Elimination may be by destruction, by excretion or by absorption--in the case of the Jews the first is abominable and, further, has failed--the second means exile: it has also failed--the third, absorption, the most probable and most moral, has failed throughout the past, though having everything in its favour. There remains segregation, which may be of two forms: hostile to, or careless of, the alien body, or friendly to it and careful of its good--in this latter form it may best be called _Recognition_. The first kind of segregation has often been attempted in history--it has been partially successful over long periods--but has always left behind it a sense of injustice and has not really solved the problem--also it has always failed in the end. The true solution is in the second kind of segregation, that is, recognition on both sides of a separate Jewish nationality. CHAPTER II THE DENIAL OF THE PROBLEM 17 In the immediate past the problem was shirked in Western Europe by a mere denial of its existence--some were honestly ignorant of the existence of a Jewish nation--some thought the difference one of religion only--more admitted the existence of a separate nation but thought a convenient fiction, that it did not exist, necessary to the modern state. This ignorance or fiction has broken down in our own time--partly through the necessary reaction of truth against any falsehood--partly through the increasing numbers of the Jews in Western countries--more through the great increase of their power. Yet, though this old "Liberal" fiction about the Jews is dead, having proved unworkable in the face of fact, it had something to be said for it--it secured peace for a while--it chose models from the past--and it was based on a certain truth, to wit, that the Jew takes on very rapidly the superficial characters of the nation in which he happens for the time to be living--moreover it was desired by the Jews themselves--example of the old Jewish Peer and his claim "to be let alone"--practical proof of the failure in his case. At any rate the old "Liberal" fiction is now quite useless--the problem is admitted and must be solved. CHAPTER III THE PRESENT PHASE OF THE PROBLEM 43