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THE GREAT JEWISH INVASION OF NEW YORK.

"IT commemorated the progress of an en- than the old, steadily gathers on Manhattan ergetic people from poverty to wealth, Island." from ignorance to knowledge, from political and social ostracism to independence and power." This is the way the recent celebration by the New York Jews of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of their settlement on Manhattan Island is characterized by the writer of a graphic, striking article in the January McClure's Magazine. This writer, Mr. Burton J. Hendrick, gives us several pages of swinging description, which has been characterized by the editor of the "Jewish Encyclopedia" as making perhaps the most complete article, in this compass, written upon this subject for many years. The American metropolis, he points out, is already, as far as numbers are concerned, largely Semitic. With its 800,000 Jewish inhabitants, it is "the greatest Hebrew community ever assembled in ancient or modern times in any one place." New York City contains three-fifths of the total Jewish population of the country; in the greater city one man in every five is a Jew; on Manhattan Island, one man in every four. The Hebrew population, moreover, grows faster than the other racial elements. For every 20 Jews that die 35 are born. Indeed, says Mr. Hendrick, a few enthusiasts may preach a return to Palestine, but "the real modern Zion, greater in numbers and wealth and power

The Jew, Mr. Hendrick points out, is active,-invariably with success,-in practically every business, professional, and intellectual field of New York City,-as huckster, clerk, bookkeeper, salesman, stenographer, general merchant, financier, proprietor of department store, banker, and politician. The Jew predominates at grand opera. He controls practically all of Manhattan's 50 theaters. He is the author of most of the successful plays. He and she, after receiving their training in the Ghetto as actor and actress, now draw enormous audiences on Broadway. In Wall Street he has the larger share of the banking business. He is lawyer at the bar and justice on the bench. He is physician, school teacher, college professor. In the newly organized tenement-house department of the city government more than three-quarters of the 400 employees, clerks, stenographers, copyists, and inspectors,-are Jews. Jews represent more than one district of the city at Albany and Washington. Jews from New York have been sent abroad as ambassadors, and a New York Jew now sits in President Roosevelt's cabinet.

Unquestionably, says Mr. Hendrick, we are now face to face with one of the most remarkable phenomena of our day and generation:

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New York, the headquarters of American wealth, intelligence, and enterprise, the most complete physical expression, we have been told, of the American idea,-seems destined to become overwhelmingly a Jewish town. More remarkable still, the great mass of its Jews are not what are commonly regarded as the most enlightened of their race. They are not drawn from Germany, from France, from Austria, and England.-countries in which the Jew has been practically Europeanized, but from Hungary, from Poland, from Roumania, from Galicia, above all from the Russian Empire. Before the Russian migration began in 1881, New York contained only about 50,000 Jews, practically all Austrians and Germans; since then its Jewish immigrants have come largely from eastern Europe. Between the German and the Russian or Polish Jew there is almost as much difference as between the German and Russian Christian. The former is extremely liberal in his religious observances; the latter extremely orthodox. The one is the product of free institutions and a tolerant civilization; the other is the victim of religious and economic persecution. In New York the German and Russian Jewish populations have always kept distinct. Intermarriages From M. Clure's Magazine. have been about as infrequent and as much A SWEAT-SHOP TYPE-A REMORSELESS PACEMAKER. frowned upon as between Protestants and Cath

olics. Nevertheless, the German element is probably not one-sixth of the whole Jewish population. In a word, New York is not only largely, and probably destined to be overwhelmingly, a city of Hebrews, but a city of Asiatics.

No people, continues this writer, have had a more inadequate preparation, educational and economic, for American citizenship. Their sole capital when they land at Ellis Island is "an intellect which has not been stunted by centuries of privation and an industry that falters at no task, however poorly paid." They come largely from Russia, where for centuries all manner of restrictions have been heaped up against them. Everything they wear or have is taxed. By the state they are treated as outcasts. When they come to this country they are ignorant, unable to read or write any language, without professions or skilled trades, and inevitably with a suspicious hatred of governmental authority. In spite of all these drawbacks, however, the Russian Jew never fails to advance in every direction.

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ure beside the Russian and Pole. We hear con

A JEWISH MOTHER OF NEW YORK.

This has made him supreme in the clothing trades, the largest industry of New York. In these trades he has supplanted the Irish and the Germans and is now bringing to do the most menial and lowest paid work thousands of Italians.

