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 CHAPTER XV

THE PROBLEM OF THE RUSSIAN JEW

I

VEN more important, even more urgent than the problem of Poland is the problem of Israel. And, unfortunately, the two problems cannot be solved separately. The Kingdom of Poland and the Kingdom of Israel are one for political purposes as well as for economic purposes. Not only do Poland and Lithuania, which once formed part of Greater Poland, include within their boundaries the great majority of the Russian Jews—nearly five millions-but the future of the Pole is indissolubly bound up with the future of the Jew. They must prosper or decline together. It is impossible to liberate the one without also liberating the other. It is idle to speak of the resurrection of Poland and at the same time to maintain the Hebrew population in perpetual bondage. You cannot erect in Poland a free self-governing State, and at the same time exclude from that State the