The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1879-08-18
What is Thought About Them
in Bucharest.
TWO SIDES OF THE QUESTION
Religious Intolerance and Relics OF
Medieval Barbansm.
BUCHAREST, July 90, II

"hoWou W or TO tuVcruS OF 10
bacco or spirits. or become professors apothecaries
or physicians. Yet. in spite of these laws, we lnd
the entire commerce and finances OF the country IN
their hands. The largest bankers of Bucharest and
Jassy are Jews. Most of the tradesmen jews. In
bucharest one-thrd Of the doctors and all the pawn
brokers' the impresario opera and many or
the hotel keepers. belong to the faith Of these same
oppressed people In the country districts all the
hotels. all the village taverns and stores are kept by
them. Grain Dealers cattle dealers and many dis
tllers are Jews. AS class they not a people
fond Of agricultural pursuits. and the Roumanian
Jew is no exceptions still. when he finds it to his
interest he indulge himself this taste also. as
can STE by the fact that of the handsomest
estates near Berlad is owned by Jew, and estates
without number are mortgaged to them. The law
preventing the Jews from holding real estate. even
if rigidly enforced would be OF serious injury
to them. for it becomes very plain. when one goes
the estates that in their pos
session. that they are not fond of agrcul-
ture. that all their lands are rented to
the peasants. that houses which superb
palaces allowed to fall into ruin. merely one
two rooms being kept with whole roofs over them
to afford shelter to the new Boar when he comes to
object his rents on the days of St. George and st.
Dsmetra Hence one can that there is very little
danger Of the Jews monopolizng the agricultural
interests Of Roumania. The prices tor all kinds OF
grain havo been low for the past ten years lowing
to the heavy competition Of the American grain in
the European markets) that farming has ceased to
pay in Roumania. and any business that does not
pay is pretty safe from being monopolized by the
Jews. Then again in q country like Roumana, that
has banking facilities it is much moro profitable
for the Jew to his capital in offering the pro-
pretors advances their crops and to let them do
ADD <olya <ho r;ob Iour hn;,
sure OF getting little than the profit when he
collects from two to three per cent per month in
terest on his advances.
HEBREW DEALINGS WITH THE PEAsANTRY.
With the peasant he works q different plan.
The Jew waits until his victim is forced to realize
quickly upon his grain. either by his household
needs. perhaps being pressed by the tax collector.
and then buys the produce at about one half its
market value. thereby making handsome profit.
In both cases ho gets more than the profit Of the
farmer without either having to invest his capital in
lands tako the risks of poor crops So long he
do this there be danger of his having tho
ambition to become either proprietor farmer.
Many would prefer to be the jew who holds the
mortgage magnificent estate rather than tho
owner who has to toll hard to make
his property yield the twenty-four or thirty
per cent he has to pay. Again tho posi-
tlOu Oh tuo VmuRc toVcru AccpcT lS uiuCu prcier-
able TO that of the poor peasant. for least the
tavern keeper. who sells. Notwithstanding the op-
pressive laws all the spirits and tobacco he dur
ing the week, Friday evening. after his seven
days toll is over, pours water three times upon
each Of his closed sts says his prayers and goes
picking the feathers of Fat goose he has brought
home for his Saturdays dinner. The goose. it may
prove interesting to know. is tho favorte bird OF
the Roumanian jew, owing mainly to the fact that
after selling the feathers the meat costs nothing Now
the poor peasant who pays for all this luxury
bet ter dinner on Sunday than on other
days-plenty of "mamalega" and little cheese,
or perhaps a small sailed nsh. still, should the
jew, after receiving his emancipation find that too
many 10 into trade and should he desire to till tho
soil. Roumania would never regret having given him
his citizenship land being plenty and laborers very
and thus would prove advan to relieve
two million Jews rather than two hundred thou
sand There to be very little prospect of this
however, when few jewish farm laborers are
found among the nations i'll Europe and in America.
1t IL much more likely that should the same privi-
leges be extended to tho Jews that Christians enjoy
it would make but very little difference to the
try. Probably none but the better class of Hebrews
(which IL very smal) would avail themselves Of
these privileges. A large portion Of the lower
classes might use them in order to procure Rou-
manian passports. to be used in other in
the same way that foreign passports are now used
by them in Roumania. to evadc the responsibilities
of doing army duty aud to avoid paying taxes. At
present. whenever the tax collector appears. tho
Jews are sure to produce either German Austrian
eign protection. and 1t would be interesting to know
In what way these American passports obtained
in virtue Of what law the American COM
the oppressed RoumanIan jew into a free
American citizen without the newly made
citizen ever having seen the country of his
adoption. Many scom to fear that the citizen
ship accorded tho Jcws Roumana In addition to the
100000 she already has. would be- deluged by new
and countless aspirants to this honor from Russia.
Gacia Hungaria aud all tho neighboring countries.
Nhnrn fhn LAVA nf yltnff ls.V
turtles ago In the Western countries.
PERSONAL APPEARANCE JEWS.
But the Eastern jew has to BIO and known to
be fully appreciated. He still the ancient
tune. consisting OF coat with long tails that reach
to his heels. nearly always u relic handed down
to him by his forofxthcrs Ut is needless
to ada that 1t is always very greasy and
very odorous); pantaloons that cannot be
seon owing to the length OF the coat; slippers
and skull cap for indoor wear. which all
who make pretensions TO dress velvet cap
and Q shirt that is filthy beyond description. He
also has the long curl hanging down in front each
car, the rest OF the hair cut short, and from his
economical habits. md q taste cultivated through
generations he eats much garlic. that and bread be-
ing his daily and ouly nourishment. This last
popularity has tho effect OF keeping Christian, of
lance from them. and. especially is good warning
not to enter any room or vehicle in their company.
Roumsnians, as people. are extremely fond OF per-
fumes yet they have not been able to accustom
themselves to tho odor Of garlic Perhaps OF
the Deputies and Senators that are hostile to the
Jews may be- somewhat influenced by this little do
feet. One can see very readily from this that tho
jew in Roumana liz not disliked merely because his
faith differs from the established religion OF tho
country. 1t is rather owing to his characteristics.
AZ class the Jews very uncleanly, very gossip
ing very untruthful ana always willing to take adj
vantage OF tho poor peasants Ignorance needs Yet
sometimes one them ut court balls and
in the first salons of Bucharest These. however,
modernized Jews and they meet wi the same cor
diality socially their Christian brethren, no dis
tincton being made. whatever prejudice there may
exist. There IL even an instance where Jew mar
ried into one OF the very best Walachan families.
or course, In these 1t Is their innate persevcr
ance and energy and the economical habits by which
they have accumulated wealth that has enabled
them to get. as one may say. to tho top Of the lad
der.
THE PERSECUTION REALLY DIRECTED AGAINST
THE GERMAN PRINCE OF RoUMANIA- OFFERS
OF COMPROMISE.
II Is maintained by tho London Times TINT tho