The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1909-04-29
DIPLOMAT DESCRIBES
CONDITION OF THE RACE IN
LAND OF CAR.
Spencer Eddy in Report to the State
Department Tells of Almost In
credible Sufferinss

WASHINGTON, D. c., April 29.-In
order to be able to act wisely on the
various appeals for relief of Jews in
Russia, the state department has di-
rected the United States embassy at
Petersburg to furnish it from time to
time with information concerning the
Jews throughout Russia. The first
response to that direction was made
in 1906 by Spencer Eddy, now Ameri-
can minister to Rumania, and then
charge d'affaires at st. Petersburg
One of the most striking features of
the report just made public, is the
reference to the extreme poverty in
the agrarian colonies established for
the Jews. zone wooden spoon has to
suffice for an entire family says Mr..
Eddy, "aS the cost of one for each
member of the family cannot be borne,
and yet a wooden spoon can be bought
for one and one-half cents. While
travelling through the country in a
sleigh on a shooting expedition | once
threw away a piece of newspaper
which had been used as wrapping for
a parcel. This happened in a village,
and those of the inhabitants who were
standing about almost fought one an
other for it. On inquiry, l found that
they wished the piece of old newspaper
to make cigarettes out of and to wrap
them in There is a lying-in hospital
supported by charity, in st. Petersburg
itself, where it is a common occur
ence for women to wrap up their new
ly born children in newspapers when
leaving the hospital for their homes,
simply because they cannot afford to
buy even a piece of flannel cloth suit
able for the purpose"
Of the nine or eleven millions of
Jews in the world, Mr.. Eddy estimates
that 5,140,000 live in the Russian en-
pire
Divided Into Four Glasses.
The contemporary Russian laws, Mr..
Eddy states, divide the Jews into four
categories-the "Caraime" Jew, hav
ing the same rights as other Russian
subjects; the Polish" Jew, enjoying
the rights of other subjects, but only
within the limits of Poland itself; for
eign Jews, not permitted to enter the
Russian empire and become natural
lied, or to sojourn temporarily in Rus
STA, without permission of the minis
try of the interior and the Rabbinist
Jews having the rights of domicile
only in certain sections of the empire.
No Jews have the right to live in
Finland save those who have been
domiciled there from time immemorial.
Mr. Eddy adds that in the provinces
of Kouban and of Terrekfi those only
have the right of domicile who have
obtained a degree of arts or sciences.
Two classes Of Jews enjoy the right
to travel about and to reside tempo
rarily in different parts of the empire.
Merchants of the first guild registered
in the cities within the pale have the
right to sojourn in other governments
for a period not to exceed six months
each year. Those who have graduated
| from schools and wish to enter uni
versities and other higher schools have
the right of domicile in all cities
| where there are universities and
schools of the highest order Mr. Eddy
says that it is a significant fact that
! the right of universal domicile and
temporary sojourn is a personal right
| and does not apply to the wife or
children of the rossessor. The Jews
having the right of permanent domi-
| Gle are classified as merchants of the
first guild, those having the degree of
doctor of medicine, doctor of laws
candidates for these degrees and GER