The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1915-10-18
LOYAL
TO THE CAR
IN THE WAR.
Although Their Lot in Russia
Has Not Always Been an
Enviable One.

4 e9AtNtSSSt0-1& ttt0o
WASHINGTON. Oct. 1s.-Russia
has the largest Jewish population
OF any country in the world. Al
though their lot has not always been
| an enviable one under the rule Of
che Tsars. the great war has found
them loyal citizens of their northern
fatherland, willing and anxious to
contribute their sacrifices to the sue
cess Of its cause. According to pri-
vate letters and dispatches from
Russia. many Jews have come for
ward to enlist; they have opened and
equipped hospitals for the soldiers.
and displayed an eagerness to aid
with their goods and their labor. The
warmth Of their patriotism has been
surprise in Muscovy. The position
OF the Jewish subjects Of the Tsar,
as IL WAS before the war, is told in
a bulletin just prepared by the Ma
tional Geographic Society. 1t reads
as follows:
More than one=half Of the worlds
total Jewish population, numbering
about 100000 dwells within the
Russian empire. The total number Of
Jews in the world numbers about
13,O00,000. The United States and
stro-Hungary, each with more
than 2,000.000: Germany with 600,-
600 and the British empire with 400,-
\ 600. are the other important home
lands Of this scattered nation. Rus
sia, however, today might be looked
upon as the true fatherland of the
Jewish people, as the great body
Of them live there. This comes
primarily from the cause that the
Slavs. more especially the Russian
Slavs. have always been the most
tolerant Of peoples in matters Of re-
ligion. The Russian church. properly
speaking, is not a missionary church.
That Russian should be member
of the Russian branch Of the Eas-
tern Orthodox church, is regarded al
most as law Of nature in Muscovy,
while the Russian feels that It isl
lust as natural and fitting that a
Tartar should be Mohammedan,
and that a Jew should follow the
Mosaic creed.
ut is true. that most of the Jews
were originally Polish subjects, and
| 1t is said, that colonies of them lived
in the basin Of the volga and the
Crimea 500 years before the birth
of Christ. Through the years OF
their bltterest persecution. the rule
tof the Poles over the Jews was a
light and amiable one, and many
hundreds OF thousands Of them pass
ed to this country. Thus, with Pol
and. Russia acquired the greater
part Of her Jewish subjects.
Jewish Pole.
"The Tsar's Jewish subjects are
confined. by law, to definite part
Of the empire. known as the Jewish
Pale of Settlement. This is an ir-
regular 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 Russian Jews dwell
comprises the entire territory of Rus
sian Poland, and the government of
Kovno, Vitebsk, Wilma, Mohilev, Vol
hynia. Grodno, Minsk, Chernigof.
Poltava, Ktef, Podolia, Ressarabia, |
Kherson. Ekaterinoslav. and Tarida.
Kovno. Minsk. Mohilev and volhynia
are the most thickly settled by Jews. |
who, in these governments, consti-
tute about two-thirds of the entire
population.
Some Jews were settled as agri-
culturists upon the southern steppe.
and, despite the strict law, wealthy
members OF the nation are found in
business in Petrograd and Moscow.
| All liabilities which attach to the
Jewish birth in Russia, fall away
with the conversion of one Of the
race Of Orthodoxy. but. nevertheless.
such conversions seldom take place.
This curtailment of the freedom OF
the Jewish subjects is not matter
of religious persecution but rather
an expression of the Russians dread
of the superior business ability of the
/ Tow,