The Feilding Star. TUESDAY, MAY 26, 1891. The Jews in Russia

Feilding Star, Volume XII, Issue 143, 26 May 1891, Page 2

The Feilding Star. TUESDAY, MAY 26, 1891. The Jews in Russia

1 Although we have been, with the reat of the world, horror-stricken at i the persecution of the Jews in Russia 1 and its attendant atrocities, yet we would like to show the other side of the picture,, and- indicate some of the causes which- have led* up to it. A writer in" the Contemporary Review, who has long resided in Russia, sets foTth in such a manner as' can be understood by theoidinary Englishman (we are now quoting from the Review of Reviews) some reasons why the Tzar, whose excellent personal qualities are admitted alike by friend and X.foeK .foe should persist in a policy towards the Jews, which is in many things barbarous and brutal. If, before going to Guildhall, orators had gone to the East End (in London) and seen for themselves how fatal is the presence of the lower class of Jews in .such institutions as- the People's Palace and in the Teetotums, from the' last of which they are absolutely excluded as a measure of self-defence, they would have been better able to understand how it is that the Russian Government are not only not guilty of oljectlees persecution, but are to some extent justified in the policy which they have adopted. The writer points out that it is ridiculous to impute sheer devilry to the rulers of Russia. It is equally false to attribute the antiJewish legislation to religious persecution. The real secret is that it is in Russia as it was in Egypt in the days <?f the Pharaoho,' the Jews are becoming to many for the people* amongst whom they dwell. The number and the peculiar characteristics of the Jew constitute a real menace to the stability of the Empire. They are bad agriculturalists, disobedient subjects. They multiply like rabbits, and in some places increase at eight times the rate of Christians. They marry sooner and | -have more children per family, aud < the rate of mortality is lower with ] them. In those parts of Russia where j Jews are allowed to live they own j half the distilleries, three fourths of ' CUe breweries, eeYon-oightlas of the ' wholesale spirit warehouses, and half of all the drink shops. The Russians maintain that the Jew is the destruction microbe of Russian Society. Austria has become a- Jewish Empire, and they are determined not to allow Russia to share the same fate. It is thought therefore that Russia "is largely justified in pursuing a policy which is simply a determination to make Russia an undesirable, residence for those subjects whose presence does not make for the ultimate good of the country. This policy is having its designed effect, and thousands of Jews are finding life in Russia' is not worth living, and are starting in search of a less, inhospitable shore. No fresh legislation has been found ; necessary to bring about this result. No • new edicts have been issued. ■None are necessary because the existing laws are amply sufficient to meet the exigencies of the present situation. In the past the Jews havo ' chosen to evade these laws. Past masters in, the art of evasiou they have found little difficulty in escaping the penalty of disobedience. In ' the Russians they found a flabby, easy-going people, always accommodating in the matter of bribes. It ; 1 was the easiest thing in the world for them to corrupt the poorly paid and not over, scrupulous Government official. So successful have their artifices been that, the boundaries of the Pale, of Settlement may be said to exist only on paper. Had. the laws regulating the "sojourn of Jews been observed, they would not now be smarting from the strokes of a rod of their own making.