Daily Kennebec journal., 1905-01-10
The Influx Of Jews.

lens OF New Y"tk city is that OF the
tenement houses and the present war
in the far East is having direct bear
ing upon this which few would stop to
think of. Conditions in Russia are
resulting in an increasing emigration
of the Russian Jews and the greater
part Of these find their way to this
country. In 1902 we had Ss.5G5 RUS
sian immigrants; in 1909 we had lpi,-
GIG. and in 1904 We had 123,',J. The
figures for 1904 do not include the
month of December. When tn" Off ial
figures for that month are added th..
total for 1"Ji will be at least l35.O"0. BY
far the greater part of these newcOm-
trs from Russia are Jews, and il is not
AT all surprising that the Jewish i'm
migration for 1904 beats all records.
AcoOrdin. to Il writer in the New
York Post this rapid increase is caused
chiefly by two c!rcumStanccs-the re-
vival Of persecution. reaching its most
an! the desire to escape service III the
JaTaircse war. Russia, while deny
ing her Jewish subjects all civil rights.
does no: object To sending them I"
AIanchuria 10 stop JAPANESE bullets.
For the Jew. however. even military
glory is denied, as he is not permitted
to rise in the ranks 1t is not strange.
III. rcforc. that the war does not arouse
any sentiments If Patriotism and that
he should. instead, think it Il parlicu-
larly auspic:nus time To seek the Land
of freedom.
No immigration is more sensitive to
economic and political conditions than
that of the Russian Jew. Had it not
been FOR tn" revival of the medieval
spirit of persecution in Russia ana
Austria. the jewish population of the
nit.d states would he comparatively
slight II is from these countries only
that jews in large enough numbers TO
affect materially our population could
more thnn o.mO. 600 or 100000 600 Jews in
III" wo.li. of which from G.oO0,o0o t.
: 600 000 are in the old Polish provinces
of Russia. TIP to 1852. however. they
hardly came to This country ut all. Th"
reason is that during the reign of
Alexander H.. from 1853 To 1881. the
Jews enjoyed comparative Guiet-that
is, for Jews. The Car abandoned the
hard rciicy nf Nicholas. encouraged
Jewish settlement outside of the Pale
and removed numerous disabilities.
The period Of Alexander lis reign is
still referred to by Jews as their
golden age. Consequently. there
WAS very little immigration during
these twenty-four years. Thus. in
1851, at the beginning Of the reign. only
- Russians emigrat.d In 1870 only a
few more than 1000 came. In the lat
ter years of the reign it increased
somewhat. as the peace of the jews
began To be disturbed.
In the early eighties came the May
laws. according to which the jews in
the Pale We're forced To leave the coun-
try and settle in the cities. a regulation
that wrought much misery. Thus. in
1vSo. Russian Immigration suddenly
jumps to 2l.VOo and by 1890 had in
creased to $4,000. In 1891 came per-
haps the most serious persecution OF
all Jews were forced to leave Rus
sia itself and settle in the Pale The
miinisht ex.ulsions from Moscow. the
awful suff,rings ut ST. Petersburg and
kicv, the driving Of the Jews from all
into the densely populated districts Of
the !, provinces--all this was reflected
in our immigration figures. In 1890.
before the "utragcs began. $4,000 Rus
slams landed i'm America; in 1892, year
after 81 900 came over. In 1904. as
shown above, the Russian immigration
had grown to $4,000 Thus. the policy
of the Russian government reacts inn
m-dia;ely uron conditions here.
As for the thousands of young Jews
who are flying from Russia to escape
military service. they have t" get out
Of the country surreptitiously. or
course they can get no passports and
they are either smuggled over the bor-
der or else get across by bribing the
corrupt Russian officials. According
to ali r"ports. these Jews who come
here TO escape conscription are most
desirable immigrants. They are able
bodied young men. between eighteen and
thirty. clean and fairly we'll supplied
with moncy-as they must be to get
here. In the latest report of the inn
migration bureau they are we'll spoken
of.
1t will be Senator NiedringhauS of
Miss ruri His name Is NOT an eaSv