The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-05-10
A CRUEL ADVANTAGE.

Poultney Bigelow in Harpers Magazine.
why do you hate the Jew?" I one
day asked my Russian friend.
Because" said he, 1.-The Jew brings
nothing into the country, he takes all
he can out of it, and while he is here he
makes the peasant his slave, and lives
| only for the sake of squeezing money
out of everything"
This was strong statement, but he
went on to amplify it by a variety of
illustrations
After the Polish insurrection of 1868,
the Russian government set to work
theoretically to Russifv that country,
and particularly Lithuania. The prin-
cipal means they employed, aside from
actively prosecuting the heterodox in
religion and politics, was to COLOMBO
large numbers of peasants from the
interior of Russia upon farms which
had been confscated, Agricultural
implements were furnished to these
peasants, and every thing was done to
start them well, so as to form
nucleus of Russian life in the midst of
the disloyal provinces Twenty years
have passed since this great Russifying
measure was put into force. and what
is the result?
If, as traveller, you come into a
Russian village, it is dirtier, if posi-
BILE, than those of the neigh boring
Lithuanians and Poles. You ask for
horses to continue your journey, and
are quickly supplied by these Rus
slams; the price is fixed, and you are
about to pay it to the Russian who
brings your carriage to the door. He,
however, refuses to take it, and begs
that you will pay the money not to
him, but to the proprietor of the tav-
ern. You ask why. He answers that
he is not allowed to take any
money, that the horses he
has brought belong TO the jew.
You begin to inquire, and you
find that the Jew not only owns the
tavern, but trades in all the articles
which the peasants have to buy. You
learn also that the Jew is creditor TO
nearly every peasant for miles around,
and has lien upon everything which
that peasant may grow upon his land.
. Ou hhtt thae VIC pSdSdut Cu1ltVdIcS
his land not for himself, but for the
jew, and that all his reward is the
privilege of bare existence.
There are many patriotic and HUI
name Russians who have given it to me
as their deliberate opinion that the
Russian peasant would be better off to-
day had he never been emancipated.
He is dreamy, good-natured, unpracti.
cal and very ignorant. When he is
hard pressed for money, it is only too
easy for him to accept the loan which
the accommodating tavern-keeper
offers him, particularly if he has
one or two glasses of vodka inside of
him. Like child, he thinks little of
the ultimate consequences and much
OF the present enjoyment. He signs
the paper which is placed before him,
and believes, of course, that he will
easily pay off his debt with the next
harvest, particularly as the Jew prom
ises to be most accommodating, and
not press for money payment He
sends, of course, the produce Of his
farm to the Jew, who acts as broker
for him, and reserves his commission,
and what he is pleased to consider the !
interest on his money: and by some /
method of calculation the !
peasant is always the debtor, and the /
jew always happy to accommodate |
him still further on the same terms,