The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-05-24
Rabbi Loeb Takes Russian
Ambassador to Task-Re-
views Kishinev Tragedy
and Declares 1t Premedi-
tateQ.
Ambassador Mccormick Sc
Verely Scored-JeWs Now
Look to America for Jus
tiCe = Russian AltruiSm
RidiCuled.

The following communication has been
sent to The Times by the Rev, Julius T.
Loeb. rabbi Congregation Adath-Israel,
of this city:
The civilized world is abashed! HUI
manity hides its face in shame; the TWEEN
tieth century has received a convulsive
shock. The epochs of Antiochus, Titus,
Torquemada, and Chmelnitzki are not
things of the past. Their history has
reverted. Hark! the cry of innocent
blood! Human lives are laid low, fall
ing like sheaves behind the haryesters;
infants dashed 10 the rock; women tor
tured; babes torn TO pieces, neither
young nor old are :pared. And the vic
Tins are the same, ever martyred peo-
pie; the same homeless, unprotected sons
of Judah,
Accounts of the frightful brutalities at
Kishinev send a thrill OF terror through
the veins of all hearers; each particular
event rends the heart and evokes the
tears OF even the most callous The
fair-minded American could scarcely give
credence TO such hideous criminalities;
nor could he conceive at first that the
scene OF action was not somewhere in
a remote region, surrounded by savages
and convicts. But Kishinev is a capt.
tai city in the heart Of civilization.
Now the situation is changed. The
fearless American newspapers have en-
barked in the cause of the afflicted. and
have raised the cry for justice. viii
any of the civilized nations respond to
the call and vindication of justice in
a matter which concerns none else but
Jews who have no power to back them
save God alone.
The great pity of it all is that be-
cause of the racial and religious diff
ferences of the victims. the matter is
treated by some with but slight regard.
The over-cautious have attempted to
produce various motives to belittle the
atrocities. and TO soothe their minds
in the pretense that things have been
overdrawn, and exaggerated, while the
very fact is that they have been even
more horrible than represented.
Even official and most conservative
accounts have now admitted that forty
seven persons are known to have been
tortured and murdered, and that eighty
more were borne from the hospitals 10
their untimely graves after days of
horrible suffering Five hundred others
are still in the hospital MANNED and
shattered. Many are in the throes OF
death, and the remainder crippled for
life. The majority of a population OF
$1,000 are left without homes or any
thing to subsist upon. The city OF Kishi-
new is waste and desoIate- A deadly
quiet reigns, now and then broken by the
of those carrying off their dead.
Officials and members OF the Red Cross
are seen to grant daily portions 10 the
starving from the bounty OF outside
humanity This is the condition OF a
city hitherto one of the most flourish
ing in Russia And all this has been
wrought in land of peace,
Massacre Was Premeditated.
Whoever is familiar with the situa-
tion in Russia Will readily admit that
this was by no means a mere threat of
a frenzied mob. nor a casual and tenn
porary catastrophe. but that it was one
ola well-calculated course of events. The
power behind it is the same that stimu-
lated the outrages from 1880 TO 1882 that
suppressed II at is pleasure. and will
again let 1t loose at any time convenient
Even before the fact came 10 light that
Minister Yon Plehve was aware OF the
intended horrors no sOund-minded per
son entertained the slightest doubt but
that directly and indirectly the Russian
government IS responsible for all that
occurred and that may occur.
constant rambling over the Jew
ish question" an ostracism of Jews IN
ali the walks of life; a gradual shutting
oil all possible sources for the support
OF the Jew; prohibition against his
holding office or owning land; Danish
ment Of Jews from the best part OF the
country into narrow pale of settle
rnent:" a relentless exclusion Of JewisL
youth from the higher institutions oI
learning and q general Ill-feeling to-
ward Jews which is exhibited in thou
sand ways. Consider all these condi-
lions and add the fact that Jew batting
newspapers in Russia are always per
mitted 20 incite public sentiment against
the Jew, while the defenders rights are
hemmed in TO the extreme. II Is i'm
possible for Z Jewish newspaper TO ex-
list in Russia Thus were the "RaZsvyet
and the "Goloss" quickly wiDed out thf
present "Voschod" suppressed and il
will not be surprising TO learn that the
'.Novosti' has shared the same fate.
Ambassador Mccormick Silent.
An example OF Russian policy is fur
nished in the answer of Ambassador
Mccormick to the query of the State
Department. II appears that even this
worst kind of tragedy must have its lu-
dicrous side At moment when ca
bles, letters. correspondence, private
and public, circulated the news through
out the world. Mr.. Mccormick in ST.
Petersburg knew nothing about the mat
ter, and thus faithfully served his
country" by allaying all fears with re-
gard TO the situation in south Russia.
No comments are necessary, but the
American can now form an idea as to
what is meant by diplomacy" partic-
ularly Russian Diplomacy.
Another specimen of Russian altru-
ism is presented by the statement OF
Count Cassini. Russian ambassador to