HE DOES NOT FAVOUR THE JEW
Britain's Jewish Problem. By M. G. Murchin. (Hurst and Blackett, 5s.)
THE name Murchin hides the identity of a distinguished Fleet Street journalist. In the book under review he treats the Jewish problem as it exists in England to-day. He is not antiSemitic, though he will certainly be accused of that particular prejudice.
The author of this readable book points to the veil of secrecy under which all Jewish activity is discreetly hidden, and this, he maintains, is one of the causes of the growing anti-Jewish feeling that is particularly evident among the working classes. Far better, he would insist, that we should recognise and face the problem and deal with It calmly and in a reasonable manner. The book is written in an objective way with references to the Press and to statistics. Though the normal reader's conclusion will certainly be that Jews have far too much influence and that the influx of refugees is giving them a too great increase in numbers. nevertheless it cannot be asserted that the author is unfair to them or even unsympathetic.
Some of the chapters, e.g., on the Press and the Jewish control of gold. are most illuminating. The following judgment, for example, is worth recording " Taken all in all, one can in all sincerity absolve the Press as a whole from. the charge of editorial bias in favour of Jewry, and from the accusations of continual suppression of unpleasant facts. The read culprit is the skilful and often malicious propagandist, who supplies the human' stories so much in demand to-day."
B. C.