A wonderful article was written in 1899, when anti-Semitism was wide-
spread in the US. Large companies did not hire Jewish people. Universities
either did not admit Jews or limited their numbers with strict quotas.
'Respectable' people like Henry Ford and Thomas Edison expressed their
anti-Jewish feelings openly. Mark Twain had an answer for them: If the statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one percent of
the human race. It suggests a nebulous dim puff of stardust lost in the
blaze of the Milky Way. Properly the Jew ought hardly be heard of; but he
is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as
any other people, and his commercial importance is extravagantly out of
proportion to the smallness of his bulk. His contributions to the world's
list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine,
and obtuse learning are also way out of proportion to the weakness of his
numbers. He has made a marvelous fight in this world in all the ages, and
has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself
and be excused for it. The Egyptians, the Babylonians, and the Persians rose, filled the planet
with sound and splendor, and faded to dream stuff and passed away. The
Greeks and the Romans followed and made a vast noise and they are gone.
Other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high
for a time. But it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have
vanished. The Jew saw them all. Beat them all, and is now what he always
was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his
parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive
mind. All things are mortal but the Jew. All other forces pass, but he
remains. (The Complete Works of Mark Twain, American Artists Edition, Harper and Brothers 1899, page 286) Mark Twain - Harper's Magazine, September 1899 |
