of Europe, where the
kings, desiring to build up their cities, invited the Jews, and hither
the persecuted race fled from the East before the Russians, and latterly
from the West, driven out by the Germans. When finally, a hundred years
ago, the remnant of the Polish Empire was divided between Russia,
Prussia, and Austria, the Jewish population in this favored area had
become the largest aggregation of that people since the destruction of
Jerusalem. To-day in certain of these provinces belonging to Russia the
Jews number as high as one-sixth of the entire population, and more than
half of that of several cities. Fifteen provinces taken from Poland and
Turkey, extending 1500 miles along the border of Germany and
Austria-Hungary and 240 miles in width, constitute to-day the "Pale of
Settlement," the region where Jews are permitted to live. Here are found
one-third of the world's 11,000,000 Jews.[51] Here they formerly engaged
in all lines of industry, including agriculture.

Now we come to the last great national uprising, like that which began
in England six hundred years ago. The Russian serfs had been freed in
1861. But they were left without land or capital and were burdened by
high rents and enormous taxes. The Jews became their merchants,
middlemen, and usurers. Suddenly, in 1881, the peasants, oppressed and
neglected by landlord and government, turned in their helplessness upon
the intermediate cause of their misery, the Jew. The anti-Semitic riots
of that year have perhaps never been exceeded in ferocity and
indiscriminate destruction. Then began the migration to America. The
next year the Russian government took up the persecution, and the
notorious "May Orders" of 1882 were promulgated. These, at the
instigation of the Greek Church, have been followed by orders more
stringent, so that to-day, unless relieved by the terrorized promises of
the Czar, the Jew is not permitted to foreclose a mortgage or to lease
or purchase land; he cannot do business on Sundays or Christian
holidays; he cannot hold office; he cannot worship or assemble without
police permit; he must serve in the army, but cannot become an officer;
he is excluded from schools and universities; he is fined for conducting
manufactures and commerce; he is almost prohibited from the learned
professions. While all other social questions are excluded from
discussion, the anti-Semitic press is given free play, and the popular
hatred of the Jew is stirred t