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Do not deface books by marks and writing. Cornell University Library DS 135.P6L37 World prpblem: Jews-Poland-humanity: a 3 1924 028 644 668 The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028644668 STEPHANIE LAUDYN A World Problem Jews — Poland— Humanity A Paychological and Historical Study PART I. Translated from Polish by A. J. ZIELlfJSKI and W. K.. PRICE $2.25 General Agency : THE BOOK IMPORTING HOUSE 118-120 So. 17lh St., PitUburgh, Pn. U. S. America Printed by American Catalogue Printing Co., 1501 W. Division St. Chicago, Illinois , ' i920 \^ V ■ m\ V t: 1 1 : R A K Y Copyright 1920 by STEPHANIE LAUDYN All Rights Reserved To the noble and heroic people of the roorlds' inost free Democracy^ who went forth to crush the age-old tyranny of Europe and to elevate triumphantly the hanner of Right and Justice for the oppressed nations^ this volume is grate- fully dedicated hy THi: AUTHOR '■''America is privileged to spend her Hood and her might for the principles that gave her birth and happiness and the peace which she has treasured. God helping her, she can do no other''\ President Wilso7i^s War Address to the Congress, (April 2, 1917). "The times have .passed, when nations pro- claimed: "Within ourselves and for ourselves." What would the progress of nations depend upon, if they did not tend towards the estah- lis'hJment of religious, political and social unity?" —ADAM MIOKIEWICZ. PREFACE This work has been written (1914-1917) in order to fill the cr3Hing need of an impar- tial exposition of the relations existing be- tween the Poles and the Jews in Poland. The fact that these two peoples have lived for centuries on a common soil and in close proximity, has created a serious problem for Poland — one that demands definite adjust- ment. In studying the question, I have realized that the relation of the Jews in re- gard to Poland is exactly the same as their relations to the world at large. For that reason, the problem at issue intimately con- cerns other nations; in fact, affects their creeds, their ideals and aspirations ; in short, the welfare of the entire world; hence it rightly merits the title "A World Problem." The infiltrating Jewish spirit is danger- ously affecting mankind and the Jews like- wise, because of the attitude Christian na- tions assume towards them. It is a recipro- cal importance, developing in the hidden recesses of life, and drawing from these recesses the noxious ingredients of error, crime, and suffering. To heal a malady, it is necessary to ex- amine it carefully, analyze it thoroughly, and expose its nature fearlessly, before ap- plying the necessary remedies. Realizing that this also applies to the Jewish infection, I have devoted several years to a thorough and impartial study of the Jewish national soul in Poland, where nearly half of the Jews in the world have lived for centuries. As conclusions may be of some importance to the general progress of the world, I do not hesitate to embody them in this book, which is a true and im- partial summary of the result of my study. I have endeavored especially to lay bare and expose the evil, which affects the very foundation of life and is fraught with dan- ger to the Jews as well as to the Christian nations. A thorough and impartial analysis of the evil, together with its lamentable re- sults, is necessary before this evil can be eradicated. For the evil must be removed — life's moral atmosphere must be cleansed. The souls of nations which suffer from ailments inflicted on them by the force of things, and for which they are not responsible because acquired by inheritance, must be healed. If this be a harsh and unpleasant analysis, we should become all the more determined to eradicate the evil, in order to free ourselves of the poisonous inheritance of ages, so that we may be able to freely proceed along the bright and sunny highways of life. Let us unite our efforts and fill our hearts with brotherly love! Let us refrain from pursu- ing policies which sanction injustice, permit evil and lower man's moral standard. Let truth and righteousness, brotherhood and good will enlighten the way of the various nations. I have endeavored to embody these wholesome principles in this work. If I have failed, I beg to be forgiven. If, at times, I am severe or even harsh in my judg- ment, I can only say that truth knows neither concession nor cowardice, and de- mands that its adherents: Be brave and fear not If I have erred, I have erred in good faith, after conscientiously searching sources and data and impartially weighing facts and conclusions derived from my own experience and from the acquain- tance with many of the foremost represen- tatives of the Jewish race. I unite my voice with the best writers of that highly gifted race, in their own interest, the interest of Poland and humanity, and cry out : Renew your life ; throw off the noxious growth from your soul; heal your spirit. You can so do, as you are richly endowed by nature. Enter upon the sunny future, as brothers and com- panions in the toilsome journey of life, and let the bright trinity of love, forgiveness and righteousness embrace and receive you within the great, united, reconciled human family. March, 1917. —The Author. CHAPTER I JEWS— THEIR HISTORICAL SOUL IF a comprehensive study of the various nations presents some difficulty, then the study of the eternal Jewish problem is apt to awe and de- press, as we search its appalling depths — gloomy, aged and sublime, encircled by a dark mist of Semi- tic spirit, which glow with all the faith, passion, aspiration and suffering of the great race of Jewish prophets. Far back in the dawn of history we see the various peoples, as they fight desperate battles, struggle and shed blood, semingly fall only to rise again, and seemingly disappear only to be again resurrected. We see these peoples in their awaken- ing ambitions, their youthful life, their activities, their errors, and their triumphs. High above them rises an imposing dome of faiths, faiths which strug- gle for their dominance over the souls of the various peoples, from a time far back in the dawn of hiS;tory. This mighty depth moves and whirls, sinks and rises, upheaves and is smoothed over by the hand of history, a hand which seems to guard jealously the underlying secret of the depth — the key to its riddle and to its unknown destinies. In the large famUy of nations, the Jew stands alone with his original national type and his pecu- liar soul. Pastoral as were all peoples in the be- ginning, the Jew gradually evolved into an agricul- tural nation, with a strong patriarchal government. Imposing in its authority and its sacred reverence A WORLD PROBLEM is his patriarchism. Before it everything bows without a shadow of protest, while his faith in the one God, a faith which emanates from his fervent soul, creates a permanent spiritual edifice, a living sanctuary for the nation. It is an imposing spec- tacle indeed, this Biblical history at first, and the modern period thereafter — full of ecstasies and re- plete with the fervor of passionate faith, holding these loose units of humanity within their iron grip. There are no individuals in Israel. The individual sovil is so subordinate to, and so strongly cemented with the universal soul, so completely united by habit and tradition, so united by the force of pas- sionate love, pain and hatred, and the result is one spirit so perfect and so well-disciplined, that neither temptation, persecution, nor the destructive influ- ence of ages can in any way crush it. From the distant ages, along the banks of the Euphrates, from the painful moans in Egyptian bondage, and from the carousing revolt of the faith- ful at the foot of flaming Mount Sinai — comes the voice of the powerful prophet of Israel, as he de- scends from the top of the Mount, his face shin- ing with the vision of the Lord, and brings to the chosen people the Ten Commandments written on tablets of stone. By them they have faithfully stood thereafter. They have passed miraculously the sea which separated them from the promised land ; they have overcome every obstacle, always enveloped in their own truths of life, and forever true to their one God, whom they conceived in their own manner and adored as their exclusive Lord and God of Israel. 10 JEWS— THEIR HISTORICAL SOUL One and only one God — their own peculiar and exclusive Master, the Lord and Protector of the Jewish people — ^herein lies the source of their en- during separatism, a separatism dating back to the very beginning of Jewish history. Other tribes around them formulated their own changeable and fantastic creeds, deifying the sun, the earth, the moon, fire and other forces of nature. Israel alone knew no pantheism or idolatry. He rose immedi- ately to the highest conception of a spiritual Lord, who rules the universe and penetrates the depth of the human soul. The natural result thereof was a fusion of all the individual souls into one love and submission to the Lord. This element of high spir- ituality became that exuberant and creative force which was soon to cleanse the soul of the people, a people who would associate thereafter with the spirit of the universe, and whose activity was to be ever controlled by the will of their Law-giver and their Lord. Hence the phenomenal growth of spir- ituality in the people of Israel so that their history became really a history of fiery estatics, of sages, of prophets, and of the Lord's Anointed. The temple of Zion burst forth like a radiant ark under the watchful eye of the succeeding genera- tions. Jerusalem, the temple of Judah, became not only the crown of the glory of the Davids, the Solo- mons and the prophets, but a symbol of a certain heavenly promised and expected Jerusalem of the world. And though the haughty people of Israel, esteemed for the prestige of their warriors and their prophets, fell in the course of ages under the power of Babylon, then under that of Egypt, and again 11 A WORLD PROBLEM under the power of Rome, still the wondrous beauty of Zion, the memory of their kings, and the desire of recovering their ancient glory have lasted for ages. Jerusalem was always the dream of their spiritual life. It was the golden link binding fast the wandering Jews of the whole world into one soul, fervent, praying and believing. The subjec- tion of the small country of Judah, however, re- sulted in the dispersion of the Jews, and in their crowded and isolated settlements the world over. They could not endure a foreign invasion, nor bear the destruction of Jerusalem and national dissolu- tion, but — vdth curses on their lipS — preferred leaving everything behind and going out into the world. The destruction of Judah became a historical fact, and Palestine became a thoroughfare for vari- ous peoples — but the powerful, self-centered racial soul of its people remained unbroken. It turned away from its own possessions, profaned by foreign invasion, and set out, haughty, selfish and gloomy — to subdue the world. The imfortunate downfall, the painful disinte- gration, calamities, woes, reverses and humiliations became a new and efficient weapon for the longing and unsatiated desires of the Jewish soul. With their minds riveted upon their past, upon their in- spiring annals, upon their kings, their prophets and the Lord's Anointed, glowing with the passion and the aspirations of their spirit, enhanced by legends and miracles, warfare and sufferings — the Jews could neither be separated from their vivid oriental JEWS— THEIR HISTORICAL SOUL phantasy, nor from the hungry, fervent sentiments of passionate fanaticism and belief. The religious isolation, the strange customs and morality impressed upon the Jews by their unique laws, made them a people which saw nothing but their own commandments and their own God. They obeyed their own laws and precepts, which were jealously guarded by fanatical talmudists, by their rabbis, by their schools and by their worship. These took the soul of the infant child into their iron hold, subjected it to a rigid training until they turned it into soft clay, which was responsive to their very touch and toughened into rock in the hands of the immitigated moulder. In such train- ing in the religion of one Jewish God, and in the blind faithfulness, even to the letter of the precepts of the Talmud, grew entire generations. What did their religion tell them, what commands did the God of the chosen people give them? Was it the God of the universe, or was it an exclusively Semitic God? Right here is the tragedy of the Jewish soul, the kernel of its original greatness, and likewise the source of the downfall, calamity, disin- tegration and woe of the Jew. The Jewish religion is a religion of exclusion, hatred and detestation. The Jev^rish God is a cruel and revengeful God, and their law of livii% is based on this vindictive prin- ciple:. "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." The psalms of their sacred books teem with pride, revenge and contempt. Jehova says to the chosen people. "I will give thee the Gentiles for thy inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for thy posses- 13 A WORLD PROBLEM sion," and: "Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron, and shalt break them in pieces like a potter's vessel" (Ps. 2.8-9). And the Jews believe today as they had done centuries ago, that these promises will be fulfilled, and that Jehova will bring their enemies under their feet. Again the books of Esther present a complete picture of the Jews expecting eventually to subject the countries in which they have settled. It should be remembered that their dispersion is very old, dat- ing back to the ages before Christ. After the fall of Judea, they migrated in large numbers into foreign countries, and deprived as they were of a natural basis for existence^ — the soil — they were obliged to embrace such chance occupations as were independ- ent of place, condition or class. Wanderers in for- eign lands, they had to pass in humbleness, to slip into such occupations as were scorned by the natives and held no future prospects. Business, in its early stages, was an occupation of this character. Neither the farmer nor the nobleman had any time nor wish for it. The humble and skillful newcomers relieved them of this burden of business for a trifle. In the course of time, however, the much despised business occupation grew in extent and importance, until it developed into a powerful commerce, uniting entire nations and demanding international regulations. No other people except the Jews could have an- swered so well the requirements of business, dis- persed as they were, in the various countries, and, at the same time, closely united and always ready to help each other. They soon became the masters in the business world. Streams of gold, coming 14 JEWS— THEIR HISTORICAL SOUL from the commercial exchange, flowed into their coffers and made them powerful, although they had no place under the sun that they could call their own. With passionate fervor, emanating from their fanatical nature, they prosecuted their historical career and built up their new national power — gold — with remarkable solidarity. They have man- aged it well indeed, and today they are the power- ful bankers of the world. This is their first gigan- tic step towards subduing or, at least, directing the affairs of the world. To this they have aspired prud- ently, cautiously, and silently. What do we see in this their world-wide wan- dering? In spite of their social and business relations with other nations, in spite of their close communion with them, they were not assimilated. Outside of business the Jews led a life of entire isolation. Dis- persed among foreign lands, they remained united, and, wherever they settled, they formed their own centers. They were especially particular in found- ing elementary schools, so called "cheders," along- side of their synagogues, where the Jewish child was usually imbued with fcmatical teachings of the Talmud, the cult of their paternal religion and the study of the jargon. In the very same spirit, the synagogues trained the adults, while the scrupu- lous care and the watchful eye of the Rabbis pre- vented the slightest digression from the customs and traditions of their elders. That is why the Jews had always formed purely Jewish settlements, so- called Ghettos, with their own jurisdiction and ad- ministration, of which even Roman historians had 15 A WORLD PROBLEM written. Immediately before the Christian era, Strabo wrote of them as follows : "The Jews penetrated into every city, and no place on the fact of the earth could be found where they had not settled and made an at- tempt to become leaders. Strongly imited, fan- atical, openly worshiping their God, they treat lightly the official gods of the Empire. Stern competitors in business throughout the world, they fill the whole world with fear and incur general hatred by their cold premeditated pas- sions." Juvenalis thus writes of the Jews : "The son of the prejudiced worshiper of the Sabbath bows only before the heavens and the clouds. Following the example of his fore- fathers, he hates the rest of the people, does not partake of pork, subjects himself to circiun- cision, and, brought up in contempt of the Roman law, he acknowledges only the Jewish law which he reveres and observes, together with the commandments of the mysterious books of Moses. He would not show the road to a man of a different sect, nor would he show the spring to the thirsting traveler." Similar testimonials of the Jewish soul were given also by such recognized Roman historians as: Cicero, Horace, Martial, Seneca and others. Sev- eral centimes before that Haman warned King Ahasuerus against the foreigners, settling all over his land, who observed their own laws and treated lightly the royal decrees. Such were the Jews 16 JEWS— THEIR HISTORICAL SOUL thousands of years ago. Has their Semitic soul changed any since? With their faces and minds turned to the past ages, they see only the vanished glory of Solomon's times, hear the echoes of the conversations between Jehova and their prophets, and the sad rhythms of psalmists as they mourn over the ruins of Jerusa- lem. To them, Zion is still living and glorious, al- though it lies buried in the dust of ages ; just as the cruel and callous teachings of the Talmud have remained unchanged, poisoning their souls, all along with the pride of a chosen people, with a contempt for others, with a burning desire for exaltation and triumph over the 'Goys' the world over. Conquer- ors, in the sense that they secured certain power, trusting in gold and whatever they have attained, they dream of further triumphs by eventual sub- jection of the world to the Jewish soul. They pos- sess everything that gold can give, still their soul has not ceased to hunger and thirst, while the pain of hidden torments has found expression in their poetry and prose. The queer, old Jewish soul, trained in the unique faith in God and life eternal, fottnd an outlet for its ecstatic aspirations in its passionate hunt for gold, in the erring fanaticism of its faith, and its firm be- lief in the return of the powerful and glorious Jew- ish Kingdom. Should it not strike one as peculiar that the Jews, so sober and apparently indifferent, haughty and suppliant, should believe with all their vigor in the future of Israel? These passionate speculators, who give themselves up to usury and bow before gold, novurish within their soul predilec- 17 A WORLD PROBLEM tions which are dearer to them than all gold, even dearer than life itself? Nay more; they keenly feel their present slight as compared to the glory that had been theirs in the distant past, when they had tilled their own soil, made their own laws, devel- oped their own state, listened to the inspired voices of their prophets, and had taken up arms to defend their independence. The era of their warriors and their saints, the glowing era, \^hen their racial char- acter was forming and developing, is continually present in their minds, and their dreams of a return of the glorious past always haunt them. Let us cite the expressions of their modern poets, who sing of the longings and dreams of the Jewish soul. Samuel Irug says: "Our only memorial today, our only recollection of the past, are the ruins of our temple — the last remnants of its walls. But Israel will not give up its hope until a time, when the vivid faith of the people develops into a tre- mendous power, shakes off its eternal sleep and disperses the gloom that surrounds us." Another well known writer, Lifszyc, cries forth: "Oh son of the eternally persecuted nation, the most miser- able of the unfortunate, and yet glorious because it lived for ages and shall live forever — do not des- pair, do not grow sad because your people have been exiles — do not cease to believe that above them shall rise the sun of righteousness. Do not for a moment forget that far away we have our own coim- try, to which our souls inflamed with longing should constantly turn. Oh — there, on yonder hills, there — amid the lovely valleys, you shall come back to 18 JEWS— THEIR HISTORICAL SOUL your beloved environments and shall forever cease to be the eternal wanderer — the shopkeeper." The poet, Jose Halevy, a native of Spain, says: "I shall call to the ancient ruins for the riddle of our future, and pour out sad complaints and ask: "Where is the end of God's anger?" And I shall not say : behold, the days of our exile are ended, behold, our w^oe has left us — until I have heard, coming from the sacred plains, the loud voice of my breth- ren, who shall have returned thither." But we find recorded the same spirit of exalta- tion, pride, humiliation and despair coming from the Jewish heart in moments of great tension in works dealing directly with the subject, as for in- stance in Pines' history of Judaico-German litera- ture. These documents, of course, show the pecu- liarity of the Jewish character, their sentiments, dreams and faith. They afford revelations which dispel all doubts as to the hidden Jewish spirit, whose centuries-old depth is being revealed by Jew- ish writers and poets. The poet Abrahamowicz speaks of their religious idealism as an uplift to the Jewish welfare. "Let our enemies know that the strength of the divine nature which directs us, which will not per- mit us to become lost, nor suffer us to be crushed under the foot of ovir enemies and destroyed from the face of the earth. The biblical spirit acts within us, as an electric current, the voice of Jehova drives us onward as the motor does the wheel of the machine — our voice will not die away for ages to come." It should be remembered these are the utter- 19 A WORLD PROBLEM ances of contemporary Jews who share our civiliza- tion and culture, and still they differ so little from the invocations of the psalmists and biblical proph- ets. Ages have glided by, thousands of years have passed away, but the spirit of Israel has re- mained unbroken and impervious to all foreign in- fluence, and has endured in its iron separatism, its severity of convictions. Isolated, disdainful, proud and haughty, self-centered and hateful of everything outside of itself, the Jewish spirit lives but for itself and contemplates its own history and its own dreams. It is incapable of anything which concerns general welfare and relates not merely to one race, but embraces every race on the globe. Still the Jews have not lived as the disowned by the world. They have not lived as an orphan people, placed beyond a Chinese wall, separating them from the rest of the world. They have lived in the very tur- moil of human affairs, in the very friction of char- acters, creeds, tendencies, aspirations and ideals, in short in the very heart of Humanity. Within it, lives the Jewish people. They move within its creeds and sufferings, they look at love and struggle, they come into direct contact with shivering, suiTering and see — with the soul of Hu- manity. But yet they betray no feeling — they stay cold and disdainful spectators; for they consider only themselves as they weep over the dead ruins of their ancient Jerusalem, whose glory and splen- dor had been thrown to the winds by the foot of the conqueror. The biblical city and kingdom of prophets fell to the dust, but the soul of the chosen people, which has grown spiteful in its isolation, 20 JEWS— THEIR HISTORICAL SOUL has not broken down, nor has been subdued. It preserved the memory of its legendary renown. It remembers that it has conversed with the Lord in the wilderness and in thraldom, that before it, like columns of fire, went its prophets, at whose voice seas opened up; that for its sake manna fell from heaven and springs of refreshing water were sprung. Within the nation of traders and speculators, there lives today a deep and exalted faith in their royal mission, which is to make them lords over all the nations. The gold they garner so greedily is but a pal- pable means to the attainment of their fantastic aspirations. Concealed under its cover is the burn- ing desire to subject the world and to wrest the moral dominion over humanity. They follow it out logically and are conscious of every step they take. Have they not made an enormous headway in this regard ? Have they not reached a high round of the huge ladder which is to lead them to the aggression they have dreamt of in the clouded regions of their historic soul? Have they not taken control of the world's press today? Do they not infuse their spirit into the thought and the moral atmosphere of the time? Indeed, the Semitic spirit waxes strong in its mysterious struggle against the fair Arian spirit that pervades humanity. This ancient race, which had given birth to priests and prophets and had ever been imbued with a sad mysticism and high aspirations, is not ignor- ant of the vanities of commercial pursuits — gold and money. Their ambitions reach higher, indefin- itely higher. But to attain them they adopt means, 21 A WORLD PROBLEM irrespective of their morality with that rigid logic of which a thinking fanaticism is capable. Their well known poet, Lifszyc, says : "When you have re- turned to Palestine, you have returned to a pastoral and agricultural state; never again will you take to business." Halevy says in the same strain : "The Jewish husbandmen shall wash us clean of the stigma of our eternal trading, for in truth we were least destined for it." The truth of this is upheld by the laws of Moses, which were to prevent the accumulation of wealth in a given hand, but were to foster the patriarchal spirit among the people. In ancient times, Jews themselves held in scorn the Phoenicians — the first traders in the world — be- cause they gave themselves up to commerce, and — today? Have not the blackest annals been as- sociated with Jewish traders? Does not their golden calf stand in threatening posture, stretching forth his black wings of shame, the one, usury, the other — white slavery? Terrible indeed! Will there be enough clear water in the Euphrates to wash out the blood-stains from their pitiless and greed-crazy hands ? Can the rust be taken off their soul by some regenerating strength? The general instinct of the people appears to feel this deeply, and it may be that it finds expression in the law which forbids them to touch money on the Sabbath! An expressive symbol indeed; for money has been stained with so much human blood, so many tears and wrongs. Still even today the Jews could lead a different life. This is apparent from the numerous Jewish colonies in Galilee, upon the beautiful hills of Samaria, and in the valleys of JEWS— THEIR HISTORICAL SOUL ancient Judah, where Jewish colonists till devotedly the soil in the sweat of their brow. The nation of Israel nevertheless, so refined spir- itually, without moral or physical blemish, inflexible in character, true to its aspirations and unsurpassed in the strength of its faith, its laudable desires, ren- dered itself hateful to the nations of the world and became an object of universal contempt. Eastern nations without exception feel an aversion to the Jews. But let E. Gomes Parillo, an eye witness speak for us: "Mohammedans and Christians who can- not bear each other, are united in their common anti-semitic feeling. In Jerusalem, which har- bored all nations and all churches, where Mo- hammedan guards are suffered even at the Holy Sepulchre, any Jew who would dare come near it would undoubtedly suffer death on the spot. It would also cost his life if he ap- proached the walls of the mosque of Omar. Copts, Drusians, Syrians, Armenians, Maron- ites, and Bedouins are one in their aversion to the Jews. The dreadful suspicion which in Middle Ages had kindled the fires of inquisition against the Jews have been perpetuated to this day in the East, and the sight of a murdered Arab, or some one else, causes at once the re- proachful cry : 'This ritual murder.' " Then the 40,000 Jews among a population of 60,000 shiver and grow pale at the ominous outcry which is usually followed by wholesale murder- pogroms. Thus stand the Jews in the opinion of 23 A WORLD PROBLEM the world which gives such terrible expression to old suspicions, that, like a dark shadow, follows them everywhere and throws a dark cloud on the exiled people. Ritual murder! This disgraceful mark has been impressed upon the brow of the people. Neither time nor men create anything without a reason or by mistake. The hidden source of truth manifests itself in life. Let us concentrate our thoughts — let us research the depths of truth. The human soul forgets naught and speaks in true terms. Ritual murder: the necessity of human blood, living and present, extracted in terrible tortures to satisfy the ritual — how terrible it sounds ! Why has this loath- some suspicion not been thrown upon another na- tion but the Jewish, which serves its revengeful Jehova, hates and persecutes everything outside of itself, and for ages has stood under the terrible, blood-thirsty motto: "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth"? A curse has evidently fallen upon their haughty heads and alighted upon the shoulders of the fanatic and revengeful worshippers of the Talmud. Should it really have been a curse? Should there really have been hidden under the frightful legend of blood, some heavy crime, of which the long generations cannot or will not shake themselves clean, as they pass one after the other in their obstinacy and sin against the human race? Let us reflect on this. And yet let us recall here the greatest event in world's history. Let us recall the most beautious blossom in the history of mankind. Let us bring to mind the great- est Victim on earth, as He rose above the hills of 24 JEWS— THEIR HISTORICAL SOUL Golgotha, and, outstretched upon the cross, blessed the human race for all ages. But let us grow calm and gather our thoughts.... There is said to be a queer plant in nature, in every way different from other plants, which keeps on accumulating its surplus sap and carefully keep- ing within itself its strong potential shoots. When a thousand years have passed, the enclosure breaks open, the shoot grows with tremendous rapidity and blossoms into a glorious and miraculous flower. Perhaps the same holds true with the hidden soul of the race. The impassioned, self-concentrated Jewish soul struggled within itself for ages, ripened in its concealment, appropriated what was best in the world .of knowledge and lived in contact with mankind through its priests and prophets. For ages they have waited for the coming of the Son of God. Time and again, in the long course of ages, vivid flashes of the spirit would shine forth among the chosen people, as they looked up to their God, and as their passionate lips foretold the coming of the Redeemer. Behold, the prophecy was fulfilled and the signs of the time did not disappoint. Into the flesh of a race, which became fairly shattered with the struggle of its soul, into the flesh of the chosen people, enters the Son of God as He descends upon earth. We stand before the miracle which brought redemption to men. It opened to the human race a new era of life, thought, and activity. The blos- som of the Jewish race directed mankind to a new road, enkindled new truths, new ideals, founded a new law, regenerated and enlightened the depth of 25 A WORLD PROSLEM the human soul. A new sun rose above the world: the sun of love and its law. Amid the hardships and struggles that followed, the old human mould kept on melting. It produced the most precious jewels, and strong in its power and illuminated with the beauty of heroism it began to build a new type of Humanity, new laws, new ideals and new commandments. Other peoples, im- bued with the splendor of the new truth entered, in as far as they were able, the vineyard of the Lord, assuming a new sign of life — the cross, and cement- ing their spiritual union by the love of the neighbor. In this family of Christian nations, the chosen people have found no place, though, through their race Love and Sacrifice descended upon earth. The loving Redeemer hung upon the cross of suffering, while under it stood the perpetrators — the people of Israel. Though the same race gave the world a shining host of apostles and fervent disciples — still the Jews, as a people, repudiated the teachings of love, turned away from the sun of the new life and went back into the shadow of night's vanishing power. Having given from the depth of their soul that wondrous beauty and power, they became more self-centered than ever. They criminally denied themselves and committed the greatest crime in history — they killed Love. They murdered the Giver of love and the Sacri- ficer for mankind — they shrunk in themselves, welded the broken shell of pride, isolation and hatred, and put on the defensive armor of their Tal- mud, which keeps on polluting and distorting the natural tendencies of their soul. Israel stayed by 26 JEWS— THEIR HISTORICAL SOUL its ancient god of hatred and revenge, closed its rich soul against the stream of light and love that came down upon the human race. The spirit of the Divine Master went forth into the world with a glorious host of disciples. The world perceived it — threw off the erroneous doc- trines of old, and entered upon the broad and lighted avenues of the new truth of life. Humanity, led on by a deep instinct of vision, turned away from Israel, who, behind a dark shadow, remained isolated from the whole world. Its temples crumbled, and every prop of the Jewish life gave way. Shorn of posses- sions, a wanderer driven out everjnvhere, perse- cuted, branded, it scattered among foreign nations, and centered more closely within itself. Cut off from all by contempt, it isolated its cult more than ever with a series of new precepts, laws and cus- toms. This estranged it still more and made it less desired, and, in many cases, loathsome and sus- picious. Instead of enriching the human race with its exceptional gifts, it turned out a disseminator of destruction and confusion and of that poisonous venom, which has been consuming its own strength and vitals and rendering it barren of creative gifts. Thus the chosen people advanced among the nations of the earth, a hidden and threatening power, while the ominous shadow of the ritualistic crime follows them today as it followed them ages ago. Two worlds stand up against each other — the Arian world and the Semitic world. The Christian soul imbued with the teaching of love, and the Talmud- istic soul trained in the spirit of isolation, in the cult of vengeance, hatred and separatism. 27 A WORLD PROBLEM History willed it, that upon the soil of Poland, the bulwark of Christendom, came into close contact the greatest contrasts in the world — the souls of two diametrically opposed nationalities, Poland and Israel. Poland in this case, became the saving plank for humanity, which threw off the poisonous leaven of decadence. The two historic souls, the two dia- metrically opposed forces became united in long cohabitation. Let us study their histories. Per- haps they will tell the world the truth and disclose their essential traits from the hidden depth of life. iJS CHAPTER II JEWS AND POLAND The Silent Jews THE Talmud severs the Jews from the bulk of mankind, and nourishes within them a spirit of separatism and contempt for the rest of the world. The necessity of earning a living, however, throws the Jews into the midst of collective life. In peculiar circumstances, as a result of the loss of their territory, they developed a strong spiritual sub- stratxun, which unites them together and which they cherish with the utmost care. At the same time, they condemn everything that is not Jewish and place it outside the pale of law and reverence. Their ethical laws hold good only in relation to themselves. They alone exist. People outside of them are "goys" against whom any excesses are allowed and actually encouraged. With this creed they scattered over the world. They were careful to advance at first over secluded by-ways, to squeeze into every crevice of life which would in any way admit them, remaining, however, foreign- ers and continuing in the closest union with their own people. Poland — like entire Europe at that time — was a country of tillers and knights. To till the soil, to defend the borders, were the two outstanding fea- tures in the Polish life for centuries. In the course of time agriculture became the exclusive occupation of the peasant, while the defense of the country 29 A WORLD PROBLEM fell to the lot of the noblemen. It would be wrong to think that they constituted two rigidly opposed classes; on the contrary, close relationship united them most intimately ; but in the course of time the difference between them grew more distinct. The authority of the defenders of the country grew in weight. They took part in the deliberations of the Diet, while on the other hand, the tillers became more dependent. They became ever more attached to the soil, and took no part either in the defense of the country, nor in its administration. But it must be emphasized that it was a very easy thing in Poland to become a nobleman. Not unfrequently noble- men freed their peasants and enrolled them under their coat of arms, while the Kings often knighted entire villages for bravery on the battlefield. It suffices to say that in the sixteenth century, when the Polish population was estimated at 4,500,000, the nobility numbered 100,000, which was an enor- mous percentage. In the eighteenth century, at the time of the Four Years' Diet, the population had increased to 10,000,000, while the number of noble- men, according to M. Starczewski, had grown to be over 800,000, which is 8 to 10 per cent of the entire population. In France, immediately before the rev- olution, there were 250,000 noblemen to a popula- tion of 25,000,000, or less than 1 per cent. Poland, then, from the beginning had two distinct classes: the ruling nobility and the peasant on the farms. Meanwhile the West-European nations were devel- oping an efficient middle class — the bourgeoisie, which took trade and business into their hands, educated their children, and made up an intellectual 30 JEWS AND POLAND and patriotic class. Well to do, enlightened and well-informed, the new class grew in influence and became of prime importance in the proper develop- ment of the government. At the time the enlight- ened burghers had already become a potent factor in Western Europe, in Poland they had scarcely begun to take root, though they gave great promise as to their future development. The Polish cities already at that time were gov- erned by the Magdeburgian laws, which were con- sidered the best in Europe and gave the cities very extensive privileges. The flourishing condition of Poland under Boleslaw Chrobry struck with admi- ration the German Emperor Otto the Third, who placed the kingly crown upon the head of the Pol- ish King and paid reverence to the remains of St. Adelbert in Gnesen. Commerce and trade began to promisingly develop at that time, and the Polish burghers rose to a notable eminence. But soon after this — it was during the reign of Wladyslaw Herman — persecutions of Jews arose in Germany, and whole crowds of them sought refuge and shel- ter in the neighboring lands. Poland threw her gates wide open to the exiles and allowed them in 1096 to settle in her cities and conferred upon them certain rights. As a memorial of this rare religious tolerance at that time there remained in Poland, up to the time of the war, four synagogues, dating back to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The arrival of Jews in Poland, at a time when the mid- dle class had scarcely begun to form, when busi- ness and trade were just beginning to develop, proved fatal to the nation. Skillful in these pur- 31 A WORLD PROBLEM suits, united and organized, and, infinitely worse, never discriminating in the means to gain profit, the Jews not only forced the natives out by under- hand competition, cunning and the absence of all ethics, but prejudiced them against business occu- pations. The source of Polish prejudice against business pursuits hitherto unknown, which was so harmful in its effect on Polish life, must be sought in the fact that the Jews monopolized all business, and practiced sordid usury and deception. In addi- tion, the Polish business which promised so much to the development of a strong Polish middle class, had been nipped in the bud. Instead of a well to do and patriotic Polish middle class, the foreign Jew- ish bourgeoisie developed, leaving the native middle class hardly a chance to exist. The Polish trade alone made a fair stand in its religious and patriotic organizations, and in the strong barrier it built against the newcomers who sought light employ- ment, with lucrative earnings. As a result, the Pol- ish trade came out of the fight with a fairly victor- ious hand, bringing up competent and honest Pol- ish tradesmen, who had the interest of the country at heart. The national life developed rapidly in the atmos- phere of broad freedom and beneficient laws. Her natural resources, her flourishing plains, and her well developed agriculture made Poland the gran- ary of Europe. Galleys loaded with grain were floated down to Gdansk (Danzig), whence they car- ried bread to foreign countries. Able to ward off the unceasing onslaughts of the enemy, and pro- voking the neighboring powers with her broad- 32 JEWS AND POLAND minded laws, Poland reached the zenith of her pow- er under Casimir the Great, the last of the Piast family, whose dynasty held the glorious hereditary reign in Roland through several centuries. Casimir the Great won the epithet: the builder of Poland. He, according to the saying of history, "found Po- land wooden, and left it of stone." During his reign the boundaries of Poland were extended by the in- heritance of Red Russia, the Duchy of Halicz, and part of Volhynia, by making tributary Wallachia, now part of Rumania, and by addition of Branden- burg. This wise monarch devoted the best part of his life to the education and welfare of his subjects. He laid new laws to safeguard business and trade, fortified cities, built roads, established schools, and founded the University of Cracow in 1364. This university was founded long before the University of Vienna and Leipsic, and 400 years before the University of St. Petersburg. The Polish Univer- sity became a centre of learning in Poland and in Europe as well, and brought forth such stars of sci- ence as Brudzewski and Copernicus. Extremely solicitous to see justice equally distributed, Casimir had equal laws for all. He devoted the eve of his life to their improvement and codification, and, as a crowning work of his life, he instituted a code of laws in 1347, called the Statutes of Wislica, which was ratified by the nation and was the first code of laws in Christian Europe. He was also the first to promulgate laws to protect the peasants and to notably extend the rights of the Jews. The last resulted in a collision between Casimir and the Polish clergy, who were fully aware of the A WORLD PROBLEM Jewish position in Poland and its destructive re- sults. The Jews quite numerous even for that time, though as yet unaggressive, could scarcely conceal their growing power. The wholesale persecutions of the Jews, which like a hurricane swept through Western Europe, rendered the situation exception- ally precarious in the face of the liberal laws of Casimir the Great and his orders that the gates of Poland be thrown open to the exiles. Polish his- torians agree in praising the magnanimity of the monarch, who alone in all Europe offered shelter to the refugees, though by so doing he doubled the foreign element in his country. Other European countries looked at the problem in a different