His economic improvement is paralleled by that of no other immigrating race. In accumu- From McClure's Magazine. lating wealth, in liberating himself from ignorance and poverty, the Irishman, the Italian, the German, even the German Jew, cuts a poor figstantly of the Ghetto's poverty; we seldom hear of its wealth. And yet no section of New York generates so many rich men. New York's greatest business and residential sections are filled with Russian Hebrews who started among the tenements 10, 15, 20, and 25 years ago. In the section from Sixtieth to Ninetieth street, and from Lexington to Park avenue, one of New York's premier residential districts, there are said to be 500 Russian and Polish Jews whose fortunes range anywhere from $100,000 to $1,000,000.

After citing by name the cases of a number of Jewish individuals acquiring wealth and property, Mr. Hendrick continues in his characterization of the Russian Jew in this country by saying:

In his activities here the Russian Jew evinces two marked characteristics. He is a remorseless pace-maker. He allows himself no rest nor recreation, and works all hours of the day and night. He saves every penny, will constantly deny himself and his family nutritious food, and until he has made his mark will live in the most loathsome surroundings. Whether a child in the primary schools, the bent stitcher in the sweat-shops, the manufacturer, the merchant, the professional man: constant industry, the determination to succeed,-that is his only law.

The Russian Jew is an individualist, and he has entered principally into those occupations where he can be his own boss most easily and for the greatest length of time.

tion living on a lower economic plane than himThe Jew has quickly utilized an alien populaself. In the control of the business he has forced to the wall not only the German, the Irishman, the native-born, but the German Jew. Recently one of the largest cloak manufacturers in the country, a German Jew, failed; he had succumbed to the competition of the Russian Jews. The prevalence of Jewish names on Broadway has already been noted; but the important fact is that German names every day give way to Russian. Ten years ago the signs were all Oppenheimers, Rothschilds, Adlers, and Rosenthals; now the Rabinovitzes, Horowitzes, Welinskys, and Finkelsteins are increasing constantly.

In the growth of this industry, says Mr. Hendrick, the Russian Jew has brought about the reconstruction of great areas of New York. Before he came, much of the lower section of the city south of Fourteenth street and west of Broadway was a disreputable section. To-day, block after block of houses of evil repute have been torn down and in their places the Jews have erected huge clothing factories. The former homes of Knickerbocker aristocracy on Fifth avenue

have been replaced by skyscraper office buildings, tenanted by Russian Jewish merchants who, 25 years ago, were ragged and penniless immigrants.

In real estate, also, the Russian Jew has made remarkable progress. Real estate is with him an almost exclusive form of investment. He could own no land in Russia, but here "the East Side is possessed with an unending earth hunger." Wherever you see a Russian Jew," however insignificant his station, you see a prospective landlord." Starting in the smallest way as a lessee of property, by constant saving and drudgery he soon comes to own very valuable buildings and grounds. In the final analysis, therefore, the Russian Jew is a very important factor in determining the physical growth of New York. He decides where the people are to live and the form their house is to take. He does this, not only because he controls the land, but because he now also controls the building business. He is contractor, but he is also workman.

Of the material prosperity of the Russian Jew there can be no question, says this writer. He will never crowd our almshouses nor be a serious drain upon private charity. But is he assimilable? Has he in himself the stuff of which Americans are made? One point in his favor must be set down at once: His enthusiasm for America knows no bounds. He eagerly looks forward to the time when he can be naturalized. An alien Jew legally entitled to citizenship is a rarity. He has no allegiance to forswear; and he cannot return to Russia. The rapidity with which the New York Jew adopts the manners and trappings of Americans almost disproves his ancient heritage as a peculiar people. He objects to being regarded as a thing apart, and goes to extremes to make himself like the native-born. Everything that typifies the Russian he seeks to shake off. Thus he has

a mania for changing his name. The Russian -skis and -vitches are liberally dropped. Livinsky becomes Levin; Grafinsky, Graf; Kudinosky, Kudin; Michaelowitz, Michaels. Ingeniously the Russian or Polish is transformed into good old Anglo-Saxon. Stepinsky becomes Stevens; Shidlowsky, Sheldon; Willinsky, Wilson. Davidowitz readily translates into Davison or Davidson, Jacobson into Jackson. Russian and Polish Jews commonly have German names, precisely as they speak, not Russian,-which only the educated know,-but a German dialect. These are readily translated or transformed into English. Weiss becomes White, Preiss, Price, and Reiss. Rice. A certain Mr. Jaim Kele, after a few months' residence, blossomed out as Hugh Kelly. They also abandoned their surnames with no pretense of translating. In the Jewish quarters you will meet hundreds of Smiths, Robinsons, Browns, Johnsons, Taylors, and Greens.

