Omaha daily bee., 1902-09-18
HAY CHAMPIONS JEWS
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Continued from First Page.)
be treated without distinction Of creed on
a footing Of perfect equality.
with the lapse OF time these Just pre-
scriptions have been rendered nugatory in
part as regards the native Jews by the
legislation and municipal regulations Of
Roumanis.
Premise IL Wrong.
Starting from the arbitrary and contro-
vertible premise that the native Jews OF
Roumania, domiciled there for centuries,
are aliens, not subject to foreign protec.
tion,' the ability of the Jew to earn even
the scanty means Of subsistence that suf-
fee for a frugal race has been CONSTRUCTED
by degrees until nearly every opportunity
to win a livelihood is denied and until the
helpless 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 repugnant to
the moral sense of liberal modern peoples.
are not so directly in point for my present
purpose as the public acts which attack in.
herent right OF man as a bread winner in
the ways OF agriculture and trade. The
Jews are prohibited from owning land or
even from cultlvating It as common labor
ers. They are debarred from residing In
the rural districts.
what They Suffer.
MANY branches Of petty trade and man
ual production are closed to them in the
overcrowded cities where they are forced
to dwell and engage against fearful odds,
In the desperate struggle for existence.
Even as ordinary artisans or hired laborers
they may only find employment in the pro-
portion Of one unprotected alien to two
'Roumanians' under any one employer. In
short, by the cumulative effect Of success
sive restrictions the Jews OF Roumania
have become reduced to a state Of wretched
misery. Shut out from nearly every ave-
nue. Of ~self-support which is open TO the
poor Of other lands and ground down by
poverty as the natural result of their dis
criminary treatment, they are rendered in
capable Of lifting themselves from enforced
degradation.
Even were the fields of education, civil
employment and commerce open to them
as 'Roumanian citizens their perjury would
prevent them from rising beyond individual
effort.
Emigration n Natural Result.
Human beings so circumstance have
virtually no alternative but submissive
suffering or flight to some land less I'M
favorable to them. Removal under such
conditions is not and cannot be the
healthy, intelligent emigration Of a free
and self-reliant being. 1t must be. in
most cases, the mere transportation of an
arfinnia1lv nrOdurad diapaRpd growth m a
new place.
Granting that in better and more health
full surroundings the morbid conditions will
eventually change for good, such emigra-
ton is necessarily for a time a burden to
the community upon which the fugitives
may be cast. Self-reliance and the knowl-
edge and ability that evolve the power OF
self-support must be developed and at the
same time avenues of employment must
be opened in quarters where competition
is already keen and opportunities scarce.
The teachings Of history and the expe-
rience Of our own nation show that the
Jews possess, In a high degree, the mental
and moral qualifications OF conscientious
c~itizenhood. 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 doubly
paupers by physical and moral oppression
In their native land. and thrown upon the
long-suffering generosity OF a more IA
vored community, their migration lacks the
essential conditions which make alien i'm
migration either acceptable or beneficial.
So well is this appreciated on the CONT
nent that even In the countries where anti
semitism has no foothold 1t Is difficult
for these fleeing Jews to obtain any lodg>
ment. America is their only goal.
Right of Remonstrance,
The United States offers asylum to the
oppressed Of all lands, but Its sympathy
with them In 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. Put
ting together the facts now painfully
brought home this government during the
past few years that many of the inhabi-
tants Of Roumania are being forced by ar
tiacially adverse Determinations 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 exit to take part In the new life of
this land under circumstances either profit
able to themselves or beneficial to the COM
munity, and that they are objects Of char
ity from the outset and for a long time
the right OF remonstrance against the acts
OF the Roumanian government is clearly
established in favor OF this government.
Whether consciously and OF purpose or not,
these helpless people, burned and spurned
by their native land. are forced by the SOW
"a u-a.AN .V-.Z A..
Of the United States. This government can
not be a taeit party to such an interna-
tionaI wrong. 1t is constrained to protest
against the treatment to which the Jews
Of Roumania are subjected, not alone be-
cause II has unimpeachable ground to re-
monstrate against the resultant injury to
itself, but in the name OF humanity"