The Jewish outlook., September 09, 1904, Page 4, Image 4

About The Jewish outlook. (Denver, Colo.) 1903-1913

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4
per cent, a limit of three per cent, has
been fixed. A striking illustration of
Russian intelligence was the closing by
the police of the congress on technical ed
ucation. because it protested against the
anti-Semitic policy, and of the Russian
medical college, because it adopted res
olutions setting forth the unsanitary re
sults of the overcrowding of the Pale.
The London Times in December reported
the result of a circular of inquiry issued
by M. de Plehve, as minister of the inte
rior, to the fifteen provinces in which
Jews reside. Much space in the replies
is devoted to the success or otherwise of
the attempt to make Jewish farmers. The
governor of Podolia says it is a failure,
while the opposite view is taken by tilt'
governor of Minsk and the governor of
Ekaterinoslav. Most illuminating are
the statistics supplied by the governor
of Cherson, a strong anti-Semite. Ac
cording to these, seventy-three per-cent,
of the Jewish population in his district
were engaged exclusively in agricul
tural work, nineteen per cent, in agricul
ture in connection with some commercial
pursuit and eight per cent, in trade or
industry’- 1» both Ekaterinoslav and
Cherson the Jewish Colonization Associ
ation in its annual report, submitted
July, 1004. states that the insufficient
amount of land renders existence very
difficult, and that in consequence ar
rangements are pending for the recruit
ing of immigration to the Argentine col
onies. The governor of Wilna. to his
honor be it written, in his reply to the
circular advocates the abolition of educa
tional restrictions.
There seems to have been on the part
of de Plehve a special fondness for hold
ing symposia on the Jewish question. In
the spring, he summoned to St. Peters
burg sixty representatives of the lending
communities, and instructed them to pre
pare an address to the ministry setting
forth the needs of the Jews and the re
forms they considered desirable. Among
the things asked for were the abolition
of educational restrictions and the exten
sion of the right to reside in the country.
In the course of his address to these rep
resentatives. Minister de Plehve is re
ported to have said: “If we admitted
Jews to our universities without restric
tions. they would overshadow our own
Russian students, and dominate ill intel
lectual life. The Jews have declared war
on the Russian government through the
press of other countries, which your race
controls. T warn vou that every war
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THE JEWISH OUTLOOK
costs heavy sacrifices: take care that these
sacrifices are not required from you and
vour people. The Russian government is
disposed to improve the economic condi
tion of the Jews in Russia, but only very
slowly and cautiously. You have no
prospect of obtaining the same rights of
citizenship as are possessed by the hon-
Jewish inhabitants of Russia.” For bru
tal candor this is admirable. It is. how
ever. quite in accord with de Plehve’s
letter to Herzl. under date of Augvfst 12.
1903, written, as he says, “to remove
anything that could give rise to exagger
ated hopes or disquieting doubts. " In
this letter the minister of the interior
expresses his approval of Zionism “inso
far as it consists of a desire to create an
independent state in Palestine, and of
fi rs the prospect of organizing the emi
gration from Russia of a certain number
of her Jewish subjects." lie is opposed
to mere propaganda serving to bring
about “ Jewish national concentration in
Russia," but says that the movement
“could reckon on moral and material
support on the day when certain of its
practical measures would serve to dimin
ish the Jewish population in Russia."
'flu* letter concludes with a reference to
the amelioration of the condition of the
Jews brought about by the extension of
the Pale, “especially if emigration de
creases their number." In an interview
with Mr. Tjucien Wolf some six months
later, de Pleln’e again speaks of emigra
tion as a potent remedy, and a cable de
spatch received by the Jewish Daily
News, in July, 1904. indicates the organ
ization of a movement in Russia looking
towards a systematic hastening of the
emigration of large numbers. When it is
borne in mind, however, that the annual
natural increase in the population of five
millions is about one hundred and fifty
thousand, and that heretofore the largest
annual emigration has never nearly
equalled this number, the hope of amel
ioration in this direction must he aban
doned, unless a successful issue of Zion
ism should by its sentimental associa
tions largely stimulate the movement.
Since the death of Dr. Herzl, Zionism
has hardly had a chance to adapt itself
to the new conditions imposed by the
loss of its leader. The sixth congress at
Uasle, in August, 1903, was the largest
yet held, the delegates numbering about
six hundred. The two great events of
the congress were the publication of the
letter from de Plehve and the Fast Afri
can proposition. I)e Plehve’s letter, as
outlined above, promised moral and ma
terial support to the movement. “This
support.” the letter says, “would con
sist in protecting the representatives of
Zionism in their dealings with the Otto
man government, in facilitating the ac
tion of the emigration societies, and even
in meeting the needs of such societies, ob
viously not at the expense of the state,
but by contributions levied on the
Jews.
The East African proposition was an
offer from the English government to
place at the disposal of the Zionists a
suitable tract of land in East Africa
with local self-government for the peo
ple under a Jewish governor and a Brit
ish protectorate. This subject was dis
cussed with great heat, and by a vote of
•295 to 177 it was decided by the congress
to send a commission to East Africa to
investigate on the spot and report to the
m xt congress, the expenses of such com
mission not to be a charge upon the Zion
ist funds. Immediately after the an
nouncement of this vote occurred the
great dramatic episode of the convention.
The cheering with which the result had
been received by the majority had not
yet ceased when the Russian leaders of
the minority arose from their places with
the actions committee, left the platform
and marched down the centre aisle of the
ball. Instantly the entire minority rose
as one man. and followed their leaders
out of the convention. They regarded
the entire proposition, even to the ex
tent of a commission of investigation, as
disloyalty to the Basle platform, which
calls for a “legally, publicly assured
home in Palestine.” They immediately
went into a meeting of their own. many
of them in tears and mourning, declar
ing the day a new Tisha h’ Ah. but after
an all-night session, in the course of
which they permitted llerzl and Zang
will to plead with them, they returned on
the following day, and participated in
the concluding proceedings of the con
gress.
(Continued next week.)
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