The Denver Jewish news., 1919-07-16
Interview With The
Roumanian Premier
DRATIANO PROMISES JEWS RE-
LIEF FROM FORMER INTOLER-
ABLE CONDITIONS.
by LEO woLFsoN.

Inc Win reference 10 tne iotiinuHHi
Jewish question took place today.
when was received by Mr.. BratianO
the ROumanian Premier.
/ met the Premier ut his Invitation
at the Palals Drefus, on the famous
Champs Elysee, in Paris, now being oc-
cupied as the headquarters Of the
ROumanian Mission to the Peace Con-
ference. Mr.. Drefus. q leading French.
Jewish banker is the ROumanian Cen
eral Consul in Paris. and he placed his
palatial residence ut the disposition
Gf the ROumanian Government.
Mr.. BratianO received me very cord-
,ially.
He began by saying that he consider
ed that his last law decree of May Is,
1919. in his opinion completely solved
the Jewish question once and forever.
Now, he continued, there remains only
one thing to do, and that is the crca-
ton Of friendly relations between tho
Jews and the Roumanians. All that
the Jews have to do now Is to file M
application for citizenship and it Is
grunted to them US a matter of course,
IL they come within the rules la!i
down by the law. They are now In u
position to place themselves in Il
sypa thetic light towards the ROunmn-
len people by acting as a sort of unit
ing link between the Hungarian and
Russian Jews. who are now becoming
Roumanian Jews by the annexation to
ROumania of Besserabia and Transyi-
vania and the other provinces. The
Jews, he continued, have made 4 great
error In insisting on the insertion in
the Peace Treaty Of the ciautse. grant
ing to the League of Nations or to the
Great Powers. the right to supervise
the carrying out Of the terms Of the
treaty with reference to their rights.
He insisted that they slsould have pro
tested aud expressed their confidence
tis the country. As II Is i've fesss that
raany Misunderstanding may arise and
that both Roumania and the Jews
themselves will suffer by reason there
Of.
He said that he had suggested to the
Isoumanlan Jews to make such pro-
test and that he is sorry that they
did not accept his good advice.
interjected question to the cf-
feet that IL Roumania honestly In
tends to carry out the terms OF the
treaty. what reason Is there to fear
such clause in the treaty. and surely
he need not fear any foreign interfer-
ence on that account under such cir
cnmstances. He replied that he con-
siders ROumania specially humiliat-
ell by the insertion OF such a clause
and that the Roumanian affairs creates
a possibility Of great mischief and con-
tinuous agitation Of a question which
With all his heart he wishes and hopes
to be once and for all disposed OF
Lesides 1t Is an invasion Of the sov-
ereign rights Of free and independent
people,. He then returned to the ques-
tion of friendly relations between the
Jews and Roumanians as being ah-
s0lutely necessary and said to me-
considering you as friend of the
Country and Of the Jews, hope you
will aid me in this direction and d."
all you can to establish such relations
while you will be in Roumania."
To this appeal began to state my
side of the story and amongst other
things said to him:
ITO begin with your last law decree
OF emancipation is not quite salts
factory. / am reliably informed by
competent men that there are no less
thaa eighteen points Of objection to
tie same, and / named a number OF
them, which pointed out in previous
article on the new Emancipation act.
"He tried to explain to me that the
objections are rather exaggerated and
maintained his position that the law Is
good one Continuing / said while
you are talking to me in friendly
spirit and evidently desirous of friend
ly relations between my people and
yours, let me call to your attention
situa ton which not only prevents for
the moment a rapproachment between
the parties but tends to create ana
keep up bitter feelings. do you know
1 said, that five thousand Jews who
have served the country are now fi'l'
ing your prisons under sentences OF
ten and fifteen years and some under
life sentences for alleged deeertions
and that these cruel sentences were iu,'
posed by Roumanian court msritaiS'