ABSTRACT
The social characteristics of a community depend on a variety of factors of a very complex nature. The economic conditions of the Jews in smaller towns of Russia are even more appalling. In Western Europe the economic conditions of the Jews are diametrically opposite those just detailed. In Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy and England, the native Jews are on the whole more prosperous than the non-Jewish population, while the Jews in Eastern Europe cannot at all be compared with them from the standpoint of economic well-being. The Western European Jews, who, but seventy-five years ago, lived in a condition of poverty and want, due to legal degradation, have recuperated within five decades, after their disabilities have been removed. The social and economic conditions of the Jews are thus seen to depend on their political status. Wherever they are oppressed and legally limited in their choice of residence, occupation, and the like, they are on very low social and economic level.
