The Hebrew is incapable of understanding a moral summons like the above; it would, in fact, excite his derision. The religious and moral command had always the first consideration in all Christian business in olden times; it remained for the Jew to chase all morality out of the economic world. He regards everything which brings profit as permissible. He has made the mammonistic idea the dominating influence in our life, with his dogma:
“He who serves Mammon pleases God”
— for the real God of the Jew is Mammon, a fact which, Karl Marx, himself of Jewish descent, openly admitted.
[Page 110]
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X.
Jewish Trade Specialities.
1. Professional Bankruptcy.
Bankruptcy means to the sound tradesman the severest misfortune which can befall him; in most cases, it spells for him not only economic, but also social and moral extinction.
The German tradesman therefore, devotes all his energy, and all his reserves, to avert this calamity; and, just as an honourable captain does not desert his sinking ship so long as he is alive, so many a German merchant has considered himself unable to survive the disgrace of his bankruptcy. In any case, a genuine German tradesman emerges from his bankrupt business as poor as a church mouse, and shuns the public disgrace.
In this respect also, the Jewish morality and mode of thinking, which are of quite a different kind, have brought about a change which, unfortunately, has exercised a demoralising influence upon the conceptions of honour, prevalent amongst the German commercial community. In the eyes of the Hebrew there is nothing dishonourable about bankruptcy, which is to be regarded, in any case, purely as a business accident, and which, on that account, may evoke the sympathy of kindred souls, but which has not otherwise the slightest effect on the social position. No, indeed, the Jewish mode of thinking, which regards bankruptcy as a stroke of good luck, bringing rich profit in its train, is far from being an invention of the comic papers. This is in accordance, not only with the peculiar morality of the Jews, but also with the entire tactic of the Jewish business system or entity.*
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* In an article written in the year 1816, it is stated that “the Jew forces trading to a height where the sound Christian merchant grows giddy.”
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[Page 111] The Hebrew knows well how to begin a business with somebody else’s money. According to his solution — often thoughtlessly echoed by people, who are not Jews — “Credit is equivalent to hard cash”, and he sets to work to obtain credit from other firms and banks — for preference from those who are not Jewish — assisted in this respect by his racial brethren, who extol his business capacity and reliability with all their might.
If the business succeeds, and reaches the stage where a quick and profitable turnover is assured, the Hebrew meets his engagements punctually, and, perhaps, works himself up into the position of a really sound business man. If, however, the site of the shop has not been well chosen, and the right class of customer does not present itself, the owner alters his tactics: he now steers a straight course for bankruptcy, and a bankruptcy, which shall be as profitable to him as possible.
He succeeds in this by the following manoeuvre: instead of reducing, or even entirely withdrawing his orders, so as to allow for the deficiency in the sale of his goods, he actually increases them. So long as he still enjoys credit, he intends to make the utmost use of the same. By a steady increase in his orders, he is desirous of creating the impression that the business is in a state of healthy development. He pays punctually for part of the goods received, but lays claim, at the same time, to more and more credit; and this is willingly enough granted to him, for the merchant or manufacturer, who supplies him, is loath to lose so good a customer. The Jew now disposes of the goods, which he has obtained on credit, partly below cost price, in which process, he can always find some of his racial colleagues, ready to lend a helping hand, either by relieving him of large quantities of the goods at half the original price, in order to sell the same at extraordinarily cheap prices in their own shops, or, by selling the goods again as “job-lots” to others, who profess the same faith. The expectant bankrupt takes care to lodge part of the proceeds where it will be safely guarded, and utilises the remainder to continue his partpayments to the manufacturer or merchant in order to retain the confidence of the latter, and to gradually screw up credit to its utmost limit.
[Page 112] If he is successful in all this, and is satisfied with the amount of plunder, he finally suspends payment — with the profoundest regret that bad times and unlooked-for losses no longer allow of what was formerly a lucrative business being carried on profitably. The creditors find scarcely any stock and no cash, and have, moreover, the trouble and expense of the investigation. The man is practically safeguarded against any legal proceedings; the books are apparently in order; the selling-off at low prices of the “job-lots” is so far justified by the argument that the goods, in order not to become old-fashioned, had to be got rid of at any price; the considerable sums, which are entered up to the private account, are again justified by heavy expenditure in the household under the plea that, in the interest of the business and its inseparable social connections, it was necessary “to cut a dash”. Briefly; it is impossible to get hold of the man.*
Made shy by similar experiences, the creditors, for the most part, avoid the costly bankruptcy proceedings, fearing that, in the end, they will have to content themselves with less than five per cent, and prefer to conclude a forced settlement, meagre indeed, but which will leave them at any rate with 25 or 30 per cent of the value of their claims. It frequently happens that a special “bankruptcy sale” is arranged, which is kept going as long as possible, and by which means large quantities of goods, specially ordered for the occasion, are disposed of in the manner described above, so that the whole circle of “business friends” may benefit to the utmost by the favourable opportunity.
