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JEWISH ITEMS

The Grasdanin, a newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Russia, says, in the course of an article on the Semitic question: “Judaism is proceeding by slow but sure steps to the subjugation of Europe by intrigue, knavery and corruption. It advances easily where the people are ignorant, pliable and apathetic. It is therefore absolutely necessary to protect the Russians against the Jewish conquest by the most radical measures, if we do not wish to see the Israelitish Empire established in our midst.” The Grasdanin suggests as preventive measures the refusal of social recognition of the Jews unless they hold a first guild license, that dealings in lands should be prohibited unless the guild licenses them, that only five per cent of the members of councils and clubs may be Jews, and that all Hebrew newspapers be suppressed.

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The change in the position of the Jew within the past half century is one of the most remarkable character. Fifty years ago the Jew was inert and imbecile; now he exercises a greater power than in the days of David or Solomon. The Jews to-day influence more people, control more bullion, and exercise more legislative power than they did when they had their temple, their land, and their sceptre. They have been stationary for eighteen centuries, and hunted into obscurity. To-day they attract wider attention than ever before in their history. It is estimated, by those who claim to see the drift of things, that in a brief period all the seats of justice will be in their hands. Out of twelve hundred students of law in Berlin, six hundred were Jews. The Berlin and other Councils are ruled by a Jewish majority, and all offices are in the gifts of Jews. The German tradesman sinks to a secondary position alongside his Jew competitor, the best squares are filled with Jew shops, the best estates have passed into their hands. In Germany they have ousted the best families from their patrimonial possessions. This is true of Holland also. The Jew is the world’s chief banker to-day. Almost the whole of the liberal press of Germany is in their hands. The two leading papers of Rome were, and possibly still are, edited by Jews. The power of the Jewish press of the continent of Europe is very great in matters

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political, scientific and theological. … As the Jew has entered the civilization of the age and become a part of it, Rabbinical Judaism has necessarily undergone considerable modification. Amongst multitudes of Jews in Germany, the hope of a Messiah has totally disappeared. A spirit of scepticism has laid hold of the younger generation, so that conviction has disappeared. … All idealism is gone, and nothing is considered to be useful and worth while any effort but that which promises material advantage—wealth, honor, power and enjoyment. Of two thousand shops kept by Jews in the city of Paris, not over a hundred are closed on Saturday. Of the seventy thousand Jews in New York City, not over twenty-five hundred are attached to the synagogue.

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A correspondent of The Faith says: The Academy of Sciences of Bologna have at length produced their report on the question of a primary meridian and universal standard of time. They propose to disestablish Greenwich, and to fix the new meridian at Jerusalem, where the universal day would begin at noon, and where the universal day and chronological day would virtually coincide. The essential thing in a meridian is that it should pass over as much land as possible, so that arcs of it may be easily measured in any investigations into the size and shape of the earth. From this point of view the choice lay between Boston and Jerusalem. The meridian of Boston is in certain respects the better, but Jerusalem is supposed by the Academy to be a better site for an international observatory. Thus, if the scientific opinion of Europe endorses this report, we shall have in future to regulate our clocks and watches by Jerusalem mean time, and our maps will make all their degrees run east and west, not from Greenwich, but from Jerusalem.

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— August, 1891 —