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| President Grover Cleveland. |
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| Jacob Gould Schurman. |
Cortland Evening Standard, Thursday, May 28, 1903.
INDIGNATION MEETING.
Protest Against Massacre of Jews in Russia.
EX-PRESIDENT CLEVELAND SPOKE.
Mayor Low Presided—Resolutions Declare the People of the United States Should Exercise Influence to Stay Spirit of Persecution—President Schurman's Speech.
New York, May 28.—Carnegie hall was packed last night, the occasion being the indignation mass meeting to protest against the massacre of the Hebrews at Kishineff. The announcement that former President Cleveland would speak lent additional interest to the gathering.
Mayor Low in his opening remarks expressed the hope that Russia would give more liberty to her Jewish subjects.
While Mayor Low was speaking Mr. Cleveland entered and was greeted with a tumult of cheers. The mayor walked across the platform, grasped his hand and greeted him.
William H. Baldwin, Jr., read letters and telegrams sympathizing with the objects of the meeting from Senator Platt and others.
The resolutions adopted denounced the massacre, urged the claim of the Jews in Russia to just treatment and protection and declared:
"That the people of the United States should exercise such influence with the government of Russia as the ancient and unbroken friendship between the two nations may justify to stay the spirit of persecution, to redress the injuries inflicted upon the Jews of Kishineff, and to prevent the recurrence of outbreaks such as have amazed the civilized world.
When Mayor Low introduced Mr. Cleveland there was a roar of applause. Mr. Cleveland said in part:
"I have only a word to say; but I wish to be counted among those who are in hearty sympathy with the purpose of this meeting. The influences which have called us together tonight grow out of our recognition of the promptings of Christian civilization and our dutiful devotion to the best and deepest of our national characteristics.
Protest and Assistance.
"Every American humane sentiment has been shocked by a late attack on the Jews in Russia, an attack murderous, atrocious and in every way revolting. We, and all our countrymen, protest in the strongest language at our command, and with the moral force which our American citizenship gives us, against those murders and outrages; and we insist that swift punishment ought to be visited upon their barbarous perpetrators. Nor is this all. We will in a fashion quite American, and with an open handedness always displayed when human distress appeals to us, assist the families made headless and robbed of support by murder, and those who, wounded and terrorized, in hunger and want, have been driven from their homes.
"I desire to avoid sounding a discordant note; but yet I cannot refrain from the suggestion that the moral effect of our protest and usefulness of this demonstration will not be lessened if we require indubitable proof before we accuse the government of Russia with guilty complicity in the crimes committed within her borders. And it seems to me we may well consider the proper relationship between nations, before we demand too pronounced interference on the part of our own government.
"I do not say that the Russian government may not, by sins of omission or commission, be justly deserving of our condemnations; but we should not be swift to assume this, when we remember that we ourselves have found it impossible to prevent mob violence and murderous assaults in Wyoming and in Louisiana.
No Demand For Violent Action.
"I am distinctly and unequivocally in favor of informing our government in unmistakable terms of our indignant and deep condemnation of the late outrages upon the Jews in Russia; but I hope that in obedience to the dictates of American conservatism and moderation, which are never long obscured, we may be even now just and fair; and that we will be content to forego perplexing and extreme demands upon our government for violent action.
"Our public servants should hear us speak; but we certainly ought to be justified in trusting the care of our national honor and duty in the promises and the enforcement of the humane instincts of our people, so far as this may be within governmental action, to those charged with the responsibility of managing our public affairs.
"In the meantime let the people of the United States, gathered together in such an assemblage as this in every part of the land, fearlessly speak to the civilized world, protesting against every pretense of civilization that permits medieval persecution against every bigoted creed that forbids religious toleration and freedom of conscience."
Mr. Cleveland at the conclusion of his address was applauded for nearly five minutes and was compelled to rise and bow several times.
President J. G. Schurman of Cornell after denouncing the massacre and the reasons advanced by way of justifying it, said in conclusion:
"The trouble is in the Russian official attitude toward the Jew. He is not treated as a fellow man; he is denied the rights of a citizen. Official Russia giving the tone, individual Russians, undoubtedly of the baser sort carry it to the extreme of insult cruelty, pillage and murder.
