The figures show, therefore, that Jewish member¬ ship increased from 5% per cent of the total in 1872 to 25 per cent in 1919.
In its reference to the Stock Exchange under the head of “Finance,” the Jewish Encyclopedia states that Jewish membership is “only 128,” “a little more than 10 per cent.” The date of these Jewish statistics is not given. The article quoted has, however, an JEW VERSUS NON-JEW IN NEW YORK FINANCE 39 argumentative as well as informative purpose. The statement concerning the 10 per cent membership on the Exchange is made to call attention to the fact that “Jews form at least 20 per cent of the whole population of New York, and much more than that percentage of the business section.” The Jewish population of New York City has since increased to 25 per cent of the whole, and the membership on the Stock Exchange has increased to the same point.
But it has taken 47 years for the Jews to gain that 25 per cent membership. Their control of the Ex¬ change, at the given rate of progress, is only a ques¬ tion of time.
In spite of these details, it is probably a fact that the Jewish speculators in the New York financial dis¬ trict greatly outnumber the non-Jewish speculators. Speculation and gambling are known historically as special propensities of the Jewish race. While many Jews patronize non-Jewish firms, the great mass of them follow in the speculative path of the leaders of their race. In Europe, where their financial control is more firmly fixed and of longer standing than here, it is rarely that the Jews are caught in speculative failure. They are sometimes found in speculative scandals, but seldom in any scandal involving losses to themselves. As a rule they dabble in “Jewish” securities, and in Wall Street one hears many stories concerning the victories or defeats of “the Jewish following.”