Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-06-16
THE JEWS IN RUSSIA
REGION WHENCE MANY AMERI-
CAN IMMIGRANTs COME.
Recent Personal Investigation IIade
by British Member OF
Parliament.
Maj. W. Evans Gordon In Worlds Work.

| Mai W. Evans Gordon IN Worlds Work.
England. of course-and America as well
attracts foreign elements from all parts
of the globe. II line be drawn from
| Kustenjeh. on the Black sea, to Libau.
on the Baltic, and another from Kalisch,
| in Poland. to the easternmost, point of the
province of Ekaterinoslav. in Russia, these
| lines will traverse the length and breath
| of the vast area from which comes a mass
| of immigrants whom the English and
American population must assimilate. Eng
( lands doors are wide open to these people
| and many thousands yearly pass the test
| of the immigration laws OF the United
States. The slums of wilma and Warsaw
| the ghettos of Lemberg and Galatz the
remote villages in the provinces of Minsk
| and Tchernigov. all send their quota to
| swell the ever rising tide.
| AS a member of the royal commission on
| alien immigration l have thought il most
| important to investigate this question on
the spot and accordingly l spent the last
| parliamentary recess in visiting the homes
| of all our different aliens. l propose TO tell
here exactly what / found.
| l reached Dvinsk my first hating place
| in the Russian Pale. on a mournful rainy
| Saturday morning The town is said to
have 10000 inhabitants, and some 10000
are Jews. The prosecuting May laws of
| 1882 drove many of these from the villages
| and smaller towns into the larger centerS
| of population, hence the high proportion
| Of Hebrews to be found in the place; hence
| also much of the misery and poverty from
which these poor people suffer. The pre-
| ponderance of the Jewish race was at once
| apparent. the Sabbath sending the whole
| place to sleep. Not a shop was open. not
| a stroke of business was being done. The
| only sign of life in front of the syn
| agogue; there a large crowd of decent
looking folk were holding their church
| parade, promenading up and down.
Sunday in Dvinsk.
On the next day. Sunday, was able to
see the town in its business dress. though
| the Russian law forbids the opening Of
shops by the Jews till pm. on the Chris
| tan day Of rest. After that hour the mar
kets were in full swing. crowded with coun-
| try folk and soldiers from the cantonments
| near by. All were eagerly doing business
with the Jews. peculiar feature was
| that the soldiers were mostly sellers and
| the Jews buyers. Strips of embroidered
| Russian cloth, old boots, uniforms and a
mass of miscellaneous odds and ends were
| the articles which the cars ''Tommies'
| had for sale. Every article was the sub
| ject of a protracted bargain, and each
| group of soldiers in their white jackets
| and caps was surrounded by a crowd Of
| Jews in long, rusty black coats with the
| characteristic stoop of the shoulders and
| flowing boards. Round the markets were
| many drinking and gambling dens and dis
| orderly houses.
| No doubt the crowding of the Jewish pop
| ulation into the towns has led to a general
| deterioration both moral and physical. The
| struggle for life Is a desperate business for
| many of them, and scruples diminish in
proportion to It's severity. The house ac-
| commodat ton Is poor and squalid, but there
| is always light and air and space, and. con-
sidering Dvinsk from the purely residential
point of view, 1 personally should prefer 1t
| to some streets 1 could name in towns at
| home.
| To those anxious to see for themselves
| what Russian ghetto is like at its worst
| l would recommend a visit to Wilma. There
| are said to be some $1,000 Jews here-not.
by any means, all poor. BY far the greater
| part Of the trade, and practically all the
| Shops are in their hands. But the sub
| merged tenth is submerged indeed.
| In the Ghetto.
| The ghetto is a seething mass of humani-
| ty Many of the streets and alleys are so
| narrow that the pavements almost touch.
| At intervals throughout their length are
arched gateways leading into court yards,
| around which the dens and cellars In which
the people live are clustered.
| spent whole day visiting them In
| the corners of the court one would find a
| wooden trough into which all the refuse OF
| these receptacles filled the whole air. The
| stucco walls were blistered and rotting, as
| If infected by the poisonous atmosphere
| within. inside the people were crowded
| pell NELL. regardless of health age or sex.
| In one room found lunatic in the mid
| die of a family of young children. 1 was
| followed as l walked by a crowd of bag
gard. anxious, careworn people. staring at
me with mournful eyes. Some openly beg
| ged aims; others had trifes for sale. Many
| seemed to pass their time in the syna-
| gogues rocking and chanting themselves
| into oblivion of their miseries. l came
| across several who had been to White
| chapel, and had been sent back, l suppose,
| as fit for nothing. One man with a large
| family wished to make another trial OF
England, and asked me, of all people, for
| money to help him to get there.
Conditions In Pinsk.
There are other towns, however. in the
| Pale where things are better. Pinsk is one
| Of them. Here Jewish skill. labor and en-
| terprise have been combined to good pur-
pose. 1t is picturesque place. The streets
Of wooden houses and cottages are lined
| with trees; there are quaint old church
and seminary. and the river banks are
full Of life and color. The population is
| 10000. Of whom $1,000 are Jews. This dis
| proportion. as In most of the towns OF the
Pale, would have resulted in congestion
| in all employments open to Hebrews had
1t not Deen Tor the energy ana enterprise OF
certain leaders of the community. such as
| Messrs. I.ourie and Halpern. who, by start
| ing factories, have succeeded in profitably
| utilizing the labor of their coreligionists. In
Mr. Halpern's match factory, for instance,
1000 hands are employed. In all there are
eighteen factories in Pinsk. employing be-
tween 1000 and 5000 hands. II only similar
industries could be started in other GEN.
tiers the great and tragic Jewish question
in Russia would be well on the way to be
solved. 1 am certain that the only true
and permanent solution will be found on
these lines The idea that Jews will not en-
gage in manual labor has long since been
exploded.
In Pinsk there Is plenty of poverty-the
poverty which is common to all large towns
In every country-but nothing hopeless or
abnormal. The five thousand hands in reg
ular employment leaven the mass and the
homes, though humble and very poor, still
in several instances show signs of comfort
and comparative prosperity.
From Pinsk made tour into the inter-
Tor of the country. 1 was anxious to see
the condition Of things in the small towns
and villages. The enterprising Jews have
started lines Of steamers which ply on the
numerous streams that intersect the coun-
try and add to the prosperity of the town.
On of fhavv, 4 tool