The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-10-30
The Je7us Of Jerusalem
HY FRANK c. CARPENTER.

Copyright, 1910, by Frank c. Carpenter.)
 Jerusalem. HHE Jews are rapidly coming into
 their own. This Holy city now con 4 tains more than 60,000 of them and they form over two-thirds of it's whole population. By the new constitution of Turkey they have acquired the right to own land in Palestine. and they can come and go as they please. This has not been the case until now. Jewish i'm migration has been prohibited, and such Jews as bought real estate have had to purchase and hold it under other names. This was so not only here, but all over the country. But. notwithstand- ing, they acquired land, and I am told that some of the best farming properties of the plains of Sharon are in their hands. and that they own the most valu- able business sites of Jerusalem The new constitution gives them other advantages, and 1t Is probable that they will rapidly increase in number and wealth.
 The Jews of the Holy Land
 The Jews of Palestine are not like those of America. 'z They have a costume of their own, and come from so many differ ent localities that It Is, not always pos sible to tell who they are. Among them are Persians, Spaniards, Russians, Bohe- mians, Poles and Germans. There are many Algerians and Moors, and I have seen some from Abyssinia and Egypt.
 They speak 40 different languages, and there are many whom the others cannot understand. In the main there are three different classes. First, Is the Ashkena- zim, made up of Jews from Russia, Po- land. Austria and Germany. These people are much like the lower class of Jews of America, and their common language is Yiddish. The second class Is the Sephar- dim. They are Spanish Jews. descend ants of those who came here centuries ago. These Jews speak mixture of Spanish and Jewish. The third class is the eastern Jews made up of Israelites from Syria, Persia, Arabia and Central Asia. They speak Arabic and look much like Moslems.
 American Citizenship a Cloak for Fraud As to the American Jews, they are comparatively few, and it is seldom thai you meet one that has been born ir America. Those who claim to be such are chiefly natives, who have gone tc the United States to get their natural. zation papers, and then returned here to live. Many of the latter are frauds and our consul believes that some of them have bought their naturalization papers, and have never been out of the country. American citizenship is a valu- able badge of protection In the lands of the Sultan; and TOT this reason nat uralization papers have been sold by re- turned Jews who have again left this country. Said our consul to me:
 Our citizenship has been used to car ry on frauds. When I first came here found it serving as a cloak for crime One man who claimed to be an Amer ican was acting as receiver of stolen cattle, and selling them openly. He carried on big business, and although the officials were aware of his criminal practices they could not arrest him. This was so because of difference between our government and that of Turkey.
 ''The treaties provide that the offenses of Americans against Turks may be pun ished only by the American consul, and we contend that this gave us the right of trial in such cases. The Turkish gov ernment contended that all such offend CTS must be tried in the Turkish courts, and as neither government would give In 1t was impossible to convict and pun sh without bringing about international complications AS soon as I came l de- cided to stop 1t, and told the man would arrest and convict him by means of American witnesses. The result was that he did not wait for trial, and skipped out of the country"