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No. 18. Vienna, 2nd May 1902. 6th Year.

The Elections in France.

The elections, it is true, are not yet entirely concluded — in nearly a quarter of the seats second ballots must still bring the decision — but the fog of uncertainty has lifted, and the outlines of the future Chamber are already plainly visible. The net balance of the elections is a majority in favour of the republican-progressive Cabinet of Waldeck-Rousseau. The "Liberal" papers of every country are rejoicing over the victory of the progressive idea. We, however, may well ask ourselves: have the Jews, too, in France and in the rest of the world, real cause for bright rejoicing?

For the moment, to be sure, the assault of the friends of darkness and reaction, the Jew-haters, has been repulsed, and the present liberal Ministry remains at the helm. But the Jews, in their delicate situation, have the duty of looking out beyond the moment and of closely observing all the accompanying phenomena and attendant circumstances — and then their joy is sorely damped and their anxiety roused to the utmost. The mere fact that anti-Semitic candidatures were announced in every electoral district of great France casts a glaring sidelight upon the position of the Jews in France, even if only a part of these candidatures was attended with success. For there is no doubt either that anti-Semitism was the platform of this election, even if the anti-ministerial candidates hid themselves behind other masks. There were socialist anti-Semites just as there were royalist ones . . . that was the characteristic thing.

Even if not all the anti-Semites were elected, anti-Semitic votes were nevertheless cast in every electoral district, and the sum of the anti-Semitic votes is alarmingly large. Paris, indeed, has fallen almost wholly to the anti-Semites. The very papers which at other times extolled Paris as the head and heart of France console themselves to-day with the thought that the provinces have this time "taught the capital a lesson." Well, that is a feeble consolation, for if anywhere, it is in France that the capital is in fact the centre of the country. Paris is also the city in which by far the greatest number of all the Jews living in France reside. For the Jews, therefore, the anti-Semitic attitude of Paris outweighs the vote of the provinces. But that is not all the elections teach. We have witnessed it in other countries: an anti-Semitic minority in a representative body is enough to terrorize that body to the point where the majority no longer dares to propose laws friendly to the Jews, to advance Jews in offices and dignities, or to treat the Jews as it treats all other citizens. Already the number of Jewish officials, teachers, engineers, physicians is being counted . . . . Even a Government not friendly to the Jews will, from the instinct of self-preservation, take care not to appoint Jews in any even moderately large number. From there it is but a step to open exclusion, to the boycotting of the Jews.

The Liberals are especially glad that Drumont has lost his Algerian seat. Apart from the fact that a place will be made free for Drumont in Paris, it is truly a matter of indifference whether Drumont sits in the Chamber or not. It is not the persons that matter, but the spirit. And there one must unhappily state — if one does not wish to deceive oneself — that anti-Semitism in France is making ever further progress, that France has ceased to be an asylum, a refuge of the Jews, and that it is unhappily to be feared that at no very distant time it will even take its place in the ranks of the countries hostile to and oppressive of the Jews.

Ever narrower grows the space on earth that is freely open to the Jews, and still they are short-sighted enough not to wish to think of founding a house of their own, into which they might withdraw, protected from persecution and hostility.