January 3, 1919

Today, not for the first time, the Colonel turned Dmowski over to me for a talk on the tangled affairs of Poland. He stayed with me over an hour, and I trust the words he poured out and the facts that I extracted from him will prove helpful. He speaks equally well in French or English, as I learned when last year Smulski, the Chicago Polish leader, brought him to see me at the War College (Washington) . Dmowski is regarded by many as in large measure responsible for the anti-Jewish feeling so noticeable among the great majority of the Poles, and indeed it was upon this subject I was fold to “feel” him out.

Dmowski took it very well and, so it seemed to me at least, talked quite rationally upon the thorny subject. It is co be hoped that when he achieves power [he became minister of foreign affairs briefly in 1923] he will act in the same reasonable way. He points out, however, that there are distinctive features in the Jewish problem of Poland which are not met with in other countries. To begin with he asserts that the Ostjuden (Eastern Jews) are a peculiar, a most peculiar, clan and that their activities and characteristics are very trying to those who must live in daily contact with them. “We have in Poland more than one quarter of all the Jews of the world. They form 10 per cent of our population, and in my judgment, this is at least 8 per cent too much. When there is only a small group of Jews in our villages, even when they are grasping storekeepers or avaricious money lenders, as they often are, everything moves along smoothly; but when more come, and they generally do come, there is trouble and at times small pogroms.

“We have too many Jews, and those who will be allowed to remain with us must change their habits; and of course, I recognize that this will be difficult and will take time. The Jew must produce and not remain devoted exclusively to what we regard as parasitical pursuits. Unless restrictions are imposed upon them soon, all our lawyers, doctors, and small merchants will be Jews. They must turn to agriculture, and they must at least share small business and retail stores with their Polish neighbors. I readily admit that there is some basis in the Jewish contention that in days past it was difficult for them to own land or even to work the fields of others as tenants; that they were often compelled by circumstances beyond their control to gain their livelihood in ways which are hurtful to Polish economy. Under our new constitution all this will be changed, and for their own good I hope the Jews will avail themselves of their new opportunities. I say this in their own interest as well as in the interest of restored Poland. Now, and I fear for decades to come, Poland will be too poor to permit one tenth of its population to engage in pursuits which to say the least are not productive.”

I was struck with the great similarity between the views of the Polish leader and those which Count Tolstoi expressed to me during the Russian revolution of 1905-1906 on the occasion of my visit to Yasnaya Poliana. The subject came up in my answer to the philosopher’s many questions as to how our “melting pot” was working in the great urban centers of America. Quoting a newspaper article, I mentioned that in New York alone there were nearly a million Jews (at this time—1906), and Tolstoi made no effort to conceal his surprise but changed the subject. On the following morning, however, he returned to the problem which it was clear interested him enormously. “You must not assume from my silence yesterday that 1 cherish anti-Semitic views. The contrary is the case. I do think, however, that it is unfortunate for a community to number in its population more than 2 per cent of Jews.”

I reported Dmowski’s views verbally to the Colonel and at his request I put them in writing. His comment was, “I am sure the Poles will try to do the fair thing, but it will be a long time before these religious and racial animosities subside. I agree with the President that before the Poles receive the charter of their independence they must make an iron-clad pledge to give fair and equal treatment to religious as well as racial minorities.”

My Colonel is a constant reader and, with some reserves, a great admirer of Francis Bacon, the statesman-philosopher. In his library in Texas he has scores of volumes that this wise man of the world wrote and several hundred dealing with the discussions which he provoked. He would not have us follow in Bacon’s footsteps, but when in doubt and perplexity, he says he finds consolation and encouragement in this reading.

“Bacon furnishes a yardstick by which we can measure the progress this old world, so often disappointing, has made. In his study of the ‘Vicissitudes of Things,’ as he calls it, he wrote: ‘And the greatest vicissitude amongst men is the vicissitude of sects and religions.’ If Dmowski is truly representative of his people, Bacon’s words apply to Poland-about-to-be-redeemed as truly as they did to the world in which Bacon lived. But how encouraging, how refreshing to us— yes, the world does move—is the incident that happened in Brest last week.”

I certainly had not forgotten it, as the incident, telephonically at least, had disturbed and delayed my desk work for several days. It developed down there that Bishop Brent, the chief of the corps of chaplains, had been advised by some troublemaker that a large American army unit at the French naval base, while 90 per cent Protestants and 10 per cent Jews with only two Roman Catholics in their midst, was having souls cared for by a Roman Catholic priest. He transferred this priest to a Romish congregation and selected a Protestant sky pilot to take his place. Then the riot broke loose.

The doughboys were indignant and they demonstrated their indignation in a way that would have been regarded as mutinous were we still on a war footing. They marched in serried columns to their colonel, shouting the while, Protestant and Jew alike, “We want our Padre. We must have him back. We do not want any sky pilot but him.”

The Colonel had all the papers dealing with the incident on his desk— “and I am going to keep them there. Dmowski is coming to lunch on Monday and I shall show them to him. I think I have the right, indeed the duty, to do this because in the list of the soldiers who signed the demand for the return of the beloved Padre are at least twenty whose names are distinctly Polish. They had lived in America. They, at least, were ‘redeemed.’“