PAGE TWELVE
THE DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE
Jewish Question and
the Jewish Congress
(Owing to the large Importance which
the question of a Jewish Congress has
recently attained, we hare approached
Mr. Abraham Schomer, the well-known
playwright, who was the originator of
the project of a Jewish Congress. with
the request that he write an article for
us on this topic. Ile has complied with
the accompanying paper, which merits
the most earnest consideration.—Ed,)
T
The Jewish Question.
Jewish Question is said to
be due to anti-Semitism. Anti-
Semitism, in its generic designa-
tion, means hostility to the Jew in
any environment.
It is erroneous, as some maintain,
that only certain classes of people
partake of that hostile feeling. A
minute examination proves this hostil-
ity to be omnipresent—alike among
the cultured and the rude, the con-
servative and the radical, the intelli-
gent and the ignorant. We find like-
wise that this hostile emotion is by no
means restricted to Aryans, but that
Semites have their equal share there-
in as others. The strangest circum-
stance about it is that Jews them-
selves entertain this hostile feeling
exactly like other segments of the
population at large.
The answer to the vexing question
of the roots of anti-Semitism are nu-
merous; but searching analysis proves
them to be remote from the truth,
queerly illogical and self-contradic-
tory.
Here arc a few, and only a few, of
the answers to the questions..
The Jew is hated, because he is a
Semite; because he has a scparatistic
creed; because he has no creed at alt;
because he lives apart froth his sur-
roundings; because he seeks obstru.
sively to inter-penetrate them; be-
cause his unwearied diligence survives
in the economic struggle; because his
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inborn laziness keeps him idle and
renders him a parasite; because he is
a narrow - minded reactionary; because
he is a revolutionary radical; because
he is the earth's capitalist par excel-
lence; because he is a mendicant and
a pauper; because lie is landless and
no patriot; because he is a patriot and
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The Detroit
sciousness—that they are recognized
as Jews by others and lay claim to
themselves to that appellation. They
still insist that they constitute the
Jewish people whose aim is to abide
by the laws and teachings of their
prophets. It is evident, therefore,
that this people is endorsed with a
spiritual object as an aim of exist-
ence among the nations, it must be
looked upon as a Jewish corporate
Proposes These Est
body of international scope.
Let us now take a look at that
body to understand its outward sem-
blance.
We see before us, not an interna-
tional Jewish body corporate—only an
international multitude of Jews.
There is a world of difference be-
tween a definite collective body of
men and a mere multitude. A body
corporate contains within itself cer-
tain positive elements which consti-
tute it. Such a body has unity of
name, unity of aim and unity of rep-
resentation. A multitude, on the other
hand, is a mere gathering of individ-
uals in a state of anarchy. Unity of
name alone, without other basic requi-
sites, will not turn such a mass into a
collective body of positive meaning.
To go further: if such a multitude be
possessed both of unity of name and
aim, but without the element of repre-
sentation, it remains a mere multitude
without a corporate status.
One body-making element—or pos-
sibly two—ore lacking in the make-
up of the Jewish collective body. It
has name, a spiritual aim, even thought
it remains undefined, but the third and
most itnprotant element—representa-
tion—is assuredly missing. The Jew-
ish people, therefore, presents itself
as an anomalous body, a mass with a
name, with undfined aims, headless,
and existing in a chaotic condition.
In our search for the root of anti-
Jewish prejudice, we have arrived at
a new turning point: the Jewish peo-
ple lack a collective leadership.
In examining this, our new thesis,
we are led to the inquiry: Is not this
abnormal status of international Jewry
somehow correlated to the anti-Jewish
prejudice?
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Jews no union can prevail, and so on
and so forth.
Upon entering on this problem of
anti-Semitism from a solely objective
viewpoint, one feels like lost, blind-
folded in a labyrinth, with the task of
groping for an exit before hint—so
many doors and yet no exit' It is as
if this very multitude of answers were
a contrivance to bewilder the mind
and keep it forever from the right so-
lution. To find the way out of this
labyrinth of anti-Semitism, one must
keep 'firmly hold of the Adriadne
thread of scientific subjective and ob-
jective inquiry.
The manifest contradictions appar-
ent in the multifarious answers re-
garding the root of anti-Jewish hostil-
ity clearly show that not one of them
hits at the true root, but they distinct-
ly point to a prejudice against the
Jew. This prejudice is evidently not
the result of some charges leveled
against the Jews—or of all of them
combined; on the contrary, all the
charges are clearly born of this preju-
dice. It is obvious that if some of the
charges were true, they would not be
the result of prejudice but of positive-
ly known causes.
Prejudice is a prejudgment—a bias
of mind. It is an emotion caused by
the lack of clearness in perceiving the
nature of a thing. Prejudice in favor
or against a- thing is caused by a lack
of clear understanding of a thing. In
the case of the Jew, prejudice turns
against him. Since the anti-Jewish
prejudice exists, it must be consid-
ered along the same lines, and the
question arises: How does the Jew
evoke prejudice against himself?
The following remarkable phenom-
enon is quite frequently met with; If
Jews come in contact with other peo-
ple who are unaware of their identity
as such. no prejudice comes into evi-
dence; as soon as they are identified
as Jews, the prejudice bobs tip as if
by a magic spell. By the same token,
whenever non-Jews are mistakenly ac-
cepted as Jews, the prejudice against
them appears. As soon as the mis-
take is rectified, the prejudice against
them vanishes.
