The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-06-17


peace and religious toleration, has not
ldone and is not doing all that lies in his
Ipower to stop these atrocities, to punish
the guilty, whether they belong to the
Ignorant populace, or to high official cir
cles, and to prevent the recurrence of the
Ioutrages which have so shocked human
ity In fact, all we know of the state OF
things in Russia tends to justify the hope
that even out of the present terrible stua-
ton some good results may come; that he
who watches over Israel does not slum-
ber and that the wrath OF man, now as so
often in the past, shall be made to praise
| him..
The call on the President at the White
House followed and there President Roose-
welt, after the memorandum was laid be-
fore him, said in part:
! Mr.. Chairman, / need not dwell upon
a fact so patent as the widespread indig-
nation with which the American people
heard of the dreadful outrages upon the
Jews in Kischineff. / have never in my
Iexperience known of a more immediate
or deeper expression of sympathy for
the victims and of horror over the appal.-
ing calamity that had occurred 1t is nat
should e.tpress such a feeling, it should
/ yet be most intense and most widespread
in the United States; for of all the gerat
powers l think / may say that the United
States is that country in which from the
beginning of its national career most has
been done in the way of acknowledging
the debt due to the Jewish race and of en-
deavoring to do justice to those American
citizens who are of Jewish ancestry and
faith"
President Roosevelt reviewed vividly
the part the Jews have played in the
development of the United States. He
said they always were foremost in uphold
ing the honor and credit of the country
He alluded to their bravery in war and
to their energy and industry in peace
He referred to incidents in his own off
cial life, both civil and military in which
Jews had borne a conspicuous part He
recalled that as police commissioner of
New York he had detailed Jewish ser
geant and forty JEWS hpolcemen to main
tain order at a mass meeting which was
addressed by an anti-Jewish agitator. 1t
had proved an effective object lesson.
Some of his close personal friends, he said,
were Jews, and inevitably, therefore. he
had "felt degree of personal sympathy
and personal horror over the dreadful
tragedy" as dreadful as could exist in the
mind of any mind. In conclusion the
President said:
81 should hold myself unworthy of my
present position if / failed to feel just as
deep sympathy and just as deep sorrow and
just as deep horror over an outrage like
this done to the Jewish people in any part
of the earth. / am confident that much
good has already been done by the man
ifestations throughout this country with
out any regard to creed whatsoever, of
horror over what has occurred. 1t is
gratifying to know what we would of
course assume that the government of
Russia shows the feelings of horror and
indignation with which the American peo-
pie look upon the outrages at Kischineff,
and is moving vigorously, not only to pre-
vent their continuance, but to punish the
perpetrators That government takes the
same view of those outrages that our own
government takes of the riots and lynch
ings which sometimes occur in our coun
try, but do not characterize either our
government or our people.
81 have been visited by the Russian
on his own initiative, and in
addition to what has been said to Secre- |
tary Hay the Russian Ambassador has
notified me personally without any inquiry |
upon my part that the Governor of Kis-
chineff has been removed: that between
three and four hundred of the participants |
in the outrages have been arrested; and
he voluntarily stated that those men
would be punished to the utmost that the |
law would permit.
II will consider most carefully the sug-
gestions that you have submitted to me,
and whether the now existing conditions |
are such that any further official express |
sion would be of advantage to the unfor-
tunate survivors with whom we sympa
thize so deeply. Nothing that has oc-
Cured recently has had my more constant
thought, and nothing will have my more
constant thought than this subject. In /
any proper way by which beneficial action
may be taken it viii be taken to show the
of the historic American posi-
ton of treating each man on his merits as
a man without the least reference to his /
creed, hi srace or his birthplace" Cap
plause.)