| Show REFUGEES PROM FROM RUSSIA A great shadow is cast over the much vaunted brilliancy of the enlightenment lighten ment of the nineteenth century bythe by the spirit of religious persecution manifested in so many lands 16 and iu in various guises and disguises among those deplorable victims of intolerant fanaticism are the hebrews in russia who have for some timo time been subjected to the most inhuman treat treatment men t the race prejudice existing against the jews is not anew thing in the dominions of the czar any moro more than in any other realm it is of an old date and ago seems to have lave rather intensified it than weakened it severe have been the restrictions which were calculated to degrade and suppress so if not to extirpate the descendants of judah the russian jew may not travel where lie will wilb but he lie is confined to a small district however overpopulated over populated it may be and how ever curtailed may maybe be the opportune aties for him to secure a decent or even a sufficient livelihood he ile may not even dwell in what part of a city he be chooses to but is compelled to live in a special quarter the ghetto with a detestable refinement of cruel irony the government permits him to educate his children in any profession ion he lie chooses for them but forbids them to follow it let lot him beso be so poor that inthe in the evening he dreads the approach of i the morning which will find himwich lith out bic bread adfor for his difo and children and yet the r rascally russian official may regard him as a desirable object of plunder fils fastening bening upon him the vulgar suspicion that no not t only every jew lias has money but tha t usury is the only means he came by it and thus tile poor outlaw is subjected to the most villainous extortion and oppression this general prejudice that every jew is a merciless unscrupulous moneylender money lender and usurer is used a pretext and an excuse for the popular hostility against the hebrew race no doubt there are shylocks Shy locks outside of Shake drama even in russia where the jews number the largest proportion of their race fellows but with the disgust they are held in by classes and and the animosity fostered against them among the illiterate masses mas cs of the populace there seems little likelihood that the usurers could cither either be in great numbers or of considerable sid erable influence at any rate there are more usurers who arc are uncircumcised than there are israelites but the pro prejudice judice and the suspicion serves as a convenient party cry and the frugal industrious honest innocent masses of the tile hebrews are surrendered to the unrestricted attacks and depredations of the incensed mobs jewish settlements and city quarters have been ransacked by the greedy hordes of so called christians their houses were demolished their barns fired their stores and shops plundered their synagogues desecrated their limbs maimed their lives threatened their children killed and their wives vives and daughters outraged and all ill this thi with the government officials looking on with undisguised satisfaction and tho the military not interfering ter fering except it be to render futile the desperate efforts of the mal treated people to defend their property honor and lives anait seems that the unfortunate people have not yet reached the depth of their doom that they will be compelled to empty the bitter cup of sufferings Buffe rings to the very dregs reports from russia inform us that the aspect ef affairs is getting gloomier every day and tho the moment is not far distant when the offspring of the people whom moses led out of the eg egyptian up tian captivity will bo be placed before the appalling alternative of expatriation or extermination to flie the land of their birth or meet the hour of death this dreadful condition of things did not fail to appeal powerfully to the humane instincts of their more fortunate fellow religionists rab especially in england and r france rance the homes of religious toleration and political equality committees of relief have been formed large subscriptions script ions havo been becia obtained and A private sympathy has undertaken to rescue the prostrate israelites in antho the Utis muscovite covite empire athas it has been considered the e most expedient measure of relief to emigrate all who would bo be self support ing to this country where an unlimited scope of usefulness and a broad field of activity are stretched out before them the tile first importation of destitute jews jewe from the russian frontier the town of brody near the austrian province of galicia was effected in sept last when between 60 and 70 were brought to new york port since then the work has been going on oil as far as the subscriptions and subsidies permitted ted until at present it ia is computed that no less than 2400 of these exiles havo lave been landed at castle garden besides who disembarked embarked dis at philadelphia a few weeks ago ago but there arc are multitudes yet lingering ing in the misery of their native land and in the power of merciless mobs not less than arc are said to be yearning and longing for the day of their deliverance this res rescue buo cuo depends upon the sympathy of their fel they certainly deserve it Ani america a gains a desirable acquisition to her population by the newcomers true they come with empty hands and heavy hearts calling nothing their own but the scanty clothes they wear but they come with a great expectancy sandwith and with a resolution to make themselves new and happier homes by their own industry and frugality qualities which they decidedly possess they uniformly declare their intention to become not peddlers tradesmen or clerks but productive toilers boilers toi lers tillers of the soil or workmen in u useful se fill liandi handicraft craft the degree of their intellectual status may bo be in a measure guessed at from the fact that of the three hundred men women and children enjoying temporary shelter sli elter and provisions at wards island N Y all speak russian hebrew and german about six percent speak english a larger proportion arc are masters of french and a few understand still other languages they are rapidly acquiring quiring ic a practical knowledge of english and as they have certainly no traditions of their r fatherland they would wish to remember there stands nothing not liing in tho the way of their speedy assimilation with the better elements of american population |
