404 



I he Review of Heviews. 



AprU to, 1906. 



ANTI-SEMITISM IN RUSSIA 



In the .Monthly Revieiu Professor L. Villari, in an 

 exceptionally interesting paper, explains the position 

 of the anti- Jewish mo\enient in Russia. In the Rus- 

 sian Empire there are, in all, about 5,000,000 Jews, 

 who, if evenly distributed, would be almost lost 

 among 140,000,000. Nearly all of them, however, 

 are in the ten governments of Poland and in 

 Western and Southern Russia — that is, among only 

 40,000,000. They live almost entirely in the towns, 

 sometimes forming the majority of the popula- 

 tion : — 



At Warsaw there are 250,000 Jews out of a total popula- 

 tion of 750.000; at Odessa 150.000 out of 450,000; in many 

 other towns they are 20, 25, 30 per cent, of the whole. 



In Poland and the West the great majority are exces- 

 sively poor, and dwell in the most squalid conditions. 

 They are for the most part miserable, undersized, under- 

 fed weaklings, dressed in rags, in every way wretched 

 specimens of humanity. 



THE INDISPBNSABLEXESS OF THE JEW. 



In spite of heavy disabilities, such as being un- 

 able to own or farm land, which drives them to 

 commercial pursuits and the liberal professions, it is 

 hard to see how Russia at present could get on with- 

 out them. The grain trade is largely in their hands, 

 the Jews buying up the crops before they are above 

 ground, and then gambling on the rise and fall of 

 prices. But the Jews are trusted. Professor Villari 

 says : — 



A Christian grain merchant told me that no one but a 

 Jew Qould go up country and buy grain direct from the 

 peasants, as the latter were accustomed to sell to the Jew, 

 and mistrusted all other buyers. 



They know that, once a bargain is made, the Jew 

 will stick to it, even if he thereby loses: — 



In all business in which they are engaged they undersell 

 their rivals, and show ten times more capacity than the 

 Russians. . . . Certain businesses are wholly in their 

 hands, and few are the Russians of the West who do not 

 owe them mone.v 



In the liberal professions the Jews are predomi- 

 nant, although only ten to twelve of Jewish students 

 are admitted into schools, and in the examinations 

 the Jewish candidates are marked more severely than 

 Christians. Hence, as a result, " The best lawyers, 

 doctors, bankers, and merchants, as well as many 

 savants, are Jews." 



The Jews of Russia, unlike those in England and 

 other countries, are a community apart — in Russia, 

 but not of it : — 



A Russian Jew is a Jew who happens to be a Russian 

 subject, whereas an English Jew is an Englishman, who 

 happens to be of Hebrew extraction and religion. 



ANTI-SEMITISM IX HIGH PLACES. 



Russian anti-Semitism, although partly due to 

 causes w-hich may be inferred from the peculiar {)Osi- 

 tion of the Jews, is yet still further fostered by the 

 bureaucracy, without encouragement from whom the 

 more ferocious outbursts would never have taken 

 place. Wretched economic conditions, for instance, 

 have been attributed to Jews, instead of to misgo- 

 vernment. The Grand Duke Serge, M. de Plehve, 



and M. Pobiedonostseff, to name only three highh 

 conspicuous personages, made no secret of their anti- 

 Semitic opinions. The last-named is a genuine 

 fanatic, and is at least thoroughly sincere in his con- 

 victions : — 



Count Witte, on the other hand, although not a con- 

 vinced Liberal, was opposed to anti-Semitism, because he 

 wished to obtain the assistance of Jewish finance for his 

 economic projects, and while he was Finance Minister the 

 Jews obtained a respite. The severely-censored Press, too, 

 was allowed the most absolute freedom in the matter of 

 anti-Semitism. 



In Russia persecution has driven the Jew to Social 

 Democracy and Revolutionarisni. Persecution gave 

 him a fellow-feeling with the Poles, and thus in 

 Poland, though Jews are very numerous, anti-Se- 

 mitism is far less bitter, Poles and Jews having one 

 common ground of complaint — the Russian Govern- 

 ment. Many Jews are enthusiastic Polish patriots. 



THE JEWS UNDER CO.NSTITUTIOXAL RUSSIA 



Professor Villari says it will be interesting to see 

 whether a Constitutional Russia will solve the 

 Jewish problem. If the Jews now get full liberty 

 they will rapidly acquire great power and influence, 

 and become still more detested. 



On the other hand, once they are treated as ordinary 

 citizens, they will tend more and more to become assimi- 

 lated with the rest of the population; they will be spread 

 over such an immense area that they will be noticed less. 

 and with the progress of the Russian people the Jew.^ will 

 cease to enjoy their present monopoly of trade. In Iceland, 

 w-here the masses are more civilised and business capacity 

 more highly developed, anti-.semitism is still a feeling and 

 a prejudice, but no longer .i brutal passion. 



How Greek Women Dressed. 



In a recent issue of the Burlington Magazine Pro- 

 fessor G. Baldwin Brown published an article on 

 Greek female dress. 



There was no essential difference between Greek 

 male dress and the dress of the women. Both con- 

 sisted of two garments — tunic and mantle. The 

 upper and the under garment were plain, rectangu- 

 lar pieces of stuff folded round the body, and were 

 held in place by temporary fastenings. 



With reference to the material used Professor 

 Brown writes: — 



The stuff itself was simple and cheap, and in many cases 

 was the product of the household loom, at which, like 

 Penelope of old, the lady of the house sat at work amidst 

 her handmaids. It might be dyed, especially when it was 

 of wool, any desired colour, and be decked with a figured 

 border woven into mot embroidered on) the fabric. 



By the aid of a series of illustrations Professor 

 Brown show's how the tunic was adjusted. 



In the January number of the Deutsche "Rundschau, 

 P. Walther gives some statistics of German emigra- 

 tion. In 1882 the number of emigrants from Ger- 

 many is stated to have been 193,870; in 1904 the 

 number had decreased to 27,980. This enormous re- 

 duction is all the more significant, as a correspond- 

 ing increase in the ptopulation at home does not 

 appear. 



