Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1915-11-11
MANY RUSSIAN JEWS
Empire Contains a LARGE Pro.
portion of the Race.
Have Proved Themselves Loyal Sub
jects of the Gar in the Present
European War-CompeIIed
to Dwell Within Pale.

VIZ eaiOr
Russia has the largest Jewish popu-
IatIon OF any country in the world
Although their lot has not always been
an enviable one under the rule of the
czars, the great war has found them
loyal citizens of their northern father
land, willing and anxious to contribute
their sacrifices to the success of its
cause According to private letters
and dispatches from Russia many
Jews have come forward to enlist;
they have opened and equipped hos
pltals for the soldiers, and displayed
an eagerness to aid with their goods
and their labor. The warmth of their
patriotism has been a surprise in Mus
coVy. The position of the Jewish sub
Jects or the car, as it was before the
war, Is told in bulletin just prepared
by the National Geographic society.
1t reads as follows:
More than one-haIf of the worlds
total Jewish population, numbering
about 6.500,00C, dwells within the Rus
sian empire. The total number of
Jews in the world numbers about 49,
U0O,OOO. The United States and Aus
trta-Hungary, each with more than
two million; Germany, with 100000.
and the British empire, with 400, 900,
are the other important homelands of
this scattered nation. Russia, however,
today might be looked upon as the
true fatherland of the Jewish people.
as the great body of them live there
This comes pri1nar from the cause
that the Slavs, more especially the
russian Slavs, have always been the
most tolerant of peoples in matters of
religion. The Russian church, prop
erly speaking, is not a missionary
church. That a Russian should be a
member of the Russian branch of the
Eastern Orthodox church is regarded
almost as law of nature in Muscovy,
while the Russian feels that it Is Just
as natural and fitting that a Tartar
should be Mohammedan, and that a
Jew should follow the Mosaic creed.
1T is true that most of the Jews
were originally Polish subjects, and it
10 oClA LAGiI SOlOllt6S VI IuSu1 llVPQ III
the basin of the Volga and the Crimea
500 years before the birth of Christ.
Through the years of their bitterest
persecution the rule of the Poles over
the Jews was light and amiable one.
and many hundreds of thousands of
them passed to this country Thus,
with Poland. Russia acquired the
for nrfn f Hny- rs,I
The cars Jewish subjects are con-
fined by law to definite part of the
empire, known as the Jewish pale. or
settlement. This is an irregular belt |
Of territory, extending from the Baltic |
to the Black sea. The pale includes
Poland, Lithuania, White Russia, part
of Little Russia, and regions in the
Caucasus. A belt of land about thirty
miles wide along the international
boundary is also exempt. The pale
proper, wherein nearly all of the Rus
sian Jews dwell, comprises the entire |
territory of Russian Poland and the !
governments of Kovno, Vitebsk, Wilma, |
Mohilev, VoIhynia, Grodno, Minsk. |
Chernigof, Poltava, Kief, POdolia, Bes |
sarabia, Kherson, EkaterinoslaV and |
Taurida. Kovno, Minsk, Mohilev and |
Folhynia are the most thickly settled |
by Jews, who, in these governments, |
constitute about two-thirds of the en-
tire population. Some Jews were set
tied as agriculturists upon the south
ern steppe, and, despite the strict law,
wealthy members of the nation are
found in business in Petrograd and
Moscow. All disabilities which attach
to Jewish birth in Russia fall away
with the conversion of one of the race
to orthodoxy, but nevertheless such
seldom take place This
curtailment of the freedom of the Jew
ish subjects is not a matter of relig !
ious persecution but rather an express
sion of the Russians dread of the su-
perior business ability of the Jew.
There are, however, certain classes
of Jews allowed by the law to dwell
without the pale These are students
in educational institutions, merchants
Of the first guild, professional persons
and skilled artisans, and such as have
served 25 years in the army. Mem
bers of these classes, nevertheless.
must obtain special permission to en-
joy their rights under the law. No
Jew is eligible to government Office.
unless he becomes a convert to ortho-
1oxy
The Jews are taxed more highly !
than other citizens Of Russia Their
is of qualified kind, for
the law states that Jews are aliens, | I
whose social rights are regulated by
special ordinances Taxes on Kosher
meat, on candles for use in the syna.
sogues. on skull caps, legacy taxes
and special taxes upon their bust
1esses are taken by the state There
are host Of other special regulations. =
The Russian Jews, on their side, are
for their protection, with
headquarters at Warsaw. In spite of :
however. the Jews of Rus \