Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 1.pdf/677

621 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

621

is afforded by the fuel that they ]t- ahnost e.xelusivcly in towns, due in ])arl to medieval persecution and in part to the needs of put)lic worship. As a rule, only one-fifth of the Jewish popSocial ulation dwell fiutside of large towns, Conditions, whereas two-thirdsof the jreneral population do so. This aeeouiits in a large nieasuro for their frail physiciiie and shorter height, and for the larger ])roportioii of mentally and physically attlicted. It also explains the small number of Jews in Continental armies, and, above all, the rarity of their emi)loyment as agricultural laborers. The peculiarities of "their occupations are the predominance of eonuneree over oO per cent of tile adult workers being thus engaged as against onlj' 6 per cent of the general jjopulation and the correspondingly small number of artisans, who are only one-half as numerous as among the Gentiles. Of the occupations most in vogue among Jewish artisjiiis tailoring and shoemaking take the precedence, as they do in the general jiopulation; and the.se liuve been the occa.sion of much "sweating" in the I'nited States because of the long work-hours which the Uussian Jews are willing to accept. Owing to the prevalence of these ill -paid industries, Jews in the general mass arc poorer than their fellow citizens, though a few ex<<'ptional jiersous liavc acquired great wealth. Taken as a whole, Jews are poorer than any European i>eople. They appear to give more attention to the higher education of their children and as a consei|Uence are found among the professional clas.ses in nuich larger proportion than their luunbers warrant: forexamplc, in Italy t<. 7 per .(nt of Jews against 3." jier cent of the general jicipulation. Here, again, correction has to be made, bccausi- of the fact that Jews are town-dwellers, from whom the professions are almost exclusivelv recruited. This is especially the case with regard to medicine. Jewish doctors on the Continent of Europe are, com]iaratively speaking, three times as nuiuerous as Gentile doctors. There are fewer clergymen: an average of 1 Jew to 1,.500 of the population as against 1 Christian to 1,000. Tlie results mentioned above liave lieen compiled from a large number of statistics of various count lies. an<l it may be desiralde to illustrate the general re suits by the case of Prussia, which has coflected statistics about its Jews for a longer i)eriod than any

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oilier

country.

St.tistic8

Relatiso to Jews

in Prussia.

Anthropology

Anthropomorphism