light. They were quick to perceive the menace to their countries, the Jews when stealthily and unitedly ad- vanced like a threatening storm to subdue Euro- pean life. In Poland, idealism and nobility of aspiration had ever strongly prevailed, and despite the opposition of sober-minded individuals, Poland continued to be a refuge and shelter to the univer- sally oppressed Jews. She held out to them excep- tional and altogether idealistic conditions. The Polish peasants were uneducated and overworked on the farms, while the noblemen spent one half their life defending the country, the other half de- liberating in the Diets, and the middle class was ill-organized. Such state of affairs placed excep- tional possibilities of enrichment in the hands of those who neither sowed nor fought battles, neither worked hard nor shed their blood — but who carried off large profits in business. Humble, bowed down, obedient, they passed on like a shadow at night, 34 JEWS AND POLAND ever ready to glide away and disappear in the hus- tle of Polish life and the struggles of Europe at large. What was their concern, shut up, as they were, v/ithin the enclosures of their soul? It was their own welfare, proiit, gold. They participated in the economic problems of Poland only to monopolize the natural resources and products of the country. The thriving international commerce brought streams of gold into their pockets, which they kept closed to the needs of the country, No calamity such as war or famine affected them ! They looked to their profit only. The noblemen shed their blood on the battlefields, the peasant sprinkled the soil with his sweat — but the Jew reaped the harvest, making himself ever more indispensable, alike to the peasant, as to the nobleman. The West took notice of it, and as a result, there were frequent out- bursts of hatred against the Jews, till the disturb- ances came to the knowledge of rulers, who at once united in clearing their lands. At the same time, the inflamed religious spirit which broke out in the form of confiscations and imprisonments, drove crowds of Jews into the open door of Poland, and Polish humanism would not oppose the threaten- ing wave. In fact, it threw open its hospitable door, and took the foreign element into its trusting Chris- tian arms. Europe had well nigh gotten rid of the danger- ous element, while Poland received it and nour- ished it at her breast for centuries. The Poles have been found wanting in the sense of self-defense, for sympathy and humanism have ever triumphed with 35 A WORLD PROBLEM them. Conformable with their principle — to seek the line of least resistance — the Jews settled prin- cipally in Polish towns. From there, they quietly spread their nets alike to farm, village and manor house. Every disreputable procedure, such as usury, smuggling and sordid mediation found in them ready and cunning adepts, while the fatal Jewish encroachment upon the undefended sphere of Pol- ish life proceeded in a slow and quiet fashion. How strong and dangerous was this foreign in- trusion upon Polish life is clear from the fact that towards the end of the eighteenth century there were one million Jews to 500,000 Polish burghers. The Polish cities kept on filing protests and com- plaints with the government, but without avail. The clergy, too, warned their flocks against the demoralizing influence spread by Jews, but in vain. The liberal national spirit would not hamper the freedom of any people. Still the free Republic of Poland was not unconscious of the growing danger that lurked in the foreign element, and infested the entire country. Some of the Polish cities enjoyed protective laws which allowed the Jews to reside only in certain sections and in suburbs. This, how- ever, turned to their advantage, as they were thus enabled to live their own manner of life. There they built schools, synagogues, spoke the jargon and formed exclusively Jewish settlements, the so- called Ghettos. They were subject to their own laws which were guarded by their rabbis, and they had their own customs, holidays and ceremonies. The foreign wedge went ever deeper into the Pol- ish life, and wrought a fatal influence upon the na- 36 JEWS AND POLAND tional integrity of the Poles. The formation of the third or middle class was fairly paralyzed by the sudden influx of Jews and the way they exploited the best and most lucrative fields of enterprise. The Jews increased their wealth withotit giving the na- tion their share of blood and toil, though they were eager to reap the harvest of its productive work. Poor was the farm.er on his small farm, and poor, likewise, was the nobleman, whose fields had often been war-ridden or destroyed by drought, and whose fowls and cattle were swept away by epi- demics. The Jew alone suffered no reverses. He took the ready goods and traded them with good profit, while business, free from toil and catastro- phies, drove a rain of gold into their deep pockets. Thus the wealth of the foreign element kept on growing until they shoved many a true Pole and citizen out of business. This naturally brought fatal consequences in the face of an absence of well-or- ganized native middle class, which elsewhere played so great a role in the destinies of Europe, and the lack of which, according to the opinion of many his- torians, became one of the main causes of Poland's downfall. As long as the Republic was strong and self-governing, the foreign element managed to con- ceal its growing power and escaped public notice. The Jews had the same motto then as they have to- day: not to come up too close to the surface, to assume, as far as possible, the color of the environ- ment until they can appear without fear. Thus they acted in the West, where their presence was dis- covered only by the outpour of general fanaticism. Thus they acted in Poland. Thus, too, they act in 37 A WORLD PROBLEM the United States where they conceal their identity under the name of the various nationalities in order to escape notice. The power of wealth alone em- boldens them to appear in their true light. In the Polish Republic the noblemen were obliged to spend their lives on the battlefields, to defend their own and other countries. They had no time for the Jewish problem. They employed the Jews and treated them with pity, mingled with contempt for their unfair dealings, but they forgave them much because they were exiles. In fact, Jews were never persecuted in Poland, either by the govern- ment or by the people. On the contrary, the Pol- ish Republic possessed a law by virtue of which such Jews as received the Christian faith were en- rolled among the nobility, were called brothers and equals, and were endowed with everything the coun- try could give them. Ancient writings show that such facts occurred frequently. The well-known writer, Seweryn Soplica, warns in his satires, that the Jewish nobility of recent date, about whom the geneology of Paprocki and Nisiecki knows nothing, "reveals and riots" a little too much. If we com- pare the way Poland knighted her Jews with the cruelties, torments and tortures they suffered at the hands of Western Europe, we must bow low before the magnanimity of the Polish nation which in this way alone converted and assimilated peoples of dif- ferent creeds. Freely offering to others her defensive sword and her broad laws, Poland disseminated her humane culture and carried out everywhere the idea of the free citizens, who as early as 1430 could not be 38 JEWS AND POLAND '■-•-!^'^"iV- • ■ , 3 i arrested in Poland without the action of the court. The Polish "habeas corpus" was 259 years ahead of the "habeas corpus" of England and 359 years ahead of the declaration of hvunan rights in France. In consequence of her liberal institutions, Poland was dreaded by the Powers surrounding her, where ab- solutism reigned supreme and human rights were denied. Western Europe at that time did not seem to appreciate Poland, the sentinel of freedom, with lib- eral ideals mediating between the progressive cul- ture of the West and the disruptive tendencies of the East; nor did Europe realize that Poland was in power to restrain the hungry appetites of grow- ing autocracies. Europe did not possess political foresight, nor had She a sufficiently developed Chris- tian conscience to oppose the destruction of the most liberal state that from time immemorial has stood a sentinel to civilization and Christianity in the West. Poland, which was the first to bestow liberal laws upon her people, which saved Vienna and Christendom from the Turks, which hurled into death the flower of her knighthood at the head of her youthful King in the bloody battle of Warna (1444) in the defense of the Cross and the Slavic people from Turkish bondage — that same heroic Poland was rent to pieces, while Europe looked on in silence. The crime of the first Partition of Poland was committed in 1772. The moral perpetrator was Prussia, which thrived on the Slavic soil, and be- came inebriated with the blood of peoples whom she put to the sword. Thenceforth, Prussia, Russia and 39 A WORLD PROBLEM Austria murdered the Polish nation by degrees, de- ciding thereby not only the further destinies of Po- land, but those of Europe at large. Every impar- tial historian today will admit that the destruction of a liberal country situated between the East and West, as was Poland, proved extremely hurtful to the progress of the entire human race; that it de- ferred the advance of liberal laws and brought about suffering, injustice and innumerable sacrifices. The change the Polish state suffered had a his- torical value fcir the Jews. In Poland, affairs were entirely staged in their favor, as they had so firmly established themselves that the vital forces of the nation were doomed to ultimate disappearance. After the partition, Polish business and trade went to Jewish hands, while the citie*s and towns were so completely covered with a network of their inter- ests, that no business could be done without them. Peasants and burghers were entirely in their pow- er. At this time, Catherine II of Russia perceived that the masses of Polish Jews threatened to over- run her extensive territories, as they were too crowded in Poland. To prevent this, she issued her "ukase" forbidding the Jews to advance beyond cer- tain limits. The ukase of the prudent Czarina safe- guarded Russia against the influx of the foreign ele- ment, and became of an epochal import, as from that time on the Czars held fast to the same princi- ple, closing the Jews within the "pale" of Poland, Lithuania and Ruthenia. From this time, we have in Poland, Jews gathered for a given purpose. The persecutions of the rela- tively few Jews in Russia and their "pogroms" 40 JEWS AND POLAND which spread panic and terror among them, drove them into Poland, which was helpless against their invasion. Disturbances and financial crises in West- ern Europe again pushed them into Poland where millions of their coreligionists gave them home and employment. While driving this foreign ele- ment into Poland, Russia posed as protectress and guardian on Polish territory. This was carried out unofficially by authorities, who protected Jews in Poland, although the Russian fundamental laws, which extended over Poland were very rigorous in comparison to those which the Jews enjoyed in this country before the partition. From that time, in fact, the Jewish problem forced itself into the lime- light of Polish life. It had been rendered acute by the peculiar, Russian legislation, and it became the object of Polish thought and care how to improve the lot of Jews in Poland, and how to remove, if possible, their legal restrictions. Such is the Polish soul — such is the liberal spirit of the Polish nation. The Partition of Poland severed for the first time the Jews from the bulk of the nation. Poles awak- ened to the fact that during the long ages, when the Jews lived among them, a strange participant of their life had been evolved, who, nevertheless, lived with them. The watchful conscience of the nation was quick to surround with sincere care the Jews who were thus imposed upon it. The Four Years' Diet devoted much time (at the instance of the fore- most men of the country), to the amelioration of the Jewish lot. Kosciuszko in 1794 not only thought of the native peasants, but was solicitous for the Jews, to whom he issued the famous manifesto sum- 41 A WORLD PROBLEM —'-''-■ ' 1 , , ■ : iii_-i ^-nii-^iiwffl"^ moning them to the defense of their common coun- try; again, the constitution of the Duchy of War- saw, 1807, bestowed civil rights upon the Jews with only this provision, that they should speak and write Polish. It was in force until 1815, when the Con- gress of Vienna created the Polish Kingdom under the protectorate of Russia. Czar Alexander I could not tolerate that the Jews in Poland should enjoy more liberal laws than in Russia, and, soon abro- gated them. Poland began to live her new era of struggle and bloody insurrection to regain her freedom, and kept on suffering the tortures of revengeful Czardom, which drowned her heroic aspirations in a sea of tears and pain. There was but one field left open to her broken spirit — it was poetry, literature, art and creative invention. It seemed as though the subdued life of the Poles and their ideal aspira- tions foimd here an outlet for their surplus of vital- ity and their creative power. Then followed the Polish Romantic movement. The heaven of poetry and philosophy shone forth with the brilliancy of three poetic stars, Mickiewicz, Slovacki and Kras- inski, whose genius saved the nation from destruc- tion, doubt and despair. The creative power of the Polish soul plunged into the Gehenna of national suffering, found itself strong enough to embrace not only its own children, but also its guests — the Jews whom it received with pity. In fact, the Polish literature both before and after the Partition, showed a deeper feeling for the lot of the Jews than did any other literature in the world. The Polish pen devotedly sketched the various 42 JEWS AND POLAND phases of the Jewish character, commencing with the beautiful figure of Jankiel, the cymbaUst in Mickiewicz's epic and ending with the dignified char- acters of Orzeszkowa, the deep sketches of Konop- nicka, Swietochowski, Prus, Szymanski, Sieroszew- ski and many others. Literature which portrays the true national spirit, constituting a telling docu- ment of the brotherly way in which Poland treated the Jews. The Polish creative power will ever live to show the charity extended by Poles to the Jews who were everywhere else buffeted and persecuted. But Polish history after the Partition presents another law, the last in fact, that Poland enacted in favor of the Jews. On the eve of the insurrection of 1863, Marquis Wielopolski — a notable Polish Statesman and the viceroy of the Kingdom of Pol- and — gave a complete equality of rights to Jews in towns and villages. In the last insurrection of 1863 the Jews for the first time appeared as a separate factor to work its influence upon the destinies of the Poles. But the ennobling Polish culture eventu- ally asserted itself in the Jews. Poles will ever re- member that the more enlightened Jews, who were imbued with the broad and charitable Polish spirit, stood for the rights of Poland. Some, though very few indeed, took up arms in the hopeless endeavor to throw off the Polish shoulders the foreign yoke, and with the Poles shared prison, tortures and exile in Siberia. They were exceptional Jews, but they deserve to be remembered forever as notable examples of the Polish Jew. The bulk of the Jews enclosed in their Talmudis- tic isolation, remained indifferent to the Polish 43 A WORLD PROBLEM tragedy, although they were not hostile to the in- surrectionists in general. The insurrection failed, and terrible persecutions and exterminative ven- geance raged over the land of crosses like a wild hurricane, carrying in its wake confiscations,, ruin of life and property, prison, gallows and snowy Siberia. There was no further need to mind the Polish influence. Poles were no longer masters in their own country. They were rather the victims, the rebels, hunted down by the cruel officials of the Czar. Foreigners took the lead in Poland, and criminally ruined the Polish culture of centuries. The Jews, however, preserved their identity in their schools, their jargon, their local laws, and their vari- ous commercial privileges. The ruined Polish life opened unprecedented opportunities to painstaking skill and to usury, which was much in use in the desperate condition of the country. Besides, in this persecution of everything that was Polish, they gained the unofficial protection of the Russian au- thorities, who not infrequently made use of Jews in their dark practices. This is the first time that the Jewish element ap- peared openly upon the surface of Polish life, and was quick to develop a vital financial power. With the insurrection of 1863, ends the silent era of rela- tions between Pole and Jew, which conveys the plenitude of rights Poland extended to Jews, and their admission, as it were, to brotherhood, whence the expression: "Poles of Mosaic creed." No other European nation went so far. Some countries conceded equal rights to the Jews — but they were called "brothers" in no other country than Poland, 44 JEWS AND POLAND which administered the law of Christian love, even in favor of non-Christians, and united nations to her with bonds of love. With this baptism of love Poland, introduced the Jews into her national as well as her moral and spiritual life, opening to them her avenues of thought, sentiment and culture. The close of the first and silent era of Jews in Poland brings us to the second era, which opens with the insurrection of 1863. Let us see how fared these people, foreign to our race and religion, whom Poland allowed not only hospitality on her fertile fields and in her unprotected cities, but to whom she spoke brotherly words, and whom she covered with the broad wings of her spirit. 45 CHAPTER III THE TRIUMPHANT JEWS WITH her land devastated, the strength of her manhood depleted and with only the energy of which a bleeding nation is cap- able — Poland offered excellent opportunities to the skillful foreigners. Beyond the very small class of intelligent Jews who appeared to be Polish and pat- riotic, which joined the ranks of such intellectual pursuits as literature (particularly journalism, which developed some prominent individuals), the bulk of the Jews monopolized immense fields of trade, manufacture and commerce. The Poles had been crowded out into humbler occupations. Jew- ish capital allied itself with German capital as the latter encroached upon Poland. Favored by the Russian government, and because the least Polish national movement was severely checked by Russia' the Jews became masters of the land, owners of the richest sources of life, and employers of millions of people. Banks were started, factories built, com- merce and enterprise extended, and national re- sources exploited — but there was little employment left for the Poles. Germans had invited in their kinsmen, the Jews m.ade place for their own, while the Poles were lucky enough to squeeze in as under- paid local laborers. From the fruit of Polish labor, and out of the natural resources of the country, a foreign industry, held in the clutches of Jewish and German owners, grew and developed. The ideal 47 A WORLD PROBLEM watchwords — Polonism and brotherhood — which were a slogan of the insurrection, soon died away like a dream. Grim reality gradually unmasked the strange and often hostile faces of the chance guests on Polish soil. Bravely had they now come to the surface of Polish life, with contempt for the natives, and with suppliant bows for the usurpers. Their capital and their business affiliations brought them into close alliance with the German element, which in its arrogance and haughtiness found a way into every nook and corner of the economic life in Poland. This foreign activity triumphed in the establishment of such commercial centres as Lodz, Pabjanice, Zgierz, Dabrowa and others. There every Polish endeavor was offset by Judaico-Ger- man activity, which was helped along by the reac- tionary Russian government. But it was not long until a new generation of Poles grew up, and being discriminated against, and excluded from the various activities in their own country, they turned to such pursuits as were yet left free. Vowing fellowship among themselves, they determined to stay upon their native soil. Their ideas of reform waxed strong, the necessity of bread became urgent, and crowds of Polish work- men sought employment in their own country. For- eigners, however, were crowded into the principal places, but the Poles found a remedy. They as- sumed the lowliest places under difficult conditions, growing callous in their struggle, but developing gradually and founding small outposts that were bent on winning the battle. Owing to the invasion of foreign element, Polish life began to assume a 48 THE TRIUMPHANT JEWS foreign character. Such industrial centre as Lodz, the stronghold of foreign financial lords, spoke Ger- man and the jargon. German schools were built alongside the Russian. Polonism was tabooed, while loyalty to Russia was loudly professed. By renouncing Polonism and professing fealty to Rus- sia, they expected to suppress the growing activity of the natives. Thus stood affairs after the insur- rection. Old ideals and creeds gradually paled. The jargon press grew insolent in its unequivocal condemnation of the so-called "Poles of Mosaic creed" as traitors to the Jewish cause. However, these Jewish Poles held as yet to their Polonism, mediating between the awakening con- sciousness of the natives as to the value of their mosaic brethren, and the aggressive manifestations of the Jews. But they naturally served the Jewish in preference to the Polish cause, dertianding of the Poles the broadest concessions in the name of time- honored ideals, but giving them nothing in return from the Jewish quarter. At the same time, fresh Jewish persecutions in Russia and the expulsion of Jews from that country, resulted in a veritable flood to Poland of masses altogether hostile to Polish life. Large crowds of Jews spread wide over the King- dom of Poland, over Lithuania and, in a smaller percentage over Ruthenia. Along with a greedy foreign capital, their business skill and their readi- ness to engage in unfair dealings, they brought hatred and contempt to everything Polish. They brought also with them a mission impressed upon them by the conquerors — the mission of the Russi- ficator, whom, as born admirers of Might, they 49 A WORLD PROBLEM served to our disadvantage in all their haughtiness and blinded passion. It should be remarked here that Russia could deal no more painful blow to the fettered nation. We must believe, too, that this was intentional per- fidy on the part of Russia, which desired to get rid of her Jews, and at the same time tried to drive a wedge into the Polish life, which could not be done by means of the dull Russian axe. The whole policy was tuned down to the song, which brawled of the fraternity and unity of Slavic culture, so as the easier to swallow up the bleeding Polish nation. The throngs of Jews driven out from Russia into Poland, which was devastated and over populated (when extensive Russia was but thinly populated), and the use Russia made of Jews in Russianizing a nation of such culture and merits as the Polish, formed a new stain on Russian his- tory, and an occasion for the Jewish soul to show itself in its true colors. It was upon the body of Poland that the Jewish soul appeared in its true nature, and the world at large ought to know of it, and draw therefrom the necessary conclusions. Re- markable indeed was the deep instinct of those nations that were so prejudiced against the "chosen people" as to unfailingly turn away from them. To return to our subject, in a short time the Jew- ish population in Poland had doubled. Poland had been drained of her vitality by the rapacious Rus- sian officialdom, by the throngs of Germans, who everywhere established their outposts, and pushed upon our country, not only their industry, but a vanguard of their farmers who settled there. These, 50 THE TRIUMPHANT JEWS of course, tried their best to exterminate everything Polish, in which they were assisted by the ignorant Russian officials. The new crowds of Russian Jews (Litwaks) pene- trated everywhere, overflowed everything, stirred up the Polish Jews, who were infinitely more cultured and better educated, and touched the most sensitive fibre of Polish consciousness with that brutality which scorns the weaker. But it is best to cite statistics illustrating how hostile the foreign ele- ment became towards the Poles, as it grew in num- ber and strength. In Poland under Russia, there are 2,000,000 Jews against a total population of 14,000,000. In Warsaw with a population of 800,- 000 — 300,000 are Jews, or the population is 37.5% Jewish. In other cities and towns, the number of Jews varies between 40% and 98%, the latter per- centage holds true only of the city of Ryki in the Siedlec province. Quite different is the Jewish percentage in popu- lation in the two other parts of Poland which were placed under different political conditions. Galicia under the Austrian rule is 11% Jewish, while the province of Posen is barely 1.6% Jewish, and even this percentage is on the decrease, as the Jews there are leaving for Germany, where the economic strug- gle seems easier than in the economically developed Province of Posen. That part of Poland had but few political upheavals. The state schools had en- lightened the people, while the example of German economics had taught wholesome lessons. Again, under the national and economic repressions, peo- ple grew callous and efficient. The province of 61 A WORLD PROBLEM Poseii is lacking in literature and art, as it used up all its surplus strength in fighting her powerful enemy for her very soil, shelter and bread. The economic opposition there developed to an extent that even the Jews had to give way and seek the great cities of Germany for better opportunities. Galicia, on the contrary, has been infested and ex- ploited by Jews and Germans. The Austrian gov- ernment became dependent upon Jewish capital, and no longer issued (as was the case under Maria Theresa and the Emperor Joseph II), persecutive laws against the Jews, when they were not even al- lowed to marry with a view to their extermination. The year 1848 brought about great changes, and from that time on the Jews in Austria have enjoyed freedom. The government went even so far as to use them in suppressing its Slav elements, as was the case in the time of Metternich and his followers. The Jews were handy agents in the hands of double- faced Austria in provoking, spying and persecuting. They were quick to monopolize the business and trade in cities and villages, and to exploit, in union with the Germans, forests, petroleum, coal, etc. Be- sides, they bought out large tracts of land so that today they hold 30% of Polish land. In the larger cities where they enjoy equal rights, they hold high offices and very influential positions. But besides the small class of educated Jews, Galicia harbors a great number of ignorant Jews, who are brought up in the cheders in their narrow separatism, in their peculiar morality, in their preju- dice and practices that are hostile to everything. Except for their influential capitalists, the Jews 52 THE TRIUMPHANT JEWS there are mostly poor and only capable of a para- sitic life. Galicia, thanks to the foundation of the Popular Polish Schools (Macierz) which spread knowledge and education among the people, began to remedy her life, to ward off the foreign elements, to develop business, and institute various co-opera- tive circles. This, of course, largely decreased the Jewish profits. Emphasis should be laid on the ex- cellent services the Polish clergy rendered their country in this regard. They v/ere the first to warn the nation of the danger that was bound to come from the Jewish encroachment. Again, when the Jews fairly got the upperhand over the natives and these continued to sink into poverty, it was they who struck the alarm and took the first line of battle. It is commonly known what eminent service Father Wawrzyniak had done in the Province of Posen, by instituting the co-operative movement among the people. After his example, many Polish social workers in Galicia and in the Kingdom, set on foot creative and defensive movements. The co-operative movement saved the Province of Posen, whence Jewish merchants went into Ger- many. The same was soon apparent in Galicia where the Jews, upon seeing the Poles awaken to the necessity of opposing their practices, began to move out from Western Galicia, which is essen- tially Polish, into Eastern Galicia where the Ruth- enian population predominated, and where the ig- norance and sloth of the peasants offered them more lucrative fields. Thus they decreased in Western S3 A WOKLD PROBLEM Galicia to 7%, while in Eastern Galicia their num- bers rose to 13%. Statistics show that the bulk of Jews congregated in Poland under Russia. The reason for this lies in the geographic position of the country, and espec- ially in that of Warsaw, which constitutes the main point on the commercial line between the West and the E^st. Through Warsaw pass the main com- mercial railroads, offering immense business op- portunities and, of course, immense profits. It was undoubtedly for this reason that the Jewish popu- lation of Warsaw increased from 19.2% in 1816 to 39.4% in 1910. The total Jewish population living in all Poland is as follows : In the Kingdom of Poland 1,847,655 In Lithuania 1,422,431 In Red Russia 1,200,122 In Galicia 871,895 In Austrian Silesia 13,422 In the Province of Posen 26,512 In West and East Prussia..... 45,000 Total 5,427,037 As the Jews, the world over, aggregate about 12 millions, it is clear that the territories, which for- merly belonged to Poland, harbor nearly half of them. This is why the Jews present a more vital problem to the Polish than to any other nation. We have thus far considered Jews who had given themselves up to business and hoarded immense sums of money, not only in Poland but the world over. Jewish bankers and capitalists are prominent and known on both hemispheres, but their keen 54 THE TRIUMPHANT JEWS intellects prompt them to seek positions which re- quire brain culture and preliminary education, whence the strong intellectual class among them. Russia in safeguarding her schools and universities against the Jewish element, allowed entrance to a very low percentage of Jews. Western Europe, it is true, instituted no limitations of this nature, but she knew how to get rid of her surplus Jews in favor of Poland. Up to the Partition, Jews were barely noticed in Poland. They took care to conceal their identity under the cloak of their various pursuits, and had not ventured to the front. Until then, Polish intel- lectual Jews were not known. In fact the foremost Jews were eager to polonize and, often assumed the Christian faith. Such christianized Jews were en- rolled by Polish nobility under their coat of arms. Thus, towards the close of the eighteenth century, scores of Jewish families assumed the Catholic faith and were ennobled. It was only shortly before the insurrection of 1863 that the educated Jews started to follow such pur- suit as medicine, law, literature, and principally journalism. Thus, the Jews took a new step, not so much with a view to getting hold of lucrative enterprises, as to gaining control over the thought of the nation. Having created no intellectual fields of their own, they intrude upon foreign fields to inject their own ideas. The press holds out to them the best chance of shaping their ideas and gaining their end. This they practice not only in Poland, but in Europe at large. In possession of riches and such strong influence as riches supply, they strive 55 ""' A WORLD PROBLEM to get into their control the conscience of the world — the daily nourishment of the public — the press. With large capital at their disposal, especially in ruined Poland, they are quick to buy out the larger press agencies and to form large publishing firms, to establish influential papers, and to spread their propaganda. They do this very skillfully in Poland, where they invest their capital and push to the front such Polish forces as enjoy a good reputation, tempting them with their supposed patriotism, and making them at the same time materially dependent. But the analysis would lead us too far. It is enough to state that the Polish press after the insurrection of 1853, became very largely dependent upon Jewish capital. The Jews are remarkably conservative as to them- selves. Holding fast to their antiquated Talmud, to their Elders and Rabbis, they v/ould not allow the least criticism upon their ancient Holies. With re- gard to others, they are radically progressive. They laugh at their national feelings, and brand them with the stigma of backwardness and ignorance. The Jews in Poland began their play under two different headlines, the one was the headline of the Polish press, inspired by Jews, whom it served un- der the cloak of apparently Polish patriotism; the other was that of the jargon press which was in- solent, arrogant, brutal, but had the one good qual- ity that it exposed the real character of the Jews. The Polish thought became very much confused in the turmoil of their cunning play and subtile policy. The jargon press grew insolent and the Poles had to learn that it worked in total opposition to Polish 66 THE TRIUMPHANT JEWS life, and broke away completely from the idea of assimilation, while it branded the "Poles of Mosaic Creed" as traitors to the Jewish cause. Polish idealists wished to further remain under the spell of their delusion and paint the situation in bright colors, but grim reality struck a different key. Amid open disregard and contempt the Jews showed to everything Polish, amid the vile services they rendered the Russian and German cause, a strongly idealistic current started among the Jews, which offered an outlet to their long suppressed longing, to their ambitions and to their desire to be- come great — a current which holds the living thread that unites it with the past — jealousy nourished in every Jewish heart — and this was Zionism. Originating in the minds of a few dreamers to- wards the end of the nineteenth century, Zionism found a marvelous adhesion among the masses, and served as food to satisfy the hunger of the passion- ate Jewish soul, which had remained closed up within the iron confines of their Talmud. Zionism which is a movement to regain Palestine, became a new slogan with the Jews. Zionism took the mask off their servility and humbleness; it showed the -true Jews and pointed out their true purpose. The whole scheme, in fact, appeared Utopian and fan- tastic, but it exposed the hidden Jewish soul, and, like thunderbolt struck into the long cherished de- lusion and the skillfully guarded relation between Pole and Jew. It became suddenly clear that the crowds of Jews in Poland were but an alien element, though they had lived with the Poles for centuries that they were not "brethren" — not "Poles of 57 A WORLD PROBLEM Mosiac creed," but enemies, who strove to subject the hospitable country. This was a sad discovery to the Polish soul. It reduced to dust long cher- ished hopes and Utopias. The problem became serious in the utmost and reached alarming statistics. In the Kingdom of Poland, there were 38% Jews engaged in business; in Lithuania, 32%; in Galicia, 29.4%. Ranking second in importance were trade and industry, in which 32% of Jews in the Kingdom of Poland were occupied; in Galicia, 26.4%. They gained posses- sion of immense tracts of land, mainly by way of insolvency. In the Kingdom of Poland the Jews are forbidden by the Russia state laws to acquire land, but they constitute 93.5% of merchants in grain and cattle, while forest business is fairly in their hands. 82% of the dry goods business is also in Jewish hands, while in the hide business 90.5% are Jews. These figures show how far the Jews have en- croached upon Polish life and to what extent they have opposed any movement among the Poles, which was likely to interfere with the business they had so easily developed by reason of united capital, united influence and because of the difficulties Rus- sia placed in the ways of Poles. It must be remem- bered that Jews are in no way bound by ethical laws in dealing with "goys" or foreigners, though they scrupulously observe them in dealing among them- selves. It must also be remembered that the dark- est practices are allowed and even encouraged against the Christians. It is enough to mention that the most heinous practice in the world — the 5S THE TRIUMPHANT JEWS commercialized vice — the white slavery, is exclu- sively in the hands of Jews and constitutes their specialty. This one loathsome trade-mark would suffice to have us turn away in disgust from the sorry agents. They have taken hold of this world-wide commer- cialized vice, which is steeped in blood, in tears and in the blind despair of millions of innocent victims and from it the Jews have derived streams of gold. In addition to the fact — that they hold the secrets of this trade in their hands, and have spread their nets over entire nations, they have created an effi- cient army of procurers whose moral infection poi- sons humanity. Poland, which is their centre, be- came the nest of this heinous business, while its rottenness reached such an extent that the "Polish flesh" received a special trade-mark in the markets the world over. This is due exclusively to the Jews. We have adduced the results of encroachment upon Polish life by the uninvited guests in statis- tics, and in their absorbing influence. We have shown the frightful ravages upon the organism of the nation perpetrated by the greedy and selfish foreign element, which has sapped our vitals for long centuries. The Jews have monopolized and exploited the various fields, they have undermined the nation's health and its spirit. We hope to show how successful was the Polish spirit in opposing this terrible encroachment of inimical forces, which developed within the country and threatened to finally subdue and overwhelm the nation. Thus the Jewish problem makes its victorious appearance upon the threshhold of the twentieth century. 59 A WORLD PROBLEM Masks fell down, illusions were cleared, the shari) gales of life carried off this sorry remnants of hopes and dreams. It is with Jewish triumph that the second era of their open relations with us ends. Now opens the third era — an era of determined struggle, of awakened consciousness, when the one- time masked and suppliant Jews, feeling strong and certain of triumph, dismantled appearances and proved to be our aggressors. 60 CHAPTER IV THE PROVOKING JEWS WE now face a new era, sorry at heart and painfully disappointed that despite her tol- erance and liberality, Poland had failed to make patriotic citizens, or at least sincere friends of the Jews she nourished at her breast. One more wound, terrible because internal, unexpected, be- cause hidden underneath the surface, loomed up in our national life. Infatuated idealists, Utopian as to the fraternity of the two peoples who were brought up on the same soil, we strove against realizing this bitter truth and painful reality. Meanwhile, such historical events developed as could not but dispel appearances and bring out the true fibre of national souls. The Japanese war was one of the events, a war which freed the souls of the nations, Russia held in her iron grip, and bade them speak their heart's desires. The Russian revolution of 1905 became an epochal era in the relation between Pole and Jew. It was then that the true situation, which had long been kept in the background of the Jewish soul, became terribly clear, and dealt the collective soul of Poland its bloody and final blow. It is remarkable that the hostile force made its first open attack just when the Polish nation, which had for centuries been buffeted to bleeding, had for the first time since 1863, awakened to a brighter future, and when the hope lighted the Polish heart that Poland would be restored her undying rights. When that enlivening wave had awakened the na- 61 A WORLD PROBLEM tion from its stupor, and once more animated it with the desire of regeneration, gladness and hope reigned in Warsaw — the heart of Poland — where the bleeding White Eagle, brought out of its conceal- ment, once more fluttered over the Polish throngs, as they marched in demonstration. It was then that the Jews, who had ingrained themselves into our national organism and shivered at the very thought that we rise from our hopelessness, showed their venomous hatred against the Poles by instituting an antidemonstration, into which they drafted crowds of workingmen, dependent on them, and cried with the foam of hatred on their lips "Down with Poland." They did not even hesitate to dis- grace the imblemished Polish banner, which alone in all Eiurope, offered them home and shelter when they were persecuted and oppressed elsewhere, and gave them bread and received them as equals and brethren, even as sons of one mother country. The indignities of those memorable da}^, which were so thickly bespattered with blood and new sufferings, impressed themselves deeply upon the Polish mind. But they brought to light a worse malady with which the Jews afflicted the Polish nation — the houses of ill repute. Demolished by the angry throngs, the houses of shame invariably betrayed traces of Jewish underhand work. The Jews, of course, like a dark phantom, concealed their identity in connection with their shameful avoca- tion, shadowing it everywhere with their dark wings of protection, influence and craft. Political law-suits in the Russian courts, follow- ing the revolutionary movements, exposed the un- 62 THE PROVOKING JEWS clean practices of Jewish leaders and agitators. When called to an account, they invariably fled, placing under the sword of penalty the Poles, whom they would provoke and use as tools to their own advantage. Legal documents of that time throw a fatal light upon the results of Jewish instigation among the Polish working classes. Thus we see how the Jews began to influence the national spirit, how they adopted idealistic slogans thereto, and how, under their cover, they commenced to spread disturbances, injecting the venom of class hatred and uprooting such Polish national mainstays as faith and patriotism. For Poland this was a terrible awakening — an enemy within — ingrained in the nation's very vitals — a dangerous and threatening evil. Still, the Poles were eager at any price to delude themselves — but reality was too evident. To what purpose the Polish press was largely in the hands of Jews, dependent on their capital and on their power? In good or bad faith, it poured soothing balm into the Polish hearts, appealing to such tried ideals as tolerance, brotherhood, common country, etc. Could the few educated Polish Jews not calm the agitated opinion with their golden eloquence, their persuasion and their influence? The Polish soul, naturally optimistic, and weighed down, as it was by adversities of every sort, wished to overlook the fresh blows ; when the Jews saw that the Poles were beginning to realize the true situation, and that once they did realize it, the Jew was sure to suffer serious reverses, they did everything to rem- edy things by putting the situation in a different 63 A WORLD PROBLEM light. The upheaval quieted to an extent, and al- though all was not well internally, things seemingly resumed their normal course. But the hidden activ- ity of the Jews could no longer escape a closer scrutiny. It was now impossible to belie the reality any longer when it came so compellingly to the front. The Jews lost their confidence and the public grew careful. Less significant events kept on adding to the fire, but it was only in 1912 that the election to the Russian Duma furnished the final blow, and made the situation clear even to the most conserva- tive parties. Then only did the Poles clearly per- ceive how far had their optimism led them astray as to the true character of the guests upon their soil, and above what abyss hung their destinies. Fear came upon all, while the horror that the na- tives were likely to forfeit their rights on their own soil, seized all classes. The great commercial city, Lodz — enmeshed in a net of German-Jewish capital which directed its influence towards opposing the Poles — elected a Jew as a representative to the Duma. Warsaw, the capital of Poland, and the heart of the nation stood helpless against the elective superiority of the Jews, who carried through their candidate. He was not a Jew, in fact, as they feared the scandal, but still he was of their own choosing — a radical socialist, a man who enjoyed no confidence even in his own party. Such a victory had the Jews gained in Warsaw where they constitute 37% of the population, and possessed the bulk of the real estate, as well as 64 THE PROVOKING JEWS large capital and great influence. But their victory proved valuable inasmuch as it took the veil off the eyes of the Poles and awakened them to self- defense. The abyss opened wide, into which the rights of the natives sunk ever deeper. The Jews kept on requisitioning the principal fields of indus- try, and after they had the nation fairly in their power, they took off their masks and defiantly pointed to themselves as masters of the land. The Poles could hardly realize that the representative of Warsaw to the Russian Duma should be a Jewish protege, as this was an insult to the Polish nation, but it resulted in a general awakening. Poles began to study things carefully. They commenced to Behold — To See. They saw that Poland under Russia possessed such industrial centres as : Lodz, Zgierz, Zyrardow, Pabjanice, Sosnowiec, Zdunska Wola, etc., not to mention the capital, which is situated on the great passway between the West and the East; but that the capital controlling the entire industrial machin- ery was Judaico-German and that the German lan- guage and the jargon predominated. Besides, they saw the influential jargon press, openly inimical to Polish interests. They also saw the numerously at- tended jargon theatres, and the Jewish sectarian schools, where the Polish was no longer allowed. Meanwhile, Russian and German schools flourished under the protection of the government. The Pol- ish communities were everywhere repressed by the joint Jewish-German forces. Therefore the only thing for them to do was to start an energetic self- defense campaign. Warning voices were heard from A WORLD PROBLEM those who studied the situation, while the fact that Poles were excluded from the various governmental positions prompted the Polish youth to embrace such independent occupations as commerce, trade, etc. Agricultural conditions being extremely hard on account of exorbitant state taxes and the unceasing meddling of the suspicious Russian officials, the Poles were compelled to follow various other pur- suits. In a comparatively short time, Polish com- merce, supported by the Polish clergy, appeared in town and village. Competent Polish agents ap- peared also and Polish co-operative movements were set on foot. The slogan, that Polish capital remain in the country to develop Polish industry brought excellent results. In the face of the open aggressiveness of the Jewish masses, their haughty cynicism and their continuous influx from Russia, the struggle of the Poles to hold their possessions, to retain their natural rights, and to disinfect the Polish life, assumed a general character. But the struggle was extremely difficult. The Jews, in ad- dition to the fact that they had the advantage of centuries-old experience, finance, craft, and iron solidarity — were allied with the German element, which had ever been inimical to Poles and also had the protection of the Russian government. They also had at their command the press in every part of the world, and we shall see just what use they made of this powerful factor in turning it into a weapon against the Poles. Meanwhile, the defensive movements were gain- ing in strength and embraced all classes. All at- 66 THE PROVOKING JEWS tempts at appealing to progress and humanitarian ideals were now useless. The threat of charging the Poles with narrow-mindedness and chauvinism was no longer effective as they realized that their very existence was at stake. The Jews in their attempt to remedy things, brought forth facts and arguments to appease the situation, but the Poles were determined to stand for their rights. Their numbers grew daily and included spheres which hitherto put entire confidence in the Jews, and had for years remained under the influence and the spell of so-called progressive ideals. The awaken- ing was followed by a revision of relations and affairs, starting with the common avocations of every-day life, and ending with the highest intel- lectual pursuits ; wherever, in fact, there was a ques- tion of preserving purity of spirit and purity of moral character, which already bore dark traces of foreign influence. Thus, on the one hand, Poles grew in strength, commercial fields were defended, trade and real estate in village and town (where three-fourths of real estate and business was in Jewish hands), was offered a protective hand. While on the other, the intellectual spheres began to revise our relations with the Jews and to study their influence upon us, to be exact — our Judaization. Such Polish minds as up to that time eagerly defended the Jews and their patriotism, and resented, on the score of prog- ress, the supposed Polish reactionaries, at once changed their attitude and joined the movement to defend the threatened country. Poland had been exposed to danger as she never had been before. 