favoring what is called
distributivcism," as the alternative to
Socialism. His last book. "The House
Of Commons" argued that the parlia-
broken down, and proposed a revival
of the real power of the monarchy.
His critics charge that he suffers from
seeing behind all political affairs the
the brothers Chcstcrton were foremost
in stigating the Marconi affair
and he has never even tried to conceal
his dislike for the Jews.
Book Appears as Brief
Taken Up for Humanity
His book is BY no means anti-Scmitic
at least in form. 1t will be made the
text of discussion and difference in
their most acute forms, but in form il
is simply a brief taken up not for
Christendom, nor for Islam, but for
humanity. Belloc's treatment of the
subject is far removed from that Of
the writer's who raise the bogey of
Jewish world-p plot. Indeed he en-
phatically denies the existence of such
a plot His thesis is that "the CON
tinued presence of the Jewish nation
intermixed with other nations alien to
it presents permanent problem of the
gravest character; that the wholly diff
ferent culture, traditions, races and re-
ligions of Europe make that continent
a permanent antagonist TO Israel; and
that the recent and rapid intensifica-
tion of that antagonism gives to the
discovery of solution immediate and
practical Importance"
The problem, Belloc argues, cannot
be shirked and it must be met and
dealt with openly and now. The last
generation, he urges. was under the
influence Of liberal tradition which
regarded it as almost indecent to re-
fer publicly to the Jews or to admit
the existence of q Jewish problem.
Admit it, says Belloc, define it clearly
and try to find an honest and dignified
solution.
"The Jews he says, "are an alien
body within the society they inhabt
Tho alien body sets up a friction
which is evil both to itself and to the
organism which it inhabits. The
problem is how to relax those strains
for good and to set things permanently
at their ease again" He sees two
ways to such an end. "The first is by
the elimination Of what is alien. The
second is by its segregation. There is no
other way"
Elimination, he says, may be in only
one Of three ys-destruction, ex-
prlsion or absorption. Destruction
he declares to be "abominable in
morals and futile in practice" Ex-
rulsion he describes rs historjcallv 81
failure. Equally, in his view, the
historical index is against the theory
of absorption. By process OF cx-
haustion he arrives at the solution of
segregation. This, he says, may be
hostile or amiable. Hostile segrega-
ton has been attempted in vain, and
therefore he reaches the point that
only an amiable settlement is possible.
Belloc does not carH his argument
to the point Of advocating the estab-
lishment Of new ghettocs, but it is
difficult TO see where else his argu-
ment leads. He processes himself,
however, not Immediately concerned in
finding a solution to the problem. He
contents himself with being sugges-
tive; the strength Of his book lies in
his closely argued plea that the Jewish
problem should be seriously and dis
al ~, proAlo,,