358 



KOREA. 



among others, on Jewish Activity in Early Amer- 

 ican Commerce, Jewish Names in the Maryland 

 Muster Rolls, 1775-'83, Solomon Heydenfeldt, 

 The Jews of Georgia during the American Revo- 

 lution, Sampson Simson, References to Jews in 

 the Diary of Ezra Stiles. 



A resolution was introduced in the House of 

 Representatives on April 30 by Hon. H. M. Gold- 

 fogle, of New York, asking for information from 

 the Department of State, whether American citi- 

 zens of Jewish faith holding passports issued by 

 the American Government are excluded from 

 Ruia, and what action on the subject, if any, 

 had been taken by any department of the United 

 States Government. Secretary Hay's reply was 

 that the department has no information indi- 

 cating that American Jews stand upon a footing 

 ditlYrent from that occupied by Jews of other 

 lands in the administration of Russian law, and 

 efforts to secure uniform treatment of American 

 citizens in Russia, begun years ago, have contin- 

 ued, but not with encouraging success. Far more 

 effective was the action of the United States in 

 reference to the Jews of Roumania, in a circular 

 letter sent on Aug. 11 by Secretary Hay to the 

 powers that had signed the treaty of Berlin in 

 1878. It referred to the violation of that treaty. 

 As civil and religious liberty had not been enjoyed 

 by the Jews of Roumania, in the interest of hu- 

 manity it asked for more consideration and jus- 

 tice, and showed the cruelty and unfairness of 

 forced emigration of any class to American 

 shores, the only hospitable asylum left to them. 

 Secretary Hay closed with these words : " Wheth- 

 er consciously and of purpose or not, these help- 

 less people, burdened and spurned by their native 

 land, are forced by the sovereign power of Rou- 

 mania upon the charity of the United States. 

 This Government can not be a tacit party to 

 such an international wrong. It is constrained 

 to protest against the treatment to which the 

 Jews of Roumania are subjected, not alone be- 

 cause it has unimpeachable ground to remon- 

 strate against the resultant injury to itself, but 

 in the name of humanity. The United States 

 may not authoritatively appeal to the stipula- 

 tions of the treaty of Berlin, to which it was 

 not and can not become a signatory, but it does 

 earnestly appeal to the principles consigned 

 therein, because they are the principles of inter- 

 national law and eternal justice, advocating the 

 broad toleration which that solemn compact en- 

 joins and standing ready to lend its moral sup- 

 port to the fulfilment thereof by its cosignatories, 

 for the act of Roumania itself has effectively 

 joined the United States to them as an inter- 

 ested party in this regard." While no definite ac- 

 tion has resulted from the letter, international 

 sympathy was aroused for the disfranchised Jews 

 there, and the debate in the Roumanian Senate late 

 in December on the naturalization of Jews showed 

 the salutary influence of the American protest. 



The third triennial convention of the National 

 Council of Jewish Women was held in Baltimore 



in December. It was formed in 1894, and has 

 now 64 local sections and a membership of 7,090, 

 with 82 study sections, in Jewish history, philan- 

 thropy, and literature; 18 mission schools; ac- 

 tivity in kindergarten, sewing, and industrial 

 schools; 2 day nurseries; and other helpful 

 agencies. The receipts for the year were $11,000, 

 and the expenses about $6,800. Among the ad- 

 dresses were Aspects of Judaism in America, by 

 Henrietta Szold; Judaism in Small Towns, by 

 Mrs. M. Pappe; Judaism and the Young, by Mrs. 

 W. Miller; Federated Charities, by Max Senior; 

 Civil Service, by Mr. Bonaparte. 



There were meat riots in New York and a few 

 other cities in May, with women as leaders, in- 

 dignant at the high price of meat, which was felt 

 keenly by the Jews in the congested districts. 

 There was also a riot on July 30, which disturbed 

 the funeral of Rabbi Jacob Joseph in New York, 

 and which Mayor Low promptly investigated, 

 censuring severely some police officials. 



In January the President appointed the Hon. 

 Oscar S. Straus a member of the Hague Court of 

 International Arbitration, to succeed the late ex- 

 President Harrison. 



The first synagogue at Hong-Kong was dedi- 

 cated on April 8, and the corner-stone of the 

 first synagogue in Portugal since the expulsion 

 was laid on May 25 at Lisbon. 



England had its royal commission in prolonged 

 session to investigate the evils of unrestricted im- 

 migration of aliens. A conference of Jewish 

 women and a union of literary societies were 

 held in London on May 13 and June 29. 



At the Vienna Zionist Conference, in October, 

 the latest results of the movement were thus sum- 

 marized: First, the creation of a Jewish Statis- 

 tical Bureau: The committee appointed for this 

 purpose had organized an association in Berlin, 

 and branches had been established in Germany 

 and Austria. A Palestine bibliography was being 

 prepared, and investigations were being con- 

 ducted. Second, the Jewish Publication Society in 

 Berlin : Necessary capital was provided by the sec- 

 tion in the form of a guarantee fund to which 

 Jewish writers and financiers contributed. It had 

 already published a Jewish almanac and a 

 pamphlet entitled Jewish High Schools. Third, 

 courses on the science of Judaism, in the form 

 of university extension lectures. Fourth, reform 

 of religious instruction: Preparations were being 

 made to summon a conference of teachers of re- 

 ligion. Fifth, art exhibitions. Sixth, Jewish 

 high schools. For further investigations, as well 

 as for promoting and financing the scheme for 

 the establishment of a Jewish university, a com- 

 mittee had been formed in Geneva. The bureau 

 had conducted special investigation into the con- 

 ditions under which Jewish students in the vari- 

 ous lands lived. Sums for the furtherance of this 

 object, amounting to about 1.000,000 francs, had 

 been guaranteed by Jewish financiers. For the 

 whole project about 12,000,000 francs are re- 

 quired. 



K 



KANSAS. (See under UNITED STATES.) 

 KENTUCKY. (See under UNITED STATES.) 

 KOREA, Ta-Han, or Cho-Sen, an empire in 

 eastern Asia, between China, Japan, and Russia. 

 It is a peninsula with an estimated area of 82,000 

 square miles, bordering on the Yellow Sea and 

 the Sea of Japan, with a frontier line of several 

 hundred miles along Manchuria, and for 11 miles 



on the northeast bordering on the Tumen river, 

 which separates it from Asiatic Russia. By the 

 Chino-Japanese War of 1894-'95 Korea became an 

 independent state. On Oct. 14, 1897, the King as- 

 sumed the title of Emperor, giving to his realm 

 the name of Ta-Han (Great Han, meaning all 

 Korea, in distinction from the ancient San-Han or 

 Three Kingdoms). By the alliance between Great 



