Jewish reports of these disturbances rarely go be¬ yond the fact that Jews are suffering from certain acts of the Polish populace. Incident after incident is JEWS USE PEACE CONFERENCE TO BIND POLAND 233 given with full detail, and with a very apparent journal¬ istic appreciation of horror. Names, dates, places, circumstances are all in order.
Very well. It is no part of this article to deny or minimize the suffering of Jews wherever or for what¬ ever cause it may occur. There is nothing whatever to be said in extenuation of injustice inflicted on the humblest human being. The murder of even one per¬ son, the terrorizing of even one family, is a very ter¬ rible thing to contemplate. It'is a great pity that the world has become so accustomed to the piled-up tales of horror that it no longer has any sensibilities left to feel the shame and degradation of these things. From the days of Belgium onward, all races in Europe have suffered, and by sympathy all races in America have suffered with them, though it is a fact that we hear more, far more, about the sufferings of the Jews than of any other people.
There is, however, this reaction of the practical mind: Why do these things occur? Grant that rob- • beries, assaults and murders described in the com¬ plaint, have occurred, why should they occur?
Are the Polish people naturally given to perpe¬ trating such acts? Have such acts marked the resi¬ dence of the Jews in Poland for the last 800 years? And if the Polish people are not naturally abusive, if the story of the Jews’ residence in Poland has been mostly pleasant, what causes the change now?—that is the way the practical general mind works. It seeks to know the background.