The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-05-19
northern Minnesota will be a revelation
to those who have fancied that where
the pine woods grow there IL little hope
for agriculture,
Anti-Semitisnl in Russia.

:
Anti-Semitism in Russia.
Doubtless there are some exaggerationsI
In the reports which came from Kishinef
and Odessa touching the nlassacres OF I
Jews at the former place. but. after maxi
Ing allowance for excited imaginations
and the natural tendency Of bad news
to, Increase its bulk as 1t travels 1t must
be admitted that Russia has gained the
unenviable distinction Of beating the mod :
,ern record of the exploits OF the Jew
baiters In medieval times, as when
the fanatical Crusaders under Peter the
Hermit and Walter the Penniless fired the |
hearts of their rabble to butcher the Jews
at Treves, such tragical excuses Of
fanaticism were common. The civilized
world should have outgrown such muir
derous prejudices.
Count Cassini, the Russian ambassador
at Washington. yesterday tried to show
that there is not particule of prejudice
against the Jew in Russia because OF re-
.ligion. The prejudice exists because the
Jewish money lenders, by excessive ex-
tortion in interest rates. ruin the peas
ants. but It is reported from Odessa that
it is beyond doubt that the mob which
attacked the Jews at Kishenef was an or
ganized band led by educated people.
The fact Is, that. while the Jewish money
lender In Russia is chargeable with ex-
tortion as when, during the Russo Turkish
war, he loaned his money to the families
Of soldiers at high rates of interest, and
was punished for it by the soldiers who
on their. return from the war, melted
mobs against the race, the motive OF
Jew batting is heavily weighted with re-
ilgious and theological prejudice. In Rus
sia to-day, as In medieval times, the ad-,
herents of the established church are
trained in bigotry.
Little over twenty years ago In Ger
many, there occurred violent anti
Semitic agitation on the ground that, Ger
many was becoming Judaized, and the de-
from which Germany was suffering was
attributable to the money denominations
Of the Jews, and the whole race was bit
terly mathematical and popular preju-
dice was excited against them. Bismarck
himself quietly stimulated the movement,
while the representatives Of the highest
learning and intelligence in the empire
condemned the movement and shamed
the anti-Semites out of their scheme by
appealing to the great Jewish names In
German literature. The Jewish bankers
| of Berlin are indispensable business ad-
I 81 41oo VIII If
| are Indispensable to the French republic.
Russia has not outgrown the racial and
Theological prejudice against the Jew.
The alleged high minded and liberal czar
! did not, after all, include the Jew In his
federation edict. The pale must be main
| tanned. The Jew must be hedged In. He
is still the "dog of d Jew of the grand
countries are outgrowing medieval preju-
Idices and discovering and admitting that
| the Jew does not stand upon an Inferior
moral level to themselves, and that in
literature, science and art, as we'll as In
commerce and finance, the Jew occupies
Ia conspicuous and influential position.
Our government has been called upon to
4 take some act1on IN DenalI OF the rus
sian Jews. Shall it protest against the
Kishenef massacre as inhuman and un-
civilized? Russia may retort by sending
back a long and CHASTITY list of the burn
(ings Of negroes at the@stake, surrounded
|by approving men and women, and say:
4 Physician heal thysef and mind your
4 own morals!' Shall our government pro-
test on the ground that. the Russian
i judenhetze will dump upon this country
shiploads Of impecunious immigrants?
4 Our state department did that as to
! Rumanian, but there is no evidence, as
yet, that Rumanian anti-Semitic preju-
dice has abated particle. Can we force
Il either Runaania or Russia to be compass
! sionate to the Jews? Hardly. &