The Jews, however, do not only change their names when they come here; they change their homes and their manner of living. They do not lower the standard of living, as has been charged. "They do not constantly draw the rest of the population down to their level; they constantly seek to raise their own."

Politically, says this writer in conclusion, the strong individualism of the Jew is his saving grace. It prevents him from organizing in a mass.. There is no such thing as the "Jewish vote," in the sense that there is an Irish vote and a German vote.

The Hebrews of New York are not controlled as a unit by political leaders. They vote for one party at one election, for another at the succeeding. Better than any other element, even the native stock, do they meet the two supreme tests of citizenship: They actually go to the polls, and when once there, vote independently. The Jewish people fulfil the obligations of citizenship, the actual voting, more regularly even than the native-born. And the statistics also show that they vote with discrimination.

THE "CHAOS OF PACIFICATION" IN RUSSIA.

FROM the chronicle of events in the weekly law journal Pravo, of St. Petersburg, which is permitted to publish only accurate, well attested information, we cite a few paragraphs to show the impossible state of affairs throughout the empire.

For supporting and assisting in the dissemination of the Viborg manifesto: Petrunkevich and Kedrin, members of the first Duma, prosecuted by the police and ordered forever debarred from City Hall sessions; for the same offense, Prince Shakhovski and members of the Duma Nekrosov and Skulski, debarred from taking part in electoral assemblies; Moroumtsev and

Kommisarov, Duma members from Moscow, expelled from the zemstvo by order of the police; Duma members from the Don territory, forever Krukov (clergyman) and Afanasyev (lawyer), debarred from official service; Chakste, Duma member from Courland, unseated from the Mitau assembly for signing the Viborg manifesto; Onipko, peasant member of the Duma, imprisoned at Kronstadt some months ago, dangerously ill, "not being able to eat the rotten prison food."

Members of zemstvos and other provincial assemblies expelled and disqualified from further government service: Safonov and Frankel, of Kostroma: Tverdi, of Mohilev; Bramson, Lopas, and Kubelis, of Kovno; Kharlanov (forever

prohibited from teaching) and Radakov, of Lugansk; and Prof. D. D. Grimm,-the last named being offered the alternative of keeping forever out of politics or leaving his chair at the military law academy.

The secretary of the Nikolaiev Railroad dismissed for refusing to forward "Black Hundred" proclamations calling on the populace to massacre the Jews and the Intellectuals."

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The school teachers' association of Kasan closed by the government.

All the schools, hospitals, and veterinary stations in the province of Borsna closed on account of arrears in taxes.

All the policemen of St. Petersburg of the grade of roundsman or under are to be drilled in rifle practice.

Major-General Lichitski ordered from headquarters to express "hearty thanks and 10 rubles reward" to Private Liskin, of the Seminovski regiment, for shooting with a rifle Miss Seminova, a political prisoner, because she disobeyed her guard's order and received a note from the outside.

The Odessa superintendent of elementary schools "humbly petitions" the district curator of schools to safeguard his pupils from "the demoralizing influence of the reactionary Union of Russian People.'

The blacksmith convicts in the reformatory of the Lithuanian citadel of St. Petersburg have refused to forge hand fetters, on the plea that they are thus compelled to forge with their own hands fetters for themselves and their brothers, prospective convicts."

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In the chronicle of the Pravo for one week, ending October 6, we find the following items, among many others:

THE MUZHIK TO THE CZAR.

VOTING FOR THE DUMA-A GERMAN VIEW.

(The electoral campaign for the Duma has been kept a secret. The officials have understood how to prevent intimidation.)

From Lustige Blätter (Berlin).

September 29.-Seventeen socialist revolutionaries arrested at Kovno.

THE STRIKERS: "Little Father, give us some honey on our bread."

NICHOLAS: "Some honey! Wait awhile. Perhaps you would like to have a few plums as well." From the Grelot (Paris).

September 30.-Ten men deported to the Archangel Prison for five years, and five to the Olonetsk Prison for two years, for anti-governmental agitation.

Three pupils of the Khotin city school arrested for distributing copies of the Viborg manifesto.

Brookov, assistant prosecuting attorney in St. Petersburg, releases 15 men who had been confined in prison " for purposes of enforced security."

Three priests deported from Shusha because bombs were found in their churches.

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October 1.-One hundred and fifty workmen arrested for purposes of security" during the trial of the members of the labor council.

