all peoples who live under normal conditions live economically, that is, on a systematized budget in which expenditure is adjusted to income. the jewish people, not living under such conditions, do not live economically. their budget is not systematized nor are its expenditures proportionate to the income. the lack of a systematized budget, however, does not mean that we have no fixed annual expenditures, although it is true that we have no fixed annual income. the truth is that we, as a people, spend as much as any other people of equal numbers who live a normal life. the only difference is seen in this: while other peoples spend money for national organization and on national institutions, we have to spend our money either in bribery or to help pogrom victims.
on the eve of the jewish new year it is proper that we draw up and take account of our annual budget. the biggest sum in this budget is the item marked "bribery." few realize how many millions are spent annually by russian and roumanian jews who seek to mollify their oppressors with bribe or gift offerings. few realize that the many millions spent by wealthy assimilationists in non-jewish philanthropies are also bribe offerings. the jew has learned that if he means to be a jew he must pay bribery and that if he does not want to be a jew, he must also pay bribery.
when a few years ago a jewish lord in england bequeathed his fortune of $10,000,000 to non-jewish institutions, he made it clear that this gift should be taken as proof of his sincere anglicism, which meant the repudiation of judaism. when the french jew, meurts de la deutsch spends 2,000,000 francs annually to encourage aviation in france, it is for no nobler purpose than to deny that he is a jew, and that he has embraced all french interests. the same is true of innumerable wealthy jews who give millions for non-jewish and often for anti-jewish purposes. it might prove interesting to an economist to discover how many millions are spent annually in such bribery.
it is not difficult to estimate in round figures the sums spent annually by those who want to remain jews.
there are six million jews in russia. for every move he makes, the russian jew must bribe the authorities. if he wants his son admitted to the schools, he must bribe the education officials. if he wants to open a store and obtain a license, he must bribe the village or town officials. if he builds a house he must bribe the building inspectors. if he seeks a passport, he must bribe the police. the whole run of human activities is accompanied by an endless flow of bribes, gifts, presents, etc. it is no exaggeration to say that every jew in russia must spend an average of ten rubles annually in bribing officials. this is 60,000,000 rubles, or $30,000,000 a year. the total budget of the swiss confederacy falls within this amount. in return the russian jews are paid in exceptional laws and pogroms. these laws and pogroms lead to emigration which costs us, on an average, $10,000,000 a year.
in the last decade jewish emigration from russia has been at least 100,000 persons a year. the cost to every immigrant is at least 120 rubles. this totals $7,200,000 a year. economists have calculated and discovered that the incidental expenses of each immigrant amount to about 100 rubles. these expenses are caused by the loss entailed in breaking up business, selling out below cost, etc. this in turn totals up to 12,000,000 rubles, or $6,000,000 a year. in addition to these sums there are extraordinary losses resulting from pogroms, fire and boycott.
we are not taking into consideration the hundreds of millions lost by jews in the war owing to the malice of the russian government. these losses are not recurrent. but we must consider the losses of the jews in russia as a result of pogroms. in the pogroms of 1905 and 1906 the russian jews lost 20,000,000 rubles. pogroms on a minor scale are yearly events in russia. all in all, the sum which the russian jews spend annually in bribes or in expenses in connection with emigration, or which they lose in pogroms or other upheavals, reaches the gigantic sum of $50,000,000, a sum which exceeds the annual budget of bulgaria or of switzerland. for less than this sum these two peoples enjoy national independence and sovereignty while we enjoy—pogroms.
what is true of russia is true of roumania, partly true of galicia and of the jews in northern africa, persia and afghanistan. that these million and a half of oppressed jews living outside of russia also spend millions annually in bribery and emigration goes without saying.
as the emigration from the countries of oppression does not diminish the number of jews, because of the high birth-rate there, and as conditions of life grow worse daily, the emigrants have to support their families and friends who stay behind. the russian ministry of post and telegraph published statistical tables a few years ago, which show that the russian immigrants in the united states, mostly jews, send annually to their relatives and friends from $15,000,000 to $18,000,000 a year. a good part of this sum goes to the russian post office officials. this fact became known four years ago when a group of jews in petrograd and moscow started a movement with the purpose of founding a jewish immigrants' bank.
when speaking of necessary and incidental expenses of immigration one must not overlook the losses accruing from re-immigration and from a decrease of productive energy of many immigrants because of their inability to adapt themselves to new surroundings.
these are expenses caused by the decision of jews to remain jews. we maintain that the sums of money paid by jews who are determined to have the world think them non-jews, or to have the world forgive them for being jews, are at least as large.
when, a few years ago, the jewish millionaire efrussi died in paris, the french press without exception paid high tribute to his french patriotism and omitted all mention of his jewish origin. efrussi used to spend 2,000,000 francs on french national sports, races, etc. this was also the case with the french jew, osiris, who left his fortune of 60,000,000 francs to the french people and french institutions, and 60,000 francs to the jewish people in the form of a copy of michael angelo's moses erected in the court of the jewish teachers' seminary of the alliance israelite in paris. an austrian jew, taussig, gave 1,000,000 kronen to the catholic eucharist congress in vienna, while a relative of the same name left 500,000 kronen to the catholic church with the request that on his jahr-zeit two franciscan monks visit the synagogue to pray for his soul. the new university in frankfort-on-main, which cost many[127] million marks, is a jewish university in so far as large parts of this sum were contributed by jews. most of the contributors were jews who in no way support jewish institutions. a prussian statistician discovered a few years ago that not only do jews contribute to funds for the building of monuments to national heroes, but also to funds for catholic cathedrals and other institutions that are anti-semitic in character.
in england there are hundreds of wealthy jews who make annual contributions to the church of england, refusing at the same time to support any jewish institutions. lord rothschild, who is by no means the richest man in england, spends more in new year's gifts to various non-jewish classes in london than ten other rich lords combined. another english jew, sir ernest cassel, the son of a hebrew teacher in germany, has spent in the last decade £1,500,000 in the support of non-jewish institutions. their contributions to jewish institutions have been insignificant in comparison.
the gift of these large sums is always made public, but the sum total of smaller gifts, which are not made public, exceed by far the amounts given by very rich jews to non-jewish institutions. if we compare the sums given by so-called jewish philanthropists to jewish and non-jewish institutions we discover that they give at least five times as generously to the non-jewish as to the jewish. mr. jacob h. schiff's gift of $500,000 to barnard college is a striking instance. at a time when his own people experienced the greatest calamity in its history, when millions of jews were starving, and when jewish blood was being shed freely, schiff gave $100,000 for jewish relief purposes and five times as much to a single institution for the erection of one building in new york. this is the usual proportion that marks the giving of jews to jewish and non-jewish institutions.
we think that the form of bribery which the oppressed jews practice to mollify their oppressors is sad enough as a commentary on jewish life. but the more ostentatious form of bribery—a form of gift bestowal which seeks to hide the giver's identity as a jew or at least to purchase pardon for his jewishness—is the greater tragedy. these jews spend millions to make the world forget they are jews, but the world remembers and laughs up its sleeve.