67 A WORLD PROBLEM The reaction after the Japanese war and the momen- tary bliss of great hopes, were followed by a new gloom, and the situation of the Pole became unen- durable. The Russian espionage suppressed every manifestation of Polish vitality, dimmed the light of Polish schools, carried on a wild Russian propa- ganda in normal school and in university, strangled every Polish activity, every movement and every initiative, as they appeared suspicious to the Rus- sian government. The pride and ingrained haughtiness of such open enemies of the Poles, as Jews and Germans, grew every day. Their fraternization with the Russian officialdom, who looked to the future blind-folded, became extremely provoking. But the Poles took the defensive to the best of their united strength. The watchword : "Keep up home industry," be- came a law to the Polish conscience. To patronize Polish business, to help building the co-operative societies, to keep land and real estate from falling into foreign hands, became a national command, while departure from it incurred severe public criti- cism. On the other hand, the Polish leaders kept on invigorating the national spirit through the loyal Polish press, and brought to light another calamity : the terrible moral devastation that the foreign ele- ment kept on spreading. Such talented and bright men as A. Swietochow- ski, the founder of the Polish progressive move- ment, and A. Niemojewski, the leader of the Pol- ish independent thought, both of whom once de- fended the Jewish cause, sounded the warning key. A. Swietochov/ski was obliged to leave the Pol- 68 THE PROVOKING JEWS ish Culture Society, which he had himself organ- ized, with "Poles of Mosaic Creed" constituting half of its members, because at a time when the strug- gle between Pole and Jew was at its height, this organization flung off its assumed colors of Polon- ism and arrayed itself on the side of the rigid op- posers of everything Polish. The other, A. Nie- mojewski — well read in the Talmud and a thorough reader of Jewish history — understood the question to be of so vital an issue as to think himself bound to strike the alarm and demand a remedy for the Polish national soul, which had thus been tainted with the foreign venom. He wrote a series of in- structive articles on the question, gave many well attended lectures, and, although an enemy to every religion, gave credit to the Polish clergy as being the first to understand the danger, which lurked in the Judaization of the eminently Christian nation and undertook to fight it down. This Polish thinker showed a remarkable and discriminating grasp of the Jewish influence in Poland in his article in the "Independent Thought." Here is an excerpt from it : "It was on the ground of jeers," he says, "that the intellectual life of Jews and Poles developed. The Jew said to the Pole : With you I cannot love any- thing, honor, admire nor suffer over anything, and we have no common goal to tend to — but we can mutually make fun over everything. I will laugh at your God, your country, your traditions and your ideals, your desires and your endeavors — and we shall both rise over everything. The Jewish joker met a Polish joker and both began to make joke of everything. And the result was that no great act could be accomplished." A WORLD PROBLEM It should be most emphatically stated here that years before, the very same classes were strong in their opposition to any movement directed against the Jews, and any criticism of them, was sure to be branded as narrow-minded and fanatic. In Poland as a rule, one could not touch the Jews without incurring the displeasure of the representa- tive classes. So far did the nation advance in its blindness, and to such an extent was the national thought seduced, that it took violent reverses, strik- ing realities, and a final contamination of the na- tional honor — before the Pole succeeded in seeing the truth, and ceased to think in categories that proved fatal to him. Especially striking was the extensive national movement and the general watch- word, "Defend." The Jews in Poland were quick to grasp the situation. At first they appeared very much con- fused. Later they united in calming down by every means the Polish watchfulness. They branded the national self-defensive movement as Russian in character and leading to pogroms ; as ignorant, prej- udicial and destructive of all national traditions. After these complaints availed naught, the Jews .showed open signs of indignation. They appealed to the progressive elements in Russia, Europe and the world at large, while at the same time, they kept on organizing a strong opposition to everything Pol- ish, and systematically and secretly boycotting every Polish undertaking. It would be too much to enumerate to what lengths the Jews had gone in fighting the Poles, who were practically defenseless and unskilled in 7P THE PROVOKING JEWS united defensive action. The Poles could obtain no capital; the banks refused them credit; they could get no customers to buy their goods as more than three-fourths of the business was in Jewish hands. Much abuse was carried on against the Polish busi- ness, as the Jews are bound by no ethics in dealing with Christians. Falsehoods were circulated in the press, every endeavor was boycotted and inter- fered with. The seemingly liberal Russian press supported the Jews, though it was silent as to their wholesale expulsion from Russia, but lamented with veritable perfidy, when the Poles, suffocating from Jewish aggression, determined to defend themselves and to free their hands from foreign shackles. The Poles offered a valiant resistance, but they were no match against the Jewish forces. Assailed and threatened by strong inimical forces, both with- in and without, with their attention completely riv- eted upon defending their fundamental rights of existence, the Poles had hardly time to adequately refute falsehoods and ward off attacks. Still the united will of the nation, which was ready to stand material sacrifices to free itself from the net of Jew- ish trade, time and again wrested laudable victories, and learned to rely on its own strength and energy. As a result, Jews began to emigrate from certain localities and their business fell into Polish hands. The mercenary Russian officials did their best to interfere with the Polish emancipation. In many cases, they censored advertisements and articles calling upon the Poles to start their own business. In a word, the Russian authorities persisted in binding Polish hands with various prohibitory 71 A WORLD PROBLEM measures; though they secretly organized Jewish pogroms in Russia. But the national defensive power kept on encircling larger fields and mobiliz- ing fresh forces. It should not be forgotten that Poland, although Russia exacted double taxes of her, has remained a really resourceful country. It is interesting however to study the heavy burdens which were imposed upon Poland with a view to crushing her economically and condemning her to a merely vegetative life. *The government taxes in the Kingdom of Poland amounted in 1905 to 330,000,000 roubles, while in 1910 they reached the sum of 610,000,000 roubles. In Poland they were raised 86% while in the rest of the Empire the raise was 45%. At the same time the expenses of the government in favor of the Empire excluding Poland, amounted to 33%, while those in favor of Poland amounted to 17%. In general, fiscal statements show that from 1905 to 1911 Poland contributed to the government treasury 800,000,000 roubles, from which she re- ceived no benefits as the money was spent in favor of Central and Eastern Russia. The taxes in Poland in 1910 were from 12 to 16 roubles per head, while in Russia only 5.80 roubles per head. To this must be added the tariff so framed as to sup- press the export of Polish products into Russia, and to place high duties on incoming commodities. Despite all the financial drawbacks she suffered at Russia's hands, Poland exploited her natural re- sources to the best of her abilities. Thus the yearly * The statistics are taken from G. Bienaime: "La Pologne Econo- mique," published in Paris in 1915 by the Polish Press Bureau. 72 THE PROVOKING JEWS spinning industry brought 900,000,000 roubles; food-stufFs, 420,000,000 roubles; metallurgy, 500,- 000,000 roubles ; confectionaries, 130,000,000 roubles. Besides, there are the products of native trade, which counts large numbers of skilled Polish ar- tisans. The entire foreign trade in the Kingdom of Poland is estimated at 1,740,000,000 roubles, 32% of which is exported and 68% import. The Polish co-operative movement developed fairly well, as it had in 1912 one thousand co-operative stores that sold products to the value of 420 millions of francs. Warsaw and Lodz have committees of commercial exchange, where prominent Jewish and German business men assemble with a view to discussing business projects. These impartial statistics show that the Kingdom of Poland possesses immense nat- ural resources, whose development is checked both by the state and the foreign capital — ^particularly German and Jewish — which hold the bulk of the native enterprise in their hands. Ten provinces in the Kingdom of Poland, Galicia and countries once belonging to Poland, such as Lithuania and Red Russia — these are countries where the Jews enjoy special privileges. The co- operative movement which started among the Poles in Warsaw, soon spread over Vilna and all Lithu- ania. Poles and Lithuanians joined hands against the Jewish aggression. The Jews thereupon pre- vailed upon the European press to defame the Pol- ish name before the world. Here the Jews showed the solidarity that unites them the world over, their international unity, and their power, a power to 73 A WORLD PROBLEM which every Jew in the world is a contributor. To fight down Polonism, to oppose the Polish co-oper- ative movements (which had for their aim the safe- guarding of the Polish national life against the Jew- ish encroachment), the Jews mobilized all the forces they had the world over. The Jews appealed to the opinion of Europe and showed the extraordinary power they possessed in the international press. They bewailed everywhere the harm they supposedly suffered at the hands of the Poles. The Polish Jews, who up to this time styled themselves "Poles of Mosaic creed", tried to calm the rising storm which threatened to bring down a historic catastrophe to both Jews and Poles. The Jews preferred to act slowly but surely, and really welcomed the intervention of the so-called assimilators, but the Poles became aroused to a high pitch, realizing their threatened existence, and de- termined to defend themselves. The Jews, again, were sure of victory. Still the danger that their prey was likely to slip away from their hands grew too eminent not to prompt them to use any means, even desperate. And while in the clear light of day, the two his- toric souls, which for centuries lived together, grew estranged when the echo of the struggle with the hidden enemy grew louder, when the relation be- tween Pole and Jew became dangerously strained, and when Jews the world over assailed the Polish name and threatened to defame it before the world — events of historic value ensued. The long fore- told and expected war came like a lightning across the dark, menacing the life of nations, and Poland shook to her very foundations. 74 ' ' -; CHAPTER V WHEN THE WAR BROKE OUT THE war found the Polish nation anything but ready, with confusion and disintegration on every field. For years before, the Poles had to struggle for their very existence, as aside from the thrreatening Jewish problem, their economic conditions were all but ruined by the Russian Gov- ernment which suppressed every manifestation of Polish national life. German-Jewish supremacy lorded it over Poland and the country was domi- nated by Russian officials, by overfed Germans and by arrogant Jews, while the Polish soul shrunk and shivered for its future. It should be remembered that contemporary to this, the Polish "Macierz" (Mother), an educational institution, which the bleeding nation managed to build was dissolved by Russia, and the Russianized Warsaw University was depleted of Polish youth. The Poles were be- coming foreigners on their own soil, which was being exploited by foreign capital, while the native life was growing inert by reason of suffering and fruitless struggles. Small wonder that the Poles had neither the time nor the opportunity to prepare themselves for the blow which came like a thunder- bolt. Meanwhile, they were terrified to discover a new and dangerous enemy where they expected a sincere friend, and the nation found itself at the Rubicon, whence there was no other way out than to defend its threatened life. To be or not to re A WORLD PROBLEM be, became the all-important question with the Poles, and they could not waver. On the other hand, the passionate, haughty, vin- dictive and greedy Semitic soul opened wide to swallow us, and to triumph over our national dis- integration. Meanwhile, we saw momentous events which produced a great drama upon our hospitable soil, where two races engaged in an epochal strug- gle, exposing their true natures, their true purposes and ideals, and bringing to light the peculiar assets of their national souls. The scale of victory turned in our favor for a time and our suppressed national soul was awakened by the manifesto of the Russian generalissimo, the Grand Duke Mikolajewicz. The Poles awakened to a new life, and the national spirit shook itself back to its former self. The creative and healing results of the historical manifesto shall never escape memory. We were caught and carried away in the whirl of great events, sentiments and ideals. They tore off the linen in which the living body of Poland was wrapped as dead, and placed her with the most vital interests of the European Powers. Our des- tinies were given a different direction. The foreign growth upon the body of the nation vanished; the martyred Lazarus and the forgotten master of the land, rose. The rapacious would-be lords felt the ground slipping from under their feet ; so they tried, as best they could, to remedy the situation, to for- give grievances, to appease the master and to gain his favor. Every one of the usurpatory Powers endeavored to win Poland over, as it seemed very dangerous to them to leave her a forgotten victim. 76 WHEN THE WAR BROKE OUT The Jews understood the situation — the change was threatening; it brought on them unaffected fear and trembling. Poland, all but a finished victim that she was, was likely to become mistress of her situation. Fear and confusion grew strong — what was to be done? Certainly, her possible regeneration must be inter- fered with at any cost. The Jews accordingly did everything to tear to pieces the developing threads of Russian sympathies, to suppress the mutual con- fidence, to poison the souls of the two kindred nations, before whom rose a great historic change, calling for a quick reconstruction of the criminally wasted life. The possibility of such a change, the likelihood of the nation having restored to it its natural rights, struck the Jews with fear and prompted them to take any measures that lay in their power to prevent it. They wrote in the Rus- sian papers against the Poles, they jeered and ridi- culed their recently awakened enthusiasm. In times of great moment intrigues and artificial structures invariably fall to pieces and the truth of the spirit and the character of the nations gain an ascendancy. Thus it was in Poland. While the cobwebs of Jewish calumnies and falsehoods were prejudicing Russia against the Poles the Russian army entered Poland with the surest confidence. Poland's historic enemy — Ger- many — pushed her iron regiments upon the Ma- sovian plains, while the blood of the Poles — tradi- tional defenders of freedom against the cruel Prus- sians — was roused to the utmost. The sons of the heroes of Grunwald and the Slav army which ad- 77 A WORLD PROBLEM vanced to defend the open territory of Poland, united to fight the old enemy of the Poles, the threatening "Drang nach Osten" of Germany. Per- haps there had never been in the history of two nations so sincere and unanimous a feeling as when Warsaw and Poland at large welcomed the Rus- sians, their one-time persecutors, as their deliverers now and their allies. Had Russia then risen to the historic moment and proclaimed a free and inde- pendent Poland, had she created a Polish army, and bade it defend its country, the fraternity and alliance of two free nations would have been strongly sealed. The wall of a heroic Polish army would never have allowed the Prussians the vic- tories and triumphs which forever diverted the course of history, placing between the two nations new crimes, so fearful that no ages or events are likely to erase from memory the sea of Polish tears, the moans of the ruined country, the un- heard-of horrors and barbarities. All attempts at creating disturbances were in vain; the will of nations passed over them like a hurricane, while the downtrodden victim moved and rose again. The historic Lazarus changed into the master, conscious of his rights and his triumph- ing power. In the historic turmoil, in the uncer- tainty of what the future might bring and what the coming Polish rule might do, the Jews dropped another mask which kept hidden their mysterious psyche: their supposed loyalty to Russia. With the change of war's fortune, the ascendancy of the invader succeeded in bringing out the real char- acter of the Jews shown in their kinship with Ger- 78 WHEN THE WAR BROKE OUT manism. Unfailing worshipers of power, they bowed low to the watchword of Germany : "Might," and its practical application in life. It did not mat- ter that Germany looked down with contempt upon the Jews, and steadily refused to enter on intimate terms with them. The Jews bowed before the bearers of Might, worshiping them to idolatry. It is true, the Jews had never and could never have any sincere syrnpathy towards the Slavs. The spirit of the two races is too antagonistic — the type of the Jewish soul was brought out in the shifting course of the war in Poland. Even the common Jews sided with the Germans. The national in- stinct of the Russian army was quick to perceive this and, as a consequence, showed the Russian in- born hatred of the Jews. Imbued with ages of re- ligious tolerance, the Poles limited their defensive struggle against the Jews to economic grounds. Beyond that they showed no ill-feeling towards them. The deeply rooted christianism of the Poles and their inborn meekness of nature would not harm nor wreak vengeance upon the Jew, but the Russian armies, together with their leaders, took quite a different attitude towards them. From the beginning the Russian army was slow to place con- fidence in the Jews, but quick to suspect them of treachery. When it was learned that the Jews in many cases sided with the Germans, the Russian army resented it, and in some places pogroms took place. To play safe, the commander-in-chief had to deport all the Jews from the war territory. In gen- eral, the Russian military authorities were preju- diced against them, while the army, as an army is 79 A WORLD PROBLEM wont, in moments of aversion and hate, perhaps was guilty of injustice and barbarism. Meanwhile, the Polish-Russian fraternity reached its climax as a result of common suffering and in- terest. The terror of the Teutonic warfare tied the knot of brotherhood, while the relations of the two peoples developed in a way to constitute a new page of hitherto unknown sincerity and mutual confidence. Warsaw — the heart of Poland — showed a heroic and royal heart in that it erased, in face of the great To-Morrow, every impression of Russian persecution. Imbued with the ideals of freedom and brotherhood for centuries, the nation appeared to rise to the historic occasion. The Poles wished to forgive, and knew how to forgive. The Russian army understood it and repaid it as best it could with the warmth of its simple soul. No wonder then that, amid such developments as these, even the Polish Legions formed in Galicia found the Poles, on their entrance into Russian Poland, cold and even reluctant, because following in the wake of that heroic Polish army was the dark spectre of Germany, Austria's ally. However, the fraternity of the two peoples and their sincere aspirations had not been sanctioned, as has been said, by an act of historical value. Outside of proclamations, appeals in the Russian press and relief action taken by Russian communities, governmental affairs in Poland remained actually the same. Things re- mained in suspense, though the people of their own accord, without any sanction, kept on organizing in the name of the despairing need of the moment. 80 WHEN THE WAR BROKE OUT Meanwhile, the call of the great moment for an act of historic reconstruction brought no results. There was no one to catch the call, to realize it, to act- ualize it. Things ran their course, while the great .moment rolled away into oblivion. The friendship that grew between the Poles and the Russians became a terrible blow to the Semitic soul, which beheld Poland a horrible phantom, raised by the manifesto of the commander-in-chief. It was yet unknown who would win. The great moment remained uncertain. . . . But the situ- ation became too doubtful for the Jews to allow them to continue humble. They declared an unmi- tigated warfare against the Poles just when the Polish question was put in the balance, when the destinies of the nation tragically hung upon the great events of the world. It is horrible to speak of this — still there are no suspicions nor illusions; these are terrible facts which, like millstones, crushed and ground the Polish soul, until they drove it to a dark despair. Jews the world over whirled like dark waves upon the sea, throwing upon Poland darts poisoned with hatred and calumny, in an attempt to defame her unblemished name before the world's forum. The celebrated Danish writer, George Brandes — a Jew by birth — first indignantly branded the Poles as originators of Jewish pogroms. The Jewish cyni- cism and hatred triumphed and did not hesitate to throw these falsehoods upon the Poles. The calumny got into the press and did great harm to the Polish name. We started our defense too late in relation to the events that shook the world. 81 A WORLD PROBLEM When finally Brandes was pushed to the wall and required to produce facts, he had none to give. Another accusation was that by the Italian writer Luzatti, a Jew, which, too, crept into the world- wide press. Then another Jew, Levine, of New York, threw the same blemish upon the Poles in an open letter to Henryk Sienkiewicz. But pressed by facts, he had to admit in "The American Hebrew" that the Polish people with their clergy had on many occasions saved the Jews from the gallows by interceding with the Russian commanders, as was the case in Glownia, Jarnowa, etc. The Russian leaders had often openly urged the Poles to institute Jewish pogroms, even promising them rewards after the war, but the Poles would not listen, while the clergy did their best to prevent bloodshed, as was the case in the province of Kielce. At times, this crept into the jargon press, as the "Haint" No. 199 writes: "When the Cossacks in Myszyniec were about to hang six Jews, the peasants prayed them to spare their lives." This is eminently characteristic of the Polish peasant, who knows no revenge, but forgives as a true chris- tian. How different are the Jews; they bow low before a strong enemy, but give vent to their anger when dealing with the helpless. A characteristic example of this is their relation with Russia. They condone her every indignity and gladly pass over even pogroms, while they resent and exaggerate most strenuously the least act on the part of the Poles that does not suit them. They try to be on good terms with even such Russian parties as are indifferent and blind to Jewish persecutions, but 82 WHEN THE WAR BROKE OUT they raise loud lamentations when ruined Poland undertakes the least defensive movement. In this case the Czar government and Russian society too are one in their perversity. When the Russians first issued an order of com- pulsory expropriation of Jews from the Russian territory and drove crowds of them into the King- dom of Poland (but ensured them protection against the native element), the Russian communi- ties at the same time condemned through the mouth of their liberal leader, Milukow, the clannishness of the Poles, who would not admit with open arms the Russian "Litwaks," but organized self-defensive movements against them.. The liberal element in Russia, it is true, defended the rights of the Jews, but they limited their defense to Jews living in Poland, which was overcrowded with them, while they tolerated and connived at the abuse of the most elementary rights of the Jews in Russia. Poland had never practiced diplomatic falsehood and subterfuge. The Polish policy had for cen- turies been imbued with sound principles and ideals to which the nation had faithfully adhered. If the Polish culture had failed in polonizing the Jews, still it cannot be denied that the noblest individuals of that old race received the Polish baptism of love, and through it alone, became children of our free land. It should be remembered that the ideals of Polish culture are exceedingly high, to which not every one may aspire — while the national way of the cross was the thorny road to Poland's unknown destinies, upon which only her own children, strong with love, could pass. 83 A WORLD PROBLEM There were and still are in Poland, though their number is small, eminent types of Jew-patriots. With the light of their great spirit, they were wont to enhance the relations between the Pole and Jew, and professed everywhere their faith in the beautiful spirit of humanity. They still tell us that it was only on the ground of Polish culture that the selfish and isolated Jewish psyche blossomed into its most beautiful flower. They fought for Poland's cause, they suffered for Poland's sake, and they loved her. Let us do them homage and let their noble souls and noble acts prompt us to forgive much their living brethren. Glory be to them! There were and still are Jews whose names are written in the book of the nation for the services they rendered it. They are the stars that shine over the dark forces of their kinsmen, men who worship brutal force even to idolatory. Worshipers of Might — such has been their name for centuries — whether it be under the Russian knout or the Prussian mailed fist, honoring the most those who maltreat them worst, they show little regard to those who consider them brothers. These fanatical worshipers of Might proved them- selves ungrateful in the utmost to the country which received them with open arms when they were everywhere persecuted, for centuries sur- rounding them with its rights and protection, and allowing them to grow in wealth and culture. The Jews rose against Poland which espoused their cause, a Poland which, even in her sad hour of 1863, tangibly showed through Wielopolski's re- S4 WHEN THE WAR BROKE OUT forms, that she honored the rights of her Jewish citizens. The war dissolved the last Jewish mask, and the truth, which had long been maturing in the hidden Jewish soul, came to the top. It stands forth today in Poland, in its entire nudity, and though it tries to hide away and continue deceiving, still it cannot conceal its riddle which had a historical value for the Poles. Not only to the Poles in fact, but to the world at large, as Jews are scattered the world over, and the influence of their ideals and aspira- tions is affecting the organism of humanity, dissolv- ing it in the acid of the Semitic spirit. The saddest example of what the semtic spirit can do, is Poland today. We have seen in an outline the course of a historic drama, thus far hidden under the surface. We shall now consider, in the light of the present epoch-making times, the tragic struggles of the two races, whose souls ventured out into the open and await in the suffering and bloodshed of the world- wide struggle a sokition of their problem. CHAPTER VI JEWS IN POLAND AND THE WAR a.) The Indifferent Jews and the Russian Jews. WHEN the war broke out, Poland, with Lith- uania and Ruthenia included, numbered, as was pointed out elsewhere, 5,327,037 Jews, which constitutes nearly half of the Jews in the world, who aggregate 12,000,000. The Kingdom of Poland alone numbers 2,000,000 Jews to a popula- tion of 14,000,000, which is 14%, or as many as live in Palestine. The Jews in Poland can be divided into three classes. The oldest class, embracing the so-called Polish Jews, the most refined among whom are actually Polish, inasmuch as their racial soul, trained in the doctrines of the Talmud and their traditional isolation, allows them to love and honor anything foreign. At least they are the Jews who Understand us best. Outside of these, is the bulk of uneducated and fanatic Jews who knew nothing out- side of the Talmud, their rabbis and cheders. At best, they cherish certain Polish sympathies, or more precisely, they are not hostile to us. But that is all. The best Jewish classes that speak pure Polish and are well read in Polish history and literature, that pursue literary avocations and are active par- ticipants of Polish culture, do, at any rate, infiltrate peculiarities of their racially different psyche into the Polish soul. The bulk of uneducated Jews, who read the jargon papers and live in the spirit of their 87 A WORLD PROBLEM cheders and synagogues, know nothing about the history of Poland. They only know how to trade, how to overreach and make business on the Polish people, and garner their roubles by their cunning, and their ethics which does not bind them. There is a third class besides these two, which is of a more recent formation. It embraces the so-called "Litwaks," who came from Russia and who speak principally the Russian language, and consider themselves a vanguard of Russianism. Hence they think themselves affiliated with the state and, there- fore, superior to the oppressed natives. They look down upon them, despite the fact that they them- selves were driven out of Russia and came to Poland as exiles. Still their veneer of Russianism is that of the conqueror, and hence of pride in rela- tion to the subject people. It is hard to imagine a more vivid picture of the servility of the Jewish people. The new class of Jews was altogether hostile to the Poles, and tried everywhere to do away with the Polish language and culture. They stood like a hostile wall between the Poles and the old class of the Polish Jews, causing a great deal of trouble even among the Jews. In the course of events, the indifferent class of Jews — the passive, ignorant and selfish class — awakened to action and joined the troublesome and aggressive "Litwaks," who en- joyed the support of the Russian Government, and whose haughty and violent watchwords were more gratifying to the dark Jewish masses than to the refined Polish Jews, or the so-called "assimilators." JEWS IN POLAND AND THE WAR The "Litwaks" made advances even among some of the Polish Jews. Meanv^fhile, the jargon press made headway, the jargon theatres grew in num- bers, and there was a marked tendency to separate from Polonism. The Jewish nationalism and the fanatic Zionism came into prominence, v/hile the growing selfishness of the Jewish interests became only too evident, and plainly showed that the Jewish wedge, which went so deeply into the body of the nation, considered itself a nation and demanded its supposed natural rights. The further course of events removed every mask — Polish and Russian — from the Jewish face and exposed the passionate, isolated and an- cient face of Judaism, looking solely to its own in- terests, to the exclusion of everything else. The war brought to light another Jewish secret which is apparently new, but which in reality has long been lodged in their hidden soul ; it is their sincere pro-German sympathy. It came within notice time and again during the war, but it was only when the German army took possession of the Kingdom of Poland, that it triumphed unreservedly. This was clearly shown by the Rotterdam syonists, who is- sued, in the beginning of the war, an appeal to all the Jews in the world, under the auspices of "The International Institute of Peace," signed by eighty rabbis and many eminent Jewish leaders. The apppeal says, in part: "Germany is no enemy to the Jews, but their only true friend and protector. In Germany, Austria and 89 A WORLD PROBLEM Turkey alone, the Jews enjoy full rights and even privileges. "Germany is a true stronghold of Judaism. Should she become dissolved and ruined econom- ically, then the Jews the world over will lose what- ever they have gained in the last hundred years. If the war continues, it will ruin all Europe, and for this reason alone it cannot benefit the Jews. Good business is done where the population is well to do." The pamphlet enumerates various means of bring- ing the war to a close, beginning with the refusal of credit to Germany's enemies. It lays a special emphasis on the necessity of stopping the supply of ammunition and other war materials from the United States to nations fighting against Germany. "A victorious Germany promises the Jews noth- ing less or more than the creation of an autonomous Jewish state, greater in area than France. The German Government pledges to create an inde- pendent Jewish State and guarantees it its military protection. This pledge was signed by the famous Ballin, a personal friend of Kaiser Wilhelm II." This faithfully expresses the true Jewish opinion, which is in sympathy with the German cause. Still this attitude does not prevent their analyzing the historic situation today and judging it from the angle of their own national advantages. This is evident from the Russian Jews who were not in the least enthusiastic about the promises of the German Government. They see their salvation in grouping the Jewish masses upon Polish territory. 