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166 Jews have been the moneylenders and usurers of the world. And it is because of their propensity to usury as much as for their national exclusivism that they have drawn upon themselves the hatred of the community. Of course, the Jews argue, and rightly argue, that they have been compelled to become the cosmopolitan moneylenders, simply because they have been systematically debarred by Christian intolerance from any other profession. They could not be agriculturists, because they were not allowed to own land, because land in the Middle Ages was only held by military tenure. They could not be artizans, because they could not be admitted to the semi-religious trade guilds and corporations. They could not be soldiers, because they were not allowed into the army on equal conditions.

But there is a further plea of justification which may be adduced by the Jews. The ultimate reason why the Jew became the inevitable broker was the fact that moneylending was strictly forbidden to Christians, both by the Canon Law and the Civil Law. The Roman Catholic Church, acting on the counsel of perfection contained in Luke vi, 35, prohibited all lending out of money at any interest