Upon ciritcal examination of such
surer phenomena, it becomes evident
that the prejudice is leveled, not
against the Jew, but against the des-
ignation "Jew." As long as the Jew
is not identified as such, he meets
equality of public consideration. As
soon as identification takes nlace,
prejudice puts him under disabilities.
It is clear, therefore, that it is not the
name "Jew" that causes the anti-
Jewish prejudice.
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The name "low" is not the designa-
tion of an individual. but pertains to
an entire peonle. Bearing in mind
that the prejudice is leveled against a
designation rather than a personality.
that this designation comprises an en-
tire people. we are driven to the con-
clusion that there must be something
nertaining to this people in its entire-
ty, which evokes the prejudice against
it as a. whole and consenuently, also
against its ceimsonent oasts, the Jews .
An inonitiv into this fundamental
finding will he productive of definite
results.
The Jewish Permi•.
There are font-teen million human
beings calling themselves Jews. It is
known as a historic fact, that once
they lived as a nation on their own
soil with certain ethical laws and
ncnnhetie seachings for a rule of ;nth-
siidusl and collective conduct. It is
surthermure known a• a fart that the
bass of their own •oil and their
persinn over the •rinhe has not de-
prived them of their national con-
To begin with, it has been ascer-
tained that the human mind in its
workings is just as much subjected to
certain positive laws as human phy-
sique. For all the infinite variety of
physical types, among men, the laws
governing their physical existence are
the same for all. The same pertains
to the lassis and basic principles that
regulate their thoughts.
According to one of these laws, the
human mind works synthetically—
that is to say, psychologically. This
quality of the mind combines dis-
persed elements into a new entity and
moulds them into a unit. Thus, for
instance, thought will combine many
thousands of people and their dwell-
ings at a certain place and mould
them into entity called "city." A city
is a unit. In the same manner
thought moulds the entities, which it
calls a state, a people, a nation, and so
on and no forth. So remarkable is this
synthetic principle of thought, that
the human mind comprises absolutely
all it comprehends—all the part of the
globe, other worlds and everything
comprised in space, and calls its con-
cept, the universe—a unit.
Another working modus of the mind
is to think analytically; that is to say,
logically. Under this modus, thought
takes hold of a unit and dismembers
it into its component parts; as, for in-
stance, the mind takes a unit called a
city, analyzise it into dwellings.
streets, inhabitants, and so on.
These two processes of the mind
work conjointly and cannot be taken
apart. Thought is forever synthet-
ical and analytical in everything in its
review. When it appears that the
mind works neither synthetically nor
analytically concerning some object,
it is manifest that either the mind is
abnormal or the object beyond com-
prehension.
This dual moth's of thought, as we
have shown, enables the mind to un-
derstand and clearly judge the cor-
relation between an entity and its
parts, and likewise the component
parts of a unit, their relation to the
whole and their inter-dependencies.
To illustrate further:
Let us assume that A is an Ameri-
can citizen and II is an American citi-
zen. Thought comprehends here two
different individuals as one thing,
both are American citizens. How can
the mind form such a judgment? It is
enabled to do so by introducing a
third as a common denominator, to
wit, the American People, which in-
cludes the components A and B. Here
the mind works both logically and
psychologically. It perceives above
the components A and B the entity
embracing them, and their relation to
the whole. and vice versa—the unity
of the whole, and its relation to its
parts.
Where the mind fails to work along
its dual process, as aforesaid, confu-
sion ensues, clear thinking is non-
existent and impossible. This turbid
state of mind, incapable of producing
lucid concepts. will he productive, un-
der certain circumstances, either of
supersition, or else of prejudice in
favor or against the object under con-
sideration.
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Why, then, is the mind of man pre-
cluded from working psychologically
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THE Heavy Lines on this map present
constructed and in operation. The lines show
way now has under construction or has been empow
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The dotted squares indicate the addi
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Railway believes are needed to mee t the immediate I
These suggested extensions are base
tation men and Engineers of the Company, but also
Officials and Railway Commissioners to accomplisr
to such alterations or changes as the Common Cou
The Detroit United Railway stan
about 130 miles in length, and to fully equip them 0
and other facilities that go to make up a complete o
City may require, and to operate them as a unified
under any reasonable arrangement that may be enter
The Mind and the Jewish People.
When we follow the popular mind
and its workings when thinking of the
Jewish peonle and the Jews, we find
that it works neither psychologically
nor logically, that it labors in confu-
sion and creates prejudice.
This fact is attested by the universal
preindiee against the Jew and by the
confusion of thought on the Jewish
Question. All the answers to this
question, as has been shown, are self-
contradictory and illogical in the ex-
treme.
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yearns for his erstwhile inheritance;
because he is a coward; because he is
The Law of the Mind.
too daring; because the hatred against
him is native to the nations; because
The science of psychology has dis-
the nations suffer of their own ills covered many important laws con-
and erroneously point to him as the cerning the working scheme of the
cause of their sufferings; because he is human mind.
an idealist; because he is a cheat and
a fraud; because he is a chauvinist;
because he cringes and fawns; be-
cause the Jews arc leagued together
into a strong union; because among
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The terms must be and will be fair to the Rider, the Ta
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Note—Watch for further statements to be issued by the Company.
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