The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-05-01

to go where they can be sure of mak- ing living. I speak of ninety per cent. fully, without exaggeration, of the Russian Jews; both of those who had gone through the massacres in the Ukraine and of those who lived under Soviet rule and had their shops and stores confiscated.
 It is very grave dilemma. One could not answer those people. They expect miracles. Miracles from Amer fca. They came to me in crowds after finding out that I was from America; they considered me more than God send; a man who had dropped from the skies: from the United Statesi It seemed unbelievable! And many of them actually didn't believe and don't believe to this day that I was there amongst them. They came to me with the same words, repeating again and again the question as to what they should do, and as to what the Amer ican Jews, America, Humanity, Will son, would do for them.
 Now it must be stated as a fact that most of the Jews are Zionists in Russia. I left Russia not so very many years ago-I am speaking of my first coming to the United States and there were a good many people there whom had known who were not Zionists, people who did business with Moscow or some other interior Russian cities, and who considered Russia a good country, with certain reservations. Now these people were Zionists.
 They were Zionists because life has made zionists of them; not because they learned more of Palestine and of it's possibilities, but because they felt hot 41, To %rr 17d because they believed that perhaps Palestine will be the land where they could go.
 Meanwhile the Jews of Russia drag out a miserable existence. Most of them do it by selling pieceme cal the chattels that they had succeeded in concealing in the last two years. Now, take my native town, for in stance, sixty per cent. of the popu1a- tion of which are Jews. The Jews there were not well off. They were poor, on the whole, from the point of view of American standards; but somehow they made a living. There were more shops and stores in that town than one would imagine the population could support. Such was P the typical Jewish town in Russia. l came there now and found most of the shops empty and closed. It was a Sunday. The town used to have a fair when the surrounding peasants would come into town. They were poor peasants. The land was not fer tile; it was marshy and woody. But still they had something to bring and they brought it in the good old days and sold it cheaply. Now I found that the same poor peasants who used to wear shoe of bark of their own of their own making, these peasants, es-
 pecially the peasant girls whom re-
 member So distinctly coming into town ten Or fifteen years ago bare foot, now came into town dressed amazingly well, wearing good shoes and silk kerchiefs and, silk waists. The poor ignorant peasant who used to wear shoes of bark now had a pair of good boots. Where did they come from? They came from the city, not exclusively from the Jews, but the Jews were in the majority in the city. So, you understand, it was mostly Jewish boots and shoes and silk ker- chiefs and waists and the hundred and one little things such as pins and watches that these peasant girls were wearing while bringing a few eggs or some butter into the city to exchange for additional ffnery. In other words, these peasants were sucking out the life blood of the town. I saw that not only in the Jewish, but also in the Russian towns; and left Russia with no sympathy for the peasants because they are the worst exploiters. If cer- tain people in Russia used to think that the Jews were exp1oiters, they now see that the Russian peasants ! themselves are drinking the blood of l the Russian cities.
 I will tell you the story of a rela- 1 tive of mine who had 8 piano in the good old days. I stopped in his home l this time. The piano was not there | Where was it? Did he sell it. No, he | had not sold it; he had it hidden | away, probably in some cellar. He ] formerly was a fur merchant, but
 now he was doing nothing. And fo1 l two or three moIfhs, this relative o1 l mine had been bargaining with g neighboring peasant for the exchange l of the piano for some flour. YoJ | see, the piano was once worth about six hundred rubles. A pood of bread | thirty-six American pounds was ther
 worth a ruble and fifty kopecks in the same town. The peasant was quite | willing after several weeks of bar
 gaining to give now six poods O
 dread, costing according to the ok standard nine rubles and accordins | to the present standard seven thou
 sand rubles, for the piano, which i l bought today in Moscow, where sucl I things are being sold and bough | even now, would cost fifty thousant
 rubles. We'll my relative was not ye
 at the end of his rope ana so ne wa. quite slow about it. He did not con clude the deal, but when left h
 said: "We don't know how long thi
 will go on. The day may come whe1
 I will sell the piano, and after tn
 bread that I got for it is consumed may have to sell my last shirt
 Things will not come to that pas
 now because of the improving inter national situation; but the future 0
 the Russian Jews is not bright, no
 because of massacres, but because c the social system which certain peo
 ole, including some of Jewish origin [ are endeavoring to build up i , Russia
 Now, one can be for this socie , Nh. HE SFevens