90 JEWS IN POLAND AND THE WAR Instead of complaining about the "Pale of settle- ment" which Russia rigidly enforced, they tried a different thing. The Jews realized that it is their grouping together, not their dispersion, that prom- ises well for their future. Their views on this ques- tion are excellently pictured by the jargon "Die Woche," which says : "The vim and intensity of the national cul- tural development would be no doubt weak- ened, if the great, united multi-million commu- nity, which at present constitutes a respectable force in Poland, Lithuania and Southern Rus- sia, became divided. This would amount to a tragedy in a measure similar to the dismember- ment of Poland. Though we do not constitute a state, we are nevertheless a nation whose cultural unity required that it be as little dis- persed as possible among the various nations. Every nation impresses a specific mark upon the Jews ; each nation forms a different class of Jews, and, for this reason, every boundary is a boundary, which like a knife cuts into the body of the Jewish nation and divides it. There are small prospects of an entire elimination of the evil which spells a calamity to the Jewish na- tion. Their union in one state is a dream which hardly any one expects to materialize. But to preserve national unity, which was in reality created within the territory of one state, to watch that the promising centralization keeps on developing, is our national duty. To en- deavor that the bulk — if it had not as yet en- tirely been consolidated externally — continue 91 A WORLD PROBLEM undivided, and undiminished in number and strength — thus promoting our national cultural enlightenment. "A small settlement can never attain in the cultural national realm that which a million community can attain. Warsaw or New York can more easily create favorable conditions, a strong Jewish press, build respectable Jewish theatres, start influential literary and artistic centres, Jewish school societies and other cul- tural national organizations, than can, for in- stance, Bucharest, or even a greater West- European centrum. Such a city as Warsaw or New York depends not only upon a hundred thousand Jewish population in the city, but likewise upon the Jewish communities in the province." It is certainly clear that the Jews resent an inde- pendent Poland — since they endeavor to found their welfare upon the living body of the Polish nation, foreigners and strangers though they are. More, they are planning their future upon the suppression of the natives. It is quite apparent why the Jews were so unanimous in breaking every thread of Polish-Russian sympathies, why they kept on meanly obstructing every friendly understanding between the two Slav nations, every understanding leading to Polish freedom. Their highest interest was the exterminative Russian centralization, which would keep every nation suffocating in one caldron, and place Poland on the same level with insignificant nations. Here again appears the thread of their solidarity and 92 JEWS IN POLAND AND THE WAR kinship with the Germans, who aimed at the same object when they sowed discord between the Rus- sians and the Poles, as the thought of a free Poland had ever haunted them as a terrible spectre. After the war was declared, the Jews closely watched Russia entering a coalition with Poland. They grew dissatisfied and created a strong secret opposition. They tried, as best they could, to make light of the historic manifesto of the commander-in- chief, ridiculing it and giving it a wrong interpreta- tion. But when adverse events developed, when a Polish-Russian commission was set on foot to dis- cuss and materialize the very same manifesto, and the propagation of intrigue and bitter strife failed to divert the current of history, they changed — owing to the pliancy of the Jewish nature — their method for fear that after all the insignificant na- tives might recover their rights. The jargon press then sought a new way out: "The Commission made up of Polish and Russian leaders," writes the "Jewish Opinion," "which the Russian Government appointed with a view to adopting means to put into prac- tice the principles embodied in the manifesto of the commander-in-chief, will be likewise re- quired to give their views on the settlement of the Polish question. It is true that there are in the Commission no representatives of the Jewish minority, but every extension of auton- omy with the rights of the Jewish minority guaranteed will no doubt tend to weaken the antagonism between Poles and Jews. It may »3 A WORLD PROBLEM be that in a new social politic atmosphere we shall come to a better understanding with the Poles upon the ground of mutual regard for social and national rights, for in practice only such agreements stand good chances, as are en- tered among equals." When the scale of historical events turned our way, the Jews then suddenly changed their attitude to the Poles. In order to appease, they pretended to be actuated by patriotism, and spoke not a word about Jewish-Poland. The Jewish nationalists even began to claim: "We have no, nor would we have any, political aims that would stand in opposition to the political aims of the Poles" ("Jewish Opin- ion"). The Jews were quick to enter upon better relations with the Poles and to remedy the troubles they started. Their aggression waned — they began to speak of a common country. The Poles knew well what it meant, but maintained a quiet calm, overwhelmed, as they were, by their national trag- edy. The war with its direful consequences nat- urally called the Poles to start an extensive relief work. The authorities stood helpless against the social conditions which grew rampant during the war. The citizens were called upon to help, and they were quick to organize in Warsaw under the name of The Central Citizens' Committee, which represented every class in the country, including Jewish delegates. Head of the organization was Prince Zdzislaw Lumomirski. In its appeal the Committee openly stated that it would work for the good of the people, irrespective of creed or race. 94 JEWS IN POLAND AND THE WAR The Central Citizens' Committee soon embraced every need, reached everywhere, introduced order and peace, and really proved a blessing to the coun- try. It was with surprising energy and an iron resourcefulness that the Committee found remedies against the violent needs, and gave protection to entire masses of unfortunates that were deprived of their belongings and driven forth in a way that is impossible to imagine. Branches of the Central Citizens' Committee, composed of the foremost in- dividuals, who were bent on saving the nation, were established all over the country. The Jews grew dissatisfied; they began to murmur, stir up discord, look for pretexts for grievances and complaints, as they could not bear that the administration of the country fell, in a way, into Polish hands. Hence they complained to the Russian authorities and in the press that only Poles are given protection, and harm is done to the Jews, etc. The Committee thereupon published a statement, signed by repre- sentative Jews, to show that the Jews fared better than the Christians, as they received such additional funds, specially designated for Jews, that were ex- ternal to the funds of the Central Citizens' Com- mittee. But as special funds for the Jews kept on flowing from Russia, the Committee was bound to take that into account for the sake of justice. Even in the turmoil of the time, the Committee remembered the religious sentiments of the Jews, and organized kitchens which served food as prescribed by the Jewish ritual. Still, the Jews did not cease to wan- 95 A WORLD PROBLEM tonly spread calumnies which were Ccilculated to work injjury to the Polish name. On the contrary, it has been proved that Jewish business men, in village and town, made the most of the desperate situation of the people, either by storing up food supplies or selling them at such exorbitant prices as to drive the people almost to the point of break- ing up food stores, which actually happened in Ruthenia in some places. While the Poles were forced to leave their homes penniless, many Jewish traders made good money, though in general it cannot be denied that the Jewish masses were also in pressing and desperate circumstances, by reason of the complete dissolu- tion of social conditions. But yet the misfortunes of the Jews do not adequately compare with the terrible injury that was done to the millions of Poles in their being deprived of their landed pos- sessions. V/hen the Germans took Warsaw, the Jews felt relieved. They joyfully welcomed them within the walls of the capital, and felt safe, as they really feared the Russian Government. The Polish pop- ulation, on the contrary, realized the awfulness of the Teutonic invasion, especially after the ruthless behavior of the German soldiers in Kalisz, and after the Russians had spread reports which terrorized the Polish population. This state of affairs greatly helped Russia to carry out the terrible destruction she planned within her ruthless soul with truly diabolical intent. Thus a new and unheard-of in- ternational crime has been committed in the expul- 96 JEWS IN POLAND AND THE WAR sion of millions of Poles, doomed to die of hunger, and left without governmental protection, without any care on the part of authorities, which looked indifferently on the millions of Poles forced to go forth into distant and unknown countries. Those who refused to leave their homes were forced to do so; their property was destroyed and they were mercilessly driven forth into exile. According to statistics, about three million Poles, counting Lith- uanians and Ruthenians, were forced to quit their homes and go into interior Russia and Siberia, where hunger, sickness and various demoralizing influences killed them by the wholesale. It was with this ignominy that Russia closed and sealed her old and grewsome accounts with Poland. We may never forget that upon the crossroad of his- torical destinies, this monstrous hecatomb of mil- lions of lives, of a sea of tears, of suffering and blood, stood like an insurmountable wall. This was a farewell Gehenna from the hand of the Russian hangman. In Warsaw and in the Kingdom of Poland at large, the Germans took the government fairly into their hands. Those who were spared the forced evacuation, preserved a remarkable air of peace and soberness. Unmoved in the historic upheaval, hard as iron amidst such unheard of calamities, the Poles remained mute and unintelligible to the foreigners, with their feeling hand set on the pulse of their imminently threatened life. They gazed upon the awful death with unswerved decision and endur- ance. The Germans showed a more conciliating 97 A WORLD PROBLEM attitude; perhaps they desired to obliterate their terrible abuses in Kalisz. Besides the problem of procuring bread for the hungry and shelterless, there arose the burning problem of how to educate the children and the youth which grew unruly in the turmoil of the time. The Central Citizens' Com- mittee, active and industrious in every field, created the National Educational Department, while ele- mentary schools in town and village were estab- lished in large numbers. The idea was to make use of the opportunity as long as it lasted. The Ger- mans allowed the Committee absolute freedom after they had ordered everything Russian excluded, and tried to conciliate and win over, in the indecision of the moment, the unconfiding and indifferent na- tives. Promising centres of education arose, as if by miracle, amidst the whizz of bullets and shells, the glare of conflagration and the roar of cannon. Here, again, followed a collision with the Jewish minor- ity, who assumed haughty airs, and spoke in terms imperative. As we know, the Jews had still been sending their small children first to the "cheders" — elementary schools connected with the synagogues — where they were given the first lessons in the Talmud, and the elements of the Jargon. In the elementary Polish schools, the Russian language was obligatory as the language of instruction. The Germans, excluding the Russian from schools, made the Polish the official language. It was further decided that the Polish children were under obli- gation to attend Polish schools; while as regards 98 JEWS IN POLAND AND THE WAR Jews, who had their cheders, they were free to decide as to whether to send their children to a Polish school or to a Jewish sectarian school. This appeared to be the only just way. But the Jews soon raised a hue and cry that they, equally with the Poles, paid taxes for, and contributed to the Polish schools (where only Polish children are taught), and hence they demanded special jargon schools built for them. A hot battle and many complaints and much discussion ensued upon this ground, while Jews from Galicia came over to dis- cuss the situation. Mention should be made here that, despite the protection Austria extended the Jews in Galicia, and despite the great deference she paid their rights, she has never tolerated the jargon. In the Galician schools, the Polish or the Polish and Ruthenian languages are obligatory, but never the jargon. After protracted efiforts had been made, and com- plaints filed with the German authorities, it was decided that the parents were free to send their children either to the Polish schools or the cheders. In the Jewish schools, the Polish, which was later to be the language of instruction, was made obli- gatory. This was a decision the German authori- ties made immediately after the taking of Warsaw. The same fight for the jargon was set on foot in the various societies, and notably among the Jewish business men in Warsaw. However, the assimilative tendency got the upper hand, for, as the "Nowa Gazeta" gives it, the jargon was rejected with 393 to 350 votes. This took place 99 A WORLD PROBLEM in the capital of Poland, which has ever extended freedom to all. It must be added that even this slight ascendency in favor of the Polish followed only as the result of the Social Democratic group raising opposition to the jargon for facetious reasons, and not out of civic motives. In comparison to this, with what a mocking, jeering echo sounds the Polish- Jewish idyl on the "Poles of the Mosaic Creed" of 1860. Life and its rigid reality destroyed every idyl, and taught the Pole to look at life soberly, remembering the threat— "Vae Victis." The summary of facts of the past few years shows the opposition in purpose and tendencies of the Warsaw Poles and Jews, who made it no longer a secret to fight for their complete separation from Poland, and do not at all hide their peculiar tend- encies, both civic and racial. It should not escape us that the jargon is not the old Hebrew tongue, which is not used today, but is a rough mixture of bad German with Polish. It is without traditions of any kind and has no value, as it has no literature. Still, the Jews safeguard it with all their vehemence, because it individualizes them, as against the beau- tiful and rich tongue of the land. The relation of the Germans to the Jews in Poland, who humbly bowed to them and admired them, is very interesting. The Germans had just discovered that the Jews living in Poland, Lithuania and Ruthenia constituted a population of nearly six million, a nation by itself, speaking the jargon, or a bad modification of the German. The Germans 100 JEWS IN POLAND AND THE WAR thus perceived the possibility of gaining a multi- million ally, while the jargon was easy to improve upon and change to the German. The first conces- sions, it is true, were to the Poles, but as the latter (who knew with whom they had to deal) remained indifferent, the Germans set their eyes upon the Jews who were ready to serve them and who ad- mired their triumph. With the brusque and quick decision which is peculiar to them, the Germans did not long hesitate. Here is a sample of their pro- cedure taken from the jargon paper "The Moment," which says: "The secret councillor, who looks after school affairs, visited the local Talmud school on the Fran- ciscan Street and found things in good condition. Upon entering the classes, he asked the children what language they used at home.. The children answered that they speak Jewish. To this the secret councillor answered that the German language is kin to the Jewish, and so they will be taught in German." The jargon unceremoniously gave place to the German, and things remained quiet — no protest v/as raised, for in this manner the Germans transact business. When the Poles proposed that the cheders use the language of the country — the Polish — the Jews protested loudly. They refused the Polish and, behold, the secret councillor of Kaiser Wilhelm proscribed their jargon at once. The Jewish problem commands then the serious attention of the German thought, and not only the 101 A WORLD PROBLEM German thought, but that of the German Jews out- side of the "Pale of Settlement," who take the keen- est interest in the lot of their co-religionists in Poland. In the weekly "Das Neue Deutschland Kochsenschrift fuer Konservativen Fortschritt," A. Grabowsky wrote a lengthy article (before the Act of the 5th of November) entitled "Polen," where he treats of the relation of Jews to Poles in the King- dom of Poland, and thus writes among other things : "The entire Jewish masses in the East follow, however, an exclusively Jewish culture, and herein lies the basis of our reliance. There is none of that sharp demarcation line between Jews and non-Jews in Germany as there is in Russia. "There is none in Galicia, where Jews and non-Jews attend common schools. The Jews in Galicia hold, in relation to the West Euro- pean culture, a middle position between the German and the Polish-Russian Jews. "But another question enters here. The as- similated Jews in the Kingdom of Poland be- came assimilated by the Polish, and not by the German culture. They speak the Polish among themselves, consider themselves, as a rule, true Poles, the same way as their principal organ, the Warsaw 'Nowa Gaizeta,' takes a thoroughly Polish course. It may be asserted, that the Jews speaking the jargon approach much nearer the German culture than the Polish assimi- lators. 102 JEWS IN POLAND AND THE WAR "We should infer from all this that— at least for a certain time — in case of any junction whatever between the Kingdom of Poland and Germany, the immigration of Jews into Ger- many from the East should be limited. In- stead, we must do everything to take care of the Jews in the East; we must, above every- thing else, take pains to unite them with the Polish soil. As soon as the Eastern Jews find protectors in Germany, even the assimilated Jews will spurn Polonism, and hold fast to Germanism ; for it is altogether natural that they will not unite with the weaker, the Pole, but with the stronger, the German." Thus speaks a German Jew with a Polish name. The Germans saw fine perspectives in the possibil- ity of the Kingdom of Poland remaining in their possession, and they debated upon every means of making the most of the Jewish material which fell into their hands in Poland. Grim reality, in its brutal struggle for existence, singles out its own utilitarian ends. Let us learn, though it be late, the soberness of life, for — as we see — our traditional historic idealism and our del- icate tolerance developed such acute and threaten- ing questions, as the Jewish, the Ruthenian and the Lithuanian, which not only insolently raise their heads against us and demand separation, individual and national (which we do not begrudge), but also endeavor to trample upon and swallow up their kind and now defenseless master. As far-sighted Germany took care of our Jews, it will not be amiss 103 A WORLD PROBLEM to point out how they welcomed the German rule in the kingdom as a new era in their life and de- elopment. The Zionistic Jewish organ, the "Tag," writes under the caption "The Rebirth of Jews" : "We are entering upon a new epoch of our life; before us open new and wide horizons. New social possibilities and political necessities loom forth. "All the obstacles which have hitherto ob- structed the way of Jewish social life, which impeded our political aims, disappeared — and now we shall easily effect a political and social regeneration and a crystallization of our desire and claims." The Jewish thought has been active in every field. Jews the world over have exchanged opinions in a feverishly sweeping fashion. Every phase has been stirred up and discussed. They have called upon their most prominent individuals the world over to speak under the mask of patriotism. Today, how- ever, when Israel called, they spoke with but one united Jewish voice. Their political future is naturally to them a theme of vital importance, on which they express curious views. In a number of the German paper, "New York Staats Zeitung," we find a very lengthy article entitled "Poland und Seine Fremdvoelker" (Poland and her foreign nations), written by Dr. S. M. Mel- amed — evidently a Jew. It will not be amiss to cite some of his characteristic utterances, which were, no doubt, inspired by German- Jewish influ- 104 JEWS IN POLAND AND THE WAR ences and calculated to create "pro domo sua" a favorable American opinion: "The historic tendencies in the life of Euro- pean races and nations show, and ought to show, the Germans a policy which purposes to make Poland a barrier against the Slav pres- sure. To attain this aim there must be, on the other hand, such a strong line of demarcation as to forever withhold the Russian influence from entering Poland. This is by no means an easy task, because Poland is inhabited by various nationalities, and because the Poles themselves see no danger in a union with a stronger Slavic nation, which, as a rule, ends in the weaker being swallowed up by the stronger, inasmuch as two nations of one race enter into the play. (How do they worry about us?") Melamed then endeavors to prove that a notable and influential part of the Polish community not only does not acknowledge that danger, but even when all Poland is under German dominion, shows a tendency to approach nearer to Russia. In the face of such slavo-phile tendency, the Germans must take the utmost precaution to attain their aims in Poland. If the Poles were allowed a complete autonomy in the administration of their country, which is a merely geographical and not an ethnical entity by reason of the various nationalities inhab- iting it — then these very nationalities would face the danger of a certain polonization, enforced by the Poles, who are chauvinistic even to brutality, 105 A WORLD PROBLEM equally as a complete, political, and economic ex- propriation. On this supposition, the dominance of the Pan-Slavistic idea would be the natural conse- quence and the German blood, shed in the war against Russia, would be an altogether useless sac- rifice. The Germans are bound to counteract this likelihood to the best of their strength. "The Germans strive to introduce order in Poland and a peaceful cohabitation of Lith- uanians, Poles, Germans and Jews. The Poles even now wanted to polonize the Jews by mak- ing them send their children to Polish schools, but the German authorities finally put an end to this by dissolving the Warsaw Citizens' Committee and deciding that every nationality should have its own national* schools and its own press." Thus we have another proof of the true Jewish tendencies of distorting facts and throwing insolent calumnies upon the Polish Government, which the Jews identify with oppression of other nationali- ties. The Jews also say that Germany alone can give them freedom — Germany, which robed Polish children of their mother tongue, forcibly dispos- sessed Poles of their land, and with a fine tolerance of rights, caused them to call the so-called "mute" meetings, at which they were obliged to make them- selves understood in signs. And this nation which believes in Might, makes Might a god, and bows before it in mute admira- tion. In this admiration of Might, the German and the Jew are akin — the same feeling dominates 106 JEWS IN POLAND AND THE WAR their racial souls. They are in close sympathy, and in the turmoil of new conditions, Judaism spreads everywhere as the vanguard of Germanism. In gen- eral, the problem of the Eastern or Polish Jews came to be spoken of in connection with annexa- tions, which were lively discussed in Germany. The Germans clearly understood the great value of a twelve-million nation, speaking a tongue which is very similar to the German, and so near to them spiritually (which they will not admit openly), but what they undoubtedly feel. A special literature has of late developed in Germany, treating this theme, and hence : "The Jewish Language — a Pop- ular German Dialect," "A German-Jewish Dialect," and very many others. The question of the sim- ilarity of the languages was seriously discussed in a pamphlet "Juden und Deutsche," written by David Frietsch, who shows the enormous impor- tance the similarity of the languages presents to the Germans. Already in the beginning of the war, according to the "Voss. Zeitung," dating October 23, 1915, an Eastern Committee was organized in Germany to take care of the Eastern or Polish Jews. It is composed of prominent Jews and members of great Jewish organizations. This Committee was recently given an opinion by the under-secretary of state. Dr. Wahnschaffe, on the relation of the occupant German authorities to the Jews. At the same time a work by the Imperial secret councillor, George Frietz, entitled 'Die Ostjuden- frage,' which betrayed the great interest on the 107 A WORLD PROBLEM present situation of the Polish Jews and treated of the improvement of their future situation in Poland (principally in connection with the German inter- ests there) was published. The author, because of the danger of a wholesale immigration of Eastern Jews after the war which threatens Germany and the German Jews, demands that before the war is over a law be enacted closing the German border against the influx of foreign elements, and refers to similar legislature in the United States and in Australia. Besides this, the author calls for help along the Zionistic aims. A similar attitude is adopted by Dr. Wolfgang Heinze, in an article en- titled 'Ostjuedische Einwanderung,' published in the October pamphlet 'Preussische Jahrbuecher.' This problem gave rise to lively discussions. The jargon paper "Warshauer Tageblatt" writes that a Jewish information bureau, "Juedische Nach- richten," was organized in Berlin to supply the German press with news on the Jewish problem in Galicia and Russia. The co-operation is active on all sides, though as a rule only German Jews or Germans are heard from in the press. Jews in Poland, Lithuania and Russia took a passive atti- tude. A Lithuanian Jew, Kaplun-Kogan, affirms in the "Vossische Zeitung," August 14, 1915, "that the cultural and linguistic note of similarity be- tween German and Eastern Jews opens to Ger- manism in Poland further possibilities of develop- ment." Nachun Goldmann, in the "Frankfurter Ztg.," dating September 3rd, openly demands that Germany protect Jewish interests against the Poles 108 JEWS IN POLAND AND THE WAR in consideration of the patronage Jews offered the German business in Poland. The Polish Jews, however, are silent as a rule. They realize their rather delicate and uncertain sit- uation. The page of destiny may turn again. But there are Jews in Poland who oppose the German- ization of Jews. This they expressed time and again in resolutions against the jargon, and in favor of the Polish. There are also far-seeing Germans, who endeavor to appease the uneasy situation by ex- plaining it from another point of view. A. Grabow- ski writes in the "Posen Daily" as follows : "But we must be warned not to exclusively unite with Jews in the East. The advancing armies are very prone to do so, as they very soon come to an understanding with the Ger- man-speaking Jew, and transact business with him more quickly, because he is always ready to serve. The Pole, because he does not know the German, stands aside, but still the Pole is much more important than the Jew, because he represents the master to the Jew. Despite the great number of Jews inhabiting the King- dom of Poland — this is absolutely true of very many cities — the Jew does not constitute a power. What a small percentage of power do the Germans in the Baltic provinces constitute ! But despite it all, we can lean exclusively on them, because the rest of the inhabitants belongs to them. This cannot be said of the Jews either in Poland or in Lithuania." From utterances and quotations such as these, 109 A WORLD PROBLEM treating of the Polish- Jewish relations from the standpoint cf the nationalities, Zionists and the ex- treme Jewish factions, as also from the standpoint of the triumphant Germans and German- Jews — we can fairly judge what this isolated, foreign, and hostile Jewish psyche dreams of, what it wants and what it plans in alliance with the greedy and ruth- less German soul. In order to make thoroughly clear the Jewish problem in Poland, we wish to picture as closely as possible the attitude taken toward us by the Polish Jews, who undeniably constitute the flower of their race, being enobled and refined with the Polish culture of love and the broad national spirit. For the millions of Jews in Poland, for the ages of cohabitation, for the rights and even expressions of brotherhood they had been freely extended — the very small class of Polish Jews is but a scanty fruit. But they are there, and though they quickly disappear when times are hostile; they have not vanished completely. It is well, therefore, to note the symptoms of this the noblest Jewish psyche, and study its silent manifestations amidst the hue and cry of those Jewish masses who have been our enemies. b.) Polish Jews. Nourished with the Polish culture, imbued with the Polish ideals and the history of the nation, the Polish Jews, in the truest meaning of the term, have sincerely sided with the Poles from the time the war started. While the Polish name was being ignominiously assailed before the forum of the 110 JEWS IN POLAND AND THE WAR world, while the Russian factions worked against us, while the German authorities sought the whip to beat us — the Polish Jews united in protesting against our wrongs. They asserted that the Jewish problem in Poland does not need foreign mediators, that Poland herself will in due time settle it — in support of which the history of Poland furnishes excellent proofs. Again, because of the sharp ag- gression and the ignominy the Jewish press threw upon the Poles, and the influence it exercised the world over, a committee composed of a Pole and a Jew was commissioned from Poland to the United States, with a view to putting an end to the attacks by explaining the true situation. It is interesting to know with whom the Polish Jews in the King- dom and in Galicia sided as regards political issues. We know that Poland's partition among the three governments tragically divided the Poles even on national issues. Their views and sentiments were further confused by the suddenness of the war and the impossibility of coming to any understanding, because of territorial isolation. Each part of Poland acted on its own behalf. The Kingdom, as a whole, stood with Russia, in response to the man- ifesto of the archduke, Mikolajewicz. The appeal decided qn the attitude the Kingdom took in the his- toric war. Magnanimous Poland forgot old griev- ances and sided with Russia against the German aggressor. In this sentiment united all classe — the burghers, the educated, the nobility, and the Polish people as a whole. Things took on a different aspect in Galicia, 111 A WORLD PROBLEM which for many years had been trained in the slip- pery and false system of loyalty to the Hapsburgs, the supposed benefactors of Galicia — benefactors who caressed the country with apparent freedom of language and autonomy, while ruining it econom- ically and educationally. The people naturally re- mained loyal to the Emperor, while deeply hating the Russians, and desiring at any cost to free their brethren from under the government of the bloody Czar. Austria, in fact, had, long before the war broke out, foresightedly nourished the Polish hope, and made the most of the desire of the Poles — to free their kin from the Russian Government. She openly encouraged the formation of Polish regi- ments, such as sharpsshooters, scouts, falcons, sup- plying them with weapons and giving them train- ing and uniforms free of charge. Austria — as his- tory points out — has always played a double play. She promised the Poles nothing, but she awakened, as far as she could, their hopes in a way to react in her own favor. Officially she bound herself to noth- ing; unofficially she allowed to form after the declaration of the war, the Polish Legions, re- cruited from the heroic Polish youth, who were eager to act. They were unofficially allowed to believe that they would fight for the freedom and independence of Poland. Meanwhile, Austria exacted a double tribute of blood from the unfortunate nation, playing' on the holiest strings of its soul; the first was the obliga- tory draft into the army, the second was the volun- tary draft, to which swarmed the noblest forces — 112 , JEWS IN POLAND AND THE WAR with a view to freeing their country. The war in- deed has not spared us suffering, but has made us drink the chalice of crucial torments to the dregs, drop after drop. The educated spheres, the nobility, the clergy and the townspeople, all believed in Austria. All Galicia stood with Austria, putting more or less faith in the benefices the Emperor was thought to have in store for Poland. The Main National Com- mittee, comprising the most eminent representa- tives of Galicia, organized under the leadership of Dr. Julius Leo, president of the Polish Circle in Vienna. The Jews in Galicia sided with this Polish movement, which was purely governmental. Its watchword was sounded when the marshal of the country, St. Niezabitowski, expressed homage to the Emperor in the name of a deputation of the nobility. He ended with these historic words: "With you, most excellent Lord, we stand and wish to stand to the end." In the course of the speech, faith was naturally expressed in the goodwill of the monarch, who would ever defend a righteous cause. Poland divided into two great camps, which at first knew nothing of each other, but they agreed, of course, on fundamental issues, as each insisted on the rususcitation of Poland. Galicia believed that the Austrian Emperor would give Poland free- dom; the Kingdom believed that Russia would free the Poles, conformable to the manifesto of the Archduke Nicholas. On the one side was the kind protectorate of Austria; on the other, the friendly protectorate of Russia. At these the Poles looked 113 A WORLD PROBLEM with bated breath, while the conflicting interests of the two protectors prepared for them the awful tragedy of Cain. Meantime, the convictions of the Jews placed them upon one plane of orientation. As we know, they had always sincerely sympa- thized with the Germans. In the Kingdom, they pretended loyalty to the Russian authorities; in Galicia they professed open fealty to Austria, as Austria had for a long time offered them protec- tion, and Germany, her ally, had ever been their ideal. The political status of the Polish Jews in the Kingdom is clear from the "Declaration of Polish Jews in Warsaw," December, 1914: Declaration of Polish Jews in Warsaw December, 1914 "The Time has come when our country is to recover the permanent basis of an unimpeded national life. Hopes for a newer, better To- morrow rise in the hearts of all true sons of this land. It is with earnestness and longing that we all hope for the bright future of the Polish nation. "Today, too, such tendencies and views as betray great historic ideals, which for a long time have been suppressed by the wave of re- action, are recovering their full enfranchise- ment. In a time such as this, even we — Jews by birth and creed, yet Poles by the warm love we bear to Poland and her culture, and by our sympathy with the history, sufferings and long- ings of Poland — even we wish to remind Poland of our program, which was in no way changed 114 JEWS IN POLAND AND THE WAR by the painful complications of the past years, to express our strong faith that the long-desired time for its victory approaches. "We stand for equal social rights, irrespective of ancestry and creed. We believe in the un- swerving moral power of social freedom, and we believe that equal rights impose equal obliga- tions. The noble and cultural aspirations of the Polish soul shaped Polish laws, customs and traditions, and opened the way in Poland for such political tendencies, and through them the above-mentioned principles are to find a per- manent realization. The process of fraterniza- tion of the different racial and religious ele- ments, the process of inoculating a social feel- ing among the Jewish masses, made for long years headway under the influence of adequate legislative reforms, and with the help of the great national ideas, carried before the people the torch of righteousness and tolerance. But yet, the process was largely obstructed by ex- ternal circumstances, and such political and social facts as united with external circum- stances. "We are deeply convinced that, while we confidently await new evolutions which are to give Poland an unimpeded national existence, her inner life will again completely rest upon the basis of impartial distribution of justice. Then, too, will the bright rays of social right- eousness flow upon the Jewish people, as they have often flown upon them out of the good- ness of the liberal Polish culture — and this 115 A WORLD PROBLEM people who today bear a bloody sacrifice in the war, suffering under its unusual calamities, im- poverished, exhausted, exiled, open by reason of peculiar prejudices and disposition to pain- ful charges and their tragic responsibility, this people look to the future with a longing feel- ing and faith, that for them also the star of freedom shall shine. "Uniting with this feeling and faith, we build our program of action upon the sincere and passionate adhesion to the Polish country and the Polish culture. This program has not been weakened by those political tendencies which were directed against the Jewish people, and, at the same time, against our aims. It remains our purpose to ennoble the Jewish masses by educating them, by clearing for them fields of productive labor and by solidifying them with the Polish nation. "This unusually important historical move- ment has imposed upon us the duty to still further increase our endeavors in all these di- rections. We believe that, at the present mo- ment, we have the right to expect the best forces of the Polish nation to co-operate with us and sincerely support our aims. We be- lieve, too, that the Polish- Jewish question is a purely internal, autonomic question, which can find a favorable solution right at home, without an intervention of even such foreign political groups as are inspired to co-operate on the noblest and most progressive principles, but which do not adequately understand either the 116 JEWS IN POLAND AND THE WAR pulse of social life here or its historic traditions. "We are unshaken in our belief that the star of social freedom, which the Jewish people in Poland long after, will rise over the Polish land. "It is under this manner that we closely watch for the social equality of Jews, as well as for the defense of those lofty cultural watchwords which will unite the Polish Jews with the ideals of the Polish nation." In Cracow, Galicia, the Jews also issued an appeal, August 11, 1914, which reads, in part: Appeal of Polish Jews in Cracow, August 11, 1914 "A great and significant moment caught us, a moment of the long-awaited and eagerly de- sired historic account. It is a bloody account, indeed, between civilization and barbarism, be- tween freedom and despotism. "Behold, Poland rises to struggle with Czar- dom in order to dissolve fetters, to fight for a better lot and a happier future. The heroic blood of warriors will cover the Polish soil. "In this historic moment we, Polish Jews, imbued with unswerving fidelity to the consti- tutional Austria, render homage to the undying rights and ideals of Poland. "We eagerly desire the ideals soon realized, we strongly hope the rightful cause gains victory. "We deeply believe in this triumphant vic- tory, and we wish to quicken it to the best of our strength. 117 A WORLD PROBLEM "We are all, irrespective of views, ready to bear any sacrifices the present moment demands of us." Thus spoke the Polish Jews in the decisive moment. But these were mere words, appeals and manifestations. They failed to put their words into action, however. We have seen how the Jews in Warsaw defended their insignificant jargon. We have seen their absolute submissiveness to the Ger- man army. It will not be amiss to recall that, when Lemberg temporarily fell into the hands of the Russian army, the Jews were the first to jubilantly welcome the Russian invaders. Always ready and humble admirers of Might. The Polish Legions in Austria did not meddle in politics. They generously offered everything for their country, ever ready to sacrifice their blood for Poland. They triumphantly carried the traditional honor of her eminent Knighthood upon the field of battle, invariably placed, as they were, by the Aus- trian commanders, in the front lines. Meanwhile, they awaited the moment to throw their young lives upon the scale of the independence of their country. But they had yet to wait for that moment. We must here note a beautiful resolution issued by the Israelite Council of the Jewish community in Lemberg, dating August 23, 1914. It reads as follows : A Resolution issued by the Israelite Council in Lemberg, August 23, 1914 "The Main National Committee passed a resolution to send two contingents of the Polish 118 JEWS IN POLAND AND THE WAR Legions to the front, and called upon the entire Polish community to collect funds for the equipment and maintenance of these legions. "This activity of the Main National Com- mittee is also heartily welcomed by citizens of the Mossaic creed, who ever and ever3rwhere make common cause with the rest of the Polish nation, considering themselves its integral part, and supporting it materially and morally in all its pursuits. "Mindful of the privileges extended the Jews by Casimir the Great, and the important rights conceded to the Jews by the memorable Con- stitution of the Third of May, adequately valu- ing the relation of the Polish nation to the Jewish citizens, which had up to this time rested on traditions, and had for ages been marked by a spirit of citizenship and gener- osity, hoping, too, that this relation will con- tinue unchanged in the future, and will, in fact, receive a more definite form and greater propor- tion — it is with a glad heart that we make use of the present moment to perform our obliga- tions, which devolved on us as citizens of the country, and which patriotism dictated to us. It is with unfeigned sincerity and an undivided heart that we render our services to the national cause, and it is with the greatest sacrifice that we pay our tribute of treasure and blood in Poland's cause. "Many of our sons and brethren go enthu- siastically to battle in fulfillment of their pa- triotic duty. We will all eagerly and sacri- 119 A WORLD PROBLEM ficially pay our national debt. We are fulfilling that obligation in a large measure in the en- deavor to raise the sum of 1,500,000 crowns, which was voted by the community council of the city of Lemberg to be raised through special taxes. "But apart from these offerings and donations collected by the Jewish citizens, the Council of the Jewish Community of Lemberg, as a cor- porate representation of Jews in the capital of the country, voted 50,000 crowns out of the general funds of this community for the Polish Legions, to be formed at the disposal of the Main National Committee." Such is the public opinion of the Polish Jews in Cracow, Lemberg and Warsaw. The Main Na- tional Committee also comprised prominent Polish Jews. The head of counsil of the educated Polish Jews happened to be the literator and critic of Cracow, William Feldman, who was fairly known in the press, and who created in this connection a public platform in the "Polnische Blaetter," which he edited in Vienna. From the Polish side, shortly after the outbreak of the war, was heard in answer the declaration of the Main National Committee in Galicia and the Polish Circle in Vienna. But the manifestoes, dis- cussing the platform of Poland in relation to the war, maintain; conformably to the Polish historic traditions, the necessity of a social equality for the Jews in Poland. Of course, they reserve, by the way, that the Jews will be sincere citizens of 120 JEWS IN POLAND AND THE WAR Poland, and devoted to her future welfare. Con- formably to the declaration in Vienna, the Polish Committee of National Defense in America issued a declaration to the Jews in the Republican Con- gress in Washington, on account of the peace res- olution which the socialistic deputy, Mr. London, filed with the Congress. The declaration of the Main National Committee in Galicia, couched in the words of its president. Dr. L. W. Jaworski, received a jeering and sarcastic answer by Dr. Nathan Birnbaum, who spoke for the Jews in an article written in the "Juedische Zeitung," a Zionistic paper in Vienna. The answer was publshed in the "Posen Courier," dated Octo- ber 5, 1915. Summarizing. Jaworski's declaration, Dr. Nathan Birnbaum lays special emphasis on the necessity of assimilating the Jews, and gives a verbal quota- tion, from Dr. Jaworski, as follows : "As the Jews in the West became good Frenchmen, Englishmen, Italians and Germans, so we have a right to ask of our Jews to become good Poles and honest citizens of Poland." After a few assertions theoretically analyzing the above words. Dr. Nathan Birnbaum further affirms that it is altogether unfounded that the Western Jews (the German, English, French, etc.) became completely assimilated; but should even the isolated groups in the future become lost, still this "will never, never be the case with the main Jewish masses." He ends his article: "And let Mr. Jaworski be told : If the assim- ilation is with him a self-evident matter, and 121 A WORLD PROBLEM equality of rights is dependent upon the clear 'if — then with us equality of rights is a self- evident matter, while the Jewish desire of life is everything. We shall eventually give our Polish country what we owe it, but we shall never give up our soul to another nation, even should that nation attain its own state. We have quite enough of the old jugglery, which is being enacted against us by mixing and twist- ing things in a fascinating manner. We do not understand why the Poles should have the right to demand our Jewish masses polonized, while we should not have the same right to demand the Polish minorities in Jewish towns, judaized. We do not understand why it is we who should vanish to the greater honor of the various na- tions? We do not want, in fact, any longer to subscribe to the theory that we, the biblical people, the oldest and the best among the white race, we — the people with the noblest monu- ments of culture and the best vital force, such as no other nation enjoys, — should disown our being? No! We are here and here we shall stay ! And whoever imagines that he can make complete fools of us, he will have to blame him- self for his consequent disappointment." This is, in fact, one of the most curious expres- sions the Jews have ever uttered, when they have completely discarded their mask with the haughty consciousness of their power, and such voices as these are extremely valuable to us. They cut through the darkness and the artificial phantoms like a glittering steel, and plainly point to the fu- 122 JEWS IN POLAND AND THE WAR ture. In them plays the same well known, an- cient pride of the Semitic soul, which admires its own greatness and power, and considers everything else as a mere footstool to the greatness and glory of Israel. The Jews are the same today as they were centuries ago, while their "Dream of Power" still plays within their souls. In changing their historic mask they have discarded the supposedly Polish face for the Russian face, and now they have assumed a sincere German face. But one unaltered truth is hidden under the masks; it is the truth of the old Semitic soul. The further development of the new phase of Jewish life under the German government, which made common cause with the Jews, opened the way to new truths, illustrating the hitherto enigmatic psyche of Poland's historic guest, who imagines that he obtained the rights of the true master of the Polish land by reason of the hospitality he was extended. The Jews do not waste time in awaiting the Tomorrow; in fact, they are passionately pre- paring the ground for new enterprises. While the Polish nation dies and vanishes for the destruction of its means of life, the Jews rally together, unite and create amid the turmoil new centers of busi- ness. In the past six months, from the time War- saw had been taken by the Germans, they instituted numerous trade organizations, which are as follows : "Dealers in fancy leather goods: counting 928 members, among whom are 40 women and 257 married men; paper union: bookbinders, etc. — members 510, among whom 44 are women, and 261 married men; leather union: shoemakers, etc. — 123 A WORLD PROBLEM members 809, among whom 4 are v/omen and 560 married men; millinery union: — 764 members, of whom 450 are women, and 80 married men; textile union: — 883 members, among whom 239 are women; union of bakers: 70S members; tqbacco union: 707 members, 608 being women; to this un- ion exceptionally belong 200 christians; dealers in wood, 687 members, of whom 100 are women; grocers' union: — 287 members, 100 women; union of builders: — 35 members; union of metal dealers: — 2007 members, 28 women; printers' union: — 287 members ; union of needle dealers : — 