622 



ROUMANIA. 



the schools or universities, nor belong to the Cham- 

 ber of Commerce, nor be employed in the national 

 bank. From all offices in the Government civil 

 services Jews are of course excluded. No Jew may 

 sell tobacco or salt. The hawking law of 1884 

 has been enforced year by year with more rigor, 

 and 20,000 Jews affected by it have been reduced 

 to starvation. Under a series of vagrant acts ap- 

 plied oppressively to Jews they have been expelled 

 from rural districts and compelled to settle in the 

 congested towns. An identical note was presented 

 in 1880 by England, France, and Germany pro- 

 testing against the requirement of individual nat- 

 uralization from persons belonging to a non- 

 Christian creed domiciled in Roumania and not 

 belonging to any foreign nationality as an evasion 

 of the Treaty of Berlin. No attention was paid to 

 this representation. The acts of the Government 

 and the treatment of the people became harsher 

 and more oppressive. In 1897 came the anti-Jewish 

 riots and charges of ritualistic murder, which were 

 followed by the excesses of the Bucharest mob in 

 December, 1898, and anti-Semitic disturbances in 

 Jassy in May, 1899. Apologists for the Roumanian 

 Government argued that the injustice and perse- 

 cutions could not be as severe as they seemed 

 because the Jews did not leave the country. The 

 famine and business stagnation of 1900 suddenly 

 impressed masses of the Jewish population with 

 a feverish desire to escape from Roumania at any 

 risk and cost. The constantly growing Anti- 

 Semitic League bound its members to give no em- 

 ployment to Jews nor to have business dealings 

 with them. In the severe winter of 1898 the Gov- 

 ernment gave generous aid to the destitute and 

 famishing peasantry, while the poor Jews had to 

 depend only on the charity of their richer brethren. 

 Some of the townspeople in Moldavia started emi- 

 gration societies during the winter, and the move- 

 ment spread over the whole kingdom. The emi- 

 grants started out in bands, some without money, 

 some on foot, to seek new homes under benigner 

 conditions. One stream of emigration was directed 

 to Anatolia, one to Cyprus, another to Canada, 

 the greatest to the United States. About 16,000 

 left their homes in the first half of 1900. In pass- 

 ing through Austria-Hungary they camped in the 

 open air, being unable to pay for the poorest lodg- 

 ings. The exodus grew to such proportions that 

 the Roumanian authorities tried to stay it by re- 

 fusing to give passes to intending emigrants unless 

 they signed a declaration stating that they were 

 vagrants without the means of subsistence. Next 

 the Austro-Hungarian authorities, driven to take 

 precautionary measures, informed the Roumanian 

 Government that Jewish emigrants not provided 

 with railroad tickets to Hamburg, Paris, or Lon- 

 don would not be permitted to pass the frontier; 

 consequently the Roumanian authorities refused 

 to grant a pass to anybody who could not pro- 

 duce such a ticket. The first of the bands started 

 out from the town of Herlad and tramped through 

 the country, endeavoring to beg enough money to 

 carry them to their new home. Similar societies 

 sprang up in Jassy, Botoshani, Roman. Bucharest, 

 Bacan, and soon in every town and village where 

 there was a considerable Jewish laboring popula- 

 tion. All were sworn to leave Roumania forever. 

 Professional men, the trading class, and skilled 

 laborers turned their eyes to the United States. 

 Those who placed less reliance on their individual 

 ability were drawn toward Canada by the offer of 

 100 acres of Government land. The very efforts 

 of the Roumanian police to stop the exodus served 

 to rouse the desire among many who had no cause 

 to leave on their own account to join the flight 

 of their coreligionists. The restless, the thriftless, 



the idle, and the vicious joined the movement. 

 \Vhen the first groups of exiles arrived in New 

 York, nearly the whole of them were barred by 

 the law against pauper immigration, and were 

 detained. Some were released on the undertaking 

 of some of their American coreligionists to pro- 

 vide settlements for them and guard against their 

 becoming a burden on the community. Repre- 

 sentations were made to the Government of Rou- 

 mania, which was informed that immigrants ar- 

 riving with no means of subsistence would ! 

 returned to the country whence they came. Later 

 an agent of the Treasury Department was dis- 

 patched to Roumania to investigate the condition 

 of intending Jewish emigrants to North America. 

 both those whose declared destination was the 

 United States and those who took passage for 

 Canada and were likely to cross over into the 

 United States after arriving in that country. The 

 Dominion Government, when the stream began to 

 pour into Canada, announced that it would receive 

 no more Roumanian immigrants unless they pos- 

 sessed the means of establishing themselves. The 

 Austro-Hungarian Government therefore refused 

 to let any more pass the border, and posted troops 

 on the Hungarian frontier to keep them back. 

 There were 1,000 in Hungary and 2,000 in Vienna 

 who were sent back to Roumania. When the 

 last ones who had entered Hungary were escorted 

 back to the border the Roumanian authorities 

 refused to readmit them, and they endured great 

 hardships and privations while the officials of the 

 two countries were quarreling about their status. 

 Political Affairs. The Conservative and the 

 Constitutional parties having united, placing the 

 ministry in a minority, the Cantacuzene Cabinet 

 resigned in a body on July 17, and M. Carp was 

 charged by the King with the formation of a 

 Conservative coalition ministry. It was composed 

 of four Junimists and four members of the retiring 

 ministerial party. Minister Jonesco, in order to 

 raise money to pay the coupons of the public debt 

 next falling due, planned to sell to the national 

 bank the shares of its capital owned by the Gov- 

 ernment. The hard conditions demanded by the 

 bank directory before completing the transaction 

 were not liked in influential Conservative circles. 

 The new- Cabinet \vas constituted on July 1!' ;is 

 follows: President of the Council and Minister of 

 Finance, Carp; Minister of the Interior, Onalesco; 

 Minister of Foreign Affairs, Margiloman: Minister 

 of Agriculture and Domains, Filipesco: Minister of 

 Justice. Majoresco; Minister of Education. Arion; 

 Minister of War, Gen. Lahovary: Minister of Pub- 

 lic Works, Jonel Gradisteano. The fusion 

 had to deal with the serious international dispi 

 arising out of the murder of Prof. Mihailcano 

 Bucharest and the terrorism to which Roumani:i 

 in Sofia were subjected by the Macedonian 15e\ 

 lutionary Committee because of the interest tal> 

 by the Roumanian Government and expres 

 Roumanian publicists in the Wallachiaii race 

 Turkey and the preservation of their nalionalit 

 and language. The Roumanian colony in Sof 

 is composed of wealthy -Macedonian men-hai 

 most of whom have become naturalized Itoui 

 nian citizens. They were naturally in sympai 

 with the Roumanian national movement in Ma 

 donia and opposed to the plans of the revolutic 

 ary Bulgarians, who aimed to annex Macedoni 

 to Bulgaria and would recognize no nationalit 

 there except their own. When these Roumaiii. 

 cili/cns of Macedonian origin declined to 

 tribute money for the agitation of the MacedonM 

 Committee they were first threatened, then son 

 of them were assassinated, and one of their lea 

 ers was kidnaped and put to torture, while 



