45o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



In more recent times intermarriage of Jews with christians in the 

 United States has continued unabated. In fact, very few of the orig- 

 inal Jewish settlers, who were of Spanish and Portuguese origin, have 

 left descendants. Most have been absorbed by intermarriage. 9 For 

 lack of denominational statistics, it is impossible to state accurately 

 the extent of intermarriage between Jews and christians in the United 

 States at the present time. It is known to be very common in the 

 western and southern states, and less so in the eastern states. In a 

 recent paper by Professor M. Schlesinger, of the Hebrew Union Col- 

 lege, he quotes Eabbi George Zepin, director of circuit preaching, to 

 the effect that in the northern part of the United States five per cent, 

 is the maximum proportion of mixed marriages, while in the south 

 the proportion ranges from 20 to 50 per cent., 33 per cent, being most 

 nearly correct. 10 



There are no available statistics as to the frequency of mixed 

 marriages in New York City to-day. From the census of the Federa- 

 tion of Churches taken in 1902 of the Twenty-second Assembly Dis- 

 trict (37th to 55th streets, east side), there were found several cases, 

 about one per cent., of intermarriage. But this does not by any means 

 represent the real conditions. Among many of the older Jewish 

 families in this city we find many cases of intermarriage, and even on 

 the east side, among the immigrant Jews, they are no more rare. In 

 the western states it is very common, and the rabbis have of late 

 actually sounded an alarm as to the danger of mixed marriages. 



We can conclude with the words of Arthur Euppin, who thoroughly 

 studied the problem in Europe : " The best preventive of intermarriage 

 is the Ghetto. In Galicia, Eussia, the east end of London and the 

 east side of New York, they are rare. But in countries where the 

 Jews participate in the social and economic life of the general popula- 

 tion as equals mixed marriages do occur and are steadily increasing 

 in frequency, as is the case in Prussia, Denmark, Hungary, Italy, the 

 western states, etc." The largest proportion of mixed marriages in 

 Europe is contracted in large cities, as we see from the figures given 

 above is the case in Berlin, Vienna, Budapest, Copenhagen, etc. This 

 is because in large cities the population (Jewish as well as christian) 

 has a higher intellectual standard, and these are better opportunities 

 for people of different faith to come into intimate contact with each 

 other. 



10 See Public. Jewish Histor. Soc, Vol. VI., pp. 92-93. 



(To be continued.) 