"I see no adequate and permanent security for the Russian Jew except the opportunity now denied him, of being a man and a citizen.
"And even in the midst of the present gloom and horror I am not without hope that the czar, who I believe is animated by a noble idealism, may yet confer the fullest privileges of Russians on his now oppressed and suffering Jewish subjects. If not, America is still another name for opportunity, and a race of such capacity and endurance as the Jews is not only assured of triumphant survival, but by virtue of its contributions to our highest civilization is entitled to universal welcome."
Tumultuous cheers greeted President Schurman's address. The Rev. Robert S. MacArthur and Edward M. Shepard also spoke.
KISHINEFF HORRORS.
Story of a Refugee Who Has Arrived at New York.
New York, May 28.—Mandel Schulmeister, 20 years old and a native of Kishineff, was among the steerage passengers landed at Ellis island from the North German Lloyd steamer Grosser Kurfurst.
He left Kishineff the Monday after the massacre, and says Russia never saw anything to equal the outrage.
"On the Jewish Passover the houses of Jews were stoned and threats made to kill them," he said, "and the next day when the Christians came out of their church the crowds, armed with stones and iron bars, attacked the Jews in the streets, and began to sack houses, killing men, women and children.
"I saw the mob enter the yard of the house next to ours where they stoned a shoemaker to death. While I was hid in the cellar with my family I heard the mob enter our house, and break the furniture and smash the windows. I saw in the cemetery 50 bodies of men and women waiting to be buried. They were badly mutilated."
Schulmeister said that he left Kishineff and was smuggled across the frontier where "an agent" helped him to get to Bremen.
Denounce Russian Outrages.
Washington, May 28.—-Senators Alger and Burrows and Representative Lucking of Michigan called on Secretary of State Hay and presented the resolutions adopted by the recent Detroit mass meeting, condemnatory of the attack on the Jews at Kischineff. The secretary promised to lay the resolution before the president upon his return to Washington. Many similar resolutions have been received by Secretary Hay, all of which will be acknowledged in due course.
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| Cyrus Adler. |
DR. ADLER ON CASSINI.
Noted Jew Answers the Ambassador's Statements.
RUSSIA'S POLICY OF SUPPRESSION.
Jews Are Prevented, He Says, From Living in Agricultural Communities, Then Blamed For Not Being Farmers—Restrictions That Are Placed Upon Them.
Dr. Cyrus Adler of the Smithsonian institution, secretary of the International Jewish association and editor of the Jewish Year Book, in the course of conversation the other day on the massacre of Jews in Russia, reviewed the statements of Count Cassini, the Russian ambassador, in a recent interview given out by him, which Dr. Adler treated as an authoritative utterance, says a Washington special dispatch to the New York Times. Quoting the declaration of the ambassador that "the unfriendly attitude toward the Jews is due to the fact that they will not work in the field or engage in agriculture," Dr. Adler said:
"In 1890 there were more than 100,000 Jews in Russia engaged in agriculture, the larger portion of them being in southern Russia. It is true that the tendency toward agriculture on the part of the Jews in Russia has been arrested, but this has not been since 1891, when the May laws of 1882 put a stop to the migration of the Jewish inhabitants of towns into the villages. It is not generous for a country to prevent Jews from living in an agricultural community and then blame them for not being farmers.
"Count Cassini next charges the Jews in Russia with being bankers and money brokers and taking advantage of the Russian peasants in this way. He will probably not be inclined to assert that any really large percentage of the more than 5,000,000 Jews in Russia, are bankers and brokers. Moreover, the ill feeling which he describes as existing between them and the peasants does not apply to this particular incident at issue. Kishineff is a town of about 140,000 inhabitants, so that the question of the fury of the villagers would hardly come into the discussion
"Since the ambassador makes a great point of the unwillingness of the Jews to engage in agricultural pursuits, and since he proclaims the failure of the agricultural colonies, it might be interesting for him to know that in 1880 there were 278 Jewish agricultural colonies in Russia, in which were employed 63,223 people.