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* One can frequently read in the newspapers that Jewish business people, who have long been in a state of bankruptcy, still continue to live in a very expensive style, and to move in a very expensive social set, until they are at last declared bankrupt to the extent of several millions.
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[Page 113] Recent legislation has, in some measure, checked this unsavoury practice, which had developed, during the last decades, to an incredible extent, but has by no means put a stop to it: for little as the Hebrew may have invented in other directions — he is a past master in the invention of new ways to circumvent or evade the laws.
The fortunate bankrupt knows well how to start business again — if necessary in another part — and probably on still more lucrative lines; if he considers it advisable, he will carry it on under the name of his wife, or one of his children, in order that his former obligations may not become a source of annoyance to him. And, if again the business fails to become a success, the ingenious fellow knows how to arrange for a second, and even a third bankruptcy. The money, which is lost in the process, never belongs to him, but always to other people, that is to say, it is invariably the properly of the confiding Goyims.
Wholesale merchants and manufacturers have been plundered systematically in this way for years by Jews, who have made a profession or business of becoming bankrupt; and this particular species of crime has contributed in no small measure to the enrichment of many Jewish families, and, at the same time, to the impoverishment of many honest Germans. For the sufferers by this kind of robbery are not only the merchants, who actually deliver the goods, but also the sound tradespeople, who are squeezed out of existence by this unclean kind of competition. The Hebrew, who has obtained his goods by evil tricks like those described, or who has, perhaps, not paid anything at all, can well afford to sell them more cheaply than the sound tradesman. And thus the “cutting” of prices and unsavoury competition are considerably promoted
by those Jews, who have become professional bankrupts.
If complaints concerning these abuses have not been so frequent of recent years, this improvement is only partly to be attributed to the increased severity of the laws, and is due, to a very considerable part, to great mercantile organisations of all kinds, endeavouring to protect themselves against these abuses by uniting to form trade protection societies.
[Page 114] The Jews of today, however, no longer find it so necessary to enrich themselves by such comparatively clumsy methods of deceit; they have acquired money enough in the last few decades, and to use the words of one particular Hebrew — “can permit themselves the luxury of trading respectably” — of course with exceptions!
Many a Jewish business-man has had his task made easy, when engaged in such practices as those just described, by the absolutely irresponsible and ridiculous ease, with which a change of name can be made legitimate in Germany. The official advertisement that, for instance, Hirsch Levi intends to call himself Hermann Winter, or that Aaron Feiteles wishes to be known as Arnold Krause, appears only in the German Imperial and Prussian State Advertiser, a paper, which is not read by anybody outside official circles, so that those interested seldom learn anything about what has taken place until the — for them — unpleasant consequences bring it to their notice. A further advantage is taken by those owning Jewish names, which can be used both for Christian and surname. Thus, Moses Meier Aaron, after his first bankruptcy, can reconstruct the firm as Aaron Meier Moses, to be followed, when necessary, by a third reconstruction as Moses Aaron Meier, and is thus in a position to escape more easily the eyes of his old creditors.
The Hebrew, equipped with principles of this kind, together with a complete lack of even the slightest sense of honour, can engage in any business undertaking with a far lighter heart than a man of another race. It is scarcely possible to find a business opening anywhere, even of the most risky nature, which a Hebrew has not already taken in hand. The costly shop in the newly erected premises at the junction of two streets, a questionable invention, some speculation relying on the folly or curiosity of the public — all are taken up by Jews, while conscientious business people are still carefully considering and weighing the merits and drawbacks of the concern. A decision is actually far easier for the Hebrew than for anybody else, for, in event of a failure, the conscience of the former does not trouble him in the slightest, and he says to himself at the commencement as well:
“you are not risking your own money.”
[Page 115] The Jews certainly have the reputation of possessing great enterprise — one could also say: of possessing great temerity in business. It cannot be denied that they occasionally help to promote a sound undertaking and that many an inventor would have waited in vain for the realisation of his ideas if the Jews had not come to his assistance. And one may well wish that occasionally our German merchants and capitalists displayed less reserve where new plans and ideas are concerned, and did not leave this field of enterprise so completely at the disposal of the Hebrew. One must, however, take into consideration that the German promoter of any such undertaking not only risks his own money, but very often his own good name as well, whilst, in the case of the Hebrew, neither of these two all-important considerations enter into the question at all. Moreover, one must not forget a fact, which has already been mentioned; in all business undertakings the Hebrew is assured of the open, or, at any rate, the secret support and cooperation of his racial friends, whereas the German, in such matters, has in most cases to rely upon himself, and even, when peculiar and hazardous enterprises are concerned, has to reckon with the opposition of good friends and relatives, which arises from denseness of perception, and a dislike of novelty. The Hebrew, on the contrary, sets to work with a light heart and in a very different frame of mind:
“Risk it! — if you are not successful — well — it is only somebody else who is the loser!” And further, one must take into consideration that, not only the business world, but that all public life, for the last forty years, has been infected with the Jewish spirit, and has taken on a Jewish aspect. Jewish tendencies are supreme everywhere, and Jewish ideas and views rule the mass of the population, in the towns at any rate. Everything, which is born of the Jewish spirit and pursues Jewish aims, is, on that account, readily assimilated into the current of public life, for it blends with it. The genuine German is completely out of the running; he is as a stranger in this new world; he cannot make himself at home amidst such surroundings.
