“The pro-war bankers of 1854 as well as those of 1914 originated in the Semitic banking center of Frankfort-on-the-Main in Germany, the birthplace of the Bethmann-Hollwegs, the Goldschmidts, the Seligmans, Jacob Schiff,[29] and the Rothschilds.
“All the vast wealth of the banking house of the Rothschilds, amounting at the beginning of the war to some twenty billion francs, was made chiefly in war operations, war financing. The Rothschild brothers of the Central Empires have in fact sometimes financed simultaneously rival groups of belligerents.
“Frankfort-on-the-Main is, and has been for more than a hundred years, the chief source of financial backing for wars. Kings, emperors, and war ministers have had to await the pleasure of these bankers before issuing their ultimata. To that centre have been added Vienna, Berlin, and Budapest, the other important centres of Jewish world finance. In Vienna the Rothschilds’ word is law; in Berlin, the Hahnemans, Bleichroeders, Mendelssohns, especially the last named, who of late years have controlled Russia’s finances. To these same sources may be traced the origin of the World War.” (Pages 56 and 57.)
The “Protocols” have already attracted public attention in various countries. The attitude which the Jewish leaders will take in regard to them is a matter of great interest and deep concern. Until now they have kept silent. Only on rare occasions have the Jews referred, though very indirectly, to the question of the existence of a Jewish world conspiracy. The most explicit utterance on the subject in the United States is that of Rabbi Stephen Wise, in his address to the Congregation of Free Synagogues in Carnegie Hall, on March 1, 1920. The reports of the address in the daily press are rather meager. We set forth in full the report which appeared in the New York Tribune on the following day:
“‘JEWISH PLOT’ ONLY AMONG APOSTATES, SAYS DR. WISE
“BELIEVES MEN WHO FORSWEAR ANCIENT FAITH WOULD SEIZE POWER FOR OWN ENDS
“Speaking to the congregation of the Free Synagogue in Carnegie Hall yesterday on the subject of ‘The Jewish Conspiracy,’ which has had its most recent revival in a story published in the London Morning Post, charging that Jews were in a plot to seize control of the world, Dr. Stephen S. Wise said that the only serious ‘conspiracy’ among the Jews to-day emanated from the young men who foreswore their ancient faith.
“Saying that oppression and injustice have attended the followers of the Jewish faith for centuries, Dr. Wise added that they had a right to be vindictive, but that it was not in their nature to be so.
“‘It is the Jew who has been reduced to such a state of degradation by oppression that he lies when he swears allegiance to another faith which has not even touched his heart, who becomes a dangerous element in the life of the world,’ said Dr. Wise.