The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-09-18

present purpose as the public acts which
attack the inherent right Of man as a
bread winner in the ways OF agriculture
,and trade. s
3 The Jews are prohibited from owning
lama or even from cultivating 1t as COM
mon laborers They are debarred from uT>
siding in the rural districts. Many braraD
es 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, in the des-
perate struggle for existence. Even as
ordinary artisans or hired laborers, they
may only find employment in the proper
ton Of one protected alien to two 'Rou-
manians under any one employer In
short, by the cumulative effect Of success
Sive restrictions. the Jews Of Roumania
have become reduced to state of wretch
ed misery. Shut out from nearly every
avenue of self support which Is open to
the poor of other lands, and ground down
by poverty as the natural result of their
discriminatory treatment, they are rem
dered incapable of lifting themselves from
the enforced degradation they endure.
Even were the fields of educat ion of civil
employment, and Of commerce open to
them as to 'Roumanian citizens. their
perjury would prevent their rising by in
dividual effort. Human beings so c1rcum-
stanced have virtually no alternatives but
submissive suffering, or flight to some
land less unfavorable to them. Removal
under such conditions is not and cannot
be the healthy. intelligent emigration of
a free and self-reliant being. It must be,
in most cases, the mere transportation
of an artifcially produced diseased growth
to a new place.
"Granting that in better and more
healthful surroundings the morbid cond1-
tions will eventually change for good, such
emigration Is necessarily for time a
burden to the community upon which the
fugitiVes may be cast. Self-reliance and
the knowledge and ability that involve the
power Of self-support, must be developed,
and. at the same time, avenues OF en-
ployment must be opened In quarters
where competition IS ALREADY Keen ana
opportunities scarce.
"The teachings Of history and the ex-
perience of our own nation show that the
Jews possess in a high degree the mental
and moral qualifications Of conscientious
citizenhood. No class Of immigrants Is
more welcome to our shores, when coming
equipped in mind and body for entrance
upon the struggle for bread, and inspired
with the high purpose to give the best
service Of heart and brain to the land they
adopt Of their own free will. But when
they come as outcasts made douDly pau
pers by physical and moral oppression In
their native land, and thrown upon the
long suffering generosity Of a more IA
vored community, their immigration lacks
the essential conditions which make alien
immigra ton either acceptable or bene-
fetal. So we'll is this appreciated on the
continent that.even in the countries where
anti-Semitism has no foothold, 1t is diff
cult for these fleeing Jews to obtain a
Judgment. America is their only goal.
THE United States offers asylum to the
oppressed Of all lands, but in sympathy
with them it nowise impairs it's just lib
erty and right to weigh the acts of the OPP
pressor in the light of their effects upon
this country and to judge accordingly.
Putting together the facts, now pain
| fully brought home to this government
during the past few years, that many of
| the inhabitants of ROumania are being
forced by artificially adverse discrimina
| lions to quit their native countries; that
| the hospitable asylum offered by this
country is almost the only refuge left to
| them; that they come hither untitled by
the conditions of their exile to take part
in the new life Of this land, under cir
| cumstances either profitable to them
| selves or beneficial to the community; and
| that they are objects Of charity from the
outset and for a long time, the right OF
demonstrance against the acts Of the Rou-
manian government is clearly established
| in favor of this government.
| "Whether consciously and of purpose or
| not these helpless people, burdened and
| spurned by their native land, are forced
by the sovereign power Of Roumania upon
| the charity of the United States. This
government cannot be tacit party to
! such an International wrong. It is con-
strained to protest against the treatment
| to which the Jews Of Roumania are sub
! jected not alone because it has unina :
peachable ground to demonstrate against
the resultant injury to itself, but in the
name of humanity. The United States may
not authoritatively appeal to the stipula-
| tons of the treaty of Berlin, to which i,
| was not and cannot become a signatory
but it does earnestly appeal to the prin-
ciples consigned therein, because they are
| the principles of International law anC
eternal justice, advocating the broad toll.
| GRAFTON which that solemn compact en-
joins. and standing ready to lend it's mora
support to the fulfilment thereof by its
co-signatories, for the act of Rouman1a
itself has effectively joined the United
States to them as an interested party If
this regard.
You will take an early occasion to reaG
this instruction to the minister of foreign
affairs, and. should he request it, leave
with him a copy. I have the honor to bt
your obedient servant, John Hay"