jugation and handle them at their will and to
their own profit? Is it by sorcery that they force their way to the
universities and academies? Are they in possession of secret formulas
by which they can direct the currents of trade at their will?
Recently, loud complaints were raised in several of the German state
parliaments that there were too many Jewish judges and lawyers in
their lands, and the governments were exhorted to put an end to the
scandal. No charges of incompetency or exploitation were raised
against the Hebrews that "handle the law." Only it was declared that
a Christian shrunk from taking an oath at the hand of a Jewish lawyer.
If this be so, how is it that the people go to them in numbers that
excite the envy of their non-Jewish colleagues? All the statements
about the alleged power of the Jews are ridiculous exaggerations,
trumped up to scare the imagination of the thoughtless, as has been
proved over and over again. But even reduced to their true measure,
they prove, not the possession of magic, but of soundness of mind, of
unimpaired energy, and of all the other needful conditions for
success, which the Jews have kept intact despite all the attempts made
to crush the unbelievers into the dust. The outcry against them is
their vindication; people do not fear weaklings, do not raise alarms
against perils which can be pushed aside by an effort of the will. The
few must own inherent sources of strength if the many resort to the
coward's weapon of lies and slander. And in this instance the
admission of the truth is an implied homage to the religion which the
victors in the unequal struggle profess and defend. For it is
indisputable that this is the source to which the formation of the
Jewish mind and heart must be attributed. Let me cite, for one proof,
the admission of the most persistent and most powerful oppressor of
the Jews, the procurator of the Russian synod. Half the number of all
Hebrews are subjects of Russia. They came under her dominion when she
conquered and incorporated the Polish provinces; they are kept there
under the most stringent laws, and life is made to them as burdensome
as possible. "The Pale" is a gigantic ghetto where the oldest form of
rabbinism prevails to this day. Yet the same fear of the superiority
of the Jewish mind haunts the government; it is the alleged reason for
practically closing up all the avenues of the higher education for
them. Only _three per cent_ of the total