Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-11-24
The RUSSIAN JEWS
Herman Rosenthal Describes
the Prejudice That Exists
Against His Countrymen
THINKS CHURCH TO BLAME
The Pale Of Settlement and the Black
Hundred = Some Of the Higher
Bureaucrats and the Bishops to
Blame for the Terrible Conditions
Outbreak May be. Prolonged.

Outbreak May be Prolonged,
Probably no man III America knows
more about the stltus Of the Jew in
Russia than Herman Rosenthal chief
of the Slavonic department OF the New
York Public library ard one Of the ed
itors Of the Jewish Encyclopedia. The
other night he said TO a New York
Times reporter:
In nutshell. the situation IL this:
Russia in it's attitude to Jews is just
about where England was III the thir-
teenth century. You have read ballads
of old England in which the Jew. was
always pictured rs the villain, the man
to be hated. despisedN and i'll treated.
Some three centuries ago the Anglo
Saxons decided that the Jew was hui
man being, like themselves, and they
began to treat him so. Some day, Of
course, the same transformation will
take place In Russia, but it will not
come suddenly. II will be the result
Of gradual change, as it has been
with other nations.
"A great deal has been said and writ
ten about the feeling Of the Russian
peasant toward his fellow countiyman.
the Jew. You hear one man declare
that the peasants hate the Jews with a
deadly hatred, and another saytl: The
peasant has no Ill feeling toward the
Jew ut all. He is only the ignorant
tool OF despotic and cruel leaders, who
incite him to rioting and blootshed.'
Neither Of these views ID exactly cor
rect.
"As a matter Of fact, the Russian
peasant has very decided prejudice
against Jews. Heis born with tit Is
the growth Of centuries Of prejudice on
the part Of his ancestors. Such pref
udice, born In a man as 1t Is and al
most part Of his flesh and blood, IL not
to be destroyed in day. Years, and
many OF them, are necessary to end 1t,
but even with this prejudice the peas
ant 10 not a man who wants to be go
ing around killing Jews and burning
their homes all the time. He may live
with them peacefully for years-the
INSCRIPTIONS Leaders will indame his
latent prejudice and the mob spirit
carries him along.
"Afterward, very often, he is very
contrite. Once, after the riot in Kiev,
In 1881, Russian peasants came to me
weeping about what they had dorle and
asking themselves how they had ever
come to such acts Of violence. 1t hap
pened that there was no killing In that
riot, only great deal Of property was
destroyed. / asked these peasants how
it was they hadn't thought Of these
wrongs beforehand, but they didn't
know themselves.
Undoubtedly Pobedonostzef and
some Of the higher bureaucrats are re-
sponsible for the present outbreak
throughout Russia. OF course that has
not come out oflcially yet, but it will
be- proved to be the truth. Pobe-
donostzeft and some Of the bishops who
stand for the old order of things and
want to see the cause Of liberty killed
before it grows any stronger have sown
the seeds Of riot and bloodshed. When
the Kishinef massacres sent thrill Of
horror around the world said then
that De Plehve, who has since been
killed, was at the bottom Of the tr,uble.
BY many 1 was laughed at. They said
it could not be. When the smoke clear
ed away and the facts CAME out 1t was
proved beyond doubt that he was re-
sponsible.
.aThe faction that does such injury to
the Jews works through an organiza-
ton known as the Chornaya Sotnya.
In English this means the Black Hun
bred. It II q secret and very powerful
organization and hiss its members In
all the large cities. Its object, to put
1t briefly, is to kill the cause Of liberty.
Wherever 1t finds an opportunity the
Black Hundred persecutes or kills the
liberals. Jews are not the only VIC
Tins, but they are the easiest because
Of the already full grown, prejudice
possessed by the peasants. The high
church dignitaries, like these bishops,
cause to be gathered together a mob
and then stir it up with all sorts of
accusations. With the mob spirit once
aroused nothing meets such q ready
response as the cry, Kill the jews!
1.-THE Black Hundred is hated t'y all
the lovers Of liberty. In Poland when
ever the people discover man to be
member Of it they pour Kerosene on
him and set him adre That SHOWS
what hate this cruel organization has
inspired. AS far as possible the names
Of its members are kept secret.
cts numbers are largely recruited
from the party Of the bureaucrats.
These are the men that now have the
reins of government--they hold the Of
fees. Anything that will tend to take
power away from them is naturally
very obnoxious to them. The students
are the friends of liberty and therefore
are the enemies OF the Black Hundred.
Students. you know, wear uniforms, 80
they are easily picked out and at
tackled.
Il have very large correspondence
with Russians and hear a great deal
from them that does not get into the
newspapers. / have information now
that Jews were killed in over forty
towns. As rule the newspaper re-
ports Of the massacres are not exag
"a