"The ambassador states that the Jewish genius is appreciated in Russia and the Jewish artist honored. The May laws, to which reference has been made, restricts the number of Jewish students at the universities and gymnasiums, carrying these restrictions even to private technical schools established by the Jews themselves. Jews were forbidden to be army doctors, the college for veterinary surgeons was closed to them, they were prevented from acting as engineers, excluded from the civil service and only allowed to become members of the legal profession upon a special permit from the minister of justice.
"One of the reasons mentioned by the ambassador for the hostility on the part of the Russians is the unwillingness of the Jews to assimilate. One single incident indicating where the fault lies may be mentioned. The last figures available to me for the recruits in the Russian army are those for 1896, which show that during that year 15,831 were drafted in the Russian army, yet none of them upon any account is allowed to become a commissioned officer. The Russian Jew has, however, the privilege of being killed in defense of his country. It is thus shown from a hasty examination of the interview of the ambassador that he has in no case given an accurate statement of the causes producing the riot at Kishineff under discussion, and one is led to the painful conclusion that he either is unacquainted with affairs in his own country or that he willfully intended to mislead the American people.
"It might not be without interest for the public to know how the particular massacre was brought about. A few days before the Passover a Russian disappeared in Dubossari, [Ukraine]. The rumor spread that he had been killed by the Jews for ritual purposes. His body was examined and the conclusion reached that his death could not have been encompassed for the purpose of securing his blood. Notwithstanding, a Russian paper published at Kishineff, called the Bessarabyetz, published inflammatory articles against the Jews, and especially one just before the Russian Easter Sunday, and it was upon this day, and largely after leaving the church, that the Russians began to attack the Jews. There seems, therefore, to be a much closer connection between religious hatred and those riots than between them and the economic causes which the ambassador threw out.
"It may not be amiss in this connection to say, what is no doubt fresh in the minds of many American citizens, that no foreign Jew may enter the Russian empire for purposes of travel without subjecting himself to extraordinary restrictions, nor without agreeing to leave the country within a definite period. Such a restriction would even apply to a member of congress or of the British parliament or of the Italian cabinet, if a Jew. Something other than economic reasons enters here.''
PAGE FOUR—EDITORIAL.
The Immigration Problem.
At the coming session of congress it is practically certain that an effort will be made to get through a bill limiting undesirable immigration into the United States. It is promised that the measure will have strong backing in the senate as well as in the house. It is generally recognized that something must be done to prevent the influx of undesirable immigrants. It has reached such alarming proportions as to give rise to serious apprehensions for the future of the country.
The immigration officials declare that the present law is good so far as it goes, but that it does not go far enough. They also declare that the immigrants now coming over are inclined to stick to the cities of the east, joining the little colonies of their countrymen, retaining the manners and vices of their old homes and learning nothing of our mode of life. Farmers are wanted, they say, and especially farmers from the north of Europe, including Germany, England, Ireland, France, Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
TRAINS COLLIDE.
Lackawanna Engine Crashes Broadside Into Lehigh Train
AT JUNCTION OF THE TWO ROADS.
Double-Header Coal Train on Lackawanna and Freight Train on Lehigh—Box Car on Latter Reduced to Scrap Iron and Kindling—Lackawanna Engineer Jumped and Broke His Leg—His Train Uninjured.
A north bound double header coal train on the Lackawanna railroad crashed into the middle of a west bound Lehigh freight at the Cortland junction at about ten o'clock last night.
The Lackawanna engine struck a box car fairly in the middle, wrenching it free from the remainder of the train, and sweeping it across the platform of the little station as though it were a pasteboard box, finally cutting it in twain, and hurling it to either side, a mass of old iron and kindling wood. The planking from the milk station platform flew in every direction, while many planks from the station platform were torn loose.
