St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1894-03-15
TIE RUSSIAN JEWS REVENGE.

why do you hate the Jew" 1
one day asked my Russian friend.
Because" said he, 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 every
thing"
This was strong statement, but
he went on to amplifv it by
variety of illustrations.
After the Polish instruction of
1868, the Russian government set to
work energetically to russify that
country, and particularly Lithuania.
The principal 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 con-
fscated. Agricultural implements
were furnished to these peasants,
and everything was done to start
them well, so as t O form a nucleus of
Russian life in the midst of the dis
loyal provinces. Twenty years have
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 neighboring
Lithuanians and Poles. You ask
for horses to continue your journey,
and are quickly supplied by these
Russians; 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 pro-
prietor of the tavern. 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 a lien upon
everything which that peasant may
grow upon his land. You find that
the peasant cultivates 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
humane Russians who have given it
to me as their deliberate opinion
that the Russian peasant would be
better off today had he never been
emancipated. He is dreamy, good
natured, impractical, and very
ignorant. When he is hard pressed
for money, it is only too easy for
him to accept the loan which the &C
commodating rnkeeper offers
him, particularly if he has one or
two glasses of vodka inside of him.
Like a 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
promises to be most accOmmOdat t.
ing. and not press for money pay
ment. 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
plea sed to consider the interest on
his money; and by some mysterious
method of calculation the peasant is
always the debtor, and the Jew al
ways happy to accommodate him
sill further on the same terms
from "The Russian and his Jew, y
by Poultney Bigelow, i'll Harper's
Magazine for March.