The Alien Invasion

tion, it is necessary to make it clear that one is animated by no sentiments of racial or religious animosity. Nothing c

ortion 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 recogni

uring cities of the North-Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and some other Scotch towns. Now it is evident that thickly-populated districts do not require immigration, but emigration. It is evident also that the Jew in England is not pastoral, but gregarious. Experts, whose opinions must be listened to with all deference, tell us that many of the foreign Jews have in them the making of good colonists and admirable agriculturalists. It may be so; but those who come here appear to show a marked distaste for agricultural and all pastora

ysique, and always scantily clad. In most instances, they are without money at all; others have a few thalers, or roubles, or marks, as the case may be; and of these they are quickly eased

at present the possession of a passport is a sine qua non. To avoid the expense and trouble of obtaining these documents, many subterfuges are resorted to, to enable the Jews to leave unnoticed; but on arriving at the frontier en route to Hamburg, and being found without these documents, many of the emigrants are subjected to the grossest maltreatment and robbery. It is said that many of them have been robbed of every coin, and almost every article they possess, and are sent across the frontier in an absolute state of beggary and destitution. Many cases are known to the officials of the Jewish Charitable Institutions in London, where whole families have had, in consequence of being thus robbed, to tramp on foot through Germany ten or sixteen days, in order to reach Hamburg en route to London. When once they arriv

together in the stifling atmosphere between the decks; some lying on bundles of foul and dirty rags, others squatting on the bare deck itself. It is a terrible picture of famished and suffering humanity. No one thinks of taking off his clothes during the passage, and few have either the inclination, or the opportunity, to wash themselves or their children. The sanitary arrangements are simply abominable. The follow

, young or middle-aged, but so enfeebled and spiritless that one might have fixed their age at nearer seventy than thirty. A few were old women, bent, emaciated, and almost lifeless. All, with few exceptions, were yellow with dirt, and smelt foully.... I thought it to be about time to go and look after my sleeping quarters. There were two places from which to choose. One of these, according to the inscription on the entrance, was constructed to hold thirty-four persons, the other twenty-nine. The German ships are subject to practically no regulations as to space; and I inferred there must be on board about one hundred deck passengers.... I made my way to the larger of the two steerage cabins. When I got to the top of the gangway, the stench which issued from the semi-darkness beneath was pretty nearly unendurable, and it was even worse down-stairs, when blended with the heat from the bodies of the emigrants. But the

voyage; the second is described

n of filth, which had taken place by the ever-increasing indisposition of the passengers the longer we were at sea.... Throug

te people present a most squalid, dirty, and uninviting appearance. The journey is a wretched one; and at the end of it things are no better; for w

th some of the Jewish charities, and tell them that they must allow their luggage to be collected. When this is done, they get together as many as possible before being stopped by the real agents of the Jewish Homes, and march them off, not to where the unfortunates think they are going, but to some of the boarding-houses in Spitalfields. Arrived there, the aliens undergo a process of sifting. Those who are absolutely destitute, and without money or baggage, from whom there is nothing to be got, are quickly dismissed, and sent in charge of a child to the Poor Jews' Temporary Shelter in Leman Street. But those who have money and baggage are advised to stay a day or two until they can "look about them." Then the fleecing commences. A charge is made of from two shillings to five shillings a week for a wretched shake-down bed; but the lodger has to pay the full week if he only stays one night. Food is charged in proportion. The next morning, as soon as the lodge

ith barely any clothes to cover them, and without a penny in their pockets." In this veritable slave-market they hang about in droves, waiting for the sweater to come and hire them, which he does sometimes in person, sometimes by means of an agent, and someti

and at so much money in the sweating dens. It is a pitiful sight. Most of these men are newly-arrived foreign paupers, chiefly Polish Jews. The boat from Hamburg arrives every Saturday at the docks, and the agent who meets them conveys them to some Jewish shelter where they remain until Sunday morning, when he leads them to this place. Most of them as they stand there have the high boots and fur cap distinctive of the Russian peasant. Want and long service are plainly written on their emaciated forms, and along with these a certain patient and dogged intention of purpose. Often the sweate

