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 HE 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 0 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? 111111111111111111111111 111111111111111111111111 rCt PA//( Ji. ~ 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. • 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. S • • Why, then, is the mind of man pre- cluded from working psychologically • • • / ksq •• • • • ••:••• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • JO Y ROAD PO I NNNN N %It : 744 *CRAW • • • • • • • • k • • ittovoteas • 10 --- R 0 1 T 1.• jo n/ THE Heavy Lines on this map present constructed and in operation. The lines show way now has under construction or has been empow 11111111111111 111111111 The dotted squares indicate the addi 111111111111111111111111 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. U zlezr 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 Oota The terms must be and will be fair to the Rider, the Ta 1 Note—Watch for further statements to be issued by the Company. 111.0