"It is indispensable for our purposes that, as far as possible, wars should bring no territorial advantages. This will shift war to an economic footing . . . . Such a condition of affairs will place both sides under the control of our international agents with their million eyes, whose vision is unhampered by any frontiers. Then, our international rights will eliminate national rights in the narrow sense, and will govern the governments as they govern their subjects."—Protocol 2.
As a mere literary curiosity, these documents which are called "The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion" would exercise a fascination by reason of the terrible completeness of the World Plan which they disclose. But they discourage at every turn the view that they are literature; they purport to be statesmanship, and they provide within their own lines the clue by which their status may be determined. Besides the things they look forward to doing, they announce the things they have done and are doing. If, in looking about the world, it is possible to see both the established conditions and the strong tendencies to which these Protocols allude, it will not be strange if interest in a mere literary curiosity gives way to something like alertness, and it may be alarm.
A few general quotations will serve to illustrate the element of present achievement in the assertions of these documents, and in order that the point may be made clear to the reader the key words will be emphasized.
Take this from Protocol Nine:
"In reality there are no obstacles before us. Our super-government has such an extra-legal status that it may be called by the energetic and strong word—dictatorship. I can conscientiously say that, at the present time, we are the lawmakers. We create courts and jurisprudence. We rule with a strong will because we hold in our hands the remains of a once strong party, now subjugated by us."
And this from the Eighth Protocol: