• THE JEWISH CHRONICLE PAGE FOUR Jews in Dilapidated Austr ia a , f All Jews were excluded from being advocates. In 1868, they were i excluded from the medical profession, but this was later changed, Company Issued Even' Friday by The Jewish Chronicle Publishing (Continued From Page One.) President no doubt, because the medical knowledge of the Jews was indis- • • • . • • l,NTON KAUFMAN pensable to the Roumanians. They were prevented from being does not include farms owned by MICHIGAN'S JEWISH HOME PUBLICATION druggists, except where there were no non-Jewish druggists. Con- nobles of which the Jews are tenants. Offices 307-306 Peter Smith Building. trary to the Roumanian agreement of 1818, according to which all Now 116,000 Jews are engaged in THE JEWISH CHRONICLE i oen a" D t i Lrs, h citizens of Roumania were to be free in their practice of religion, A Happy New Year The Death of a Great Scholar Ile was a man of singular courage and of high ability. :\ large satisfaction in the consciousness of duty done. May there be given to those who have suffered heavy losses, the strength to bear them number of Jewish theological students took advantage of the sum- with brave hearts and to those who have been spared such sorrows, mer sessions of the University of Chicago for the special privilege that was theirs of sitting at the feet of this eminent teacher. Among a fine appreciation of the benedictiortliat has rested upon them. To all men and women, may the New Year bring a deepened those who mourn his passing, these men will be counted. sense of the obligation that goes with opportunity. Especially in Dr. Foster, by his grasp upon the fundamental. of religion and America, may men and women be awake to the blessing of freedom by the courageous statement of his convictions, has written his name and of justice. May men of every faith and every creed, of every large among the creators of modern religious ideals. color and condition, see in this land, humanity's Land of Promise. And even though at the moment there abound conditions that test Activity vs. Usefulness men's faith in human nature, may we be content, like Moses from his mountain height, to look about, assured that fur our children and our children's children a better and a. happier (lay is in store. The New Year-1919—should be a happy one for all of us. God grant that its blessings be many and great, and may those who are privileged to enjoy them be ever worthy of them. The warning sounded some time ago by a well-known Detroiter against mistaking activity fur usefulness, was timely and much to the point. As one studies the program of many national and local organizations—social, religious and philanthropic, he is 'reminded of the wisdom of this warning. T lit: number of all sorts of societies in our larger communities is constantly increasing. There is duplica- A Malicious Book tion and there is re-duplication of function and activity. One fails to understand why in these times when co-operation has become a Among the literature produced by the war is a book under the symbol of power, there should be such a division of effort as is im- title, "Roumania Yesterday and Today," by Mrs. Will Gordon, F. R. plied in the creation of so many superfluous organizations. i a last long. The orthodox party organized in 1879 a Machzike Hadass which was in- tended for the protection of ortho- doxy, but at the same time took a political stand which was an alliance with the l'oles. The law c o nceded ' , ce d ed them a number of seats in the parlia- mentary bodies, and the fi'est man elected on the ground of this com- promise was the chief rabbi of Cra- cow, Simon Schreiber, the son of the famous Moses Soler, but himself of modest attainments and absolutely bare of all political knowledge. Since 1879, when Rabbi Schreiber entered the Reich•srat, the Poloniza- lion has made constant progress. agriculture as their occupation. The coal oil wells and naphtha mines Editorial Contributor Jews were declared to be aliens and, hence, subject to a law of of Boryslav owe their discovery to RABBI LEO M. FRANKLIN, Abraham Schreiner, a poor Jew. expulsion. ‘Without training and without means All correspondence to insure publication most be sent In so as to reach this For the most part, all Jewish children Were refused admission he was unable to develop his discov- Ace Tuesday evening of each week. ery. lie died a poor man, while to the public schools in Roumania, in one year--1896—as many as $2.00 per year Subscription in Advance 11,200 children having been refused. Prk'ate Jewish schools in Rou- wealthy prospectors attracted by his The Jewish Chronicle invites correspondence on subjects of ntereat to the mania might not be open on Sundays. As late as 1900, a ministerial discovery made a great success of this industry. As it is, about 3,000 Jews Jewish people, but disclaims responsibility for an indorsement of the views circular ordered that pupils receiving instruction in Jewish private work in this section as plain laborers. expressed by the writers. Nor is the Galician Jew otherwise schools must have heads uncovered. In fact, there has been no form Entered as second class matter March 3, 1916, at the Postoffice at Detroit, the opulent exploiter as represented Mich., under the Act of March 3. 1879. of persecutiOn possible of conception that Roumania has not prac- by the l'olish press. Kolomea has a ticed against the Jew. Of all this, the author of the book above Tallis industry which employs Jews referred to, seems to be totally ignorant and with a malice that is almost exclusively. They struck in 1892 for higher wages, revealing the scarcely to be looked for in an English woman, she writes a descrip- incredible fact that the average week- To all the readers of the Jewish Chronicle, we extend our heart- ly earnings of a man for 15 hours daily felt wishes for a year of happiness and peace. May the hopes which tion of the Jew that is as brutal as it is false. It has become quite a habit with a certain class of writers in work were from 50 cents to $125. they most fondly cherish be fulfilled. May the New Year bring to Such conditions could not exist, if humanity the establishment of those principles for which the civil- these last (lays to use the Jew as the target for their poisoned shafts. the country were not poor, impover- non-Jews should be warned against accept- ished by maladministration. The of- ized nations have been struggling and may the cause of Justice in- It is well that Jews an d ing at their face value what these people write. The book in ques- ficials are to a large extent taken from creasingly triumph. the Szlachta, the Polish nobility, or Af ay the period of readjustment, which brings forward so many tion has found a place in the Detroit Public Libraiy, as it has, no their dependents. those who would They are naturally opposed to a pressing problems of a social and economic character, be met in that doubt, in other libraries throughout the land. Let same spirit of courageous loyalty that the people met the sterner read it be well warned in advance of the character of its contents democratic form of government and to any reform of political conditions aad more terrifying problems of war. May there come to all groups and the apparent motives of its author. which would give the masses of the and classes within our country's domain, a greater tolerance and a people a vote in public affairs. When some of the progressive lead- more genuine appreciation of the rights of those who stand outside ers agitated in favor of universal suf- their particular circle. frage, the Polish officials, seconded May the tine spirit of co-operation between capital and labor The public press reported this week the death of Prof. Chas. by the clergy, harangued the masses to oppose this measure on the ground that characterized the war period, continue for the greater happi- Burnham Foster, of the University of Chicago, a man whose schol- that it would benefit the Jews, and ness of employer and worker alike. May the spirit of mutual under- arly contributions to the cause of liberal religion placed all religious that it was a French invention, where standing that has been fostered by co-operative effort on the part the Jews aided by the infidels, had teachers under an enduring debt of gratitude to him. of the various sectarian organizations during the war, be enhanced plotted to ruin the Church. This is .\t the cost of a charge of heresy at the hands of his Baptist a language which the Polish peasant during the days that lie before and may those prejudices and those brethren, l'rof. Foster some years ago published his very note- understands. indications of narrow bigotry which have been overcome not grow In addition a paternal government worthy book on "The Function of Religion," in which lie showed like that of Austria has so many stat- into strength again. May there come to those who have served well, either in the the fallacy of many of the interpretations of religion which were utes and ordinances that an official can always make trouble for a merchant ranks of the fighters or in the ranks of the civilian workers, a great current in the churches. or a mechanic. ('hone: Cherry 3381. 1,ohnet"r society b ut t favored t Two Slav Races. This created another difficulty. The population is almost evenly divided between l'oles (54 per cent) and Ituthenians (42 per cent). The differ- ence is only superficial, for statis,ies also show 3,354,000 Roman Catin , br. and 3,104,000 Greek CatholL, l'oles belong to the form, Ruthenians to the latter group the majority, shown by the Polr-. ;-• due to the 10 per cent of Jew s are for the most part affiliated sal, then. The religious and racial differ- ences between the two groups are intensified by the fact that the Poles in the Ruthenian districts are the landed proprietors and officials. 'the Jews, supporting them, are therefore considered enemies. 'this was the reason that Grand- duke Nicholas, as commander of the Russian army which occupied Galicia ordered the removal of all Jewish of- ficials. When the Russian •army was forced to evacuate Galicia, they hanged 19 Jews in Sniatyn, June 12. 1915, partly as a matter Muscovite tradition, partly to humor the Russian sympathizers, among whom Count Bobrinsky, whom the Russian: made governor of Galicia, took a prominent Petty Tyranny. .t Jewish storekeeper in a little town had worked for the election of a candidate whom the county gov- ernor (Bezirkshauptmann) desired to see defeated. The Bezirkshauptmann found out that the sign over the Jew's store had become faded, lie ordered the store closed and fined the owner heavily for infringement of Section N, Paragraph X, of the code of commer- cial law which requires every business man to have his name and the desig- nation of his business exhibited in "legible" letters over the entrance of his store. Wolf Blau, of Nadwerna, a barber, had the honor of shaving the Bezirkshatimmann three times a week. 1 he official thought that this honor was as good as pay, but Wolf declared that he could not support his wife and children on honor, and refused to wait on his excellency. The consequence was that Wolf's taxes were raised and that he was tined every week for transgressing some kind of police regulation. Wolf complained and stated what the reason flir this persecution was. Now he was an out and out criminal. He had slandered a public official and was sent rank. • The friction between these tw o ele - ments is in all likelihood responsible for the massacre recently reported. It may be that the number of vic- time is exaggerated, as is generally tht case with reports sent out in a panic. But the situation is nevertheless quite critical, and we can form an idea what will happen when the Poles will be recognized as a sovereign nation. Jews have to be very watchful and autdi o nsh,arf,our, sthe y: edsse,an,tilv l o st,tiiricia:,.eei or N T ' , esrymac y no i sy do any good. LAST FALL OF JERUSALEM. By BOLAND iaATIIBONE. l'he crescent Night in Jerusalem. moon Drops low, and as her doubtful tire pales So pales the Crescent Empire! The streets Untenanted, s'ave for the sullen 'rink Musing his last profane nocturnal watch Over a trembling city. But within A fearful dwelling' kneels a woman praying. Her famished babes about her. I.o, the Certainly, we would not deny that the MOT gathering together the Queen of Roumania, to whom the book as a whole is dedicated by of men and women of congenial spirit to discuss problems of mutual the author. The royalties for the sale of the book are devoted, it interest is not without value.. But the constant creation of new voice Of modern Hagar!, Hear it, Allenby! is said in the author's note, to Roumanian Relief Funds. organizations that overlap the functions of existing ones, the work- to jail. Thou art the Joshta 'of,her supplica- The postmaster of Przemysl had However desirous one may be that the relief funds for suffer- ing out of all sorts Of programs of work that is being better accom- tion—• some grudge against the Jews. He ing Roumanians may be assisted according to the measure of the plished by present agencies and, most of all, the seeking out of prob- C. S. An introduction and two chapters of the book are written by deferred the settlement to the Jew- need, one may fervently breathe the prayer that such relief will come lems to justify the continuance of this or that organization or, still ish New Year. lie knew the Jews "God of our fathers/ Fountain of Mercy, from other sources than from the sale of this book, for it would be worse, for the formation of some new one, does imply a waste of needed about that time one-cent Abraham's guide, Judah's protector. stamps for their New Year's cards. difficult to find in all the literature produced in recent times, another time, energy and money that can scarcely be justified. Forth on the stillness, over the He was out of them. They hail the mountains. volume in which ignorance, prejudice and malice combine to paint The weakness of which we speak is by no means confined to choice of buying two-cent stamps or Hope to Thy children, soundeth Th y so horrible a picture of the Jew as the mull& of this book has local organizations. National societies, especially of the philan- refraining from sending cards. eoice: — No one could enumerate all the succeeded in creating. thropic order, the maintenance of which demands vast sums of Cometh a new Joshua' petty and provoking acts of which A warrior for Israel!'" To her, the Jew of Roumania is little more than a beast of the money and great groups of workers, can frequently scarcely justify these combined plotters are guilty. lower type. She holds the Jews to be ethnographically "intruders their existence. We have in mind in particular as typical.(if such .lust as a typical specimen the fol- Fortunate Allenby! 'Tis giv'n to thee in Roumania." She says that a very large proportion of the Jews institutions, a certain hospital built by a national organization as a lowing ought to be widely known. To lead the new Crhsaders o'er the Esther Fischer kept a small grocery of Roumania are "Israelite only in name, not of Semitic blood, but memorial to a man who had done heroic work in its behalf, but plains in Cracow. People have to economize of Mongol-Tartar strain." The Jews of Roumania—she holds—in- which is today actually begging patients to fill the few beds which, and so she bought waste paper at a Where proudest of the ancient Chris- tian blood crease more rapidly than any people except the Armenians and, con- at a very great expense, it maintains. For our part, we believe that convent to use it for wrapping pack- sequently, the menace of them grows constantly. She charges that it requires more courage and more far=sightedness to clearly face they will not send their children to the national schools and adds the condition that we have too many organizations than that we that a well-known writer, whose name, however, she does not litton- have\ too feW and to cut loose from those.that serve no real purpose. tion, has said, "They will not serve or be taught, cultivate or pay; We are over-organized. they participate in no effort, make no sacrifices and do not even In these days, there is so much legitimate and necessary work submit to the orders of the police, to the rules of hygiene, and will to do that it is positively sinful to waste time and ability on efforts wield neither the plow, the pickaxe nor the rifle." that serve no vital cause, a fact that should be well borne in mind by These are but a few of the malicious, lying charges which this those who are ready to criticize others who are not ready 4o link author makes against the Jews of Roumania, thus repeating the themselves up with th;s or that organization which happens to be "classic lies" of the Roumanian government and justifying the