1237 members, 480 being women. Besides these there are the non-affiliated unions embracing manufacturerSi in leaves, flowers and feathers, with 650 members; hatmakers — 300; em- broiderers — 220 ; box-makers — 1200 ; brush-makers — 80; quilt-makers — 75; waiters — 120; photogra- phers — 90; linen manufacturers — 150. Altogether the unions number 10,475 members. They are us- ually in close agreement, and constitute a sig- nificant power in economic life. In the space of six "months, they held 147 public meetings. Let us follow their example. This is a colossal activity. They feverishly organized economic cen- tres, making the most of the enormous gaps and loop-holes, the runious- war made in Poland. The usurpous powers — Germany and Austria — which once more divided the Polish territory and safe- guarded their trade and commerce as against the local — found in the Jews fervent sympathizers. Poland — Galicia and the Kingdom — with her cen- tres of labor ruined by the war — became an alto- 124 JEWS IN POLAND AND THE WAR gether inviting and easy object of conquest. The Jews, of course, preserved, in almost every instance, their capital, and with the powerful and united Jewry to back them, — they were in a position to manipulate business as they pleased. They were experts in feeling out the economic prices; they knew how to store away and sell products at ex- orbitant prices. Drawing enormous profits from the constantly changing value of currency, they went so far as to establish unofficial exchanges to raise or lower it. Even the Main National Commit- tee was obliged (although it generously favored the Jews), to brand the heinous practices, which the Austrian police tolerated and protected. Austria and Germany openly sided with the Jews, whose inborn haughtiness grew into impudent ar- rogance. One permanent characteristic of the Jewish tactics should be noted here: when they engage in practices which are likely to draw un- favorable attention to them, they conceal their na- tionality, calling themselves openly and unhesitat- ingly — "Poles." They did this on a large scale in Vienna, whether they came in large crowds and engaged in unheard of swindling, and exploitation. Having bought out food-stuffs and various products, they started to run restaurants and coffee-houses, charging exorbitant prices. This caused an ill- feeling among the people, who protested with the government against the influx from Galicia of crowds of "Polish" usurers. They naturally put a new blot on the Polish name, thanks to their mas- querade. They change their color to suit their sur- rounding. In the territory Germany occupied, quite 1215 A WORLD PROBLEM a different situation obtains. The Jews there did not pose as Poles; on the contrary, they openly fought them. In Pabjanice, for instance, when a director of a commercial school addressed a meet- ing in Polish, the local Jews asked him to speak in a language "more understandable." Besides the injuries they freely worked to the name of Poland, by concealing their quackery under it, they assumed our name whenever they did not wish to be known as Jews. Thus the poorest quar- ters in London, where the poor and uneducated Jews crowd, are known as Polish quarters, because Jews call themselves Poles. English writers, of course, freely write about the black wigs, worn by Polish women, about the sluttish Polish children with twisted hair, about the curious weddings, etc., and once the falsehood gets into the press, it is hard to correct. The same situation, in a measure, ob- tains in Paris, where they frequently pose as Poles. But the French know the Poles better than do other peoples, so the harm is not so great there. In America they very frequently assume the Polish nationality, and the Americans believe them readily. The Author while taking treatment in a pleasant sanitarium in the State of New York, was assured by an American physician, that some Polish fam- ilies were soon to arrive there from New York. Imagine the surprise when a number of Jewish fam- ilies arrived, with typical Semitic faces, and speak- ing not a word of Polish. In general, they do not wish to come too much to the front in America. It may be they do not want to frighten the Americans with their numbers 126 JEWS IN POLAND AND THE WAR and their influence. But it is through one of their most wretched procedures that they most fatally debase Polish name — it is through the white slavery. Entire masses of unfortunate women in the houses of ill fame are called "Polish women." Jew- esses and many other women invariably call them- selves Polish. Hence the odious charge that the majority of the inmates of the houses of ill fame are Polish. This is a conscious and meanly pre- meditated injury which Jewish wickedness and Jew- ish hatred work against Poland. \27 CHAPTER VII JEWS AND THE COMING FUTURE ^¥AHE Jews, then, place grievous falsehoods to I our account, while unduly bewailing their ■^ misery and their wholesale ruin. Their com- plaints are re-echoed by the press which readily serves them, while Jews, the world over, naturally read of their misery, and money soon flows in from the full coffers of their wealthy and powerful Jewish merchants. To quote statistics : The General Jewish Relief Committee, with head- quarters in New York, gave $2,900,000 to the Jews in Russia, Austria-Hungary, Poland, Palestine and other war infested countries. Jews in Russia re- ceived $1,285,000. In Poland $860,000. In Austria- Hungary, $610,000. In Palestine, $142,000. In May and June 1916, a decision was reached at the Jewish mass meeting held in Chicago, to collect for Jewish war victims in the East, the sum of $5,000,000 ; more than half the sum was collected at the meeting, while the remainder was collected later; in fact, the total contribution even exceeded the above voted sum. Next endeavors were made with the government, that Washington proclaim a "Jewish Day" — ^which soon followed. The Jews then, started a wide drive in favor of their co-religionists in Europe. But it is not only their financial activity alone that engages them. Uppermost in their mind is the thought of the place they will assume eventually among the nations of the world, and this thought stirs them more than 129 A WORLD PROBLEM anything else. They are doing their utmost to in- fluence their future destiny, and to form the opinion of the world in a way to constructively react in their favor. To effect a general compromise in affairs national, a Jewish Congress was summoned in America. An executive committee had already been chosen, and a president appointed in the per- son of I. G. Grossberg. In an address he made the following remark: "Humanity is a debtor to the Jews, and the time is coming, when the debt must be straightened out. Further, the Jews have for centuries suffered the greatest wrongs, and no other nation has been so ill-treated and tortured." Meantime, the Jews tried to obtain a representa- tion at the European Congress, such as was due a separate nationality. To spread this propaganda a paper under the title: "The Congress," was spec- ially issued in New York. The movement assumed wide proportions, and delegates assembled to dis- cuss the problem. The Jewish endeavors found support with the American masonry, the Jewish labor unions, and the socialistic organizations. The movement likewise enveloped Canada. Meanwhile, the Jews have thoroughly discussed the problem of populating Palestine. Well at- tended meetings were addressed by such men as Levin of New York, once a deputy to the Russian Duma. Appeals were made by Brandeis of Boston, who is the first Jewish Judge in the Supreme Tribunal in the United States. Some of their lead- ers, as Rabbi A. M. Heshman, promised an enor- mous influx of Jews to America, and a quick in- crease of the Jewish forces here. 130 JEWS AND THE COMING FUTURE But the Jews in Poland think little of the Zion- istic plans relative to Palestine. They prefer creat- ing a Jewish Poland, and lose no time in trying to realize it. Among the great number of pamphlets discussing the matter, some deal with the political and cultural "autonomy" which the Jews, who claim to be ruthlessly oppressed by the Poles, are to re- ceive in Poland. The "Neu Zuericher Zeitung" refers to the question as follows: "Nowhere has Anti-Semitism assumed such odious forms, and nowhere is the line of de- marcation between Jews and non-Jews so pro- nounced as it is in Poland. No Jew in the Kingdom of Poland, with the exception of the vanishing handful of the so-called "Poles of the Mosaic creed," feels as a Pole, and it is very sel- dom that a Polish Jew, on being asked his na- tionality, will answer that he is a Pole or a Rus- sian. The attitudes of the Russian Government in regard to the Jewish population is well known and it is evident that a Jew, bom and raised in Russia does not consider himself a Russian, despite his certain appurtenance to the Russian state. But the Polish "community" even sur- passed the Russian government in the persecu- tion of Jews. The policy of that "community" as regards the Jewish fellow-citizens has for the past years been a formal policy of suffoca- tion, and on the ground of personal observation of conditions in the Kingdom of Poland, we are in a position to assert that about 90% of Polish Jews would have preferred to remain under Russian dominion, rather than to be ex- 131 A WORLD PROBLEM posed to the willful and crafty persecutions of an autonomous Polish nation. "Strangely enough this Anti-Semitism is not brewed nor fermented by a handful of insignifi- cants, but it is deeply rooted in the conscious- ness of the Polish nation." It is thus that they defame us in Europe. Let his- tory speak in our behalf and impugn the heinous falsehoods. Relative to the same question, very important conferences were held in Warsaw, where assem- bled representatives of all Jewish classes, including delegates from the Jewish committee in Berlin, such as Prof. Sobernheim, an Egyptologist; Bod- enheimer, a lawyer, and Mr. Friedman. Boden- heimer is a Zionist and had already been agitating the Jews in Lodz. After minor conferences were held, a general meeting was called, when each group from the so-called Polish Jews down to the "Litwaks," submitted its program. The programs happened to be unusually diver- gent. Among other things, the Polish Jews de- clared their intention of abstaining from the discus- sion of political problems bearing on the Jewish question, as the Polish question, as a whole had not, yet, become the subject of even preliminary inter- national negotiations; and to refrain from joining any representative organization dealing with relig- ious matters. The delegates from Berlin, proposed that a common program, embracing an exclusively educational autonomy be agreed upon. Its evident expression was to be an independent Jewish school council, connected with the future ministry of edu- 1S2 JEWS AND THE COMING FUTURE cation. The nationalists were opposed to this pro- gram, which was endorsed by the various factions of Polish Jews, the Orthodox and the Jewish labor- ers. The delegates from Berlin endeavored also to show, that the Jewish electoral college, equally as the Jewish segregation in courts and offices, was altogether undesired. Present at the discussion were also three liberal delegates from Berlin: Gotheim, Junk and Wald- stein, who attended as guests. They visited a num- ber of Jewish settlements in Warsaw and its vicinity. Schemes and plans as to the future of Jews in Poland were exchanged in a feverish fashion, while the various differences on the prospects of Jews of Polish and German orientation were smoothed off under events that promised success for the Ger- man forces. Here are proofs, supported by figures. "Two School Petitions. The jargon," L. Volk writes : "The President of the Lodz police, von Oppen, summoned the representatives of those who handed him, a few months past, a petition relative to introducing into the popular Jewish school, the jargon, as the official language (the petition was signed by over tv/enty thousand Individuals). He also summoned the represen- tatives of another petition bearing on the in- troduction of the Polish as the official language in the popular Jewish school (this petition bore two thousand signatures). "The president of the police pointed out to them, that an investigation as to the authen- 133 A WORLD PROBLEM ticity of the signatures, showed certain irregu- larities in connection with those under the Po- lish petition. He then informed them that the petitions were being very seriously considered by the authorities, who would soon give them a final decision on the question." Again the Warsaw papers write: "In a number of schools in Warsaw, the Jews filed a petition with the general-governor of Warsaw, requesting that in those schools the German and not the Polish be the language of instruction. These Jews base their reasons on the affirmation that the above schools are, for the most part, attended by Jewish children, whose parents desire their children educated in the state language, the German, and not in a local language" (the Polish). We further read: " 'A Zionist club' has recently been organized in Lodz, embracing a number of Zionist organ- izations, which exist in the Lodz territory. This club is to centralize the local Zionist work, and lectures will be given every week under the auspices of the 'Society of Lovers of Hebra- ism.' " It is clear that the Jewish separatism is on the ascendency and that the once loudly voiced Polon- ism of the Warsaw Jews is vanishing. What has become of Jewish Polonism, we ask? Why has it grown dumb, why does it not act in this great moment, when the future of the "common country" depends in a measure upon the form it will assume? We do not doubt, even now, that among JEWS AND THE COMING FUTURE the Polish Jews in the Kingdom, who are in sym- pathy with our cause, there are those who are sin- cere and devout patriots of their adopted country. They constitute that subtle flower of the race, whose richness and ancient culture are capable of produc- ing rare, but charming offshoots of the human spirit, when it is begotten and reborn by the lovely crea- tive culture of Christian nations — a Christian cul- ture which produced eminent citizens of the Jewish race in Poland. The number, however, is on the decrease, but he still exists ; only his voice vanishes and grows silent in the sweeping wave of the gen- eral Jewish interests, which are altogether foreign to the interests of humanity. To throw a clearer light on the characteristic cur- rents, which poured forth from the Jewish soul in this eventful time, we shall cite from the "Polish Voice" in Petrograd, a memorial, (in the Spring, 1916), of the Jewish community in Warsaw to the German authorities. The Jewish Community favors the Polish lan- guage. As it is known, the German authorities do not allow the Polish language to be taught in Jewish schools in the Kingdom. They are introducing the German instead. For this reason, the administra- tion of the Jewish Community in Warsaw submitted a memorial, in regard to school matters, to the Ger- man head civil administration. It is characteristic because of the Jewish views it expresses on the present, equally as on the near future. For this rea- son we repeat the m.emorial in full. "A peaceful cohabitation of the Jewish with 135 A WORLD PROBLEM the Christian people in Poland depends, in a considerable measure, upon whether the Jews know the native language. The impossibility of coming to an understanding in the native language, creates a breach between the two peoples, causes dissensions, misunderstandings, and diminishes for the Jews — to a very large extent — the possibility of earning better wages, although they constitute about 14% of the na- tive population. The better educated classes of Jews, who learned the Polish under heavy odds, succeeded in securing a relatively independent existence, while the bulk of the Jewish popula- tion, speaking merely the jargon, live in great indigence. For this reason, one may notice among the Jews, a tendency to acquire a Polish education, which is shown by their very num- erous attendance at schools where Polish is taught. Despite emigration, the Jews will re- main in this country, and will be obliged to make their livelihood there. A knowledge of the Polish language is with them a question of existence; for this reason the administration of the Jewish community in Warsaw has for a long time unceasingly encouraged its teaching. In the face of such motives as these, the admin- istration of the Jewish Community in Warsaw thinks itself honored to seize the opportunity to address to Your Excellency the request to kindly allow the Polish language taught in such local schools as are supported by the com- munity and by social institutions; also in such local public schools as are attended by children 136 JEWS AND THE COMING FUTURE whose parents wish them to be educated in the Polish." It is in this manner that the Jews, who, for many centuries have found riches, well-being, freedom of self-development and a safeguard for their rights in the liberal and excessively tolerant Poland — speak of the "business necessity of the Polish language." 'How painful are revelations which turn to dust dear and strong creeds and dreams of idealistic na- tions. But for the sake of encouragement, and to awaken within us a strong faith in the high dignity of the human soul, we shall cite another beautiful memorial, issued by the Protestant community in Warsaw. We quote it from the same "Polish Voice." The Protestant Community Protests. "We have ever been tolerantly disposed, and have gladly admitted youth of different creed and faith to our institutions : Catholics invari- ably study in our schools, and we always have priests prefects to teach the Catholic religion. In the Protestant hospital, to the average of 1,620 inmates in the year 1914, not fully 23%, or 369 in number, were Protestants; in the children asylum there were 34 Catholic children to a total of 64 children ; in preliminary schools among the 1,770 pupils, both boys and girls, about 10% were Catholic. "Conditions such as these are but natural. We consider ourselves, in fact, members of the Polish community, and it matters not with us, whether we have to deal with a pupil or patient, professing the Protestant or the Catholic faith, 137 A WORLD PROBLEM since the one and the other are Poles, or our countrymen just the same. If someone should ask us, how have we come to this sort of toler- ance, we could only answer that we have acted in conformity with the traditions of the Polish nation. In Poland, every one must be tolerant, as Poland is a country, where, perhaps with the exception of the era of her downfall towards the end of the seventeenth century, and the begin- ning of the eighteenth century, all have ever been extended the broadest hospitality." "This kind attitude towards us, Protestants, which we, as dissidents, have partaken of, both during the time of the most glorious Republic, and, later, after the partition of the country, could not but truly awaken within us an ardent Polish patriotism. Independent of what de- scent the Polish Protestants may be, their present duty to the Polish nation, equally as their energetic participation in every realm of Polish national life, invariably constitutes a positive fact, allowing no discussion of any kind. A rough tombstone, with the simple in- scription : 'Jurgens — 1864' which is understand- able to the Poles alone, constitutes a real orna- ment to the Protestant cemetery in Warsaw. Our special church college in the capital city, Warsaw, has the honor of including among its representatives a great number of names — which have rendered notable service to Polish culture — such as: Linde, the author of the greatest historic document of the Polish lan- guage; Malcz, in his time, a famous physician JEWS AND THE COMING FUTURE and philanthropist; Jenike, a historian of liter- ature; Gerson, a painter, and many others. Common misery inseparably joined us, as if with that Mephistophelian 'curiously peculiar sap,' to the noble Polish nation, alike in the passes of Somosierra as on the battlefield of Grochowo and Ostrolenka; but it joined us still stronger in the Warsaw citadel, in the prison cell of the Basilian monastery in Vilna, and in the mines of Siberia." To understand the two memorials, it is necessary to recall that according to paragraph 13th "Deci- sions of the organization of schools," (Verordnungs- blatt No. 12, December 2, 1915, page 65) "the official language in all German and Jewish schools is the German, outside of these, the Polish." According to the Protestant memorial the German authorities numbered the Protestants among the Germans. As a result, both in the Protestant and in the Jewish schools, lectures are given in the German. Such is the tone of the two notable and almost simultaneous utterances of the historic moment. The Polish nation should impress them deeply upon its memory. With closed eyes, we long have had our minds riveted upon the mirage of our ideals and senti- ments, and have been unable to either grasp or decipher the real problem of the day from its im- pressions. This is not only the opportune time, but the last opportunity for us to look, to have our eyes open and our thought clear, so as to be able to see, understand, and act. We stand upon the brink of a terrible chasm; 139 A WORLD PROBLEM only a careful watchfulness, a strain of the will and mind, only an act of rescue may save us from an inevitable loss. The time of idealism has passed away. The blood and the ruin of our country are calling upon us to unite and actively co-operate. Our enemies are not wasting time. We know that the powerful Jewish capital, which flows in by way of offerings from the utmost quarters of the world, is being organized for co-operative purposes. Mean- time the press is fashioning the opinion of the world, in a manner that is surprising. In countries that are nearer to Poland, and where a certain knowledge of history and historical truth among thfe people must needs be taken into account, the Jews are careful not to defame Poland openly and depreciate her in public opinion, but further in the West, veritable calumnies are written against us. As a sample of the malignance and hatred the Rus- sian Jews, who are numerously scattered over Europe, throw upon us, we shall cite an excerpt from an article written in Copenhagen, February, 1916, for the "Polish Voice" in Petrograd. "Jodisk Folkestemme" under the editorship of Messrs. Nachemson and Skorochod. "From a well-informed source, writes the paper, we are given a description of the terrible conditions of our brethren in Galicia. The news are still more depressing and shocking now, when we know what sufferings our brethren are enduring at the hands of the Polish nobility, who despite the traitorous machina- tions they practiced, have again succeeded in 140 JEWS AND THE COMING FUTURE gaining authority in Galicia, and giving vent to their anger upon the Jewry there. Despite all the government aid, etc., the Poles know how to push the Jew aside, and add, besides, various insults; thus live and die our slighted brethren in Galicia. I do not intend arousing pity, nor appealing for foreign aid : The need is so great, that the greatest efforts could not meet it. But if I am once more opening before the readers the picture of the indigence of Jews in Galicia, I am doing it only because I think it my bounden duty to make it known to the world how our brethren in Galicia are forsaken and destitute of care." Another document in a dif- ferent issue reads: "The editor's office of the 'Jodisk Folken- stemme' lately received from Holland very copious facts and documents, testifying of the terrible persecutions and sufferings Jews are enduring at the hands of the Poles, in many localities in Galicia, which have been seized by the Russians. After the Austro-German army had recovered the localities, the Poles had again taken authority into their hands. Polish offi- cials introduced bodily penalties against the Jews and ordered them beaten in the market places. In the next issue we shall give, in de- tail, the terrible tragedy of Jews in Galicia, together with names and facts connected with it." Meantime, Poland with hundreds of thousands of her people dying of hunger and famine exclusively 141 A WORLD PROBLEM dependent on the kind generosity of nations — as she had been entirely ruined by the world war — ploughed with bullets and cannons, without means of feeding her children who are dying by the thou- sands — Poland has again raised and submitted in alleviation of the misfortune of the Jews, which is indefinitely less .acute and desperate than that of the Poles, the following: Polish Fund for Jewish Children. "Berlin." Under this headword, the cadet pa- per in Moscow "Rjecz" writes as follows : "The former Central Citizens Committee for the Kingdom of Poland, submitted, as it is known, (after it has been dissolved by the German authorities) its funds to the disposition of the Roman-Catholic Archbishop Kakowski. From this fund the Jewish community in Lodz has just received 10,000 roubles for the poor chil- dren of Jewish parents. This was a personal disposition by the Archbishop, whom the com- munity mailed a cordial open letter, expressing thanks in the name of the Jewish people, who received the financial help. It seems that other Jewish communities will receive from the above fund smaller sums of money." It is, thus, in aiding Jewish children that the Poles are repaying the calumnies, the Jewish press the world over throws upon them, in an endeavor to hurt the Polish cause. This is the way the Poles persecuted the Jews. Meanwhile, the press which depends for the most part, on Jewish funds, says not one word about the excellent business Jews are 142 JEWS AND THE COMING FUTURE doing despite the unsettled economic conditions. They do not hesitate, even in this time of tears, misery and suffering, to realize exorbitant profits from staple articles. In this connection, we read in the Piotrkow papers in the Kingdom of Poland what follows : Fraudulent Machinations in Piotrkow "The extent, v/hich fraudulent machinations must have assumed in the course of the last three months, is clear, considering only the pecuniary penalties, the principal transgressors have to date paid the commissary, Cisla, who conducts the investigations. Here are the names of those, who tried to deprive Piotrkow and vicinity of grain and flour, by exporting them to where they were paid better prices, in- stead of storing them in the storage houses in Piotrkow. Penalties have already been paid by Arthur Handwerker, 10,000 crowns; Chaim Rosenzweig, 5,000 crowns; Elias Gelady, 600 crowns; Emanuel Edelman, 10,000 crowns; Huna Cymberknopf, Jr., 5,000 crowns; Huna Cymberknopf, St., 20,000 crowns ; Berek Choj- nowicz, 20,000 crowns; Emanuel Altman, 5,000 crowns; Fishel Cymberknopf, 2,000 crowns; Szaja Herszlik Cymberknopf, 20,000 crowns; Szlama Cymberknopf, 50,000 crowns ; Abraham Dickerman, 15,000 crowns; David Grohman, 2,000 crowns; Majer Cymberknopf, 5,000 crowns. Investigations conducted thus far have been established beyond all doubt, that the above mentioned individuals (all Jews) whose list is by no means complete, made it 143 A WORLD PROBLEM a practice to buy out, without the permission of authorities, grain supplies in Piotrkow and export them." Forgers of Bread Tickets "A few days ago, the Warsaw dailies wrote about counterfeit bread tickets that circulated in the city. At first they appeared in limited numbers; but later on, as the commission of distribution of flour and bread has announced, about 50% of the bakeries returned tickets counterfeited in the commission. The counter- feit tickets were fabricated for the purpose of procuring supplies of flour from the commis- sion to be sold later at independent prices. "The question of the counterfeit tickets was taken up, not only by the organs controlling the commission, which undertook, on their own initiative, to eliminate the counterfeits; but the Citizens' investigative Department also started an inquiry with a view to discovering the 'ticket factory.' "A few days ago^ Chila Wasserman, who held a thousand counterfeit tickets was arrested. Investigations showed that besides Wasserman, Szaja, Lajba, Esterson, Aron Goldman (Jews), and others were implicated." Proofs as these could be multiplied indefinitely. Without going into details, we wish only to state, that these Jewish machinations became so extensive as to claim the attention of the Russian Duma, which discussed them at its March session, 1916. The papers in Russia write as follows: 144 JEWS AND THE COMING FUTURE Petrograd, March 25.— "At the last two ses- sions pf the Duma, the government was se- verely criticized for persecuting the Jews in a time such as the present, when peace and har- mony are so much needed in the country. The government answered, that the governors were sent notices, recommending that the Jews be carefully watched, as it came to the knowledge of the authorities, that Jews in the various countries established an international specula- tion in food stuffs, which they exploit in the war-infested countries, making fortunes on the speculation, by way of usury." This, of course, is a government notice of com- mon knowledge. Following is a brief illustration of conditions which confronted our unfortunate country in April, 1916, according to the testimony of an impartial eye witness — a correspondent, com- missioned to Poland by the "Chicago Daily News," Mr. A. Cz. The latter was exceptionally fortunate in overcoming all the barriers, German authorities placed, in order to allow no one to pass into the Kingdom of Poland. The correspondent sent "via Amsterdam and London," April 10, 1916, the fol- lowing cablegram to his paper : Warsaw, Poland (via Amsterdam and Lon- don, April 10). — "The population in Warsaw faces death by starvation. Only the German army, constituting the garrison of that great city, has sufficient food supplies. During my stay in Warsaw, prices on meat from killed dogs and horses, were announced by public notices. In front of kitchens, conducted by benevolent US A WORLD PROBLEM societies, stand long rov/s of people, among them merchants, professional men, officials and students, waiting for food. Children suffer the most, and every day great crowds of them are dying for lack of proper nourishment. Funerals are so numerous, that for lack of draft horses, people carry coffins on their shoulders. Things that are going on here surpass, by a terrible reality, everything that has been up to this time written or imagined. Smile has entirely died away from the lips of Warsaw today." In the face of a state of affairs such as this, the Poles have no time to organize societies of profes- sionals to manufacture shoes, leather, clothes, to do knitting work, make socks, buttons, hats, brushes, etc. — as others do in our place. We can only bury our dead . . . Poland is one immense cemetery, her people dig themselves into caves, live on roots and carcass, die unceasingly under the scourge of epidemics, while those who are yet able to walk must carry the coffins of Poland's dying generation. And still, there are those who can afford to scoff at the Polish nation, to defame and dishonor it. And the Polish nation — literally stretched on a three-armed cross of agony — what does it do, and how does it react against the Golgotha of life, actu- ally covered as it is, with the sweat of blood? It is necessary to cite again the plain, but true words of the same correspondent, who looked at the terrible scenes in Poland: "Thousands of families from ruined towns and villages live in caves, in comparison with which the Roman catacombs were palaces. 146 JEWS AND THE COMING FUTURE They were left to choose either to dig them- selves into the earth for the space of the winter months, or to freeze to death. Despite terror and devastation the population is obdurate in holding to the places, where before stood their houses, now destroyed. Everywhere you hear stories of the heroism of mothers, who rather braved the heaviest artillery fire to procure milk and nourishment for their children, than left their native places. "There reigns everywhere a certain quiet- ness; it looks, as though the people are afraid to disturb the dead. One feels the desire to bare one's head in the presence of those crowds of people, and still, it only means the absence of despair in the face of misfortune, which teaches the newcomer, how deep is the faith of those people. Whether it be the mother, who just the same day was notified of the death of her husband in battle, when she buried her three darling children, or the aged father, who was announced the death of his only son — all seek consolation in prayer." A nation which had for ten centuries advanced under the glorious watchword "For God and Coun- try," a nation which had for ages carried the mes- sage of the active love of Christ to entire humanity, a nation which alone in history raised the most in- spiring banner of brotherhood of peoples, endorsing it with its dearest blood under the then strange motto: ."For your freedom and ours" — such a na- tion does not succumb even under the heaviest odds. Upon the tragic crossroad of its historic destinies, 147 A WORLD PROBLEM the Polish nation even Uke the great martyrs in Nero's time, had but one course to follow. It does not moan, it does not curse, nor fill the world with an outcry of its pains — it is silent, but does not yield, it endures, suffers and acts, while all around it rages the world catastrophe — it prays and be- lieves like a loving, generous christian. It is with relief and deep satisfaction that we wel- come at this time a book recently written by Benja- min Segel, entitled: "Die Polnische Judenfrage" — (The problem of Polish Jews.) We shall give a review of the book as given in the Polish press. The purpose of the book is to bring to account those publicists and authors who frivolously under- took — contrary to the true interest of the Polish Jews — a calumnious campaign against the Polish nation. The author touches upon the "Committee of the Liberation of the Eastern Jews," established in Berlin September, 1914, and shows how a pub- licity campaign was to be prepared in Copenhagen, "in defense of the Eastern Jews," supposedly op- pressed by the "Polish Anti-Semitism." Despite the history of ten centuries, showing that Poland alone in all Europe offered the Jews asylum, certain individuals, having no idea of the true situation of the Polish Jews, made an unjust attack upon the Poles, endeavoring to disgrace their aspirations be- fore the world. In the silhouettes, sketched with crushing sarcasm, are mingled a number of those agitators: Dr. Bodenheimer, Dr. Adolph Fried- mann, Oppenheim, as organizers of the Berlin Com- mittee; Kaplan-Kogan of Russia, Herman Bern- stein of New York, Szmarjahu Levin of Russia, Dr. 148 JEWS AND THE COMING FUTURE Gustave Witkowsky, Davis Trietsch, Nachum Gold- man of Frankfurt, etc., as authors of pamphlets and anti-Polish articles. None of these authors and pub- licists really know the Poles, or the Polish Jews, nor does any one of them know the Polish history, language, situation and aims. Chiefly impelled by ambition, they decided on "freeing the Eastern Jews," demanding for them a national autonomy and a recognition of the jargon as the Jewish language. After analyzing the postulates and showing their lack of any foundation and aim, the author severely criticizes the denunciation policy carried on to the harm of the Poles, and the Germanization mission, with which some Jewish publicists would like to inspire the Polish Jews. The author stands on exclusively Jewish ground, that is, he does not write in the so-called assimila- tory spirit. In consideration of the fact that the voice of Segal represents purely Jewish spheres, and directly turns against such foreign elements as have no business mixing in the Polish- Jewish affairs, that it brands calumnies, attacks, anti- Polish intrigues, and holds, that only thoroughly Polish Jews, and not foreign Jews, or Jews im- ported by the Russian government, are qualified to bring the conditions to a normal state — the book in question deserves attention. We must quote here, too, the prominent Danish writer, George Brandes (a Jew by birth), once a friend of Poland, then one of her most violent assail- ants (of which we have spoken above), but now a repentant, seemingly convinced by the tragic facts 149 A WORLD PROBLEM in the case. He wrote in the Lemberg "Tageblatt" as follows: "The struggle between the Poles and the Jews should not be carried on in a way to ex- clude all understanding. It is meet to come to some kind of understanding. But this is pos- sible only in case the two parties have recog- nized certain principles. The Jews must ac- knowledge that Poland, with whatever form of independence, would not tolerate her state idea, not being exclusively Polish. The Jews would then be required to lay aside all such postulates, as could likely obscure the individ- uality of the Polish political thought. The Jews would further be obliged to recognize the hegemony of the Polish state language, and to see that that language be taught in their schools. "On the other hand, the Poles should under- stand that, waiving the question whether one is for, or against the Jewish nationalism, whether one believes in the future assimilation or entirely rejects it, in any case it is an im- possible thing not to acknowledge the indi- vidual character of a three million population. It is necessary to take into account the peculiar properties of a language, culture and religion. Any violent combatting of such individulalities as these, leads to brutality and weakens one's own position. "A mutual recognition of these principles would bring about a mutual understanding be- 150 JEWS AND THE COMING FUTURE tween Poles and Jews, which Ues in the interest of both the oppressed nations." We are well aware of the situation, and the sug- gestions the Danish writer offers Poland are alto- gether superfluous, as we had been extending the Jews — in the spirit of our own broad Polish toler- ance — every manner of freedom, partially recogniz- ing even their jargon, which has been prescribed by the Germans. Putting aside the Poles, who are still deprived of government, and are themselves obliged to de- fend their language and their well deserving civili- zation, which the Western usurpers do not hesi- tate to deny them, imposing upon them their Ger- manic ideals — putting aside the powerless Poles, we say, let us pass on to consider the attitude German conquerors assumed towards their devoted Jews. Austria and Germany show favors to Jews in the newly acquired territory, but only so far as it favors their interest. When the purely Jewish problem is to be considered, the usurpers of Poland grow fore- sightedly careful. The Germans coquet with the Jews on the one hand, while on the other, they put a ban on their beloved jargon and very deftly intro- duce the German instead. As regards commercial affairs, the Jews, too, soon experienced the iron grip of the Germans, who rigidly hampered their limited freedom of action, and cut the million fine nets entwining Poland. They did it for the single reason, that they wished to take everything into their own hands. This was no longer an inoffensive Polish "self-defense," against which influential Jews threw impeding obstacles, as they cried to 151 A WORLD PROBLEM heavens about their wrongs . . . No — this was an iron blow of the conqueror, who asks no ques- tion, and hears no complaint. This was the way the Germans suppressed the Jewish influence in Poland. We do not hesitate to say that the German au- thorities "liberated" Poland in a way from the Jew- ish claws, though, of course, they did it, not for Poland, but for Germany. But this liberation un- fortunately impoverished the Polish Jews. Misery and indigence became their lot in many places in Poland, as they were driven from such various com- mercial pursuits and financial manipulations, as passed into German hands. The German mailed first, weighed heavily on every Polish business en- terprise; interfering with every activity upon Pol- ish soil, turning out millions without work and food, and seizing the entire country in its iron clutches. But we hope that if all moral laws in the world have not sunk into oblivion, then the tongs shall again open, and the master of the land return to his ruined homestead. Meanwhile, the Jews labored under the iron grip of Germany. They dared not complain, but must even show a happy face — for after all were they not their friends, protectors, and were they not pow- erful? Silence — no protest — only the German and the Jewish press discussed quite often the question of Palestine. What once were considered Utopian dreams now assumed a tangible form ; the powerful Jewish capital and their influence are forming seri- ous plans. But it was not only in Poland under the German rule, but likewise in Poland under the kind 153 JEWS AND THE COMING FUTURE "Austria" that the Jews met with a painful disap- pointment. Austria conceded, in 1848, a social equality to the Jews, but did not recognize them as an independ- ent people. They may call themselves Ruthenians^ Poles, Greeks, Turks, etc. — but never Jews, as Aus- tria does not recognize a Jewish nationality. The same applies to the jargon; they may choose any language they please, except the jargon, as Austria will not tolerate it. Austria, naturally applied the same laws in the territory she acquired in Poland. The jargon and the Jewish nationality were tabooed. How can there be any question there about Jewish "Autonomy," since "Jews" are politically non-ex- istant. Despite the caresses, then, Austrian officials favored the Jews, furthering their own good — the political disappointment that followed, was even more acute than the one suffered at the hands of the Germans. The Jews were comfortable in the defenseless and ideal Poland; there they were al- lowed to do what they pleased, even to plan a Jew- ish Poland. The ground evidently sank under the imposing plans and vanished, while away in the distance loomed up the ancient land of Pales- tine — the aged mother of the chosen people, to whom the long hospitable Europe became too close and stifling. Thus stood affairs in relation to the aggressive Powers, which had agreed on no definite policy, either in regard to the natives, or to the Jews. Their correligionists in Western Europe, decided, in their eagerness to save the Jewish masses in Poland, which supposedly moaned under the heaviest op- 153 A WORLD PROBLEM pression — to settle them in Palestine, Syria or Asia Minor, or in Mesopotamia. The Jewish capitalists and bankers got busy with the problem, and created in Berlin, a "Society for Directing Eastern Jews to Turkey." The question was thoroughly studied and the national agitator, Dr. A. Nossing, was commissioned to Constanti- nople to negotiate with the Turkish government, and obtained from it the necessary concession. Next, the German press discussed the problem as to whether, and in what respects Turkey was suitable as a home for millions of Jews. The most noted Jews in the various fields of science, in economic and social knowledge spoke on the problem. The area of Palestine embraces 30,000 square miles. At present, it is inhabitated by a population of 900,000, of which 14% are Jews. Two professors, Dr. Philipson and Dr. Warburg, disputed as to the climate there, the fertility of the soil, etc.; they agreed in the main on the necessity of settling there large numbers of Jews from Poland and Lith- uania. It was calculated that at least half a mil- lion Jews could settle in Palestine, and devote them- selves exclusively to tilling the soil. Palestine is hilly and rocky, but with the appliance of various methods, it could become the garden it was in an- cient times, as it grows the most beautiful and rare olive, orange and fig trees, vines, etc. Besides, the neighboring territories of Syria, Cilicia and Mesopo- tamia could be utilized, where a net of canals would fertilize the entire country. The result of the dis- pute was that Palestine together with the neighbor- ing countries was entirely suitable for the Jews to 154 JEWS AND THE COMING FUTURE colonize. This plan was to be developed on a large scale after the war. Parallel with this project, however, runs another which f^ors the creation of a complete independ- ence for the Jews in Poland. Another Jewish or- ganization was created in Berlin, principally made up of politicians, lawyers and a score of Zionists of Wjursaw. They aimed to create an individual lin- guistic and cultural community in Poland with an individual jargon school system, special legal pro- tection, even separate taxes, etc. Should this aim materialize, the Jews would have their own repre- sentation, their own national council, in a word "a state within a state," entirely independent of the Polish nation. A Galician Jew, Benjamin Segel, reviewed the postulates in his already mentioned pamphlet "Die Polnische Judenfrage," where he crushes their in- solent pretenses with impartial logic. He called the attention of' the Jews to the fact that the steps they were taking in Poland, were boimd to play hazard with the Jewish question the world over, as the world is likely to open its eyes to the danger Jews present in the different countries. He writes : "During my two-hour audience, I tried, first of all to ascertain, why in the new epoch, that is to follow the war, an exclusive few millions of Jews are to receive national rights and na- tional autonomy, while the rest, who are about four times as numerous as they, are to be de- prived of that blessing? It could well be sup- posed that Jews living in Hungary, Lower Aus- tria, Bohemia, Holland, especially J^ws living 155 A WORLD PROBLEM in Germany and America, do not stand, in any .