In this chapter I propose to consider the nature of the immigration. At the outset of this particular aspect of the question, it is necessary to make it clear that one is animated by no sentiments of racial or religious animosity. Nothing could be more undesirable than to treat this question as a sectarian question, or to cast any slur upon the Hebrew faith. Nothing would harm the movement more than to create a _Judenhetze_ in England, the home of religious liberty; and therefore whenever the term "Jew" is used throughout this volume, it is used merely to distinguish between other races and nationalities, and from no desire to arouse the _odium theologicum_. This disclaimer may seem unnecessary to some, but it is important to emphasize it, because if there is one thing hateful to the people of this country, it is religious intolerance; if there is one thing dear to them, it is that liberality which in matters of this kind recognizes no distinctions of faith or creed. It is perfectly true that a large proportion of these undesirable visitors are Jewish by race and religion. But that has nothing to do with the objection to them; it would be just the same if they were Christians, Mahommedans, Buddhists, or sun-worshippers. The objection to them is simply this, that by coming into certain trades and industries in this country, they subject our own people to a constant and unfair competition, which renders it impossible for them to obtain a decent livelihood, and tends directly to militate against their physical, financial, social, and moral well-being. In this matter there is nothing of race, nothing of religion, except so far as this, that we recognize that our first duty should be towards our own nation, our own flesh and blood. Nor is this objection by any means confined to destitute foreign Jews; it holds equally good with regard to vagrant and vicious Italians, idle Hungarians, degraded Chinese, and all the other undesirable specimens of those nationalities which go to make up the motley horde. Still it is idle to deny, in dealing with this question, that though the immigrants are of all nationalities, by far the greater part of those objected to is composed of Russian, Roumanian, and Polish Jews, drawn from the class which goes to swell the poor-houses and penitentiaries of Eastern Europe.