gainst individuals or the
state is probably the commonest form assumed by the human mind when it
loses its balance and its sense of proportion. I venture to hazard the
opinion that of all the cranks who have pestered Mr. Ford since he has
attained a conspicuous position, those who imagined themselves to be
the victims of conspiracies have outnumbered all the others. These
protocols are either preposterous forgeries deliberately wrought for
the purpose of fostering anti-Semitism in Russia, or they are the
pitiable ravings of a familiar type of monomaniac.

Concerning the authorship of the protocols, there has been much
conjecture, especially on the part of those who have seriously
regarded them as an authentic expression of Jewish opinion. It has
been whispered in those places where the so-called Jewish question is
discussed, that they are the work of the well-known Zionist leader,
Dr. Theodor Herzl. This is the theory which Nilus himself advances in
the introduction to the edition of 1917. He says:

... my book has already reached the fourth edition, but it is
only definitely known to me now and in a manner worthy of
belief, and that through Jewish sources, that these protocols
are nothing other than the strategic plans for the conquest of
the world under the heel of Israel, and worked out by the
leaders of the Jewish people ... and read to the Councils of
Elders by the "Prince of Exile," Theodor Herzl, during the first
Zionist Congress, summoned by him in August, 1897, in Basle.

This is the first time Nilus has so much as hinted at the date of the
alleged secret conclave of the Elders of Zion, at the close of which,
according to the story of 1905 so elaborately contradicted in 1917,
the protocols were stolen by a woman. It is perhaps as well to remark
in passing that the first Zionist Congress was held in the open and
its proceedings freely reported in the press. Now, Herzl stands among
the foremost of the intellectual Jews of modern times. All his known
work is characterized by clear, clean-cut reasoning and direct and
forceful statement. All his known writings are characterized by these
qualities. Whatever we may think about Zionism, it must be admitted
that the great Austrian journalist and critic never lacked the courage
of his convictions, as may be seen by anybody who will take the
trouble to read his writings or the evidence delivered by him before
the British Royal Commission