The Denver Jewish news., 1920-09-01

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of the undesirable clements which
characterize semi-civilizcd peoples.
They are superstitious, egoistic and
have distinct inclination to disregard
the claims of others. This last they
fully demonstrated as soon as they
attained control of the country. Not
taking into account other portions of
the community they are deliberately
seeking to suppress the cultural ef-
forts of all minorities Their lam
euage which but two years back was
employed only by the village peasants.
has now been established as the only
uOther-tOngue of the country and all
other natiOnalitirS are expected to be
come fluent in 1t over night To the
credit of the Let's he It said. they
are able statesmen and proved them
selves well prepared for the admir-
istratiOn of their little kingdom. Des-
pite the oppression of the Germans
and their capacity for adaptation they
have within the past thirty years suc
ceeded in bringing their language 10
high point of culture, creating
literature of their own. and producing
men of intellectual force by the thou
sand. And when the happy moment
cf building their own state arrived.
they found no need to go abroad and
borrow their statesmen from other .ln-
tions, hut had their own men for all
fields and purposes. Such ready
supply of teachers. professors. en-
gineers. technicinns and ministers have
they on hand. that they can well af-
ford to change them every other week.
The position of the Jews in Latvia
is intimately bound up with the gen
eral condition of the country. Prior
to the war. there were said to he about
10000 Jewish souls In the provinces
Of Kurland and Lifland. Due chiefly
to the existing cultural atmosphere.
Jews in these provinces found them
selves Oh n higher cultural plane than
their brethren of Lithuania or even
Prussia. Economically. they were
also far better off than the Jews of
neighboring countries. for apart from
their heavy participation in the ex-
port trade. they We're subject to very
little competition on the part of their
own brethren from the outside. for
these provinces were considered to he
outside of the Russian pale" and on
chase the privilege could take up resi-
dence there. Because of their Ger
man education and culture. they al
ways distinguished themselves hy their
distinctly European attitude and man
ners. dress md general elegance. They
played politically. no less than com
mercially, significant role, despite
their small numbers. Chiefly due
to the agelong enmity which existed
between the Let's and the Baltic Ger
ceeded in sending the only deputy
which these centers were allotted in
the elections to the four Imperial
Dumas. In the first three elections
they Joined forces with the Let's.
while in the fourth they found it de.
sirable to cooperate with the Ger
mans. The Jews of the world looked
upon their brethren of Knrland with
great respect. for while the great Jew
ish centers IN Russia were left unrep-
resented, they had Jew in each of
the four Dumas.
The great world-war created much
havoc in the peaceful lives of the Bal
tic Jews. Before the Germans could
make their way there. an order issued
in the name of Nicholas Nikoaievitch
called for the expulsion of the Jews
i'm Kurland within twenty-fOur hours.
With the exception of Libau and q
few aeighboring towns. where the Ger
man forces penetrated before the or
der could he executed, the Jews were
forced to leave. and more than 10000
of them were expelled exclusive ot'
those who had previously departed of
their own accord. When the Germans
occupied the Baltic provinces, they
found barely hundred . thousand
Jews.
In the early period of the German
| occupation. the Prussians behaved
very nicely towards the Jews. No oc-
casion was missed to remind them OF
the misery and oppression to which
they were subjected by the Cars gov
erument, and all sorts of promises
were held out to them. if they should
only remain loyal. The Jews every
where gave them cordial welcome.
and tried to be more loyal than the
Germans themselves. but it was not
long before the Germans showed them
selves In their true colors. and appear
| .J IN tho rola of tba phu riSpeS they