The Denver Jewish news., 1924-06-05
BOYCOTT AGAINST JEWS IN
POLAND CENTRALlZlNG
by osIAs sCIIRECK


the strengthening ef the ouiy institution
| In Poland from which Jewish merchants
can obtain credit)
The thoroughncss with which the
q mpaign against the Jewish mcr-
enants is being carried on In Poland
presents an envlable example Of con-
solidation. For from the stage of n
haphazard boycott. which it was some
ten years ago, 1t is becoming a cen
tralized. directed effort on the part of
national organization, so well cen
! tralized and directed that the Polish
Jewish merchants are being left with
entirely empty stores, and therefore
without any means of livelihood.
The guiding power of the entire cam
paign lies In the ''Rozwoj," n national
Polish organization aiming to take all
retailing completely out OF Jewish
hands and TO place it permanently in
the hands of Christians. Part of their
efforts are expended in teaching the
art of retailing to their countrymen.
who have never practiced If. As a prac-
tical school for this purpose and as
the immediate means of carrying on
the boycott, the "Rozwoj' has estab-
lished chain of cooperative stores.
These stores, of which there is an
ever increasing number in every city
and village. are enlarged versions of
the proverbial American country
Pole could ever wish to buy. AS an
added attraction, the village priest is
generally installed rs chief of staff In
the store. so that the instructions the
natives have received not to buy any
where else. may have the promise of
prospective religious whip in them.
The same priest who supervises the
selling does all the propert exhorting
of the subject to members of his con-
gregation. forbiddlng them to go any
where else for their goods. 1t would
seem that the meek follower with the
flock would never dream of disobeylng.
| Yet, were it not for an entirely diff
fcrent method of attack on the part
of the "Rozwoj,' all this would be of
no avail. The Pole is accustomed to
buy from Jews and to Jewish store
he will go, all instructions and priests
to the contrary. But so complete is
| tbo apn1wni'sr suparyiainn that whom
he does go intd Jewish establishment
today, he is almost certain to find it
without merchandise And this is the
result of the refusal Of the Polish
banks TO extend credit to the Jewish
merchant.
lie is in very dire need of credit now
because of the gradual stablization of
the Polish mark and the continual
necessity of refilling his shelves. Dur
ing the years of steady fluctuation, or
more simply, steady falling, of the
value of Polish money, the Jewish
merchant was able to get along by n
pure trick of circumstance. He would
buy million marks worth of mer-
chandisc. When the time came to sell
it. the mark would have fallen so
that the returns amounted to about ten
million marks. But when he went TO
buy more stock, he found that with
the ten million maIks he could get
only about onehalf of what he had got
ten originally with the million So
that although he always had enough
to live on, the amount of stock he had
on hand was on the continual decrease,
and today he is left with practically
empty shelves, no capital, and no way
of obtaining credit.
The Polish merchants, what few
there are Of them, have never been
in danger of finding themselves in this
position. They, also, played with the
money market, but when Il Pole bought
stock worth Il million marks, only one
tenth of the money invested was his,
the rest had been borrowed from a
bank, which in turn, had borrowed it
from the government bank. When
the value of the mark fell, the loss
had to be borne, finally, by the gov
ernment bank, and the Polish mer-
chant always had his original capital
to manipulate.
Today, in the improving conditions,
he can go on buying stock and bor-
rowing money. The Jew can do ncith-
er And it is here that the hand of
the "Rozwoj' has left the most pow
erful impression. The two largest
banks in the country are the Peoples
National Bank and the Cooperation
Merchants Bank, and both are under
the control of the 'Rozwoj," The
main branch Of the latter is in Posen
but there are representatives in any
city and village whore there are mer
chants at all. These two banks con
tain the entire capital of the Polish