Sixty persons,-" social revolutionaries of Tula, including the editor of the Tula News,-arrested.

A teacher in the province of Yaroslav is arrested for inciting peasants to refuse to supply horses for military purposes.

Peasants in the Kostroma district boycott some of their number for not taking part in raids on landlords' estates.

Twelve persons arrested in Kherson for having Social-Democratic publications in their possession.

October 2.-One hundred trades unionists, presidents and executive members, arrested in Odessa for anti-governmental agitation.

In the town of Yaroslav a number of rural guards attack a group of workmen for singing the Marseillaise." One workingman and his wife are killed and one workingman wounded. October 3.-Three new large batches of "politicals" are transported from St. Petersburg to the province of Archangel.

In Lódz all the workingmen of Keller's factory, as well as the residences of five prominent public men, are arbitrarily searched by the police, without any reason being given.

A mob of peasants, armed with clubs and stones, attack the rural guards at Shirovtzi; two peasants are fatally wounded.

Agrarian riots, necessitating the presence of large bodies of troops, break out in different portions of Samara and Saratov.

The crops and buildings of Storozhenko, a large landed proprietor in the province of Poltava, are burned by peasants,-"Fifty Cossacks are needed."

The peasants of the Tver province positively refuse to pay any taxes whatsoever, and the tax

collector flees for his life; the peasants of the Novotcherkask province and the Czarskoye-Selo district of St. Petersburg refuse to pay arrears in taxes.

Eighteen rural guards are killed and five wounded by peasants in the province of NizhniNovgorod.

In Warsaw five secret-service men are killed by unknown persons who also seriously wound two women and a boy.

A shipment of rifles and 74,000 cartridges are seized by the customs officials at Graevo; 14 chests of rifles are stolen from a government freight train at Vladimir; bombs, firearms, and secret printing establishments are seized at Tomsk and Astrakhan.

October 4-Soldiers and constables at Warsaw are fired on by unknown persons and six possibly fatally wounded. In a pitched battle between peasants and rural guards at a fire in Buinsk 10 persons are killed and 18 wounded.

October 6.-The printing house of Labor and Need, in St. Petersburg, is searched by order of 'the security section of the police;" nothing is found, but the damage to the firm's property is more than 1000 rubles ($500).

SIBERIA AND THE AMERICAN SYNDICATE.

THE current news from Russia, as reported to us by the Associated Press dispatches, concerns very largely the Terrorist activity and the attempts of the Stolypin government to hold it in check. These political events tend to obscure other happenings scarcely less important of which but scant information is given us. The continental European press, particularly that of France and Germany, is more generous to its readers and conveys the information that is overlooked by our news service.

The reactionary journals of Russia criticised, with varying severity, the attitude of the United States and the American people during the empire's war with Japan, even accusing us of unfriendly sentiments and of ingratitude for past favors. We have been even accused of giving moral and, perhaps, financial aid to the revolutionary Russian groups and to the enemies of the existing order. The more liberal publications, how ever, have interpreted our attitude rather differently. They recognize the distinction made by us between the Russian Government and the Russian people, and would appear to appreciate our desire to see the triumph of progress and internal peace. They realize that our condemnation of reactionary, despotic methods in Russia has not been prompted by unfriendly sentiments, but that it was rather the expression of a solicitude for the

national welfare of a nation which we have always regarded as a friend.

It is, therefore, with considerable surprise that we find in recent issues of a number of liberal Russian periodicals attacks on Americans who would invest money in Russian enterprises. A case in point is the article in the liberal daily Tovarishch (Companion), published by the well-known economist, P. Khodski, on the projected railroad across the Bering Strait, connecting American railroads with the trans-Siberian system. This enterprise, it will be remembered, was described to our readers by Mr. Herman Rosenthal in an article in the REVIEW for May, 1906. The writer in the Tovarishch treats the subject sarcastically and severely. Referring to the initiator of the project, Baron Loique de Lobele, he says:

We

What is the secret of Mr. de Lobele's solicitude for our Russian fatherland? To begin with, he is apparently desirous of presenting us with a railroad worth 500,000,000 rubles and is ready to pay instanter to the government a considerable portion of this sum in hard cash. admit that it would be very convenient to reParticularly attractive is this proposition from ceive these millions. We need them just now. the fact that the money is not offered us as a loan, but is practically a free gift. The essence of Mr. de Lobele's plan is, in brief, this: He undertakes to build, at his own expense, without sian Government, a modern railroad from one any monetary guaranty on the part of the Rusof the stations on the Siberian line to the Bering

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