pegs and nails = ?

[coolfool_sin]

I’ve recently finished reading Derek Wilson’s Rothschild – A Story of Wealth and Power. In it, there’s a sentence I can’t take, that is “In 1712 the London Spectator had likened the business world to a framework of which the Jews were the pegs and nails.” I'm wondering if anyone care to tell me what it really means here?

[shaneystar2]

I think this was coined by Addison.Because they were spread far and wide throughout the financial world and although thought of in times past as an underclass they were famous for their financial acumen and were needed like the "pegs and nails "in a building, which, although of little value are needed to keep the whole thing from falling apart .In other words they were in the background of business and finance holding it all together.

[heathfield]

These days we'd perhaps say they were 'the nuts and bolts' of the business world.