26 DECEMBER 1903, Page 2

The Russian correspondents of the Times supply some interesting details

in Monday's issue with regard to the Russian Jew as an agriculturist. The Governors of the fifteen provinces where Jews are allowed to reside were " circularised " by the Minister of the Interior, and it is from their reports that the information is drawn. Special questions were addressed to the Governors of the seven provinces in which agricultural colonies of Israelites have been formed, and the majority of these officials entertain no doubt as to the capacity of the Jews as cultivators of the soil. The Governor of Ekaterinoslav plainly states that where they fail it is because they have not enough land, and he agrees with the Governor of Kherson that with better organisation and greater encouragement more Jews would engage in agricultural work, and the Jewish question would be rendered less difficult. With regard to the urban Jews, the Governor of Vilna dwells at length on the evils of overcrowding, the animosity excited by excluding Jews from Universities and high schools, and urges that their general education should no longer be pre- vented. The views of these officials are the more significant in that with few exceptions they are pronounced Anti-Semites.