sus- the hobby of the critics in question. picion that the chapter in question was dictated by some government The National Conference of Jewish Charities has rendered official. That Mrs. Gordon is utterly incompetent to speak of them American Jewry a real service in protesting against some organiza- is indicated by the fact that she says that the Jews in Roumania tions that have appealed for national support, but which seem to be were not heard of until the seventeenth century. !lad she even an serving no real purpose, but merely duplicating work that was being elementary knowledge of the history a the Jews of Roumania, she adequately attended to by existing agencies. would know that as early as the twelfth century, they had begun In a community such as this, it might be well if a survey of all to play a fairly important part in the history of that land, though so-called Jewish organizations were made, their work investigated almost from the beginning they had been the victims of Roumanian and the necessity of their existence judged. Such an inquiry would, perfidy, deceit and cruelty. Their story is one of constant persecu- tion and oppression. More crafty and unscrupulous than Russia in her treatment of the Jews, Roumania has not been a whit less cruel. Joseph Jacobs, former President of the Jewish Ilistorical Society of England, has compiled a list of restrictive laws against the Jews we believe, reveal the fact that many of our co-religionists are giv- ing valuable time and perhaps large sums of money to causes that aficird little return in social, civic or even personal usefulness. Were this fact definitely established, it would be easy enough to put such organizations out of business; to tie up the energy and the money in Roumania during the century beginning in km3, when they were thus released to others, whose work is really significant, but which forbidden to rent farms or own land. To point out only a few of are hampered by lack of workers and of money. such restrictive laws named in the list, one finds that Jews might As a first step toward such a program, it might be well for each not acquire real estate; that they might not be witnesses against organization to ask itself the question suggested in the headline of Christians; that all Jews must register their occupations and that this editorial, "Are we useful or are we merely active?" Certainly, those not of proved usefulness, must be expelled. No Jews were usefulness implies activity, but the reverse is by no means of neces- permitted to enter Roumania after 1850 unless they were possessed sity the case. of at least 50,000 piasters. In 1864 a law was passed according to which only those Jews could be naturalized who had reached the grade of non-commis- sioned officers in the army or who had passed through college, or recognized foreign degree or who had founded a factory. . who had a ages. Sonic customer discovered that the Jewess had wrapped some grocer- ies in a paper which showed the pic- ture of the Sacred Heart. It was re- ported and Esther was sentenced to a week in jail for blasphemy. To this class of persecution be- long court and jury sentences which are an open outrage on the most ele- mentary principle of justice. One of the most glaring cases w as the trial of /loses and Gitel Ritter of Luteza, who were three times sentenced to death for a murder of which they were en- tirely innocent and spent four years, from 1892 to 1896, in the penitentiary until the Supreme Court on a plea of error released them. ' This instance shows how the Jew- isi: of Galicia were benefited by the Austrian administration. There was at least a central authority which could remedy the grossest cases of in- justice. The constitution which could not be •superceded by the provincial legislation gave them since 1867 full civic and political equality. There were indeed Jews who held high offices on the bench, who were professors in the universities or held high rank in the army. At the begin- ning of the war Adolf von Kornhaher, a native of Drohobycz. held the rank of lieutenant-field marshal, which- is equal to that of brigadier general in the U. S. army. The wide difference between the constitutional theory and the position of individuals on one hand and between the sentiment of the masses on the other created different policies. In 1868, a year after the nomulga- lion of the constitution a Jewish So- ciety, Shomer Israel was organized, which leaned towards centralization and Germanism. Ten years later a Flowed free in fruitless ventures! Thine the hand To wrest forever front profaning grasp That which the Old World lost! Ii thou shalt kneel A victor at the Sepulchre, then great As are the valiant chiefs of Saxon arms, The name of none shall live bej•ond thine own) Above the tumult rings for thee her prayer:— "God of our fathers, Fountain 0. Mercy, Abraham's guide, Judah's protector, Forth on the stillness, over the mountains. Hope to Thy children, soundeth Thy voicee- 'Cometh a new Joshua! A warrior for Israel!'" —New York Herald WOMAN LAWYER AND LABOR EXPERT IS IN NEW YORK OFFICE Mn. Moscowit: Cross Assistant Cor- poration Counsel. NEV YORK.—Corporation Coun- sel Burr of New York announced the appointment of Mrs. Anna Moscowitr Kross as assistant corporation counsel at a salary of $3,240 a year. Mrs. Kross is the first woman to be - appointed an assistant to the corpora tion counsel. She is a graduate of the was ad- University Law School. and - mitted to the bar in 1912. She return where she ed recently from France, was engaged in war work. an auther - Mrs. Kross is considered ity on labor questions.