A. I have heard of difficulties of emigration, and that they are overcrowded with Jews. As to that information I cannot say.
HOW JEWS IN U. S. CONCEAL THEIR STRENGTH 11 Q. In your opinion would not the stream of emigration to America have been much greater if no such law had existed?
A. I think this law did not alter it much. The prohibition could not change it.
Q. On what grounds do you believe that? A. It is a question of coasts and harbors. They come in. How will you prevent a man from coming in?
Q. Do you mean they are smuggled in? A. No, I do not believe that. But they always find means to come in.
Now, discussion of immigration in the United States has never been free. We have talked a great deal about it in general terms, but not in terms of specific races except the Chinese and Japanese. However, Herzl seems to have known that wherever the Jews congregate in noticeable numbers they become a trouble (his words are: “ * * * America, where so soon as they form a perceptible number they become a trouble and a burden to the land7’) and he also knew that efforts would be made to meet that condition. But more than that, he dropped what must be construed as a warning, that such efforts would be resisted. He said:
“There exists a French proverb, lcet animal est tres impatient; il se defend quand on Vattaque.’ If the Jews are attacked, they will defend themselves, and you mill get something like internal troubles The time apparently did come in the United States when some far-seeing official began to wonder what the Jewish invasion portended. Already it was too strong to be openly attacked. The Jewish lobby at Washing¬ ton was powerful even at that time. So, apparently, this official concluded that the best way to set about so momentous a task was to collect the information.