Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-24
1ew3 o. Qg,Ijlna.
Extracts From Secret Document Written by the Governor Of
the Province-Abn 3rma1 Condi on Ct the Jews
in Russia Admitted.
in Russia Admitted.

tunes may befall the Christian laborer as
wei, but the Christian laborer can find
way cut Of his dilemma by moving away to
the village to the central provinces,
whereas the Jewish proletariat is confined
WITHIN their narrow sphere by the law.
1t is true that a great number of Jewish
charitable institutions come to the aid of
the unfortunate Jewish Droetariat. Thus,
in wilma, the Jewish free kitchen spends
1l,CC0 ru0les year, giving away 1927
meals Der year; the Home for Feeble and
Aged caring for about 226 Jews of both
sexes, spends 20,2iO rubles year; the
Jewish hospital, 20, 1C0 a year; the Society
for the Aid of Sick Jews. 12.0C0 rubles
year; the society aiding the Door Jews be-
fore Passover and Succoth. about $1,000
ruoles the orphan asylum and the Talmud
Torah where a hundred orphans and chill
dren of the poor are kept and taught
10,tOO rubles a year; home for girl or
phans, COCO rubles; the society for the aid
of poor Jews desiring to learn trade,
1900 rubles. Thus the various charitable
institutions in wilma spend annually the
sum of 1!2,C0O rubles, aside from the great
amount of money given by the Jews to the
poor that stretch out their hands for help.
And yet thousands of the poor cannot
be helped for lack of money And the
charitable institutions. owing to the enor-
nous demand made upon them, close their
annual accounts with deficits. The fact
that the Jewish community had to help
1856 families with food for Passover in
1908 may serve as an indication of the num-
* *
From the above figures, it will be seen
that the critical condition of the Jews in
the government of wilma has become still
worse especially since 1882 The expulsion
of tens of thousands of Jewish families
from the villages. which tore them away
from their customary work there. from
their fruit orchards. their vegetable gar
dens. their mills. their diaries and small
factories, where they made a comfortable
living, ruined them and reduced them to
the towns and to seek for means of subsis-
tence there. they increased the great num-
Der of the Jewish proletariat, which makes
itself overwhelmingly felt in Wilma.
with the expulsion of the Jews from the
villages, and later from the central prov
inces of the empire, the congestion and the
competition grew increasingly, and the i'm
povershment of the Jewish population in
the cities followed The officials that con-
Quoted the census, accustomed from child
hood to the idea that the Jews are eX
ploiters, were actually dumfounded when
they saw the surroundings amidst which
the Majority of the Jews lived. The terri
BILE congestion the poverty, the great num-
Der of paupers and of people without any
definite occupations, startled them. They
saw half-starved people huddled together
in cellars. A family of five frequently SUBJ
sists there on four pounds of bread and
one herring for twenty-four hours; AL are
barefooted in rags. The children, almost
without exceptions, are thin, yellow, show
symptoms of future tuberculosis-and Will
ma alone has 10000 of such barefooted,
ragged and hungry human beings, or one
Fourth of the entire Jewish population.
1.-The emigration of the Jews instead of
relieving the condition of those that re-
main at home, has aggravated 1t all the
more. The more progressive and enterpris-
ing people emigrate to other lands, leaving
behind their old parents, their helpless
wives and young children, as we'll as the
poor relatives they had helped-a burden
upon the shoulders of the impoverished
Jewish community which is taxed to the
utmost. The abnormal economic condition
and the temporary laws for the Jews
have been instrumental In spreading
among them all sorts of political dscon-
on the part of the rabbis. the preach
ers and the parents and fearing their re-
lgious influence upon the Jewish working
youth, the agitators of the bund are gradu-
ally undermining the authority of religion
and clergy. At the same time the agita-
tors of the bund stood up in arms against
Zionism. The bund despises the idea of
nationalism even as 1t desplses religion
and Zonism appears as the champion of
Jewish nationalist interests and as such it
regards the bund an enemy.
'Zionism, like the bund, is product of
the abnormal condition of the Jews in Rus
STA. Some seven or eight years ago there
was not the slightest sign of it in this part
of the country. Even the Palestine move
ment which preceded ZlOIlSm appedreu III
the beginning of the eighties.
During the short period of Its existence
Zionism has found in Russia a great num-
Der of followers. According to the number
of shekel-payers, there were about 100000
Zionists in Russia in 1903.
X
There are several currents in the Zion
list movement: /. Purely political Zionists
adhering closely to the program of their
late leader DR.. Herzl. These are striving
exclusively toward political autonomy IN
Palestine and do not care to know any
thing about any ways of relieving the eco
nomic. educational or religious condition of
the Jews in Russia. =. Cultured Zlonlsts,
whose program is to uplft the culture OF
the Jews in Russia. 3 The MiZrachi ZION
isis the orthodox Jews, who joined the
ranks of the Zionists with the intention or
giving it religious character. These
strive to influence the Zionists from re-
ugious point of view. claiming that the es-
sence of Judaism consists not so much OF
national individualism as of its religion;
thew insist that Zionists should be first or
all Jews by faith. L. Paole Zonists-that
is Zionist working people They claim that
Zionists. striving toward political autono-
nv in Palestine, as toward their final goal,
cannot remain Indifferent to the fate of the
Jewish Iaboring classes but, on the con-
trary. are obliged to help them improve
their material condition in order to save
them from the fatal influence of the bund's
,rt.,y