THE JEWS IN RUSSIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8670, 12 September 1891, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE JEWS IN RUSSIA.

Mr.. Arnold Wuitf. has made a report to Baron Hirsch upon the result of his inquiries in Russia, from which the Jewish Chronicle publishes the following extracts :

—"As a whole, the "sedentary Jews are physically inferior to the sedentary Russians. indeed, I can remember no country in Europe the town population of which does not excel, in physique, the poor Russian Jew townsmen. When, however, I contrast the Jew townsmen with the Jews settled by the Emperor Nicholas in the Government of Cherson, the difference is amazing. I found them an active, well set-up, sunburnt, muscular agricultural population, marked by all the characteristics of a peasantry of the highest character. v There are liU.OOl) of these people. Ho far as I could learn from the neighbouring proprietors — Russians who employed them—they have no vice, unless early, improvident, and fruitful marriages can bo deemed a vice. As a set-oil' against the physical inferiority to which reference has been made, two elements must be taken into consideration in any analysis of the worth of the Jew as a colonist, and which, in my opinion, more than compensate for his poverty in muscle. The first of these elements is the nervous temperament of the average Jew, which is not only the source of all the accusations of cowardice brought against him, bub at the same time'gives him an astounding capacity to sustain exertion for lengthy periods of time impossible to the stolid beer-drinking Englishman or equally self-indulgent Russ. This quality of ' last' is an atonement which, nature has made to the Jew for denying him a coarser fibre and a larger build. The second element in the problem is a factor the value of which can only be assessed by those who have actually undergone the heart-breaking bask of planting poor unemployed Englishmen on unemployed colonial acres. I refer to the high moral tone of the average Jew. With one exception the whole of my evidence points to the fact that the Jew is habitually temperate, lie rarely drinks alcohol, rarely smokes, he is a good husband, father, sou, he is not addicted to the use of filthy or blasphemous language, ho is patient in trouble, and is most industrious in his work. Faults he undoubtedly has, but they are not of a nature that enter seriously into the question of colonisation. So far as my observations go, the Russian Jew and his children have not enough to eat. Until J. see what good nourishing food ..will do for him it is impossible to say what proportion of the adult male population will eventually be capable of outdoor work. At present, dejection clouds the life of the whole Jewish population ; but their misery is not, as yet, the parent of crime on a largo scale. In short, if courage, moral courage—hope, patience, tern [Jura are fine qualities, then the Jews are a fine people. Such a people, under wise direction, is destined to make a success of any well-organised plan of colonisation, whether in Argentine, Siberia, or South Africa. But I cannot conclude this brief report without a word on bho suffering of the children to which I have been a witness. I saw the Indian Famine, 1878, and I have seen much trouble and sadness in different parts of the world ; but nothing has ever touched my heart like the suffering of these Jewish children. Life is hard for them, and they wonder why it is hard. It grows harder every day. From all I can learn, I do believe that if tho suffering of these innocent Jewish babies were known to the Emperor he would at least grant us permission to organise openly and at leisure measures for the relief of these children and their parents. . For the burden that is laid upon thorn is more than they can bear." i