odern bonds that hold the remotest parts
of the earth together, and make them equally abhor war and its
ravages. A falling off in the exports, a shrinking of the value of
investments, an unforeseen competitor in the markets of the world,
cause the rulers of the most civilized nations more anxiety than any
adverse political combination. For the former threaten the peace and
welfare of the home life of the people, on whose contentment they rely
for the defense of their claims in all their political intricacies. A
class of people credited with the mastery of the art of buying and
selling should, therefore, be welcome to every country and given the
amplest freedom and encouragement to ply their skill, provided, of
course, they do not carry their hoarded profits out of the country and
enrich other nations by them. But where do the Jews think of such a
thing? Their own country, if Palestine may still be so denominated, is
one of the poorest in the world, and what little revival there has
lately been perceptible is due to the colonies established there by
Jewish peasants who, under most trying conditions, labor to restore
the soil to its ancient fertility, after the long sleep into which it
has sunk. Jewish wealth can be enjoyed, and is being enjoyed, in no
other way than non-Jewish. Its owners are charged by its religious
teachers with being only too willing to imitate the luxuries and
extravagances of their neighbors. The same snares are spread for the
feet of their offspring as for those of Gentile birth; the tempters
that lie in wait for them are liberal enough to ignore distinctions
between the various creeds. I will not stoop to any defense of my race
from the vulgar charge that they are cheaters; that each and all will
always try, right or wrong, to secure the best of any bargain into
which a poor Gentile may enter with them. Those whom the commercial
standing of the Jews, here and elsewhere, has not yet cured of this
slanderous prejudice will not be converted by my pleading. Envy is an
incurable disease; jealousy makes blind, and the common saying is
surely true, that none are so blind as those who will not see. But
neither have I the least desire to hide or gloss over our real
failings and shortcomings. Those who cannot rest on their own real
merits and accept the blame for their undeniable demerits must not
dare to challenge the judgment of the world. The Jew does dare it, and
all he asks of his critics is fairness, i