ABSTRACT
The fact of primary significance is that the Jews were scattered all over the world. In this chapter the author assigns four causes for the success of the Jews: their dispersion over a wide area, their treatment as strangers, their semi-citizenship, and their wealth. The dispersion of the Jews is noteworthy in another way. Their dispersion internationally was, as we have seen, fruitful enough of results; but their being scattered in every part of some particular country had consequences no less potent. At first glance the legal position of the Jews would appear to have had an immense influence on their economic activities in that it limited the callings to which they might devote themselves, and generally closed the avenues to a livelihood. The nations that profited by the Jews' sojourn with them were well equipped to help forward the development of capitalism.
