The Jews in Eastern Europe are again being subjected to
persecution. Fifty thousand of them have, it is stated, been ordered to quit the "mining province" of Russia, and to reside within the Pale after sacrificing their occupations and their property. In Roumania also they are being forced to emigrate by a series of laws which practically deprive them of all means of subsistence. They wish to reach America, but the Americans will not receive them unless they can prove that they are not paupers : and as they are two hundred thousand in number, the collection of the necessary funds is a work of difficulty and time. In Roumania they have abso- lutely no rights, and live at the mercy of a population which hates them to such a degree that their Parliament has declared all Jews to be foreigners, although they have been resident for centuries. Neither Germany nor Austria will do anything for them, and it seems impossible for Western Europe, which is more tolerant, either to protect them or to find them a new habitat. Could not the wealthy Jews by means of a subsidy get the Shah, who is now in Europe, to allow them to settle in his half-populated kingdom ? They would make ex- cellent taxpaying citizens, and would at any rate know where they were. The successor of Ahasuerus might engage on a much less profitable enterprise.
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