"greeners" are very quick to learn, and as they progress they earn a little more; but their position is precarious, being liable to be discharged at a moment's notice. The work is precarious too, and the wages are irregularly paid. Sometimes there is nothing to do for weeks and weeks. Their food is of the scantiest, the refuse of fish and a little bread being the principal articles of diet. The length of hours for which they work-I speak now of the cheap tailoring trade-averages from fourteen to fifteen hours a day,

o employs him; and as many as sixteen or seventeen of these "greeners" have been known to lodge in his house at the same time. The daily food, as a rule, consists of a piece of hard stale bread, dipped in salad oil. The bread is bought from a barrow in the street, and consists of the stale unsaleable loaves collected from various bakers' shops in the neighbourhood. The "greener" may supplement this possibly with a littl

actories kept by foreigners, and to apply for work to take out in large quantities. By a process of gradual development, the "greener" becomes a "slosher" himself, and in the fulness of time he may be seen walking about the East End, accosting and offering employment to the first batch of recently-arrived immigrants he sees. More probably he will meet th

dish." Here may be seen the smart young foreign Jews and Jewesses, arrayed in all their glory, on every night of the week except Friday, when the Hebrew Sabbath, which nearly all Hebrews outwardly respect, commences. He may also perhaps join the "Chovevi Zion"-Hebrew for "lovers of Zion"-a society which sprang into existence in the East End of London about twelve months ago; or he may possibly-very probably-join one of the many little gambling-hells so greatly affected by the foreign Je

don are as foreign as in Warsaw, or the

come and stay with me until you get it," or "I can put you in the way of obtaining it." Of course this dodge does not always succeed, for many young Jewesses are by no means so guileless as they appear to be. But in two cases out of three it does. The girl, friendless and unprotected, goes off with her interlocutor, and then the old shameful story is repeated. She stays in the house until the little she has is more than due for board; her efforts to earn an honest living are in vain; and when she is destitute, she is told she must either leave the place, minus even her little baggage, or earn money at the expense of her virtue. Such a

xtensively carried on as formerly, but it still exists. Again, there is also the suspicion, which deepens almost into a certainty, of the existence of what is known in America as "steamship-solicitation." It is highly probable that some of the steamship companies principally concerned in bringing these people to England, have agents on the Continent engaged in persuading poor Jews, and poor foreigners generally, to come to this country with the delusive idea that they will find plenty of employment, and plenty of pecuniary assistance here. The notices which the Government have recently caused to be posted up at some of the European ports, may do something to nullify this; but the fact remains that there are several German steamship lines doing an enormous business in bringing these Jewish immigrants to our shores, and there

lp their poorer brethren. The admirably organized system of benevolence which they have gradually built up by means of charitable organizations, shelters, and similar institutions, constitutes nothing less than an open advertisement to the poor Jews all over Europe

strial Departments, was 3351, representing with dependent families 12,047 individuals, and this at a cost of ￡21,648. Of course, this refers to the resident Jewish population as well, the operations of the Russian and Board Conjoint Committee not being included in this statement. In fairness it should be stated that the Jewish Board of Guardians also assist many to emigrate, and generally endeavour to redu

e Society opposed to the wholesale influx of foreign Jews, but the number of Jews converted through its influence is incredibly small. For instance, we learn from the last Annual Report that only 145 "yo

ns them. But this influence, already strained to its utmost, will not avail for ever. If the ceaseless immigration of Russian and Polish outcasts is not brought to an end, there will be an anti-Jewish

dation. Something must be done to divert this stream before it swells into an overwhelming flood. How long is this invasion to go on? Until Russia has emptied half-the worst half-of her Jewish population on our shores? The question is one for English Jews themselves. If an anti-Semitic feeling breaks out in this country, it will be because of this Russian influx, which apparently is being allowed to go on unchecked. What are the wealthy and powerful English Jews doing to check it, to focus public opinion upon it, to urge the intervention of Parliament? Apparently nothing. Surely it is not too much to expect that a movement for judiciously restri

gerous phase of popular excitement-panic legislation. Surely it would be wiser statesmanship to do something now, while the matter can be considered reas