Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-06-24
A Reply to Ambassador
McCormick's Statement.
ST. PETERSBURG JEWS
THEY WERE PROHIBITED FROM
EXPRESSING THEIR HORROR.
Other Evidences Cited to Show the At
titude Of the Russian
Government.

10 the Editor Of The Evening Star:
According to a published interview, our
ambassador to Russia upon returning to
this country has made an attempt to white
wash the Russian government in the eyes
Of the American people, who have been
aroused by the reports of the outrages
and indignities perpetrated upon defense
less men, women and children by a fren-
zied mob, with the connivance of the au-
thorities.
1t will be remembered, it is not the
first effort of our ambassador in the same
direction When the first cabled news of
the Kishineff outrages reached this coun-
try, after an official communication had
already appeared in the st. Petersburg
Government Messenger, giving the number
of dead and wounded, our ambassador, in
a cabled dispatch to this government, dis
credited the published reports. And now,
when the facts can no longer be denied,
he sneers at the expressions of popular
sentiment in America; why, in Russia, he
says, the people take things more calmly,
and even the Jews of ST. Petersburg are
not SO stirred up over the kishinen affairs
as the American people seem to be-.
Our ambassador has not given to the
public the details of his remarkable psy-
Geological observations over the frame OF
mind of the Jews in Russia. and 1t may
therefore appear incredible to the undlp-
lomatic citizens of this country that any
people could exhibit such "calmness' at
the unspeakable outrages committed upon
their brothers and sisters. To dispel the
skepticism our amba ssador should have in
formed the American public that memorial
services after the kishineff victims, which
were to be held at the St. Petersburg
Synagogue were prohibited by order of
the police. Does 1t not account, perhaps,
for the "calmness'' of the people in Rus
l,y@I, tIa oIca,- 49,
ambassador?
Jews Forming Defense Bands.
On the other hand. we have it on
good an authority as Minister Won PIE
hewes circular order to the governors that
the Jews are everywhere forming military
organizations for self-defense. Such or
CARNATIONS must not be tolerated, warns
Mr.. Won Plehewe. Centuries of persecu-
ton have made the Russian Jew timid by
nature; when he takes up arms for resist
ance it is fair indication that his calm
ness is gone; it is sign of courage born
of despair.
deem 1t his duty to inform himself of the
contents of the public acts of the govern
ment to which he is accredited.
And yet he would have the American
people believe that 1.-The condition Of the
Jews in Russia was never better than it is
today" Shall 1t be understood in Pick
wickian sense? At no time in the history
of Russia have the Jews enjoyed full rights
of Russian citizenship, whatever those
rights may be- Yet during the reign of
Alexander II a number of acts were pass
ed removing some of the most oppressive
disabilities.
Are the Jews Better Off NowP
Most of these liberal laws were repealed
under Alexander III, and the present car,
Nicholas II. has continued the policy of his
father We challenge our ambassador to
cite a single statute in support of his
sertion that 1.-The condition of the Jews in
Russia is being rapidly ameliorated, thanks
to the efforts of the car" On the con-
trary. the list of restrictive laws and regu-
latons against the Jews enacted under the
present car would fill columns. Suffice it
to quote one specimen from last years rec
ord. The ministry of finance has refused to
authorize the organization of cooperative
credit associations among Jews, unless 1t
were provided by the bylaws that the
chairman OF the board of directors and of
the general meeting of shareholders, as
well as two-thirds of the board of directors.
must be Christians In the pale of settle
ment" where the majority of the people of
the cities are Jews and there are few
Gentle tradesmen this unwarranted in
reference with private business is tanta-
mount to denying the Jews the privilege to
organize credit associations.
The authorities of Bessarabia in particu-
lar have gone so far as to dSobey the Or
ders of the senate where that tribunal
the highest court of the empire, upheld the
rights of the Jew under the unfriendly
Russian law. Under the benign rule of the
present car the Jew was outlawed in
Bessarabia. The favorite sport of one of
its immortal lords was to lock up the rabbi
with Il hog. whenever the business of the
Jewish community would compel its spir-
itual head to call at the landlords office
Prosecutions Alleged.
The same feudal lord, for the last eight
years past, buried his dogs in the Jewish
cemetery next to the graves of the rabb:s
Complaints would avail nothing. In an
other town the constable removed the
cred scrolls from the synagogue, wrapped
them in burlap and locked them up in the
bridewell; when the Jews thereafter re-
fused to take back the desecrated object of
worship they were prosecuted for resist
ance to an officer of the law" CSee 'Vosk-
hod." monthly supplement, January, 1903.
D. 3D. Where such examples are set by
the authorities, can it be reasonably main
tanned that 1.-THE national government had
no completely in the affair at ALL"
Our ambassador ridicules the idea that
the authorities at ST. Petersburg had any
previous knowledge of the matter: 1.-THE
whole affair occurred just as lynchings and
other outbreaks occur in the United States
too quickly for the authorities to take
any steps to prevent them" AS usual. our
is from the St. Petersburgskiya Vyedo-
most a conservative paper. published by
Prince Oukhtomsky, a personal friend Of
the cZar:
Did the Government Knowp
1.-The legal status of the Jews confirmed
the ignorant multitude in the belief that
the Jews are generally outlawed. Rumors
were circulated abong the benighted mass
es by evil-minded persons that a church
had been desecrated by the Jews that a
Christian girl had been killed by Jewish
doctor; in the taverns printed circulars
were distributed melting to riot. The ru-
mors of an impending riot were an open
secret" Yet, according to our ambassador
the ministry of the interior, with its secret
service men swarming in every city and
hamlet had no previous knowledge of the
matter.
The local administration as well as the
citizens are subject to the supervision OF
the officers of the corps of gendarmes. who
report directly to the central Office at st.
Petersburg. 1t is ''preposterous'' to as
sumo that where thousands of secretly
printed circulars melting to murder and
robbery were openly distributed in taverns
none came into the hands of the gendarmes.
In the ordinary course persons in whose
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