[Page 116] The best things which he can think of, do not seem to fit into this altered world; he is swimming against the stream. This holds good, not only for business, but in equal measure for Art, Stage, Literature and Press. Jewish work is in accordance with the disposition of the times, and the factors of public life, which come under the same influence, further Jewish enterprise. Thus, it is far easier for the Jewish business-man, just as it is for the Jewish author and for the Jewish artist, to “make a name”, than it is for the more conscientious, and, for that reason, more awkward German.
The surrounding world is now estranged in many respects from the German mode of thought and action; it is therefore harder for a German to get on than it is for the eel-like Hebrew, concerning whom Franz Dingelstedt (“Lieder eines kosmopolitischen Nachtwächters”) (Song of a cosmopolitan watchman) sang in 1840:
“ He forces the farmer out of his farm, He scares the shop-keeper away from the market, And partly with gold, and partly with his servile wit, Purchases the pass-word from the Spirit of the age”.
If the German does not possess the power to create an environment for himself, suitable for his mode of thought and action, he will be lost in this Judaized world, and Hebbel’s words will come true:
“ The German possesses every qualification to gain heaven, but none to maintain himself upon earth; and thus the time may well come when this people will disappear from the earth.”
2. The Instalment or Hire-purchase System
In nearly all the larger towns there are business firms, who, by means of brisk advertising, offer, as a special recommendation, that they are prepared to part with their goods on receiving a small preliminary payment, provided that the purchaser pledges himself, by a written agreement, to pay off the debt by regular — generally weekly — installments. On account of the apparently so favourable offer this kind of business secures many customers, especially amongst small officials, and the more needy of the working-class.
[Page 117]
People, without any means, look upon these firms almost as benefactors, and as noble-hearted philanthropists because, for instance, they hand over an entire suite of furniture to a young couple, anxious to get married, against an undertaking on the part of the latter to pay a weekly installment of from 3—5 marks. This type of business-man knows well how to pose in his advertisement as the friend of mankind. As a matter of fact, there lurks, behind this particular method of conducting business, unparalleled usury — in a shape, admittedly, which the law, as it now stands, finds extremely difficult to deal with. The next point is, that the goods, which are offered, have been hastily made out of inferior material; but in spite of this, the price at which they are invoiced, is high. The willing purchaser, however, pays little heed to the high price for the simple reason that he does not have to pay it at once; he imagines that the comfortable method of payment renders a dispute about the price unnecessary, for it becomes an easy matter to produce the money when the payments are spread over a considerable time. Accordingly, he signs the contract, laid before him, with a light heart, quite heedless of the snare, in which he is entangling himself. It is stated in the contract, amongst other conditions, that the seller is entitled to regain possession of the goods, which have been delivered, without refunding any of the money, which he has already received, if the purchaser does not pay each installment punctually.* The purchaser, who has every intention of paying regularly out of his income, is naturally unable to realise that such could ever be t
he case, and unhesitatingly attaches his name to the document. But unfortunately it only too often happens that the purchaser — perhaps through loss of his situation, perhaps through ill health or misfortune — is one day unable to meet his obligations, and suddenly he finds himself robbed, not only of the articles of furniture, which he has taken on this “hirepurchase” system, but also of all the installments, which he has already paid, and which are irretrievably lost.
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* Recent legislation interferes to a considerable extent with the easy operation of contracts of this nature.
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[Page 118] An appeal to the Law Courts seldom avails, for the written contract has been drawn up in such a manner that, from a legal point of view, the seller is completely within his rights. Year after year large sums of money are sacrificed in this way by people of scanty means, who live, so to speak, from hand to mouth. It can scarcely be a pure accident that these “payment by installments” businesses are, almost without exception, owned by Jews; they belong to the most objectionable inventions, with which the Hebrew has graced the modern age.
The whole operation is based on a well-thought-out plan; it is an important part of the great system to rob the people of their money, according to a carefully thought-out and prearranged scheme. The Hebrew is not content with depriving people of the money, which is already in their pockets; he forces them to pledge their future earnings. The anticipation of the profits of the future is entirely the product of the speculative Jewish mind, which conveys the taint of unreality into the economic life, and builds it up, so to speak, upon air. For an existence, which is founded upon such future values, must, of necessity, undergo shipwreck as soon as the slightest hitch occurs in the tranquil and natural development of affairs. It is said with truth in Goethe’s Faust: “The Jew will not spare you for he creates anticipations.”
The Riddle of the Jew's Success Page 13