•espect, upon a lower plane, than we Polish Eastern Jews,' who are so often very severely criticized by our brethren in the West. To all my questions bearing on the matter. Dr. Bodenheimer had only one answer: 'Here, they have the right; there, they have it not.' It was to mean: 'In the Kingdom of Poland, the Jews have the right to demand national rights, but in the other countries in the world, they are without that right.' Why? To this question, I received no answer." We beg to complete the unfinished expression of the Jewish leader: Other nations have their own government, and hence, they are able to defend themselves ; hence, no such policies can be advanced against them. In Poland, however, anything may be done with impunity, even force may be used against the defenseless. The leaders of the society in question then assembled in Warsaw for a discus- sion, but agreed on nothing definite. The delegates from Germany visited the larger Jewish settlements in Poland, but received so depressing an impression, as to grow astonished at the Jewish publicists ad- vocating a cultural individuality of the Jews, where such fatal conditions prevail. The "Berliner Tage- blatt" openly advised the Jewish nationalists to permanently lay aside the idea of "a state within a state," as it would result in no good without its principal basis — an individual language. The jar- gon is no language, except a conglomeration, a mix- ture of languages, the German predominating. Furthermore, writes the daily, "the Jews are scat- 156 JEWS AND THE COMING FUTURE tered over the entire world, and are without their own mainstay. Hence, they must be absorbed by the Western civilization in proportion as they as- sume it, and for this reason their nationalistic tend- encies are but a delicate artificial plant, which his bound to wither away." It is thus the "Berliner Tageblatt" flays the sep- aratistic tendencies of the Jews. Still, we are afraid it does not clearly understand the inflexible, covet- ing, passionate Jewish psyche. The trouble is, not that it yields and becomes absorbed by other na- tions, but that it aims to suppress and absorb the soul of the world at large. The Jewish political endeavors are best aided by the free and independ- ent Jews, here in America, where the American Jewish Committee is acting on a surprisingly large scale. They resort to every means of which money and intellect are capable. They appeal to the gov- ernment, to the different political parties, and to societies, to push their political aims to the front. While the war was being fought, they carried off one bloodless victory after another, and they pushed their problem so far ahead, and so strongly fortified it, that the interest of that people "without nation- ality" bids fair to claim one of the first places in the next peace congress. It suffices to say, that in turning everything in their favor, they did not even hesitate to address a petition in the name of three million American citi- zens of the "Mosaic creed" to Pope Benedict XV, requesting him to put an end to the violence the Jews suffered in Russia and Turkey. The Pope answered by a very favorable letter, through his 1157 A WORLD PROBLEM secretary of state, Cardinal Gasparri, declaring that human rights ought to be observed in relation to the sons of Israel, as well as the Christian Catholics. All people are brothers, and the Catholic priests should, in a special manner, protect the Jew, as faith does not discriminate in the face of a catas- trophe like the present. The Pope finally expressed a sincere acknowledgment in favor of the United States, which harbors all nations without distinc- tion. Herman Bernstein, a Jewish publicist, proudly points out to the document as of a much greater value than the famous Bull of Pope Innocent IV, which cleared the Jews of the suspicion that they use Christian blood for ritual purposes. As for us, we can only say, that the Polish people in Poland — the simple peasants — equally with the clergy, assumed in the terrible war the noble and lofty attitude of Christian tolerance and sentiment of which Pope Benedict speaks. It is enough to recall the many instances we have referred to above, where priests and peasants saved Jewish lives, and frequently reached to them a helping hand. The Jewish charges will not harm the Poles. Even while the Polish children were dying of hunger, the arch- bishop of Warsaw designed a fund for the hungry Jewish children; the Polish relief committees did not discriminate between Poles and Jews, irrespec- tive of whether the Jews received special help, not even though their Jewish need was less pressing and Jewish destruction less appalling. The interrelation betwen the Jews and the Poles 158 JEWS AND THE COMING FUTURE stands forth in the clear light of facts; no simula- tion can counteract the light of events today. Outlines of new creations rise in the hazy dis- tance, steadily crystalizing in the close atmosphere, which is surfeited with suffering. The souls of nations not only did struggle on the murderous battlefield, but they endeavored to throw upon the scale of oracular destinies additional values, addi- tional weight, additional treasures, together with the powerful imperatives of the consolidated will of millions. The future is being shaped. The old world is sinking down, consumed and spent under the weight of its faults, crimes and sins. A new epoch, unknown, awaited and invoked, is forming amidst the suffering, the tears and the blood of millions. The historic racial souls awakened to a struggle — their merits accumulate on the heavy scale of his- tory — a new constellation of the world is taking form and shape. 159 CHAPTER VIII JEWS AND HUMANITY The Ideology of the Jews and Their Activity WE have pictured in the early part of the book the nature of the Jewish psyche, as mani- fested in ancient times, and in the symptoms it shows today, and we have found it essentially the same. Again, we have traced the collective psyche of the chosen people in its life among the nations of the world ; we have studied it in the light of history, in its labors, tendencies, endeavors, struggles and victories. We have traced it, it is true, solely in re- lation to the Polish people, but as our history em- braces the largest masses of Jews living on the Polish territory, the experience derived from them must be the truest, and such as enables one to ar- rive at the truest conclusions. We shall now con- sider the Jews in relations to humanity at large, to see what they have contributed to civilization and what are their avowed purposes and tendencies. The rough sketch we have drawn shows that the fundamental tendencies of the Jews have always centred around their desire to obtain gold — to gain possession of things. Some nations have for centuries toilsomely tilled the soil, developing its resources, with which they supported both themselves and other nations. Other nations paid their tribute of blood, carried on wars, acquired possessions, extended their boundaries and cemented them with the blood and 161 A WORLD PROBLEM toil of generations. Still others searched the oceans and explored the secrets of the earth, their geniuses discovering new worlds, new means of communi- cations, new lands and new peoples. Others, again, set their mind on incarnating high ideals, on liber- ties, creeds and creative ideas on which the happi- ness of men should depend, as on certain laws and covenants. The Jews lived in themselves, and for themselves ; they remained incommunicative; they did not unite with humanity at large, tightly enclosed, as they were, within the shell of their Talmud. They added to none of the creative and collective human en- deavors, but were mere mediators. They took into their skilled hands commodities others produced, distributing and making profit on them, as profit was their sole aim. In course of time, they became the principal, almost the exclusive, business men in Europe.. Advancing in joint ranks, though by different channels, they inscribed upon their ban- ner the one watchword : "Gold." Now the question arises: Has this their watchword suffered a change? No one will deny that the Jews have, up to the present, remained true to their glistening standard of gold and enrichment. This may be a result of their being devoid of a territorial basis; the fact, however, remains that they have for ages, in pur- suance of their peculiar aims, exclusively served the god of gold, and that under the powerful pres- sure of gold, they have succeeded in everywhere compelling attention and in gaining influence. This influence is much greater than is usually imagined, as it has developed a power, silent and hidden, 162 JEWS AND HUMANITY which already embraces international influence and, in a way, quietly controls humanity at large. They have inoculated the human race with the demoral- izing worship of their earthly god — gold — and in pursuit of it entire generations are consuming them- selves in senseless frenzy. They have, also, con- tributed to the accumulation of wealtji — to the crea- tion of the monster of international capitalism which devitalizes the human race today. This is particu- larly a creation of their unsatiated souls, which have known but the one principle: for themseles, and to themselves, never from themselves and for others. Another question in turn presents itself to us: Have the means which the Jews used to attain their chief object been of a constructive and generally beneficient nature? Let us glance at these means, the channels through which gold has so plentifully flown into the Jewish pockets. Reality has formulated heinous charges against the practice of seeking gold, to which the Jews, from time immemorial, have resorted. Usury, which is of their creation, at least in Europe, is in- variably connected with Jewish life, and common opinion has everywhere identified it with the name of the Jews. Even Shakespeare immortalized usury in the person of the Jew Shylock, who demanded of the insolvent debtor a piece of living flesh, carved from a human breast. Usury, like a threatening shadow, everywhere accompanies the Jews in their search for riches and gold, furnishing the ground for contempt, hatred, and "Pogroms" which at times sporadically rise 163 A WORLD PROBLEM against them. The ancient Jewish practice of usury has in no way disappeared with the advance of civilization, and this truth is clearly evidenced in the court procedures and the occasional utter- ances of dissatisfaction among the Christians. Even in the Aurmoil of the terrible war the Jews did not abandon their wide practice of it, but con- tinued it to the complete disregard of the blood, the poverty, the tears, and the suffering of mar- tyred humanity. Still, usury, inebriated as it is, with the wrongs and tears of its countless victims, is not the worst of their practices. There is something even more appalling, something which drives a river of gold into their bottomless pockets. We refer to white slavery. This is literally a Shakespearean carving of liv- ing flesh nearest to the heart of humanity, a con- tinuous poisoning of the organism of humanity, a dissemination of rottenness, of imbecility, of decay, which eventually leads to ruin and destruction. What of those millions of innocent young women, who almost exclusively pass through the hands of Jews, on the way to their loathsome perdition, ex- posed in the market places of shame the world over, and condemned to the heinous profession of white slavery? Meanwhile, the river of gold flows on, while its ill-boding lustre, steeped with suffer- ing and human shame, sadly reflects against the silent, mysterious Jewish faces. Usury and white slavery are the two main channels through which the Jews gather riches, gold, and power. But we are far from maintaining that these are the 164 JEWS AND HUMANITY only two channels through which they seek to en- rich themselves. They are the two peculiarly Jew- ish channels, constituting a monopoly of the Jewish race. Other peoples have learned from the Jews these avenues to blood money, and have become their accomplices, but the monopoly has remained in the hands of the Jews the world over. The great capitals the Jews possess bring not even secondary profits, as the means whereby they are accumulated are, for the most part, dishonest and disseminative of an appalling demoralization. In touching upon their two main practices, we have passed over many of their minor professions, which they conduct in every Polish town and vil- lage, such as : the liquor business, trade in stolen goods, stealing horses, profiteering, engaging in every manner of unclean practices, swindling, etc. Along with the extensive material realm we have roughly sketched in its outstanding features, we shall endeavor to outline the results of Jewish men- tal activity. It will, no doubt, be interesting to learn just what the intellectually gifted Jewish race has contributed to the world, as it has not wasted time in its sojourn among the Christian nations. In surveying the various realms of thought, we actually meet with such Jewish names in the West as have won merit and distinction. We meet with them also in Poland, though in smaller numbers. Still there is something strikingly peculiar about them. Inasmuch as there is a fair number of ex- ceptionally talented Jews, especially in music, such as: Halevy, Meyerber, Rubinsztein, Joachim, Men- delssohn and other splendid talents, never will you 16S A WORLD PROBLEM find creative geniuses, starting a new epoch, among them in any field. Here a veritable dearth obtains — some astonishing conjuration holds sway here. As the Jews are quick and apt in appropriating ready knowledge, and utilizing it for practical pur- poses, and turning it, in an astonishing fashion, to every advantage, so they are unable to produce such true creators and discoverers as constitute a bless- ing and priceless treasure to men. Such individuals do not spring from the ancient race of Israel ; among the great discoverers of thought, Jewish names are not found. Someone may object; but what of the genius of Spinoza, Heine, Marx, Engels, Lassale — the latter three being creators of new ideas and new avenues of thought, i.e., of socialism? First, they possess a critical and analytic, but not a creative mind. Socialism is, in its principle, not a new creation. Already ancient scholars knew it and taught it. It was only brought forth from its confines, exposed to light, systematized, developed and given a modern* form. Again, the idea of so- cialism has not entered into the essence of the Jewish life as a vital issue, which the Jews would defend, in which they would believe, for which they would suffer, and which they would propagate as a postulate for their existence. It was created for the benefit of other peoples than they, as the Jews had never intended to bridle their desire of hoard- ing gold. Israel steadfastly adhered to its own policy. It persisted in its endeavors to teach the Aryan people how to reconstruct the world— to teach the Aryan people, whose creative powers have untiringly supplied the immortal wells of whole- 166 JEWS AND HUMANITY some ideals and creations. Besides, socialism in its international interpretation, is by no means a creative factor. Rather it carries in its wake dis- solution. It plucks from the human soul its deepest faiths and attachments, it tends toward subordinat- ing the life of individuals as well as nations, under one common law, a leveller. Instead of enriching life and allowing it to develop unhindered, socialism brings new slavery upon men, being most destruc- tive because it hampers the individual human will. In a word, the equalization of social life conform- ably to the idea of socialism results in no better- ment and enhances no creative power in the world, rather it impoverishes humanity and endeavors to fashion it, so as to conform to the idea of the Jew- ish Kahals, who rules the individual in a tyrannical way, destroying his free will and forbidding any individual endeavor. Socialism really contains the kernel of the Semitic race. It originates in the pre- dominating type of that fanatic spirit, which is — hatred, and the spirit of class-hatred — its fanaticism is the mother of socialism. It is this creation — really borrowed from the ancients — that the Jewish mind contributed to the world, and it is clearly a doubtful contribution. Still, as was said before, it purposes first and foremost, to suppress and de- power the Christian Aryan people, in an effort to bring them under the dominance of the mysterious spirit of Israel. Let us not elude ourselves The Jews today desire, as had their forefathers, to dominate the world power, to subdue nations under their spiritual authority. On the one hand, they advo- 167 A WORLD PROBLEM cate the dissolution of capital, on the other they wonderously accumulate it. Why do they not dis- solve their own capitalism, which has been defamed for its usury and unwholesome dealings? On the one hand, the Jews, apparently progressive and lib- eral, condemn all manner of religion oh the score of idolatry and prejudice; on the other, they respect and obey their obscure and impoisoned Talmud, and rear their children in complete isolation from the world, on the unaltered principle of Jewish separatism. They use their liberal convictions and their socialistic doctrines as a means of reducing the ideal standards of nations, stripping them of their faiths and traditions, ideals and sentiments, in an effort to subject them to the consolidated, and obedient spirit of selfish Zion. The contempt for all treasures, other than the treasures of the Jewish nation — the everlasting con- tempt the chosen people have ever shown to every- thing that is alien to them, emanates from the strange Semitic race even today. Their biblical song of power, emanating from the ruins of Jeru- salem, triumphantly re-echoes from the mouth of twelve million people, who enjoy not only such power as is derived from gold and capital, but also such as emanates from the influence of the Semitic soul stealthily ingraining itself day after day into the mind of humanity through the medium of the Jewish mentality, through their moral laws and the press, of which Jewish publishers and press agen- cies have taken control both in Europe and America. This is to what the meek, and silent Israel has at- tained. Once, an humble wanderer, now a haughty 168 JEWS AND HUMANITY lord, who walks in pride, and directs not only the interests of the day, but controls the collective will of humanity, the irresisting and confident Aryan spirit, infecting it with the poison of Semitic thought. Let us but glance at the enormous influence which the silent, secretive Israel exercises in the world, building its nameless power. Wronged and persecuted apparently, Israel has under its control numerous individuals, whom it successfully stations at the helm of other nations, as the "Jewish Chronicle" itself shows statistically. There are 245,000 Jews in England today, while the English cabinet counts five Jews — Lord Reading (a Jew), is the supreme judge. There are eighteen Jews in the Parliament; five are in the House of Lords; sixteen are barons; fourteen are knights; and six are privy councillors (before the war.) France harbors about 100,000 Jews. Before the war, the French army numbered eight Jewish gen- erals, colonels and lieutenants, and so on. General Heyman was in command of a corps. They are powerful in finance, press, business. Five Jews sit in the French cabinet. Belgium has 15,000 Jews, among whom is Rothschild — the international banker. Italy has 45,000 Jews. Signor Luigi Luzzati, a Jew, was at one time its Prime Minister. It has six Jewish members of Parliament and fourteen of its senators are also of Jewish descent. Germany has 615,000 Jews, of whom an enormous percent- age hold prominent positions. Indeed the Jews 169 A WORLD PROBLEM exert a notable influence in every branch of political and economic life. The 1,313,618 Jews, who live in Austria, contrib- uted to the Austrian finance, army, and industry. Russia numbers 6,060,000 Jews of whom 30,000 are in actual service. Russia has many influential Jews and they formed there a strong middle class as well as the inteligentia. In the United States, Jews hold prominent posi- tions and exert an enormous influence. Political and juridical offices are filled with them. They con- trol the capital, the industry, the trade, while the press, in which they develop their greatest talents, is largely in their hands. Under the guise of true patriotism, they naturally hold prominent positions among the nations of the world. We do not ques- tion their sentiments on this score. We have quoted these statistics only to point out the actual pres- ence of the Semitic spirit in the influential posts of nations the world over. We must take care to in- dividualize the Jewish spirit, for the reason that it is essentially foreign, and hardly allows of self-expli- cation, but it ever serves the exclusive, unaltered Judaistic purpose. The presence of Jews among the nations of the world can be shown statistically, and their material influences and their extensive financial develop- ments can be, in a way, studied and verified, yet the invisible threads of their influences and their thought remain incalculable and unattainable. We are groping in complete darkness, in a dizzy com- plication of thought and sentiment, which dominate the world by whose color it is impossible to learn 170 JEWS AND HUMANITY* whence they came, as the forms of analysis men possess are inadequate to effect the wonderful sub- tlety of this transcendent mentality. It is rather by intuition that one penetrates the coarser layers of mental complications and perceives the pheno- mena of life. Sometimes, momentous historic events suddenly throw huge columns of light which expose the nature of the various currents, and destroys them, or raises them high in the flaming fire of predominant ideas of the world. The terrible world war has thrown such columns of light upon the huge edifice of international social- ism, which rests mainly upon the Semitic thought as its foundation. While the international postu- lates of socialism are loudly discussed by their ad- herers and opponents, the reality of life — the truth of souls — uttered its decisive word, and destroyed every manner of sophism with the one mighty sen- timent — "Patria." Much has of late been written on this matter. The progressive Russian writer, Berdiajew, in his criticism on the book "Self De- fense," which was published by the Russian Marx- ists, writes as follows: "The Marxian doctrine," says Berdiajew, "failed to provide a place for country and to attatch any importance to nationality. "According to that doctrine, class solidarity is more important than national unity. "However, the war upset that doctrine. Inter- national socialism died away. But it is not an easy matter to renounce one's doctrines. The Russian Marxists, who love their country, but cannot recon- cile sentiment v^ith doctrine, present a pitiful spec- 171 A WORLD PROBLEM tacle. They cannot decide upon defending their country without seeking reasons to justify such a step." As to examples which the Russian socialists see in German social democracy, Mr. Berdiajew main- tains, that that party went into servitude under the German imperialism. In connection with the question of international- ism which is being reshaped in the fire of present events, the "Polish Problem" (daily paper in War- saw), writes as follows: "We cannot say that a different thing obtains with us in Poland. There is here the same mental infection, only that it partakes of a different form. Of late, the current of national regeneration made itself so strongly felt among the masses of the Pol- ish people, that the socialistic cosmopolitanism had to give way. Things came to this pass, because the socialists, fearing to lose their influence, adopted a national platform, and determined to get control of the people by virtue of such schemes as bore patriotic colors. "The fact that the socialists adopted a formal patriotism, did not result in any upheaval, as it was merely a tactical manoeuvre, and did not even so much as affect the relations with the metropolitan organization of the Central Powers, which wanted exactly svich a change of tactics." Consequent facts, however, partly contradicted this, as the struggle for the liberation of Poland was undertaken by the Legions, which were re- cruited principally from the Polish socialists — their organizer, J. Pilsudski— being also a socialist. 172 JEWS AND HUMANITY We further see the German — in fact the Prussian spirit, unmitigated in its destruction and aggres- sion, unite with the Semitic spirit. Two great pow- ers in the world: Judaism and Germanism — the one — silent, cunning, hidden; the other — haughty, ag- gressive and rapacious, mutually united in a moral alliance. The two powers do not recognize nor respect the rights of others. They think nothing of violating the laws of humanity if they can in this way further their individual end. Hence, Judaism serves today a vanguard to Germanism, and in real- izing their peculiar aims the two mutually support each other. Their policy is best evidenced in Pol- and, which is laid open to destructive exploits, as the two powers consider it only a victim to satisfy their appetites. They are planning their future on the degradation and final absorption of the historic Polish nation, which is radically opposed to them in its ideals and its creations, and certainly surpasses them in the nature of its aspirations and its racial character. Besides the sharp stream of international social- ism, the spiritual paternity of which is traced back to the Jews, there is one other stream which has washed heavy channels in the life of men. It ap- pears to be of a different nature from socialism, though it is very closely allied with it, and bids fair to become the directing power in the world — it is Free Masonry. It is not a mystery to any one that Free Masonry, if not a fruit, is, at any rate, an object of Jewish thought and endeavor. The Jewish spirit, the spirit of separatism and exclusiveness is the corner stone of Free Masonry. "With us, or 173 A WORLD PROBLEM against us" is the watchword of this powerful or- ganization, which exacts unquestioned disciphne, sworn obedience, and is the mysterious power of a society over the individual, who dares not oppose the will of its supreme authority. Socialism is a restraint on the thought of a peo- ple, a servitude, while Free Masonry is a subordi- nation to a general secret, a hidden aim. Humanity has accepted these two striking parasitic growths of the day, raised upon the soil of the potent Semitic spirit. They have grown large upon its body, and have struck deep and far-reaching roots. What is really peculiar to these two parasitic growth, the Semitic spirit has cared for and pas- sionately nourished? Do they not betray the strik- ing marks of that ancient spirit, which has come down to us from the darkest ages — isolated, fanatic, mysterious, despotic? .... Let us study it. The purpose of socialism is to equalize social life, to erase every manner of class distinction, to reduce humanity to a "tabula rasa" which could be ordi- nated and controlled by the iron hand of laws and obligations from which no escape were possible. With socialism, the world is but one great work- shop and iron machine with countless driving- wheels. It is an organization which first tends to- wards equalizing things, in order to build a new machine of life. On the other hand, what is Free Masonry, whose purpose is so carefully concealed from the eyes of the world? One may not enter the edifice of a Free Masonry, no matter what the attempt, and it is only occasionally that some stray ray throws a 174 JEWS AND HUMANITY scant light on it. Hence, one has to be satisfied with what is exposed to the general view. What is Free Masonry as an idea? Nearly any one can see, without going into its mysterious nature, that Free Masonry is a strong, despotic, even tyrannical rule exercised by men chosen in secret and enveloped in a mysterious se- crecy, sealed by a series of solemn oaths. It is some mystical creation, whose aim is not revealed even to its very adherents. It has some unknown aims which originated with a small class control- ing the activity of the world. While Socialism is taking hold of, and trying to systematize the relations of men with a view to effecting an international equalization. Free Ma- sonry endeavors to cover everything with an iron dome, and seize the helm of life. If the two crea- tions mature sufficiently to obtain hold of the main threads of life — they will join their hands in an iron grip, and drag the world into a servitude, which has never yet been known to exist. "Israel, Israel — the Lord will make the nations of the world thy foot-stool. . . . Israel, Israel. ..." Thus sing with the psalmist the past and present generations of the chosen people. However, something unforseen, terrible and threatening has loomed within sight. The moral force which has long been suppressed finally broke loose. Millions rose in protest, broke every ob- stacle, destroyed every impediment, and shed a sea of heroic blood, when brutal force grasped for the throat of humanity, in an endeavor to choke its free life, to pluck out the heart from the bosom of 175 A WORLD PROBLEM nations and wrest control over Humanity. It was the time to act. Force, in the shape of militarism and violence, had planned a world de- struction. The free spirit of humanity had been lulled into weakness ; lawlessness, violence, robbery had grown rampant. Blood flowed in streams — the world shook to its very foundations. The sacred depths of life opened v»?ide under the blows, while the artificial and false creations trembled and tumbled over. A great struggle of ideals and races became immi- nent. Fundamental aims of life and existence be- came the issue of the day. Socialism and its boastful and false internation- alism were dealt the first blow. The most radical German socialists took up arms against their noble companions of Belgium, violating the. rights of that country. Later, given impetus by Germany's acts of violence, the man-slaughter grew in horror un- til it developed into a monstrous vision of a world conflagration and ruin. The same blow was simul- taneously dealt to Free Masonry, whose secret aims grew suspicious and became the subject of criticism for writers in France, Italy and England. Strong voices demanded that the truth of the organization be made known. It was urged that the right of being be refused to something that looked like a general conspiracy. The great edifice, which had been so carefully built, was assailed from all sides. Meanwhile, the world conflagration broke out, throwing forth beams of light, illustrating great and terrible truths, and bidding humanity defend its sacred rights and aims. 176 CHAPTER IX THE FUNDAMENTAL LAW OF BEING AND ITS NEGATION IN reviewing the progress of the Jews, we have considered their spiritual relation to Humanity in general, and have seen Humanity protest against certain ideals which have been developed and propagated with a great deal of apparent suc- cess. The roots of things lie deep; the sources are hidden; impalpable currents, spontaneous instincts, and great mysterious truths of life are in set action. We see but the surface of things and the full effects of causes that are unknown. Huge, threatening inundations are belching forth from sources, which cannot be accounted for. Suddenly, as if by a miracle, the world rises in self-defense. Long forgotten banners flutter in the battle whirl of the moment. The deep dualism of the world awoke to its basic opposition. It is not so much the question of nationalities, as it is the most vital problems of life that are put in the bal- ance. A great moment looms up. Nations gather in two inimical camps, while the scale of destinies keeps on balancing. Momentous destinies are placed upon it. The future happiness of men, — their peace, existence and sacred ideals depend on the way the oracular scale turns. A woeful mo- ment : to redeem it, millions are suffering and shed- ding their blood. Where is the light, where, the truth, where, the law that should forestall such terrible realities as these? 177 A WORLD PROBLEM But we are groping in darkness. The human mind, which carefully examined the material world in its minutest details, which produced hidden things from the bottoms of oceans and the depth of the earth, which determined the courses of huge suns, has as yet failed to discover such laws as would efficaciously govern men. But order — the iron consequence of the laws of nature — the won- drous harmony of the world — has not come into existence at once. It has been gradually evolved from chaos and confusion. The human mind has laboriously searched for the hidden laws of nature, grouping them into permanent ideas, while the genius of a great man has subsequently bound together the constellations of suns and stars, by the force of gravitation. The human mind is powerful in the material world, yet weak and helpless in the extra-sensitive world of the spirit. We are facing a veil of strange phenomena, which require a more penetrating thought, a sharp and clear-sighted intuition. The moment the storm of great events raises the mysterious curtain, an un- expected ray of light shoots forth from the world of mystery. The curtain drops low and mankind continues advancing in darkness for centuries. A veritable Golgotha, where men struggle and suc- cumb, raise their arms heavenward only to again fall into valleys of sunless life, to again grow blind amid the orgies of passion and wantonness of uncontrolled human nature. Two thousand years ago — the mysterious curtain of life opened wide, and in the admitted light, stood 178 THE FUNDAMENTAL LAW OF BEING the dazzling figure of Christ, centering within Him- self the law of life and whispering: "Come unto Me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." With the doctrine He gave the world, and sealed with the highest sacrifice of love — His death — the divine Master calmed, refreshed, and appeased all. The Gospel, the new law of life Christ gave man- kind, the Gospel of love and brotherhood among men — can alone solve diificulties, appease conten- tions, and harmonize human life. Love — brotherhood among men the world over! . . . This is humanity's basic law which crystal- ized in the chaos of suffering, struggle, violence, wrongs and bloodshed. It holds the same relation to the human souls as does the law of gravitation to the movement of the heavenly bodies, and to the physical harmony of the world. Love — gravitation! Is it not the same force transferred from the world of physical phenomena to the world of the subtle phenomena of the spirit? The sublimest creations, the most beauteous flower of thought and genius Christian Europe of- fered the world, grew, it may be said, on the pro- ductive soil of love. Love nourishes human gen- erations! Love opens and closes the eyes of the huge human forces which unceasingly beat against the shores of infinity and disappear behind its mysterious curtain. Countless generations grow and mature at the breast of this procreative doc- trine. Whether at a subsequent period they pre- serve their great beliefs or not, does not alter the fact, that it was on the doctrine's nourishing milk 179 A WORLD PROBLEM they grew and shaped their life. Such especially is Christian Western Europe, and such are the na- tions, which have entered its orbit. In its centre, the bright Christian doctrine of love shines like a life-producing sun. Around it nations have gath- ered for centuries, each taking its place according to the services it rendered mankind. History bears witness to their activities and creations. A new era opened with the dazzling figure of the Master of Nazareth at its threshold. He dispelled the darkness and lighted a new sun of life — ^love. But in the shadow of Christ, opposition creeps stealthily, and against the doctrine of love and sacrifice rises its dark negation. "Love and forgive even your enemies," teaches the new doctrine of Love. "Despise and avenge — never forgive," proclaims ancient Israel, who departed from the sun of truth and imbibed the spirit of negation and revenge. Two races — the Aryan and the Semitic — stand face to face. Two repugnant world views, two op- posite poles of life, two radical spirits engaged in a huge struggle for the supremacy. It is a great and fearful match. Humanity has not, as yet, realized the full import of the struggle. One may see the material causes that underlie it, but the sources, that have been accumulating for ages, lie hidden, and it is really these that act — it is these that_ throw men into murderous struggles, as the fundamental law of life, love — gravitation — to- gether with their outflowing brotherhood and jus- tice — has been broken and forfeited. In opposition to the bright streams of Christian- 180 THE FUNDAMENTAL LAW OF BEING ity, extending over the face of the earth, reshaping and properly chiselling the character of nations, there arose another stream, accumulating a fearful strength. It is a stream of opposition and dissolu- tion, recognizing force alone, resting upon the power of gold and building its plans upon the ruins of everything that is external to it. The religion of gold, violence and force spreads and becomes potent and active, while the idea of Christianity has gradually become a euphonious word, a pharisaic expression, a tinkling copper, whose valuable ingredients of truth are turned to dust and thrown to the winds. The dark monster of greed and violence, standing in opposition to the moral law, and desiring to dominate the world, has grown strong within the hearts of men. Mean- while, wholesome ideas paled away; leading stars grew dark ; haughtily freeing itself from its dark confines, the brutal physical force of the mailed fist terrorized the world, and for a time it seemed as if the beauteous creations of the human spirit were put in jeopardy. Might with its passionate worshippers stands on the one side; on the other, the weak, the wronged and oppressed — those who believe in the eternal truths and their final triumph — those who group around the altars of Christ's doctrine of love. But another factor developes besides the destructive Judaism, which shares the nature of Judaism, only it is open, insolent, cynical, maturing within full sight of men, insolently professing the philosophy of the superman, scorning strange possessions — grasping them with its powerful fist, passionately 181 A WORLD PROBLEM developing a powerful militarism with which to crush the soul of the weaker nations, subject them under its own tyrannical dominance, and drain them of their vitality, thus destroying their wel- fare, their property, their culture and their right to existence. Two destructive world currents, Judaism and Prussianism, united in a strong spiritual embrace and mutual compromise and set out to subdue the world. The one led its slavishly obedient armies which it skillfully trained from childhood in the atmosphere of servitude, hatred and artificial pride; the other possessed gold, and the decomposing fac- tors it has ingrained into the soul of nations, with the view to weakening every opposition, to para- lyzing and equalizing the relations of men, with the ultimate purpose of casting them into an unmiti- gated servitude. The two forces, Judaism and Prussianism, bear the same external marks: both are without soil as their basis. All the territory Prussia possesses, excluding the portion the Polish Duke Conrad of Masovia ceded to her in 1225, she wrested with the sword from the neighboring Slav people. The second characteristic which shows their common nature is the hatred they manifest to everything that does not belong to them, with its consequent brutality, complete disregard of the moral law and rapacious, ruthless inconsideration. Already ancient writers made frequent mention of the Judaistic infection of mankind, and the ma- jority of those who persecuted the Jews sought to justify their action on that ground. When customs relaxed and tolerance gained the upper hand, the 182 THE FUNDAMENTAL LAW OF BEING voice of opposition grew silent. But the horrors of the war brought the opposition to the fore. The well-known Belgian poet, Emil Verhaeren, made an interesting mention of the Jews in his: "Bleed- ing Belgium." After paying homage to King Al- bert's soldiers, who braved the German invasion to the last trench on their native soil, and addressing hymns of faith and hope to his crushed kinsmen, Verhaeren gives expression to vengeance and hat- red against the "Allemagne incivilisable" (Germany incapable of civilization), and he says: "The untiring Jewish activity in Germany be- came the main factor of the German moral debase- ment" (avilissement moral). Thus even the West is alive to the destructive influence the Jewish infection exerts upon the Aryan spirit. The infection of hatred against everything not Prussian has deeply penetrated the soul of the Prussians, who have grown corpulent on bloodshed, violence and aggression; it had permeated the an- cient Knights of the Cross who, even in their time, as history shows, assumed the symbol of Christian- ity — which produced in their hearts mere weeds and deadly thorns — only as a symbol of aggression, injustice and bloodshed. In the Polish literature we have Danusia's father, genially sketched by Sienkiewicz in his "Knights of the Cross.". In fact, we have a faithful picture of the complete character of the Knights of the Cross in their attitude to the weaker nationalities. That it has remained essentially the same is trag- ically evidenced in the great world war, when the 183 A WORLD PROBLEM German armies vied with one another in their brutal orgies. The unfortunate old Jurand of Spychowo, who while in Prussian captivity, had his eyes plucked out, his tongue cut out, and was tortured and ex- iled, is really a prophetic figure the eminent writer drew of his own country — Poland, which, it may be said without exaggeration, has suffered the fate of Jurand under the iron heel of the invader. Let the authentic expressions made recently by high church dignitaries of Germany serve as evi- dence of the complete absence of Christianism from the Prussian soil, and the absolute negation of its very idea. The "Schlesswig Holsteinscher Sonntagsbote" printed a special article by the Cologne bishop, Kaftan, wlio is a general superintendent of the clergy in Schlesswig, entitled: "The Present Sit- uation, — and We Christians.". The bishop calls upon the Germans to thank God for directing the German submarines, bullets and bombs. "Let us give thanks to Him, who is God, not only of the Germans, but of other nations, for kindly directing the torpedoes of our submarines against the American and other ships carrying supplies to our enemies, irrespective of hov/ many of the self- conceited Americans are on board the ships. "To drown merchant ships is perhaps a barbar- ous policy. But what forces us to adopt that pol- icy, and to wish that that policy only met with still greater success? England, of course. "Thank God, the insular security of England is a thing of the past. Would that a hundred more 184 THE FUNDAMENTAL LAW OF BEING Zeppelins visited her and succeeded in hurling bombs on England's Bank. What a heartfelt cry of joy would then reecho over entire Germany, as it was England's money that started the war." Thus prays a Christian bishop in his blind hatred