OCR Text |
Show ONE MAN IN EVERY FOUR IN NEW YORK A JEW The last great element In present-day Immigration Is. properly spoaklng, not European at nil, but Oriental, says Burton Bur-ton J Hendrllc In McCluro's Magazine for May. Tho migration of hundreds of thousands of eastern European Jews to the United States Is ono of the stupendous stupen-dous facts of modern times. It Is unquestionably un-questionably t e most far-rcachlng event In the annals of Israel since the fall of Jerusalem. Purely from the standpoint of numbers, history records nothing like It. In the two thousand years that this people has been homeless, home-less, forcing Its presenco upon the unwelcoming un-welcoming nations of Europe, It has been subjected to many expulsions, many forced migrations: but never have Its comings nnd goings resembled the present pres-ent masslike movement to tho United States. The expulsion of the Jews from England, In the reign of Edward I.. Is a sorry chapter in their history; yet this edict exiled only about 15,000 neople, less than one-tenth the number that landed In New York last year. The expulsion of the Jews from Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella has been tragically described by many historians, but It affected only 150.000 souls, less than one-quarter of tho present Jewish population of New York. Jerusalem, In its greatest days, contained less than one-sixth the number num-ber of Jews now found In the American metropolis, indeed, about one-tenth of all the Jews in the world, or S00.000. live upon Manhattan Island and tho adjoining adjoin-ing territory. In the greater city one man In every four Is a Jew. |