The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-09-18

countries of Europe which were parties
to the famous treaty at Berlin in 1878.
namely Great Britain, France, Germany,
Russia, Italy, Austria and Turkey, mark
ing the termination of the Turko-Russian
war and the creation by the direct act of
the powers of the independent Balka
states. Because the powers are thus re-
| sponsible for the existence of Roumania,
the culprit in this case, the secretary of
state has directed the note to them in the
hope that they will bring this government
to a sense of it's duties towards civilization
at large as we'll as TO cause 1t to ameliorate
the frightful condition of the Roumanian
Jews. Ia q measure this action by the De-
! partment Of State may be traced to numer-
Gus petitions from Jewish societies and
humanitarians generally. as well as to the
warnings of publicists respecting the
growing dangers of the immigration Of de-
generates.
The document In part follows:
1.-THE United States welcomes now, as it
has welcomed from the foundation of its
| government, the voluntary immigration of
all aliens coming hither under conditions
fitting them to become merged in the body
polite of this land. Our laws provide the
| means for them to become incorporated
indistinguishably in the mass of citizens.
dllu Dl(o1 thOlA o0OAa tfaalANl VII
the native born. guaranteeing to them
equal civil rights at home and equal pro-
lection abroad. The conditions are few.
looking to their coming as free agents, so
circumstance physically and morally as to
supply the shealthful and intelligent
material of free c~itizenhood. The pauper,
the criminal, the ~contagiously or incura-
bly, diseased are excluded from the benefits
of immigration only when they are likely
to become a source of danger or a burden
upon the community. The voluntary char
aofar IF their CnminO iS essential hanoa
we shut out all immigration assisted on
or constrained by foreign agencies.
A BENEFICENT PURPOSE.
me purpose of our generous treatment
of the alien immigrant is to benefit us and
hin alike-not to afford to another state
a field upon which to cast it's own OBJ
jectionable elements. The alien, coming
hither voluntarily and prepared to take
upon himself the preparatory and in due
course the definite obligations of citizen
| ship, retains thereafter, in domestic and
international relations. the initial char
acter of free agency, in the full enjoy
ment of which it is Incumbent upon his
adaptive state to protect him
1.-THE foregoing considerations, whilst
pertinent to the examination of the pur-
poses and scope of a naturalization treaty,
have a larger aim. 1t behooves the state
TO scrutinize most jealousy the character
of immigration from a foreign land and.
~ il be obnoxious, to objection TO examine
the causes which render it so. Should
those causes originate In the act of another
sovereign state to the detriment of it's
neighbors, it is the prerogative of an in
iured state TO point out the evil and to
make remonstrances; for with nations.
as with individuals, the social law holds
good that the right OF each is bounded
by the right of the %neighbor.
ssTha condition. OF a large class 0f the
Inhabitants of umania has. for many
wears been a source of grave concern TO
the United States. l refer to the Rouman-
ian Jews, numbering some 400. 600. . . .
The inability of the Jew to earn even the
scanty means of existence that suffice for
a frugal race has been CONSTRUCTED by de-
win a livelihood is denied; until the help
less poverty Of the Jew has constrained
an exodus of such proportions as to cause
general concern.
'The political disabilities of the Jews
OF Roumania, their exclusion from the
public service and the learned professions.
the limitations of their civil rights and
the imposition upon them of exceptional
taxes, involving as they do wrongs repug-
nant TO the moral sense OF liberal modern
peoples. are not so direct in point for my
present purpose as the public acts which
attack the inherent right of man as a
bread winner In the ways of agriculture
and trade. The Jews are prohibited from
owning land, or even from cultivating IL an
common laborers. They are debarred from
residing in the rural districts. Many
branches of petty trade and manual pro-
duction are closed to them I'm the over
crowded cities where they are forced to
dwell and engage. against fearful odds. in
the desperate struggle for existence. Even
! ~ ordinary artisans, or hired laborers,