and national fanaticism. Expressions of this na- ture are frequent in Germany. Though wars breed hatred and lower the moral standard of nations, still, no nation engaged in the war has become so morally depraved, and so actually insane, as the German nation. Following are excerpts from the various sermons preached in Germany and published in true trans- lation by the "Methodist Times," showing the Prussian, insanity : "No Compromise with Hell." "Pastor Zoebel 4>reached a sermon in the Lutheran Church in Leipsic, where he said among other things : We are deeply convinced of our mission which allows us to mutually con- gratulate one another and to rest content, that our guns continue cutting to pieces the chil- dren of Satan, while our torpedoes God uses as instruments in carrying out His vengeance — sending thousands, who are not chosen, to the iDottom of the sea. We must defeat the wicked ones with whatever means we have. Their suffering ought to bring up joy, their cries of despair ought not to move our Ger- man hearts. There should be no compromise with hell, nor mercy for the servants of Satan — or in other words: There is no pity for the English, the French or the Russians, in fact, 185 A WORLD PROBLEM to any nation v/hich has sold itself to the evil one, All such are doomed to death by a di- vine decree." "Germany's Divine Mission." "Fritz Phillippi of Berlin said among other things from his pulpit: 'As the Almighty permitted that His Son be crucified, and that by His crucifixion He consummate the work of redemption, so the purpose of Germany is to crucify humanity, and, in that way to make sure of its salvation. The human race can be saved only through bloodshed, fire and sword. . . . Oh, brethren, Germany's divine mis- sion is to crucify humanity. The duty of the German soldiers is to kill, burn, destroy. To do it by halves would disgrace them. Let the war be a war of mercy* " Such insane expressions show the ever active spirit of hatred and revenge, which characterized the Knights of the Cross, who assumed the sweet religion of Christ as a pretext for murder and rob- bery. Ages have brought no remedy; for even to- day they cry out in their cynical perverseness and insanity, that they must crucify mankind, that they must kill, burn, destroy — in order to redeem man- kind from sin. A sorry picture of a denatured national Psyche, and woe to them for bringing this destruction of souls. They — the Prussians — have successfully in- jected into Germany the venom of a corrupt na- tional egotism, the pride of the superman, and a hatred against the rest of the world. They have not even hesitated to deny the very name of Chris- 186 THE FUNDAMENTAL LAW OF BEING tianity for political purposes. To gain the good will and confidence of the Turks, they have for a long time past played Mohammedans. Emperor Wilhelm, at the time he entered into an alliance with the Sultan, 1898, addressed the latter as follows : "Your Majesty will know that the German phil- osopher Ernest Haeckel teaches a theory of mon- ism, which is a doctrine of one and only one God. That doctrine separates the German peoples from the faith in the Trinity, and smooths away our dif- ference with tlie book of the Koran. I know that the Mohammedan world professes Christ as a prophet, and that our people will soon receive Mo- hammed as their last prophet." The writer citing the words of the German Em- peror, says that the Germans made serious endeav- ors in Constantinople to convince the Mohamme- dans that Germany already professed Mohamme- danism. All this is in keeping with Germany's philosophy of the "superman," as it is in keeping with her his- tory and her political philosophy, which the learned Treitschke summed up in these words: "For the sake of one's own power it is permitted to forcibly extirpate other nationalities, not retreating even before their murder." In the huge constellation of nations, which hith- erto advanced in disorder, uncertain of its aims, some move on steadily like the fixed stars, under the standard of immortal ideas — others, less lumi- nous and less deserving — which have as yet elab- orated no clear notion of their aims — borrow their 187 A WORLD PROBLEM light from the great nations in whose orbit they move. Now and then, some nation breaks away like a comet from the constellation of mankind, de- stroying the fundamental harmony among men; or there is a nation which has not yet entered the common orbit and suddenly commences to create turmoil, to break laws, to destroy order, and to carry in its wake dangerous outbursts, clashings of blind force, and countless misfortunes and calami- ties. Such a scene was enacted in the late war. A col- lision of long imprisoned rights and ideals caused the great conflagration. Nations gathered into two inimical camps. Even ancient Asia and the youth- ful, naive peoples of Africa felt that some gigantic war was imminent, and that mankind must place itself on the defensive. -Freedom loving peoples united under the banner of Right and Justice, un- der the leadership of France, England and Italy which represent the Christian civilization. The blood of millions kept on flowing. The walls of the human Sinai loomed forth amid fire and thunder. Sacred rights and noble ideas have been thrown into chaos. Altars of great beliefs and sen- timents have been upturned, and are burning down, but the cry of longing, of desire and of hope is growing loud; the human will is being crystallized. The Spirit knows what it desires and what is to its triumph, once the deadly struggle comes to a close. The Spirit of humanity is awakening to its grave faults and errors. The fundamental rights of men are violated, and trampled into blood, slaughter, fratricidal crimes 188 THE FUNDAMENTAL LAW OF BEING and ruin The unerring consequence of crime is being realized in its inevitable punishment ; cataclysms of nature equally as cataclysms of Spirit follow the violation of fundamental laws. The im- mortal tables lie at the foot of the flaming Mount Sinai broken and blood-spotted. Upon it, ages ago, God conversed with the prophet of His chosen peo- ple, and censured them for deifying the golden calf. . . . Ages have passed, and humanity once more stands upon the cross road. It seems that amid the thunder and fire, hidden to the eye, the invisible Spirit of God again holds council with humanity. Shall the golden calves of Violence and Might be destroyed — shall the free spirit of mankind — the regulator of life and righteousness, rise? Shall the broken love of Christ's divine teaching embrace governments, restore harmony to the nations, moving within its orbit — shall it shorten the course of dangerous comets, convert them, and place them in its blessed procession? It is in fear and suffering we are awaiting the great sentence of the future. 189 CHAPTER X BEFORE THE WORLD TRIBUNAL DOES humanity comprise all nations, or are only some few selected? Are all nations true members of humanity, or only those that enjoy freedom? Does it possess a collective soul? These questions occur to our mind, calling for an answer. The answer to them is found in the his- tory of nations, that move around the sun of eternal truth. Some of them are imbued with high ideals and possess a set purpose of activity; others move on in the regions of darkness and depraved appe- tites ; still others, advance half awake, scarcely con- scious of their being and their true aim. All the nations move in their onward march, though there is great difference in the way they move. It is very painful for them to effect harmony from chaos and confusion. Sometimes, however, a nation breaks away from the common orbit, and, like a comet, hurls itself after some object, destroying the equilibrium and harmony, entire ages labored to form. Such comet- nations are a stumbling block to humanity, which strives hard to establish one fundamental and har- monious tone of life, based on equal laws for all. The aim to create such harmony holds out bright promises, even with the slow progress it makes. Nations and races are bent on compromise, which is to be effected through their best representatives. 191 A WORLD PROBLEM Meetings and congresses are held with a view to discussing the project. Women the world over, laborers and professional men, writers, thinkers, poets and philosophers are one in this. They rep- resent a choir of different but harmonious voices. They sing the strong and triumphant song of the united thought of men. So united, men begin to weigh things, to enact laws that oblige all, and are needed for all. A moral atmosphere develops and begins to encompass everything. The noblest of men who stand spon- sors to truth and the ideals of life, unite their thoughts and sentiments to produce what may be called the conscience of the world. Has every na- tion a voice in this conscience of the world, or is it only some few that can claim that privelege? To have this voice, a nation must possess ideals that matured in an atmosphere of freedom; it must possess a fully developed national soul. A free na- tion alone can develop its psyche, so as to be an asset to humanity. Enslaved nations scarcely knowing why they exist, can be of little advantage to mankind and are bound to be lost among the nations which lead in the creation of a true civilization. It must be remembered that Poland — the cradle of Slavism — had never been subdued. No Turks have ruled over her, as over Serbia; nor have the Tartars, who subjugated Russia ; nor have the Ger- mans dominated her as they dominated the Bohe- m.ians. The Polish language and Polish national Ideals claim ten centuries of free development. The world war presented terrible turmoil, and 192 BEFORE THE WORLD TRIBUNAL prepared to change the course of history. Violent and destructive comets started on their course. Pressed suddenly by force and violence, the unset- tled harmony among the nations broke complete- ly. The sun-idea hid behind dark clouds. Preda- tory agencies started a mad struggle against such human rights as flow from the very essence of humanity. Millions shed their blood in a frightening penalty for allowing monstrous force to condemn the moral laws that underlie the activities of nations. Crim- inal excesses and wholesale murders were bound to come to an end. The catastrophies that fright- ened the world cannot but create a world conscience clearer and more responsive than any which existed heretofore. Questions of international importance shall be judged by this world conscience. The scale of history is aw?iiting the decision and judgment of the entire world, in the face of new catastrophies, and new havocs worked with ancient culture and civilization. Humanity must assert its sacred rights. They have been violated too insolently and too long. Humanity clearly sees that national rights are sacred and inviolable, and that a just punishment awaits their violation. It is the violation of the fundamental law given by Christ Himself in the New Testament, that brings these calamities and unusual sufferings. Nations which have been oppressed by force, de- mand their wrongs be atoned, that their national rights be restored, and that they be given back their native soil. Force is suffering shipwreck; moral right is coming into its own. The world conscience 193 A WORLD PROBLEM awakens. Martyr nations gather before the world forum, taking their places according to their mer- its, and giving the first place to the martyr trin- ity: Poland, Belgium, Serbia. Behind them many other suffering and enslaved nations gather to demand their inalienable rights — freedom and independence. They point to the wrongs and sufferings inflicted upon them. They voice a complete equality of national rights, broth- erhood among men and unhampered liberty regard- ing external and internal relations. Nations are awakening to the fact that the inestimable sacrifices of today are bound to result in a better future, that as it took long wars and much bloodshed to abolish feudalism and to re-enforce individual rights, so the huge world war must bring freedom to all nations, their slavery must forever cease, and ungodly Might must at last be suppressed. "For our freedom and yours." This is the his- toric motto of Poland and the same motto the lead- ing Western nations adopted and proclaimed in the world war. But what nations are to be liberated first, if not those that became the first victims of the war, and among them, the oldest sponsor to Western Civiliz- ation, Poland, whose ideal motto has today been taken up by the leading Powers in the struggle for Democracy. The world conscience, which is intent on scrutin- izing the underlying causes of the world war is keenly alive to this. But let us gauge the public opinion and see what attitude leading men and na- 194 BEFORE THE WORLD TRIBUNAL tions take. The first thing to strike us is that the name of Poland is upon the lips of the world. Poets, artists and musicians, men of science, his- torians and philosophers are the first to give expres- sion to the leading spirit among the nations. It is they who best express upon the string of their souls the leading thoughts and sentiments. of mankind. Such individual and collective utterances harbin- ger the formation of a law, that has yet been un- known in the history of men, but which triumph- antly rises over the turmoil of the war — it is the "Habeas Corpus" of nations — their sacred right to existence. The French revolution resulted in a "Habeas Corpus" of the individual man — when per- sonal slavery and absolute personal subjection was branded as hideous. Today a great "Habeas Cor- pus" of all the nations which have hitherto been enslaved and suppressed, is rising from amid the war and taking a definite shape. We live in extraordinary times. A collective will is being formed for the purpose of preventing wholesale murders, of raising an international tribunal, and creating a league of nations which would safeguard the safety and freedom of the m- dividual nation. Men have had enough of blood- shed, sufferings and destruction of life and prop- erty. President Wilson urges a League of Nations, the neutral powers in Europe call for a court of arbitration. Thus has the conscience of humanity awakened, and we must believe — otherwise, we would lose faith in humanity, civilization and the undying ideals of life — that it shall not rest content, until 195 A WORLD PROBLEM the wanton wrongs and historical crimes have been atoned for. Among the nations awaiting the sentence of the international tribunal regarding their future, the Jewish nation is present. We have learned that the Jews, despite their racial endowment, have exerted a negative influence upon humanity, by reason of their egoism, their pitilessness, their cynicism, and their inborn contempt for everything that is alien to them. Apart from the material disadvantages they brought upon men, the Jews showed them- selves strong opponents to Christian ideals and thus have infected human thought. Such influences are hard to fathom ; only the most sensitive — the most christianized nations may de- tect the result of this influence in the apparent Juda- ization of men. We may repeat here that the prin- ciple of Might above Right is essentially Semitic. Some nations have yielded to that influence more than others, according to their native adaptability. But v\^hat must strike one as peculiar, is the fact that the Polish nation has least yielded to the Jewish influences, though Poland had for centuries har- bored the bulk of the Jews. The rare resistibility the Poles showed against these influences — which in other countries made a great progress — is due to the spirit of Christianity which has entered deeply into the life of Poland. Again referring to the Jews infecting the Chris- tian spirit of mankind, we may ask whether hu- manity has not — perhaps — been guilty in causing the Jews to exert a negative influence? We must put here the first axiom of life, that every human I 196 BEFORE THE WORLD TRIBUNAL being needs to have a place under the sun. Have the Jews a right to existence and to a place on earth? It is through no fault of nations that history proved fatal to the Jews. It is their own fault that they forsook their country, instead of defending it against the enemy. But the fact is, they left their country, and this brought evil results upon them and upon the world. The Jew stands before us in his spiritual mutilation. A nation, like a plant, must have its soil, climate and environment, to develop properly. Dispersed over the face of the earth, the Jews became a nation without a country, and naturally, such qualities as develop from the love and attachment to one's country have not developed among the Jews. The principle reason, then, why the Jews worked harm to humanity lies in the fact that they have been deprived of their own country — Palestine. No doubt humanity has not realized what disadvan- tages accrued to the Jews from this fact, as such problems are hardly understood even today — in the twentieth century of civilization. This then is the first reason for the moral sick- ness among, the Jews. The Jews have remained true to their ancient faith. They have ever acted on this principle: "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." But have the Christian nations abode by the principles of their faith? The Christian world has adopted and followed a strikingly curious method in dealing with the Jews. Humanity has felt, rather than adequately under- stood, the fatal harm Jews have exerted upon the 197 A WORLD PROBLEM Christian nations. In an attempt to offset this harm, many nations subjected the Jews to repres- sive measures, wronged and exiled them. Tolerant to creed and race, Poland alone extended to them home and shelter. This has been Poland's policy. But what was the policy the Christian world at large adopted? Nations had admittedly a right to defend them- selves against the Jewish danger, and, therefore, they had a right to adopt means to ward off the danger. They could certainly adopt nobler means than persecution, and a better policy than the one which permitted wronging and condemning the Jews. Instead of inculcating them with the prin- ciples of Christian morality, the Christian nations were content to brand them, to condemn and ridi- cule them. Such was the attitude of the Christian world to the Jews. It seemingly had nothing bet- ter to offer. Heroic missionaries went among the most savage peoples in Asia and Africa, and braved their lives even among the cannibals, to teach the Gospel of Christ. Meantime the Jews, who lived in the midst of Christian nations, has been alto- gether overlooked. Why should the Jews alone have been exempted from the salutary rays of the doctrine of Christ? The history of the Church shows various coun- tries and peoples, whither missionaries went to preach the Gospel of Christ, but it can show no place where endeavors were made to convert the Jews. It looks as though some mystery, or some strange coincidence of facts, an unrelenting logic of events, or the silent Nemesis of history had prej- 19S BEFORE THE WORLD TRIBUNAL udiced men against the Jews, who crucified the Master of Nazareth. Briefly, no attempt has anyv/here been made to convert the Jews to Christianity. The individual cases of Jewish conversion were either spontaneous or sporadical. They usually followed repressive measures, governments enacted against them, as was the case in Russia, or some exigencies that forced them into embracing Christianity. But no missionary work has ever been taken up to convert the Jews, though there were missionaries to en- lighten the least civilized peoples. Herein lies another injustice to the Jews — Christ invited all to the table of His feast, even from the highways and byways, but men shut the door to the chosen people. Ages have passed, but no effort, no attempt has been made to win over this people to the great truths of Christianity. Has this been in keeping with the teachings of Christ, of Chris- tianity, the Christianity professed by European nations? On the contrary, the Christian world has persecuted and branded the Jews, and thus has only deepened their isolation, and increased their hatred towards the doctrines of Christ. The Jews were first deprived of their native land. Next they were driven, by common approval, from the family of Christian nations. So excluded from the law of brotherhood, and so bereft of their coun- try, the Jews naturally cleaved, like a revengeful fatum to every walk of life, endeavoring in every way to spread the venom of their wrongs, their bit- terness and their old hatred against the "goys" — the Christians. History records no instance, where 199 A WORLD PROBLEM Jews have shown a general tendency to embrace the loving Gospel of Christ. They went their own way, sorfy-eyed and isolated. It was only the in- dividual Jews that forsook the Talmud and em- braced the Christian religion. In Poland, more than any other country, the Jews were known to repudiate the Talmud and to embrace the Christian religion. Poland was the only country where the Jews were treated like human beings, where no open hatred and no perse- tions contaminated a Christian nation. In fact, there was the so-called movement of the Frank- ists, perhaps the first of its kind in the history of the Jews — among the Jews in Poland, when large numbers of Jewish families embraced the Catholic religion, separated from their fanatic coreligionists and made up a separate community. The Polish republic showed that it fully understood the signifi- cance of the movement by enacting laws admitting such Jews as embraced the State religion to the rank of the nobility. The converted Jews became true Poles, and considered Poland their mother country. The Polish nation found itself equal to this highly humanitarian and democratic act, but the Chinrch failed to make use of the excellent op- portunity the Frankists movement held out to her, an opportunity to appeal to the egoistic and iso- lated Jewish soul, and to encourage it to embrace the doctrine of Christ. The principle "Love and forgive" has not as yet permeated Christian nations to such an extent as to soften their feelings towards a people who have ever been regarded as the enemies of Christendom. 200 BEFORE THE WORLD TRIBUNAL Yet, Christian love, such as has been exemplified in Poland, and its negation — suspicion, distruct, hat- red — as exemplified by the Jews, have given ample evidence in the Polish Republic, that such a com- promise is something that is possible of realization. However, no adequate measures were taken to bring the compromise about. The two powers — the Church and the Nation — have not united in an ef- fort to encourage the movement and to bring it to a successful issue. The estrangement of the two peoples grew worse until it developed into the serious social and polit- ical malady of Poland today. However, it is hoped that, together with the Jewish problem the world over, it will be righted by the International Tri- bunal, that is to make good national wrongs and maladies. The Jews were keenly alive as to what the tribu- nal of nations could do for them, and they held po- litical meetings in the various cities of the United States, where they wield an enormous influence. These meetings were held secretly, whenever possi- ble. They wield their influence through the press, the universities, their capital and their influential posi- tions. A Jewish congress was planned for May, 1917 by representatives of 51 "national" organiza- tions, representing the 3,000,000 Jews living in the United States. It was to discuss the problem of de- manding civil and political rights for the Jews the world over. The question of Palastine was likewise to be discussed and Jewish leaders the world over, 201 A WORLD PROBLEM have united in an endeavor to secure a vote in the great world congress. In regard to Poland, the Jews once more changed their attitude, following Germany's and Austria's proclamation of a free Poland. Elsewhere, we have alleged facts showing how insolently insistent they were in demanding a recognition of their jargon, which even Austria denied them a demand they would not dare to make in any other country. But they feel that they have the right of way in Poland, which is overcrowded with Jews. They openly de- manded there, that their language be recognized in schools — in courts and even in state offices. The Germans did not interfere with their aggressive de- mands, as .they knew that the Jews constituted a strong vanguard to Germanism. The Jews were uncompromising in their struggle for the jargon, and the Polish language was abolished wherever it was possible. The Jews were humble servants of the Germans, and did their utmost to introduce Ger- man culture into Poland. These are facts. The Manifesto of Duke Nicholas terrified the Jews and frustrated their bitter attack against Po- lonism, when such Jews as: Zabotinskij, Priluckij, etc., became known as unmitigated Russificators ; they were astonished when they heard, in the midst of their plans for a Jewish Poland, that Germany and Austria had proclaimed an independent Poland. The Jews are both crafty and morally flexible, and they can most readily re-arrange their political schemes, when necessary. They can readily push to the front the Jew in sympathy with Poland and declare him to be wholly given to Polonism. As a 202 BEFORE THE WORLD TRIBUNAL people, the Jews have been for centuries addicted to Parasitism. As in the vegetable kingdom, certain plants assume the color of the surrounding vegeta- tion, so as to conceal the destruction wrought on its organism, just so the parasitic Jew assumes the color of the nation in which he lives, in order to live his life and thrive unmolested. These truths appear simple and evident. But we must remember that the Poles learned them only after they had for ages lived on intimate terms with the Jews, and after they had experienced tragic dis- appointments at the hand of the exiled Jews, who followed the way of the least resistance and who ever played upon the lowest instincts of human na- ture. In again assuming a friendly attitude towards the Poles — the Jews showed how readily they can feign friendship and love — when it is to Jewish in- terest to do so. An enthusiasm was accordingly aroused among the dark masses in the Ghetto, in Warsaw, and cries of "Long live Poland" resounded there. Anti-Polish papers had suddenly changed their tone. The Jew, Sokolow, for instance, who alleged shocking things about Poland in the lectures he gave in Galicia, writes in his "Hacefir" hymns of praise in favor of Poland, scoffs at Russia for per- secuting the Poles and the Jews, holds her respon- sible for awakening in Poland the antagonism be- tween the Poles and the Jews, and recalls the tol- erance of the former Polish Republic. The jargon paper "Warsch. Tageblatt" is no less enthusiastic : "Long live Poland! The day when Poland has 203 A WORLD PROBLEM been freed shall be written in history as a day of victory of moral right over brutal force. We Jews doubly welcome the great day of Poland. We wel- come it as citizens of the country with which his- tory has united us, and we firmly believe that Poland's liberation will result in a social and po- litical liberation." The Jewish young men's alliance "Zagiew" also made a fiery appeal. We do not mean to question the sincerity of this appeal, as there were and still are in Poland, Jews who have the good of the coun- ery at heart. The appeal reads, in part: "Polish Jews ! ! "The land where you have sojourned for hun- dreds of years, the country you inhabit — Poland — celebrates today a memorial day — a day when she rose from a state of subjection to a state of freedom and independence. "Polish Jews ! We believe that from this day on, you will know how to show by word and deed that you, too, are capable of unfeigned sentiments of gratitude and love for the land which for centuries has nourished your forefathers and which contains their dust." The happy change in the political situation made the Jews assume a friendly attitude towards the Poles. But those are only words. We must see the Jews actually espouse the Polish cause. Jews in Amer- ica have decided on making a national loan of $400,000,000.00 to be spent in safeguarding Jewish trade and industry in Poland, and to buy land from 204 BEFORE THE WORLD TRIBUNAL such Poles as have become bankrupt during the war. While the Jews in Poland endeavored to dis- play their sympathy with our cause, the American Jews made it known to the Polish National Defense Committee — holding council in New York City — that they demand of the future Poland a recogni- tion of the national rights of Polish Jews and the introduction of the jargon in school, court and of- fice. Briefly, they demand a state within a state, and only on these conditions do they promise to uphold Poland's interests in the international con- gress. These are the Jewish plans in relation to Poland. As regards the jargon, which they persist in calling their native tongue, James SchifF, of Philadelphia, maintained at a congress of Jewish publicists that it is dying out, and that the younger Jewish gen- erations absolutely refuse to speak it. Still, the Jews in Poland insist upon its recognition, contrary to all rights of the cultural language of Poland. They do not insist so much on equal rights in Poland (which no one wishes to deny them), but they want their Jewish national integrity guaran- teed. No nation can concede them this, unless it wants to commit national suicide. We must register new victories the Jews gained in Poland during the German occupancy, which are many considering the short time taken to acquire them. The German Government, even though Poland was declared free, placed no obstacles in their way. In fact, it decided on creating an effi- cient Jewish vanguard, a much-desired wedge, with 205 A WORLD PROBLEM which to split the cohesive strength of the Polish nation. The Jews were surprisingly persistent in demand- ing the use of the jargon. They filed petitions with the authorities, which bore thousands of signatures, asking that the jargon be introduced into the schools. They also demanded a Jewish chair in the University of Warsaw. They further insisted upon schools being closed on Saturdays and during Jewish holidays. Meantime, the jargon press boasted openly of the extent to which the Jewish national sentiment had been aroused. In fact, the number of jargon theatres and the various Jewish institutions have steadily increased. How strong the present "Jewish national" separatistic tendency has become in Poland is manifest from the statistics lately compiled in Lodz. They show 98.5% of the Jews living in that city who consider the "jargon" their mother tongue, and who profess the "Jewish nationality." A meeting was held in the city of Kutno with a view to having the jargon introduced into the local schools there. The speakers insisted upon the Hebrew instead of the jargon, but they met with no approval from the audience, and when a Jewish lawyer tried to show the need of the Polish tongue in the schools, he caused such an uproar among the listeners he was unable to finish his speech. This is how the Polish-Jewish affairs stand in the Polish country now. This is the way the Jewish soul opens its secrets to the public eye. How distant, indeed, have the Polish dreams become, which pictured the two peoples united in brotherly 206 BEFORE THE WORLD TRIBUNAL affection, with an undivided love for their common country. The momentous recent events have dis- carded appearance and exposed the various peoples in theijr true light. We are facing a depth of life that is strikingly eloquent.- It is our duty to draw from it practical lessons for the future. But there are some more appalling facts. In January, 1917, the various cities in the King- dom of Poland held their council elections. In Lodz 83% of the citizens cast their vote. The election campaign was especially animated in the suburbs of Lodz, in Tomaszowo, Pabjanice and Zgierz. The result of the election in Lodz was as follows : Alto- gether 52 city councillors were chosen. Among them 24 were Jews, 7 Germans, 12 Polish demo- crats, 5 Polish central democrats, 2 representatives of the Polish trade union and 2 members of the Polish citizens party. The Viennese "Arb. Ztg." received the news that in Lublin, 10 Jews and 2 Poles were elected city councillors from the second curia. In other cities, the Jews formed strong platforms, refusing to enter into understanding with the Poles. The Jewish nationalists, from the Polish terri- tory of which Austria took possession, held a con- ference in Lublin. The Jewish platform organized in Piotrkow decided that only such Polish candi- dates as were willing to give a written promise to defend Jewish interests could expect to receive help from it. The attempt Poles made in Radom to come to an understanding with the Jews failed, while their understanding with the Germans was close and intimate. 207 A WORLD PROBLEM This clearly shows what the mutual attitude of the two peoples promises to be in future Poland, where Jews are doing everything to obtain complete autonomy. We have before us a late appeal issued by the Jewish socialistic organization called the "Bund," embracing Poland and Lithuania. It treats of the relations of the Jewish laboring parties to rising Poland. To quote it, in part: "The Jewish proletariat in Poland has every reason to fear that the Polish Anti-Semitic cliques, who aim at nationalizing life in Poland and in every way combating the 'Jewish peril,' will make use of their state power, as soon as attained, in violently repressing Jews and in uncompromisingly combatting the Jewish tongue and culture! As to the future: It is evident that a national autonomy, including the present boundaries, does not entirely solve the question, not even on the basis of broadest de- mocracy; it gives, however, the highest guar- antee to the nations it embraces, and allows them a free cultural development. The final victory of socialism will alone bring absolute freedom to nations." The Foreign Committee of a General Jewish Labor Union in Lithuania, Poland and Ruthenia (Bund). December, 1916. The Jews evidently considered their national autonomy in Poland as a postulate that is self- evident. But that is not all. Dr. Weisenberg pub- lished another article in the "Jewrewskaja Nied- iela," in which he spoke of the Jewish-Poland pro- gram. 208 BEFORE THE WORLD TRIBUNAL "The writer is opposed to the. abolition of the 'Pale of Settlement,' as that would impair the homogeniety of the Jewish population in Poland. He fears lest the Jews, seeking new and very seductive treasures, discard that moral and material treasure long generations labored to acquire." Those treasures, according to Dr. Weisenberg, are accumulated in Poland, and for this reason the Jews ought to consider Poland the centre of their gravitation. These expressions need no comment. They forecast an unexpected and terrible reality that threatens in the near future. The Poles may not remain blind to it, as it prepares to disinherit them of the sacred rights they have to their native soil, in a way that not even the sword of the usurpers meant to deprive them. The attack sur- passes, for its frightening intent, any that has ever happened in history, and the likelihood of such a spectral conspiracy as the creation of an independ- ent Jewish Kingdom within the thoroughly Chris- tian Poland, ought to make the Poles mobilize all resources and to thoroughly awaken their conscious- ness in a strong effort to oppose it. In proportion as the Jews in Poland develop in power and influ- ence, the Palestine question is losing in popularity. "Hacefir," which was an organ of the Zionists in Warsaw, went out of business for want of support. Such conditions obtain in Poland today, but when the English were nearing Jerusalexn, the Jews of the world raised a hue and cry that Palestine must be restored to them, as any usurped country must be restored to the nation that claims it. The Jews 209 A WORLD PROBLEM in Palestine are relatively fewer than they are in Poland ; peoples, other than the Jews, live in Pales- tine, but for the sake of common good, humanity ought to find a place for them in their own country. Poland cannot be a reservoir for Jews v/ho are refused admittance to other countries, despite such secret plans as those revealed by Dr. Magnes in the New York "Jud. Tag.," after his return from Poland and Germany. It must be remembered, too, that the Jewish na- tional loan with which to help the Jews in Poland is to reach the sum of $400,000,000. When the usurper's sword has been removed from over our heads, the Jews prepare to subdue Poland with gold. The Jews are m.aking the most in Poland, both of political affairs and economical resources. The papers daily give the names of Jews who are ar- rested for conducting secret stores, where they sell, among other products, petroleum and alcohol, which is rigidly forbidden. They smuggle alcohol under various pretexts, and when they are caught and fined, they plead with all the innocence they can summon: "This is war time and one must make a living." Meantime, they deprecate the Austrian government, in order to safeguard Jewish rights. All this clearly points to the nature of the relation between the Poles and the Jews in Poland. It is clear, by the policy the Jews have pursued of late, that despite the proclamation of an inde- pendent Polish State, they cherish some ulterior aims, dearer to them than the independence of Poland. The most urgent duty of the Polish nation 210 BEFORE THE WORLD TRIBUNAL today is to defend its soil, its character and its cul- ture — which is the purest Slav nations possess — against the infectious and destructive Semitic psyche. The situation is clear. Further delusions are im- possible. Not only one Aryan and Christian nation must defend itself, but it is necessary that all the Aryan nations, which are one in culture and the loveful religion of Christ, must unite in safeguard- ing the soul of the Christian world against the Semitic contagion. What is the world to do in the face of this crying necessity? Let us go back to the underlying causes of this world problem which clamors for a solution. Two historic facts stand out prominently in the problem: one is, that the Jews are without a coun- try; the other, that they are outside the pale of the Christian religion. The underlying cause of the first is fate and their own historical blunders, which brought an age-long expiatory exile, while respon- sible for the second are positive legislation^-on the part of some nations — and the Church — hence the results — an infection of national life and the devel- opment of forces in opposition to the doctrine of Christ. The future tribunal of nations must remedy the great calamity of life — but how? There can be but one answer: By a complete removal of the causes that underlie the evil. Pales- tine had been, centuries ago, the native land of the Jews. It brings to their mind their dreams, their longings, traditions and fond remembrances. Palestine shaped the Jews physically and morally; 211 A WORLD PROBLEM it developed in them a psyche that is in keeping with the nature of their native soil, with the heavens, sun and stars that shine over it. Their return to the country of their forefathers can alone restore to them the health of body and soul, which they have impaired or lost in their exile. Pales- tine's restoration to the Jews is a political as well as a moral necessity to the Jews. It is a crying necessity, in point of justice, which should be meted to every nation, but then, too, it must be brought to a decisive issue by way of self- defense on the part of the Christian nations, whose moral character is susceptible to the decomposing factors of the Semitic spirit.. A free development should be guaranteed to all nations; the "habeas corpus" of the individual nations must needs con- stitute the cornerstone to the moral laws that are to govern all nations. The Jews then ought to be allowed a free development, subject to no extra- neous will, but it should not entail any harm or lowering of the status of civilization of other na- tions. In Palestine, the Jews can develop their own political ideas, inasmuch as they attain to them. They can develop there a Jewish culture. But this they may not do in Europe, upon the very bodies of other nations, and to the harm and dis- advantages of peoples among whom they chance to live. To show the measures Jews have taken with a view to expropriating us from our native soil, and to create a Palestine there, we shall quote an appeal the Jewish Alliance in Paris (Alliance Israelite 212 BEFORE THE WORLD TRIBUNAL Universelle) made, several years ago, to their co- religionists in Galicia. It reads: "Brethren in Faith ! There is no place in all the world which suits us so well and over which we must hold a complete dominion, as is Ga- licia. That country must be our country — everything there redounds to our favor! Try, brethren in faith — try the best you can to ob- tain a complete control over that country. Try to remove all the Christians there from all the spheres of their activity, and to become the ab- solute masters of the land. Endeavor to obtain possession over all that they still hold, and if you are wanting in the necessary means to at- tain the purpose, our Alliance shall supply you with whatever you need. Contributions for this end have already begun to flow in with unex- pected results. Jewish millionaires the world over are subscribing a fund to buy out Galician land from the hands of Galicians, and to place you in possession over it. Baron Hirsch, the Rothschilds, Bleichroeber and the Mendels- sohns are contributing to the fund. Do all you can, brethren in faith, that the project we are pointing out to you may be attained as soon as possible." The endeavors the Jews had constantly made under the cover of secrecy, goodwill, and even under an apparent patriotism, are certainly clear. Their idea has been to acquire ownership of the landed possessions in Poland, to deprave the national life of the Poles, to vitiate their ideals, their aspirations 213 A WORLD PROBLEM and dreams, annihilate Polonism, and to place the triumphant Judaism in its stead. It is in the interest of humanity that the Jews be restored their country after the war, which is but a form of expiation nations are making for their historical faults and blunders. Let the Jews go to the rejuvenating fountains of Palestine, that they may not under any pretense develop an independent and parasitic existence upon the bodies of other nations; that they may not spread their thoughts and ideals to the ruin of Christian nations ; nor that they may grow rich from the labor and wrongs of peoples. "Give place to justice," we have the right to call out, in the face of the radical change that is taking form in the world, and also recognize the right to self-defense. Restore to the Jews their country, but do not deprive nations, which have contributed to the culture and civilization of the world, of their country. Poland, which counts millions of Jews who have been maliciously pushed into her territory, has a special right to cry out to the world: "Free the most Christian nation of the ruinous parasites, who are poisoning its life." Poland has a spe- cial right to demand this, as vast numbers of the Jews, inimical to her welfare, were forced to settle on Polish territory. Had Poland only the Jews, at- tracted to her by her liberal laws, we maintain in the light of Polish history and the character of truly Polish Jews, that Poland would have been free of the acute Jewish problem she is vexed with today. Poland would have solved the problem in 214 BEFORE THE WORLD TRIBUNAL the practical spirit of religion which commands us to consider exiles as brothers, and to surround them with legal protection and sympathy. Political adversities did not interfere with Poland making her Jews the most cultured, the most hu- mane, and the least fanatical of Jews. Though she, in the time of her freedom, failed to induce them to embrace the Christian faith, she permeated the representative Jews with a love for the country which gave them home and shelter. They cast off their narrow, egoistic, Jewish ideals and learned to love her ideals, her aims, her aspirations, and thus earned the right of citizenship, which Poland by no means wants to deny them. Such Polish Jews are true citizens of Poland. They offer her their services, they love her, and they teach their children to serve her. They wish for no other country than Poland; they know no other language but hers; the lot of the Polish na- tion is dear to them, and they gladly share it — for better and for worse. We have no fears as to these Jews. We are sure of their