The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-09-26

COIONEL JOHN Is. WEBER.
Who, as Special Commissioner From the
United States, Investigated the Terrible
Condition of the Jews In Russia.
of the refinement Of technicalities by the
officials on the one hand and Of des-
perate energy the other, the case
Of Miss Berlin. who was graduated with
honors at the Gymnasium of Minsk, in
the Pale. Her mother was midwife,
and as such was entitled to live outside
Of the Pale, and had resided in Moscow
for several years. Having procured q
divorce from her husband she resumed
her maiden name, the daughter retaining
that Of her father, the only one she was
legally authorized to bear. Under the
mothers right of residence, the daughter,
being minor, was legally entitled to live
with her mother. But owing to this tech
meal difference In names, residence in
Moscow was refused, and as she earnest
ly desired to complete her education at
the Pedagogical institute of that city, so
as to fit herself for teaching, she deter
mined to take the chances and remain
For nearly two years she lived there
the life of a hunted animal, compelled to
put up at night at the houses of friends
and relatives, occasionally with her
mother, but no longer than two nights in
succession In any one place. often with
WI q pAoSC W 81 ", 1OI lear OF the ponce,
wandering about the streets all night,
once in midwinter, and once in the spring
while the weather was still cold The
director of the institute endeavored to
obtain for her q permit to stay legally
but without avail and the bride money
paid by the mother to the police finally
proving insufficient, as the pressure in
creased, she gave up the unequal strug
| gle and returned to the Pale, where we
/ met her She G. nQrficl11a hric
cultivated young lady, who would shine
! in any circle. a5
One of our guides thru the Pale had
fitted himself for the bar and for two
years had applied for admission In vain,
as a new rule had been established re-
curing thereafter the approval Of the
minister of justice, who up to that time
had failed to approve in the case of a
Jew. This gentleman was a graduate of
the University of st. Petersburg, and pos
sessed the finer sensibilities which culture
7 and refinement bring. With his profess
sional career blighted, his ambition
crushed, to him hope was mockery, and
and increasing torture. Unless his chill
dren-in spite Of the restrictions-c could
by the higher education win for themselves
the right Of residence, the overcrowded
Pale, daily growing worse, would be their
fate upon attaining their majority, there
1
parents, In land to which they were ut
ter strangers, and in a competition where
| the efforts to obtain livelihood is a.
! fierce struggle, and literally a natching
of bread out of the mouths of each other
AS one Of the girls In stocking knitting
factory at wilma described it, when asked
what they lived on, two meals a day Of
black bread watered with tears. This
was the prospect of his children held out
/ out to a man who had mastered six lam
/ guages, and by his scholarly attachments
and training was fitted to adorn any So
ciety, and contribute to the progress and
prosperity of any civilized people,
The terror Of the situation is intensified
by the intermittent character Of the perse-
| cutiOns the alternating waves of oppres-
sion and tolerance. These come and go
unexpectedly, breaking out in spots like a
pestilence, and like pestilence clearly
traceable to a source, and that source
religious bigotry and fanaticism before
which humanity and self interest disap-
pear Following the prom Isation of the
May laws Of 1882. which created such
havoc and distress that 1t aroused the in
dignation of the civilized world, and
brought about a practical suspension Of
their enforcement, lull succeeded and
continued until 1891, when the fires were
again started, at first in the interior, and
1 notably in Moscow, where there were
many Jews, who had a perfect legal right
OF residence under the DEGREES Of 1866 and
1880, formally inviting them into the in
terror for the purpose Of relieving the
congestion in the Pale, and to develop the
| industries of the interior
Beginning with individual cases of ex-
| pulsion, based upon the fimsiest sort OF
evidence and trickery, such as claiming
that an artisan was fraudulently enrolled
because at the precise moment OF vista
ton the inspector did not find him act
4 no syxypY. r-of ~,
tho he may have been absent delivering
work, or at home Ill; such as holding it
to be a violation of the rules forbidding
the sale OF an article not the product Of
his own hand, when matchmaker sold
a watch-key, or a tailor suit Of clothes
attached tosW1ich were buttons not Of his
manufacture. These pattering drops be-
fore the storm, while creating uneasiness
in respect Of conditions which had been
comparatively tolerable there for years.
were not sufficient for those who were
Tightening the screws,