Evening journal., 1903-07-13
JEWS WORSE
THAN SLAVES
Former immigration Com
missioner Describes Their
Condition in Russia
SPEAKS TO JEWISH CHAUTAUQUA

Atlantic City. n. j., July 13.-John
B. Weber, of Buffalo, N. Y, late COM
missioner OF immigration at the port
Of New York. and chairman of the
special commission authorized by con-
gress In 1883 to investigate in Europe
the causes melting emigration to this
country, was a speaker before the
Jewish Chautauqua on the subject of
"The Status Of the Jew In Russia
In his address Mr. Weber charged
the Russian restrictive laws as being
responsible for the misery and perse-
cution OF which people read and hear
He stated that there would be no
peace, no substantial relief for the suf-
fcrers until the total disappearance
from Russia of either the Jew or the
special laws directed against him.
Summing up the status Of tho jew
in Russia, Mr.. Weber said:
To-day he is an alien in the land
Of his birth, a subject who bears an
undue share Of the burdens OF good
government. without the privileges of
its meanent citizens. Fettered In his
movements. handicapped in his voca-
\ tion. restricted In his educational op-
portunities he is unable TO protect
himself and powerless to successfully
invoke the protection of the authori.
ties. a slave without the soll-interest
OF a master to shield him from abuse
he stands helpless, friendless and de.
fenseless against Rrute force, eggged
on not only by religious intolerance
but by contending forces that strive
20 strengthen the government on the
one hand. and to destroy it on the
] other, the irrepressible conflict Of the
age between government by autocracy
and government by the people. ThS
Jew is. therefore, the sport Of tho
rabhle, the spoil Of the Official. the
football OF ianaticism. the bufle
against which strikes the wrath o
blgotry, intolerance and savagory.'
After asserting the moral obligation
and the legal right Of the Unitel
States to protest to the Russian gov
ernment against IT'S treatment Of th'
Jews. Mr. Weber said:
I'VE cannot look with unconceri
upon the arrival Of the thousands o
hunted, terrorstricken human beings
who come to ms crushed in spirit anl
impoverished IN substance, 10 ente
into competition with our rospocte,
and self-respecting labor. Neither Il
It an answer 10 say that we have thl
remedy in our own hands by closinl
our ports against these people. Thii
would violate our every instinct o
humanity, and would war against the
policy which has made this countrl
great and prosperous, and which vii
continue to add TO our progress anl
prosperity. II immigration is coniine,
to normal causes alone The abnorma
immigration from Russia Is due 70 th'
laws and methods Of that country. an'
this gives us a legal and moral righ
to object Selfinterest and humanit,
unite in a loud call to invoke sucl
rights
Referring TO the hope that a consid
erable part Of this stream from Russii
may be diverted to other lands, Mr.
Weber quoted the statement Of an emf
/ grant at Kovno in the Pale:
Y 81 am going to America, for in tina
r direction lies hope. Here I have onl.
e fears to confront me. The hope ma.
a prove delusive, but the fears are a Ger
tainty. My great ambition is &
breathe at least once the free air wit
o which God has blessed the Americai
D.. people"
These" said the speaker, 'are th
I words Of an uncultured Jew and thes
h are the sentiments in the heart Of ever.
Jew in Russia"