Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1902-09-18
.REL|E| FOR TIL JEW
sEC,Y HAY PROTESTS AGAINsTTH
OPPRESSION OF THE RACE
IN RoU,1AN1A
SENDS. .No'TE.1o : The POWERS.
Unusual Action which is Likely to
Stir Europe.
PEOPLE FORCED TO COME HERE.
Per.ecutcd, Amicted, and Restricted
ut Home, and Seeking shelter IN
Americn-Lnws Against Them a.
F1agrant Violation of an 1nterna-
tionn1 Agreement and our Renon-.
STRANGE Filed.
Unusual Action which is Likely to
Stir Europe.
People FORCED TO COME HERE

Z j = = =
! WASHINGTON, September 17.-With
| the double purpose of protecting the long
! suffering Jews of the Balkan States. and
Of averting the present peril of the i'm
horde Of paupers, Secretary Hay has
| adopted the unusual course of appealing
| to the Powers of Europe to force one of
their children to observe the obligations
of humanity in the case Of Jews. The
appeal takes the form of a state paper,
remarkable in several respects, which
has been dispatched in Identical form to
every ambassador and minister of the
United States residing in one of the
countries of Europe which are parties to
] the famous Berlin treaty of 1878, namely,
Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia,
Italy, Austria, and Turkey, marking the
+, termination OF the Turko-Russian war,
and the creation by the direct act of the
Because the Powers are thus responsible
for the existence Of Roumania, the cul-
| prit in this case, the Secretary of State
has decided the note to them in the hope
that they will bring this government to
q, sense of the duties towards civilization
at large, as we'll as to cause it to amelio-
rate the frightful conditions of the Rou-
! manian Jews. In measure, this action
by the Department of State may be trac-
ed to numerous petitions from Jewish So
cieties and humanitarians generally, as
well as to the warnings Of publicists re-
specting the growing dangers of the i'm
migration Of degenerates.
The document which is dated August
11th, says, in part:
1.-THE United States welcomes now, as
it has welcomed from the foundation Of
it's government. the voluntary immigra-
ton OF all aliens coming hither under con-
ditions 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, and prescribe their abb
solIte equality with the native-born,
guaranteeing to them equal civil rights
at home and equal protection abroad. The
voluntary character of their coming Is
essential; hence we shut out all immi-
grafton assisted or constrained by foreign
agencies. The purpose of our generous
benefit us and him alike-not to afford to
another State a field upon which to cast
its own Objectionable elements. It be-
hooves the State to scrutinize most jeal-
ously the character of the immigration
from a foreign land, and, If it be obnoX-
iOuS to objection, to examine the causes
which render it SO. Should these causes
originate in the act of another sovereign
State, to the detriment Of it's neighbors,
it is the prerogative of an injured State
to point out the evil and to make remon-
STRANGE; for with nations as with indi-
viduals, the social law holds good that
the right of each is bounded by the right
Of the neighbor.
Roumaninn Persecution.
''The condition of large Glass
of the inha bitants of Roumania
has for many years been a source
of grave concern to the United States. 1
refer to the Roumanian Jews. numbering
some 100000. Long ago, while the Danu-
bian principalities labored under oppres-
sive conditions, which only war and a
general action of the European Powers
sufficed to end, the persecution of the in
digenous Jews under Turkish rule called
forth in 1872 the strong remonstrance of
the United States. The treaty of Berlin
was held as a cure for the wrong, in view
Of the express provisions of its forty
fourth article, prescribing that, in Rou-
mania, the differences Of religious creeds
and confessions should not be alleged
against any person is ground for exclu-
sion or incapacity in matters relating to
the enjoyment Of civil and political right.
admission to public employments. func-
jtions and honors, or the exercise of the
various professions and industries in any
locality whatsoever
sWith the lapse of time these just pre-
scriptions have been rendered nugatory
in great part, as regards the native Jews,
by the legislation and municipal regula-
tions of Roumania. Starting from the
arbitrary and controvertible premise that
the native Jews of Roumania domiciled
there for centuries are aliens not sub
ject to foreign protection the ability of
the Jew to earn even the scanty means
of existence that suffice for frugal race
has been CONSTRUCTED by degrees. until
nearly every opportunity to win a liveli-
hood is denied: and until the helpless pow
erty of the Jew has constrained an exc
dus of such proportions as to cause gen
eral concern.
Cruel Conditions.
"The present disabilities of the Jews in
Roumania, their exclusion from the public
service and the learned professions the
!inita tions of their civil rights and the
imposition upon them of exceptional
taxes, involving as they do wrongs re-
pugnant to the moral sense Of liberal
modern peoples, are not 50 directly in
point for my present purpose as the pubs
lie 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 it as common laborers.
They are debarred from residing in the
rural districts. Many branches of petty
trade and manual production are closed
to them in the overcrowded cities, where
they are forced to dwell, and engage.
against fearful odds. m the desperate
struggle for existence.
Eeven as ordinary artisans ov hired
laborers they may only find employment
In the proportion of one unprotected
alien to two .Roumanians, under any
one employer.
In short. by the cumulative effect of
successive restrictions. the Jews OF Rou-
mania have become reduced to state OF
wretched misery Shut out from nearly.
every avenue OF seIf-support which is
open to- the poor Of other lands and
ground down by poverty as the natural
result Of their discri riminator treatment
they are rendered capable Of lifting