sincerity. Prominent among them is the Polish Jew Segel, who brands the unwarranted Jewish clamoring for the jargon, for a national autonomy, etc., and asks without any hesitation, why Jews do not ask for the same rights in Berlin, Paris, London, and even in New York and Chicago, as they claim in Poland? He further ex- poses the open hypocrisy of the Russian liberals, who pose as Jewish protectors in Poland, while in Russia they are denied the most elementary rights. On the one hand, he points to Russian literature, which invariably ridicules the Jew; and on the 216 A WORLD PROBLEM r Other, he recounts the noblest Polish writers, who were one in enfranchising the Polish Jews, in* the same manner as the Polish Republic had done. The best of the Jews, whose number is unfortunately limited, know that had the world at large treated the Jews as did Poland, the Jewish separatism, excluding the Jews from the rights of nations, would not have reached the present stage. It is but meet that one of the youngest Jewish writers should call out: "Let us finally leave Judaism Let us become regenerated Let us enter Humanity." It would seem that the Jews should adopt these words as a timely slogan. However, these merely betray the enlightment of individuals, from whom the fanatic and stagnant Jewish masses are far re- moved. Those who desire to "finally leave Juda- ism" are surer not to seek any Palestine. They are satisfied with humanity, and humanity is sat- isfied with them, as they reduced the wall of sep- aratism and moral stagnacy with the dynamic of their love, which longs to be united with nations. But the fanatic and parasitic Jews, those who desire to perpetuate their individualism in their jargon schools, and in the separatistic training of the rabbis, those who desire to see Israel attain to power and succeed in destroying the rights of other nations, subjecting them under the Jewish control; alll these have no place among the Aryan nations, and the Semitic contagion in Europe should be .stayed. We must cite here an account, illustrating the Jewish nationalistic struggle recently set on foot 216 BEFORE THE WORLD TRIBUNAL in Poland. The "National Voice" writes under the caption, "The Dwellers of the Ghetto": "The Jewish nationalists (who in their youth- ful enthusiasm resolved to leave for Palestine, but, in the end, decided on staying in Poland) have for a length of time insisted upon 'equal rights' for their jargon. "They made no headway in Galicia, as Aus- tria and all the other countries do not recognize the Jews as a nation, but merely as a religious community. "Much-desired fields had been opened to the Jews in the newly created Kingdom of Poland. "The Jewish nationalists found their way into the City Council in Warsaw under the name of the 'Jewish Popular Leaders,' and at once outlined their platform. The Jews in Poland are a 'national minority,' a 'second nation' in relation to the Poles, and over and above their social rights, they rightly claim such rights as emanate from their own national character. Their 'national language,' the jargon, must be- come the language of the public life, as is the Polish. At the outset, the capital of Poland must give a jargon school to the Jewish peo- ple, and confide its rectorship, both educational and administrative, to a special 'Jewish dele- gation.' " This motion, made by the Litwaks, Prilucki and Hirsztow, and seconded by Ciszewski, a social- democrat, and one who sympathizes with the "Jew- ish popular leaders," was, as a matter of fact, re- jected by the City Council, on the plea that the laws 217 A WORLD PROBLEM of the Kingdom of Poland do not discriminate against the Jews as a separate nation. Korenfeld, a Jew, but one who considers himself a Pole, also rose in opposition to the demand. He endeavors to show in his pamphlet, "The Dwellers of the Ghetto," that the jargon is not the Jewish national tongue; on the contrary, it may serve to show the complete disappearance of a national Jew- ish being, as it did away with the tongue the Jews spoke in Palestine. He says : "The jargon is a mark of the Jewish Ghetto, just as it is a mark of extreme want, ignorance and slovenliness." If the "Jewish popular leaders" appeal to the force of fact, then they must be reminded that the extreme misery of certain Jews is also a fact, that their slovenliness is a fact, but does it follow that they should be pre- served? The jargon, Mr. Korenfeld maintains, is a language, which grew among the uneducated and low classes, and is a collection of forms and ex- pressions, which have no future and which, when they reach a certain mark in their development, assume the nature of the German. To this Mr. Korenfeld adds: "We must tell the new people — homines novi — that it is not from yesterday that we are in Poland, and that is was not they who started to educate the Jews in Poland ; that our educa- tion had a tradition, a Polish and not a jargon tradition. They should be told that we were not the only ones to suffer in Poland, but that we were oppressed and persecuted in common with the entire Polish nation ; that our common misfortune attached us to the Polish soil, and 218 BEFORE THE WORLD TRIBUNAL that in the miraculous hour of her resurrection, we stand by her, ready to undergo any sacrifice in life and treasure for her future. They and others, also, should be told that we are natives of Poland, and share equally with the rest of the citizens her social and political rights; that we seek no concessions, but a still closer union and alliance ; that Poland is ours as we are hers ; that only force and violence can deprive us of her; and that only abject 'treason may betray her." In this way Mr. Korenfeld brands the truly shameful Jewish policy regarding Poland. Dr. H. Nusbaum, with other righteous citizens of Poland, is of the same opinion. However, it is the insolent majority, to all appearances, that is making the best of the situation to our greatest disadvantage. The Jews in Poland and in Europe at large can be given a complete social equality only on one condition, that the Semitic spirit becomes christian- ized by love; that the Jews will forget their cheders their exclusiveness and their fanaticism, which holds in contempts every other people. Otherwise, they must return to Palestine, where they may develop and put into practice their own view of life. This certainly is the only logical and just solution of the complicated Jewish problem which confronts the world. The Jews must either go back to Palestine, to till the soil there in the sweat of their brow, and cease swindling, manipulating, and causing sensa- tional capitalistic upheavals; or, remaining in Eu- rope, they must become christianized in spirit, must 219 A WORLD PROBLEM learn to love and become imbued with Arian ideals, with the aims and purposes of mankind. We must yet quote the latest triumphs the Jews gained in Poland in the instance of the German government. The Jewish National Autonomy "The Polish Daily" writes that the German secretary of foreign affairs, Zimmermann, ex- plained to the 'American Jewish Chronicle,' through Ambassador Bernstorf, before the lat- ter's departure from Washington, that the new organization statute affecting the Jewish com- munities in Poland excels in point of extent everything the Jews have up to this time enjoyed. "The German provisions assure, at any rate, excellent conditions to the Jews in Poland, and a non-interference with their development. The Jewish communities may elaborate their own system of taxation, organize larger corporations to safe-guard Jewish interests, create adminis- trative councils in their communities, and in- stitute a Supreme Jewish Council. All this will enable the Jews to take part in the future gov- ernment of Poland. "Besseler made the additional statement that the Jews will not be subject to compulsory m.ilitary service in the Polish army, which, however, they may join as volunteers." These are the late victories Jews have gained on the Polish soil. They amount to a formation of a state within a state, and the only response the Pol- ish nation can give thereto is: "non possumus." It 220 BEFORE THE WORLD TRIBUNAL were suicidal to the ancient Polish culture to suffer a poisonous growth of this nature to develop upon its body. Yet, these privileges which could in no way be given to the Jews in Poland, were extended to them by the very Germans who denied every semblance of autonomy and even forbade the use of their language to the Poles in the Province of Posen, Poland's ancient cradle and her rightful possession. While the Polish blood was shed by order of the German authorities, and while a Pole was ordered to strike a Pole in the world war, Ger- many maintained that there were no Poles in Po- sen, but only Polish speaking Germans. In this way Germany has dealt with an historic nation living upon its own soil, and forced upon it laws which were foreign and inimical to its history and its ideals. It is thus that Might reigned unbridled by public opinion, and unbridled by the conscience of Christian nations. Gold and capital still have a firm hold upon the world, causing suffering and misery. They succeed in making the beautiful and serene Gospel assume a plausible appearance behind which the lust of power, abuse and violence seek a hiding. The sub- lime standard of the love of neighbor changed to the blood covered rag which permits one to make the most of his neighbor, and to destroy him in the name of wanton tyrants. Christianity, instead of starting to Christianize the souls of nations, after it had Christianized the soul of the individuals, re- ceded behind the silent church walls, became a cere- monial cult, wielding no positive influence upon the thirsty national souls. 221 A WORLD PROBLEM "Go out of the sacristies," the great Pope, Leo XIII was wont to say, and really Christianity ought to venture forth from behind the chilling walls and spread its rejuvenating influence far and wide over the neglected and abandoned avenues of life. "To reshape the world by a class struggle, by a compulsory expropriation of one's possessions, be- longings and riches — for the sake of a general equality " To render justice to the disinher- ited, to take everything into the iron clutches of compulsory division, to surround life with unbro- ken barriers, to fix the individual man into the wheels of one common machine, to tax him prop- erly, and to fetter every manner of his activity: such foundations were laid under socialism by the learned doctrines, elaborated by the masters of Jewish-German socialism: Marx, Lassalle, Engels and Kautsky. The broad ideals Marx propounded in favor of reconstructing the world did not prevent him from "learnedly" proposing to destroy the Slav nations, destining them for a German absorp- tion. It is hard to believe, but still it is a fact that Marx, a defender of the wronged and abused, took issue with the aggressive policy of Germany, he, an advocate of revolution, bowed to Prussia's Might and triumphantly uniting the outstanding idea of Germany with the hidden Jewish aims, said in 1848, at a time when nations started revolutions in an effort to obtain freedom: "The decadent nationalities, the Bohemians, Dalmatians, Chorvats, Slovanians and others, wished to seize the opportunity of the 1848 movement to recover their status quo 800 years 222 BEFORE THE WORLD TRIBUNAL after Christ. A history of ten centuries should convince them that this sort of retrogression is impossible, that if at that period of time, the countries East of Elbe and the Saale were in- habited by Slav Tribes, that fact only shows a certain historical tendency, and testifies at the same time to the physical and moral vigor Germanism possesses for conquering, absorb- ing and assimilating its old Eastern neighbors. This German tendency to absorb other nations has always been one of the strongest factors of the West-European civilization in the East. It will stop only after Germanism has reached the boundaries of the great and closely united na- tionalities. Hence, the natural and unavoidable lot of those decadent nations is to allow the stronger nations to absorb them." Marx was sorely mistaken when he denied to the Bohemians their ancient culture, and denied na- tional rights to other peoples, as those very nations "instead of being absorbed by Germany," have started history that is bound to permanently abolish the aggression and the policy of violence so peculiar to Germany. The famous propagator of socialism, which rests not on the moral right, but on national chauvinism and the principle of Might, certainly made a fine name for himself. He only furnishes another proof of what international so- cialism really is. "Reconstruct the world," calls Christianity, by way of a universal enfranchisement, but not by violence, wars and hatred. . Give unrestrained free- 223 A WORLD PROBLEM dom to all and allow nations to develop within the sphere of their own genius. In the insane world war the heavy materialism of the day is gradually disappearing, while, rising above it, is the invisible Lord — the Spirit. He knocks at the closed gates of life and listens to the echo. Millions of souls, breathing their last upon the bloody battlefields, listen to his silent steps. They are heard by nations which are awakening from their slumber and are freed of their shackles. On stalks the Spirit — over the vast fiiieds of history, sketching a plan for a new history. The world rises and hastily prepares for a struggle. The giant of the North, heavy with the blood he caused to flow and the countless crimes he inflicted on others, throws away his crowns and his tyrannical sword, and prepares to enter the new history. The Russian absolutism, Siberia, prisons, knouts, tortures, gal- lows and intrigues are disappearing, like so many nightmares. Poland may indeed feel proud that the ideals of liberty she impressed upon the very heart of Rus- sia, prepared the great triumph of freedom today. Poland rejoices and strongly believes that free Rus- sia will wash clean her past history, by proclaiming equal rights to all. Poland believes that with the fall of Czardom, the barrier of Poland to freedom has been removed, and that free Russia will uncon- ditionally recognize the rights of the Polish nation, which possesses its own character, ideals and aims. Free Russia understands that Poland's only share is a complete freedom, unburdened by any union, alliance or even federation. 224 BEFORE THE WORLD TRIBUNAL The Spirit-King of the world approaches, bring- ing with him purity and light — Hosanna! In the air we can distinctly hear the broad wings of the Spirit The Catholicism of Poland is of a broad charac- ter. The deep, living faith has unceasingly nour- ished the burning soul of Poland, and led her to other nations in a spontaneous brotherly word and deed. — "For your freedom and ours!" This shining standard waves high over human- ity today. The disappearing dark shadow of Might, violence, hatred, still lingers in places, but the light pours in streams, showing the sublime face of the eternal Law. The lips of those dying on the battlefields called longingly: "Christ. . . Christ. . ." The broken standard of the world-love — gravita- tion — begins to draw close to the dispersed na- tions. After the untold calamities the world has suffered, a song, uniting and reconciling all the nations, is seemingly intoned, and its noblest strain, "freedom and brotherhood," promises to create gol- den links of happiness, peace and harmony in the world. 225 STEPHANIE LAUDYN A World Problem Jews — Poland— Humanity A Psychological and Historical Study PART II. Translated (Eom the Polish by Casimir Sypniewshi and Ch. 0. C. "Immorality inheres — in the poet resurrec- tion — in the citizen. A day will come when the united peoples of Europe shall cry out unto Poland: Arise!" —VICTOR HUGO. INTRODUCTION The great significance to the world of the silent, united force of Jewry persuaded me, three years ago, to publish the first vol- ume, a study of the Jewish historic soul in a book entitled, "A World Problem," (Polish edition, March, 1917.) The publication is now to be completed with this, its second part. The revelations of the last two years of the world war were immeasurable in their consequences. The effects of these revela- tions, in interpreting the historic soul of Israel, I desire to submit to the people of the world's greatest Republic. The analysis of historic events, and their effect upon na- tions, the conclusions drawn therefrom, and the expectations foreseen and announced as set forth in the first volume of this book — were not only realized, but fully exceeded in the throes of the great war. The world faces the Jewish ^problem, demanding a solution of conditions, not only^ in distant Palestine, but in other nations as well. These conditions were produced, in one form or another, by the numerous com- plications of Jewish influence and activity. 229 We are facing a profound assault upon the world, an assault which threatens our very existence with grave consequences, both moral and spiritual. The Jewish infec- tion, discussed in the first volume, reached a dangerous stage during the war, and became a violent epidemic after the armistice was signed. Incontrovertible facts are before us. It is necessary to know the truth and face it squarely, in order to meet the inevitable with courage and fortitude. It is necessary to thoroughly investigate the depths underly- ing the apparent chaos, in order to disclose the truth. By giving the historic develop- ments after the deposition of the Czar, I desire to arrange facts, so as to show the general trend of Jewish machinations, and the inevitable consequences. While humanity as a whole, after the great blood-shed and the destruction of the works of centuries, tremblingly undertakes the gigantic task of reconstruction, and ref- ormation, the Jews alone are about to en- joy their promised land — to enjoy the right to develop life and culture in accordance with their own ideas — all this for a mini- mum sacrifice in blood and the privilege of doubling^their wealth by their commercial activities during the war. It would seem 'that their happiness, in view of such mag- nanimity, ought to be complete, however true to his mission of dominating the world Israel demands more, and desires an outpost 230 for Jewish propaganda in every part of the world, especially among the nations of the Near East. Israel is not content with equal rights, as are enjoyed by the free peoples of the United States of America, but desires "special privileges" for his entire race and a victor's preeminence upon the territories of other nations. Thus the "Jewish cause" appears to-day when Israel is about to enter into the poses- sions of his ancient capital. We hope and desire most fervently that he enters clothed in the vestments of regeneration. The first era of Israel — the Biblical — displays the Hebrews in their old beauty, dignity and elevation of spirit. The second period — that of the Dispersion — discloses an era of darkness, illuminated solely by secret activities at the feet of the golden calf. The third era — of liberation — promises happiness and a free existence for the world's traders. The waters of Jordan are potent to cleanse the dark stains caused by unholy practices, while the lofty traditions of old can again inspire fervent souls in the con- structive work of regeneration. Are not the love and the magnanimity of a Christendom, that uncovers and heals the iniquities of ages, that builds the world's peace on the foundation of a brotherhood of nations^ sufficiently powerful to dissolve Jewish separatism, and burst the enclosing shell of greed and self -deification? 231 This is a grand historic moment, the beginning of a New Era. But it must not be forgotten, that the glories and the triumphs of a CapitoUne Hill stand near the Tarpeian Rocks of tragic disaster. The permanence of Jewish, victory depends principally on whether the Jews are worthy of possessing their CapitoUne Hill of triumph. Humanity, organized for the first time in the world's history, under the banner of Justice and Right, does not restrict itself to the mere bestowal of favors, it tacitly lays upon us a duty. This silent command, in the presence of such wide spread upheavals, appeals to the conscience and will of every nation to give its best; to enrich and to multiply the good; to restore the disturbed balance of the world's happiness. Shall we not heed this command? We stand within a circle rendered for- ever sacred by mankind's greatest heroism. Legions of tragic forms are passing before us — grand shadowy figures of the heroes of sacrifice and effort, known and unknown. Only by their endeavors was the balance thrown on the side of liberty — and violence, brutality and tyranny were overcome. To recall the culminating crisis in the world war — that tempestuous attack by the Ameri- cans at Chateau-Thierry which crushed and prostrated everything before it — suffices fully to demonstrate the power of the spirit of a free people, when it rises in defense of its most inestimable treasures — the ideals of 232 freedom! Before it the iron forces of the Huns retreated in despair. The capital of the world's civilization — Paris — was saved and America most liberally repaid her debt to Europe. She gloriously displayed Amer- ica's faith in "living realities" and eternal ideals brought new hope and added courage to dejected Europe. We are in the midst of a heroic age, of a new order. The banner of "Excelsior" is the standard unfurled before the great future. It trembles and surges with a power hitherto unknown, and demands that the beauty and power heretofore checked and restrained, be liberated. This is the upper- most demand of the new order. Therefore, let us destroy all fettering bonds upon man's thought and spirit and liberate his creative forces. Let us tear away the veils of fsdsehood, intrigue and hate. May they with vile politics, secret cabinets, and all conspiracies equally perish. The time for accounting, and for great changes, is here. To-day, no truths are too lofty for the people to hear; no aspirations too ex- alted for the people to attain. To partici- pate actively in the collective life, to offer freely the highest efforts for the public good, is true Democracy's duty for each citizen. Let us, therefore, submit to the judgment of Truth, all that affects the free throbbing of the great world-heart, that it may ever beat in harmony with the pure efforts and high aspirations of mankind. Benevolence and unyielding Justice must enroll all in the 233 blessed and uplifting service of mankind, for the love of Humanity only, beneficent and supreme, can defend the world against ruin- ous crimes and destructive calamities. April, 1920. THE AUTHOR. 234 T CHAPTER 1 THE WORLD-WIDE ASSAULT HE swirl of historic events has carried life onward by a force of changes seldom equaled and hitherto unheard of. During the past three years we have seen the Czar's power dissolved and Russia's fetters shattered. We have witnessed the fall of powers like Germany and Austria, new states reborn, and the development of an historical principle, which must bring about a rearrangement of the world. The flames of war, the suffering, and the heat of violent changes revealed, as never be- fore, the naked souls of peoples. These things tore from the nations their masks, and forced them to declare their minds freely and powerfully. Two great divisions of humanity were dis- closed, so extremely different, and with ethical principles so absolutely irreconcilable, that the hope of reaching an understanding vanished completely. The sword alone remained as the decisive arbiter. We saw, as never before, the rising up of a savage and unbridled East, with all its destructive elements, against the cherished principles of West- ern civilization and the inspired ideals of Christian- ity. We are face to face with a hideous and un- known phenomenon — the Bolshevism of Russia. With the bursting of oppressions by which the au- tocrats held down Russia's natural aspirations, the abnormal and unhealthy elements alone remained to rule the mass v/hen the eruption came. We, 335 A WORLD PROBLEM therefore, see passions flowing unchecked by the restraining hand of civilization, passions of revenge for the neglect of centuries, inflicting murder, arson and rapine upon the world. What is this insane and menacing Bolshevism of the East? It is mainly the expression of despair, the howl of abandoned masses, blind in their ignorance, fero- cious in their cumulative hatred, and destructive in their protest and revolt against centuries of slavery and ages of neglect. What did humanity give them, and what were they fed upon? What did the Czar's regime, with its crimes, its terrors and cruel punishments bring them? Blood and destruction is the only answer of this crushed national spirit to the world it hates. It is the natural consequence under the moral law, for the wreck and the deterioration of millions of human souls. Love, the essential principle of life, was trampled upon by the tyranny of auto- crats. Man's dignity became an object of sport in the hands of ruling powers. These cruel trials lasted for centuries, until the collective soul of the nation became a mass of seething revolt, raging for revenge. That is the meaning of Russia's in- sane anarchy after the very brief period of liberty and thoughtful government. The small intellectual class, lacking will power and faith in the future, fell quickly under the uprush of the lowest class unchecked by moral restraints, as it drove madly onward after liberation. The historic opportunity was calling in vain, that chaos be suppressed, that some saving directive principle be found. But Rus- 236 THE WORLD-WIDE ASSAULT sia — broken by the yoke — could find neither the creative impulse nor the will power to overcome chaos and bar out anarchy by some grand national ideal. That requires great effort and the culture of centuries. We see, therefore, how two outside forces loomed into view. One attempted Russia's subju- gation by force of arms; the other lay in wait for her spiritual destruction. Both, nevertheless, were united and in accord. The mailed first of Germany was met half way by the slimy hand of Israel, ac- customed to devious and underhand methods. The murderous German, intent on subjugating the whole material world, met a power of equal worth in Russia and in Poland — although a power hereto- fore held in contempt — which also dreamed of world-conquest, by the secret infusion of toxins fatal to the ideals, will, and moral health of the Aryan race. These pernicious, anti-Christian forces joined hands and went out to subdue the world. German- ism and Judaism undertook Russia's slow assassi- nation, while feeding on her extensive and denuded territories, undeterred by gruesome and bloody consequences. Let us not blind ourselves and fail to see the true soil, because of small stones scat- tered upon the surface. These matters affect all society and require radical analysis. Russian Bolshevism, controlled and directed by Jews — its instigators and leaders, brought on and developed by the autocrats of Germany in or- der to gain their ends, stands out before the na- A WORLD PROBLEM tions of the world as an ever increasing menace, threatening dire catastrophe in the near future. It is now revealed that the Russian Jew Par- vus, editor of -the publication "Die Glocke," dis- closed to Gen. Ludendorff the plot of a widespread revolution in Russia for the dissemination of "Bol- shevism." Parvus was sent to Switzerland to con- fer with Lenin and Trotzky and later these two great agitators were dispatched to Russia, supplied with German gold and upheld by German power. During centuries, step by step, Christian civili- zation has tried to subdue the blind beast in man and bring him under the moral law. Civilization fought for ages in order to build up lofty ideals and elevating principles in the human soul. As a re- sult of these efforts we have morality, society, fam- ily relations, individual rights, law of nations, etc. All these glorious achievements are founded upon the Christian religion, the permeating principle of which is love and the brotherhood of man. Germany's military assault against humanity was a bloody calamity. The plotting attack by the joint efforts of the German-Jewish conspiracy to destroy Christian civilization is proving equally calamitous. What escaped the cruel sword of Germany in Russia was sure to be caught in the snares of bribery, perverted ideals and alluring sug- gestions, pleasing to the blind instincts of the masses. The Jews worked silently for years under Czardom in order to deprave the Russian soul. Steeped in "liberalism," as if it were the foundation of all faith, law and morality, Jews were found among all classes of Russia's subjects, spreading 23S THE WORLD-WIDE ASSAULT progressive anarchism and rendering them weak and pliable. Demolish, destroy everything! That was the sentiment planted by the Hebrew in the Russian soul, while the acid of their bitter cynicism dis- solved everything without substituting anything in its place. In our present period of reconstruc- tion, the frightful harvest of chaos and turmoil in Russia is the result of the Jewish long sowing of dissolution. Upheld by the sword of Germany, and aided by its gold on the one hand, while supported by the silent and united force of the entire world's Jewry on the other, shrewd agitators, under the guise of Russian names came early into promi- nence. With the reins of unruly anarchy in their hands, they are increasing Russia's demoralization and driving her to final destruction. Names here- tofore unknown, as Lenin and Trotzky-Bronshtein, Radeck-Sobelsohn, Apfelbaum-Zinowiew, Rosen- feld-Kamieniew, Finkelstein-Litvinow and others appear in public records. By terrorism, by rivers of blood, flowing from the body of prostrate Russia, they overcome all op- position and suppress every upward aspiration. Unrestrained license, promising rich booty and lav- ish plunder in gold, is the very life of the Red Guard. We are witnessing indeed an unprece- dented historic humiliation, which the Nemesis of history brought upon Russia's criminal greatness, by thrusting upon her, in the moment of her lib- eration, such abject Jewish foreigners, without name or fame, as leaders and champions of the na- tion's welfare. This ignominy might well be a ret- A WORLD PROBLEM ribution for Russia's bloody and outrageous past. It is nevertheless astonishing that, in spite of the destructive flood which threatens to submerge Christian culture and its benefits, the judgment of the world and public opinion have remained silent, and, in view of murder and destruction, the world does not brand and openly characterize the real perpetrators, concealing themselves behind the camouflage of assumed Russian names. Has the hypnotism of fear and the infection of Judaism per- meated the Christian world to such an extent that weakness and doubt force silence and inaction upon the hearts of the Aryan race? We are in the midst of a dangerous attack upon the world, an attack which has outgrown the expectations of its creators — the official forces of Germany — and has frightened them more than we can imagine. The Hebrew leaders — used as the instruments to undermine Russia — appeared soon so powerful that they ceased to look towards their protectors. In fact, they began to drive the foam- ing wave of revolutionized Russia into the West, and take with it, in its progress, the hordes of the Ukraine, the starved and demoralized prisoners and marauders of Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, Fin- land, etc. The leaders actually began finally to strike at revolutionary Germany, where Bolshevism was building its nest among the Spartacans, led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemberg (both Jews) who were murdered in Berlin after the revolution- ary government closed the frontiers for Bolshevism and prohibited the export of rubles through JofFe, (also a Jew) the Russian ambassador in Berlin. 240 THE WORLD-WIDE ASSAULT The triumph of Bolshevism was rapidly pro- gressing and, like a virulent cancer, infecting vari- ous centers, near and far. The moral infection was powerfully advanced by gold, terror, demoralization and the fanaticism of the most neglected class of humanity — the international proletariat. From the lips of passionate leaders and corps of paid agita- tors — Jews almost exclusively — Bolshevism cries out today for fundamental rights, for a panacea for mankind's ills. It desires to gain the reins of gov- ernment by a universal assault, and substitute its own bloody terror for the eliminated tyranny of autocrats. From lack of principles, the Jewish leaders substituted an ideology absent in Bolshe- vism. They tempt the appetites of ignorant masses by urging destruction, in order to level all, and pre- pare the fields for a new sowing. We see arising a new tyranny to replace that of Czar and Kaiser. This does not rest its power on the ruins of dynasties, but on the slowly rising power of the proletariat. The old crimes of imperialism are replaced by new crimes against the proscribed classes. In ad- dition to land allotment and the abrogation of prop- erty rights, all distinctions are to be removed, not only educational and cultural, but intellectual as well. The object is to eradicate all intelligence, all men of culture and learning. The food regulations were- all arranged with the evident purpose of starv- ing the upper classes. In Petrograd, during the cholera epidemic, an order was promulgated author- izing the murder of any doctor who could not cure a workingman. Houses of the "Inteligenzia" could 241 A WORLD PROBLEM be invaded, and all suspicious persons found therein could be summarily executed. This proclamation was signed by a Jewish leader, who fell a victim of his own order, shortly thereafter, at the hands of a Russian woman! To expiate her crime, five hun- dred people were executed. This man when poor began to defend the proletariat, and accumulated a snug fortune in the process. We quote here from an article by N. K. Roer- ich, a painter and a member of the Academy of Arts in Petrograd, who gives, in "Struggling Rus- sia" (an American publication), the following list of scientists and artists who were victims of Bol- shevism : "Prof. Lappo-Danilevsky, member of the Academy of Sciences, died from starvation. The academician, Smirnov, Prof. Vesselovsky, Prof. Shilapkin, the academician, Radlov, Prof. Fortunatov, the famous botanist, Fomantsin, the famous pianist, Zilotti, and a number of other eminent men have suffered the same fate. A number of professors in Kiev and the vener- able painter, V. Vasnetsow, have been shot. The artistic furniture and fittings of many houses have been destroyed. Articles have been taken from the Winter Palace, from the Yusupov Gallery and other collections, and have been sent abroad. "The Patriarch's Collection of Vestments has been looted. Churches have been robbed. A number of artists and literary men are lan- guishing in prison. Prof. S. F. Platonov, the celebrated historian of Russia, died in prison. 242 THE WORLD-WIDE ASSAULT In the theaters there is anarchy, and the play- ers are abominably treated. School children have had their morals corrupted. "Treasures have been taken and dispersed throughout the provinces and villages, where- by their destruction is insured. During searches of artists' houses, their colors and ap- pliances are taken away. Balmont, the splen- did poet, and such writers as Merezkovsky and Remizov are perishing. "Among the 'Intelligentia' who either have been driven out of Russia or have left vol- untarily are the following writers and journal- ists: Leonid Andreiev, who died in exile in Finland after bitterly arraigning Bolshevism; Bunin, Tolstoy, Volynsky and others; the academician Walden; Prof. Kartashev; the lawyers, Kuzmin-Karavaev and Kamenka; the orientalist, Rudnev, Professor of ancient history; Professors Chuprov, Milukov and oth- ers equally noted." Such was the fruit of the German-Jewish con- spiracy, the new tyranny, which openly labored to level all, in order to prepare a soil for a new sowing, and a race of supermen. As one vigorous protest to the murderous progress of Bolshevism we find, at the first outpost, the Republic of Poland. The Polish people, reared for centuries on the vital doctrines of Christ, never found a distinction between the confession of burn- ing faith and its actual realization. This old bul- wark of Christianity finds itself face to face with an unbridled flood, spreading fearful poisons of 213 A WORLD PROBLEM class hatred, destruction and death. Polish estates, hamlets, and villages fell under its leveling power. In a mania for insane orgies, a lighted brand in one hand and a dagger in the other, crazed masses moved from the ever menacing East to destroy the Polish culture, a culture developed under great dif- ficulties and at the sacrifice of ages. The fields of Old Poland as: White Russia, Lithuania, Volhynia, Podolia and Ukraine have become the arena for inhuman contests of armed mobs with peaceful and unarmed inhabitants of these localities. Poland could help but little, because her military strength was exhausted by levies to the armies of the great belligerents. Besides, her territories were in the grasp of invaders, who paralyzed and frustrated every far-sighted plan for the defense of the east- ern borders. Her trained, intrepid will and gallant Christian spirit alone stood guard against the inundation of anarchy. All the Jewish anarchist infiltrations have failed to penetrate this adamant wall; against it all the intrigues of Czardom have crumbled, and the perfidies of all the conquerors have miscarried. Here also must fail the corps of Jewish agents, bearing the poisonous seeds of Bolshevism, fol- lowed by the mercenary horde of Red Guards and predatory bands. Outrages, terrible mockery to human nature, were perpetrated on Poland's terri- tories and the appalling furies at Kalusz, Slawuta, Mukulince, Stanislawow, etc., stupefy the mind by their wanton bloodshed and destruction. The world's opinion, however, continues unut- tered; the voice of incensed humanity is not raised 244 THE WORLD-WIDE ASSAULT and the perpetrators remain unbranded. A curious and mysterious silence covers the outrages in Po- land; while a mere shadow of an offense in meting out to Jews their just deserts raises a storm of vio- lent indignation upon the head of a suffering and martyred nation, which is trying hard to rise under the great difficulties. Poland has powerful, fanatical and obstinate enemies, who control both the press and the finances. This German- Jewish alliance is always ready to destroy every vestige of Polish national life, culture, or meritorious service. The terror of Bolshevism, sweeping over Poland's territories, is reaching close to the western frontiers, gaining footholds here and there, among the hungry mobs of Germany, Austria-Hungary, England, and even France. Its active agents are delegated to Bohe- mia, Hungary, Roumania, Poland, and especially to the populous centers of the United States, where Jews, under various camouflages, develop the ne- farious work. Numerous instances of this work, especially in favor of Germany during the world war, were disclosed in America. The press, how- ever, suppresses all such information. Even the revelations before Congress have been unmen- tioned, while Jewish donations for social and gen- eral purposes are largely extolled. It may be noted that any great achievement by a Jew is widely heralded throughout the world as strictly Jewish, whilst any defamatory act, or crime of the Jew in England, Poland, or the United States, is ascribed to an Englishman, a Pole, or an 245 A WORLD PROBLEM American, and thus the Jews oftentimes escape the stigma of their iniquities. The thousands given by Jews as donations are, however, but a small percentage of the vast mil- lions they so easily and toillessly have accumulated by unscrupulousness and shrewdness, while other peoples, like the Slav, increases the wealth and economic power of their adopted country by labor, effort, and sacrifice. The waves of Bolshevism are striking more and more forcibly against the shores of this free Republic. The members of Congress feel this wave of the erruption, which demands urgent remedial methods. With some hope, it might be stated here that, so far, the revolutionary and radical parties — the Socialists and the various labor parties and their branches — are turning, it seems, away from these low and criminal elements, which spread destruc- tion everywhere and which intend to rule the world by the power of Bolshevism. The foregoing furnishes an exceptionally clear grouping of facts, worthy of careful consideration. We have, on the one hand, the destructive anti- Christian forces devoid of all common ethics and human ideals, determined to inflict a mortal blow on the liberties of nations, both spiritual and cul- tural, and the rights of property. On the other hand, we have the leading nations of the world with a record of centuries of service for liberty and Christian ideals. The codes of law and the recognized principles of the Gospel are be- fore them, modifying their acts and moulding their 246 THE WORLD-WIDE ASSAULT tendencies. The fields of combat are still smolder- ing from the sacrifices of blood, suffered by their warriors in the cause of law, right and justice. The great altar of suffering humanity is still burning. The defender's last breath for the ideals and im- mortal benefits of the hun.an race is still gasping and the cry of despair for the rights and liberties of nations still reverberates in the air. We see arising a new world, a great, a broad world of the Spirit, which will unfurl the sunny banner of peace, blot out crime and oppression, lift out of the dust the trampled covenants of brotherly love and bring real Christianity into the life of nations. It is a moment that augurs great historic con- sequences. Equality, Right, Liberty, and Co-oper- ation are not to continue as mere lying sounds upon the lips of men. They are to become the fervent faith and vital essence of civilization. As an earn- est of this newly rising world-order, this alliance of nations and the cruelly broken principles of the Gospel, nations are casting off their yoke and again taking their places among the free. Poland, bru- tally divided, has risen, united and independent. Throttled Serbia, oppressed Jugoslavia, bold Czecho-Slovakia, have all come into their own as free and independent nations. Persecuted and op- pressed Armenia is to find protection and enjoy freedom at last. Even Israel is to obtain his own shelter after the years of profitable wandering over the entire world. No doubt this is grand, right and just. The nations will again breathe freely, recuperate from 247 A WORLD PROBLEM the wounds inflicted by cruelty and injustice, and enjoy the happiness of health and freedom re- gained. .. We must believe that the old egotisti- cal and malevolent soul of Israel will open up, too, and accept, perhaps, the lofty and holy emotion of brotherly love among nations, which alone secures a right to the common fruits of labor and effort. Just now, however, Judaism is spreading an ominous infection, dangerous to humanity's highest ideals. It is, therefore, a duty of humanity to pro- tect itself and to maintain vigilance. In establish- ing Palestine, not only is a necessary solution found for the separatist and negative tendencies of the Jews, but also protection is secured against infec- tion of the Aryan soul, already injured by the Jewish poison. The great struggle of diametrically opposed forces is proceeding, and concentrating its fury on the line of the unknown East. Poland — the most advanced post in Europe — is being slowly encir- cled. On the territories of the Polish Republic the world can observe the effect of this insane incite- ment of the proletariat. The wave advances from Russia, in which the lives, the wealth and the cul- ture of countless Polish citizens were destroyed. The feeble pen is entirely inadequate to depict the outrages and the unheard of crimes perpetrated by beastly and inhuman mobs, whose orgies could be adequately symbolized only in marble carved by cold steel, dipped in the blood of thousands of Po- lish martyrs — priests and laymen. Drunken, crazed mobs, greedy for human blood, torture and profligacy, illustrate clearly what unbridled passion 24S THE WORLD-WIDE ASSAULT can do with the human soul, when it rejects the beneficial restraint of law and moral ideals. With the collapse of thrones, the shackles restraining the liberties of nations are breaking, but a new set of horrible gyves is being forged to bruise and enslave the soul of mankind.