The Immigrant Tide, Its Ebb and FlowSteiner, Edward Alfred
History
The Immigrant Tide, Its Ebb and Flow
Steiner, Edward Alfred
United States -- Emigration and immigration
"Of this resurgence of dislike, the Hebrew students had some, though not
a serious share. Thirty years ago, when the Jews began to be an
appreciable element among the students of this university, there was no
evidence whatever of dislike to them. They took their places among
their mates with no reference to their race; that indeed seemed, so far
as I could discern, to be quite unnoted. Following on the last European
epidemic of hatred to the Israelites, there has developed among this
body of students an evident dislike for their fellows of that race. The
feeling is by no means universal or intense; it is condemned by the
greater part of the leaders of opinion among these young men; yet it is
sufficient to be noticeable and to awaken keen regret in all those who
love the catholic and human motive which so long has inspired that
school. One of my helpers in the effort to find the reason for this
state of mind summed up his acute observations in the statement that
when one spoke to the Jew kindly, 'the fellow climbed all over you.'"
I agree with nearly all Professor Shaler says; but I am sure that there
are two facts which he does not sufficiently emphasize. First: The
anti-Semitic feeling was carried to Harvard on the wave which came from
France during the Dreyfus trial. This is important; for it proves my
point that race antipathies are contagious, and that it does not matter
whether the contagion springs from an ethical or unethical source.
The psychological law for this lies in the now fairly well explored
field of the "mob" and is a common phenomenon from which many races have
to suffer.
The second point made by Professor Shaler is that which refers to the
Jewish mind. That quick response which the Jews give, which is so
obnoxious to the Gentile, was certainly not disagreeable to Jehovah; for
if we trust Holy Writ, He often held converse with them and made the
quick Jewish mind the vehicle of His thought.
This quality of the Jewish mind made an Amos hear the roaring of the
Lord's voice in the lonely wilderness; it made an Isaiah hear the call
of Jehovah amid the din of the traffic of Jerusalem, and brought to the
ears of a Paul the heavenly voice, on the road to Damascus.
This quality of the Jewish mind also betrays his "seeking for immediate
profit" and explains the repulsion felt by Professor Shaler's friends,
and felt by American people in academic circles and out of them.
In my judgment the difference between the Jew and other commercial
people lies largely in the fact that the Jew cannot so well conceal his
desire to make profit. It is written upon his mobile face and conveys
itself in the shrug of his shoulders and the upturned palms of his
hands.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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