The Lackawanna train was in charge of Conductor Decker and Engineers Waterman and Trowbridge. When they saw that the crash was coming the crews of the first engine jumped. The fireman landed safely, but the engineer, L. Waterman of Great Bend, was not so fortunate, his left leg being broken. Wright's ambulance was summoned and the injured man was at once removed to the [Cortland] hospital, where the fracture was reduced by Dr. Dana who found both bones of the left leg broken.
The Lehigh train ran nearly down to the yards before the engineer was aware that any accident had befallen his train.
It is customary for each train to throw its own signal at night and the Lehigh train men claim that the ball last night was thrown so as to give them the right of way. The Lackawanna train was uninjured in any way, proceeding on its way north in about two hours. It is impossible at present to get the Lackawanna side of the story. Had the engineer stuck to his post be would have been uninjured.
Many of the guests who were in attendance on the graduating exercises at the hospital were still there when the ambulance containing the injured man arrived and several of the physicians were still present. If any of those present ever doubted the efficiency of the hospital staff they had an opportunity to be disabused of that opinion right then and there.
From an evening of pleasure the nurses turned very quickly to business and the reception rooms were again transformed into a hospital in double quick time.
Fortnightly Club.
The Fortnightly club met yesterday afternoon at the home of Mrs. J. G. Jarvis, 24 Clinton-ave. In the absence of the president Miss Harriet Allen presided. The following program was presented:
Milan Cathedral, Miss Cornelia A. White.
The Problem of Lighting Buildings from Early to Modern Times, Mrs. Wm. M. Booth.
Ceramics and Glass, Miss Lena R. Conable.
Mrs. C. L. Watrous of Des Moines, Ia., an aunt of the hostess of the day, was present and gave a very interesting talk upon clubs and club work at her own home. She also told of a visit she had just made to Concord, Mass., and of historic scenes and objects at that place. During the afternoon Mrs. A. Edward Allen and the Misses Elizabeth and Edith Turner sang a fine trio, with Miss Carrie D. Halbert as accompanist.
The next meeting will be president's day, but the time and place of holding it have not yet been decided upon.
A STRANGE DEATH
William Rogers of West Homer Found on a Pennsylvania Mountain.
Notice was made in our Homer letter yesterday of the death of William Rogers of West Homer, N. Y., from exposure on a mountain near Wilkes-Barre, Pa. William Rogers is a son of Horatio Rogers who lives on a farm about four miles west of Homer, and is a cousin of James E. Tanner of Cortland.
The circumstances surrounding Rogers' death are a mystery and will probably remain so. He left home early this month intending to go to Auburn, N. Y., in search of work, and his parents thought him in that place when word was received that his body had been found on a mountain near Wilkes-Barre. The body had evidently lain where it was found for several days, as it was unrecognizable when found. Identification was established by means of a trunk check found in his pocket. The check was taken to the railroad station in Wilkes-Barre and the trunk broken open. Letters were found establishing his identity. His parents were notified and Undertaker F. M. Briggs of Homer was sent after the body. He returned Tuesday night bringing the remains with him. The funeral was held from the home of his parents in West Homer at 2 o'clock this afternoon.
William Rogers was about 24 years of age and a young man of excellent habits. He did not like farm work and concluded to seek other work in Auburn, N. Y. The theory is that not finding work there be went to Pittsburg, where he had once been employed, but how his trunk came to be in Wilkes-Barre or how he happened to get lost on the mountain is a mystery which will probably never be explained. He had between $50 and $100 when he left home and but a few cents were found on his person. There is no idea that he met with foul play, as his gold watch remained untouched in his pocket. He probably endeavored to make a short cut over the mountain from one place to another and losing his way died from exposure.
BREVITIES.
—The hardware stores will be closed Saturday from 9:30 o'clock in the morning until 6 o'clock in the evening.
—Rain fell at about 2 o'clock this morning for perhaps the space of five minutes, and it was about the first rain since early in April, but it scarcely laid the dust. More water is needed and needed badly.
—The new display advertisements today are: Bingham & Miller, Clothing, page 8; Haight & Freese Co., Stocks, bonds, etc., page 6; Mrs. Everts, Millinery, page 5; Perkins & Quick, Paints, page 7.
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