The Washington herald., 1911-07-31
CAR SAID TO BE
FRIEND OF JEWS

Car Nicholas is a man of humane,
brOad-minded, progressive ideas. which
he has shown in inaugurating a constitu-
tional and parliamentary form of gov
crnment in Russia in the face of most
discouraging opposition by the feudal
aristOCracy and that corrupt bureaucracy
upon which he has been compelled to rely
for the execution of his will. He has
also given many an illustra ton that he
* well disposed toward the Jews, and
tnaJ he shares none of the anti-Semitic
Trejufices of the Pan-Russians. 1 can,
therefore. not agree with the views ex-
pressed recently on the passport ques-
ton by an American HehTew author.
In fact. | know that he is not as we'll
informed as he would desire his Amer
lean readers TO believe he is. And what
Is worse lie is fOm"nting unnecessary
agitation. quite the opposite is true
when one comes to look into the ac-
ti"nS Of Emperor Nicholas toward a
number Of Jews. a thing which he GER
ttinly would not have done if he too
had Il grievance against the race.
To begin with. no American Jew has
been refused entrance into Russia be-
cause he is Jew That in the lam
gage OI f'..l esteemed PRESIDENT, is
"bosh." \ refusal to recognize the pass
port of such travellers may have been
based upon 4 rca-or perhaps fanCied-
grievance which the provincial author-
tics where such entrance was sought,
believed they had against the particular
individual, either owing to his political
views or perhaps because he had shirk-
ed his military duty before he had left
the country to cmigrate to America. Such
refUsalS arc based exactly as they would
be based in this country. upon the 'un-
desirable citizen clause. which has
nothing to do with the fact that the par
tlrular individual may be an American
O. an EnClshman, or a German. The
United States has such a clause in its
immigration laws. Canada only recently
declined {" admit American citizens-ne-
grocS il is true. but American citizens
n"vcrthcIcSS-and what are We going to
do about it" Nothing. Absolutely moth
irE. Ever nation has the right to be
its own authorization to admit or whom
to refuse. Hcn"e to make of the refusal
of the admittancc of few Americans
into Russia an international question is
sheer nonsense.
spect to the treatment they have reCeiv-
ed for centuries at the hands of the Rus
sian provincial authorities-the persecu-
tions they were subjected to. But that
is quite another matter, and Car Mich
olas has been hard at it to weed out
such barbarism whenever he hears Of it.
The trouble is Russia is so vast and the
bureaucracy SO powerful in distant sec
tions of the empire that the Emperor
rarely is told the truth about these
periodical misdeeds. or they get to his
ears in distorted a condition that his
we'll meaning plans are handicapped. But
as TO the passport matter. he has moth
ing to his diSCredit any more than has
this government ny rejecting certain
persons at Ellis Island.
The Car Is friendly toward the Jews
as far as his person and his court are
concerned. He has manifested this quite
often He has welcomed the late
Baron and Baroness Alphonse de Roths-
child and others of that family at the
court of st. Petersburg. bestowing upon
the baron the highest of his decorations.
lie has accorded the right to appear at
his court to Countess Witte, wife OF the
noted statesman. although she is a Jew
ess of humble origin.
He has likewise conferred not only !
high offices and dignties. but hereditary |
nobility upon a Jewish banker by the |
name OF Rothstein, who began life as |
peddler at Warsaw. but who to-day is a |
member of the council of the imperial |
treasury. and the principal financial mag
nate Of ST. Petersburg. and a man upon
whose advice in economic matters the
Emperor reposes the greatest trust.
Then there is the case of Baron Horace
Gunzburg, whose funeral was attended
by number Of members of the imper-
ial family. That man. although a Jew Of
the most orthodox type was not only a
Knight OF the Grand Cross of the Order
OF st. Stanislas, but also possessed the
grand Gordon Of the Infinitely more i'm
portant order OF ST. Anne, and which
ipse facto endowed him with hereditary
nobility and the right TO n hereditary,
seat In the house OF mobiles. When Baron
Gunzburg celebrated his golden wedding
most OF the members OF the imperial