entire Jewish race. While the total number of Jews in the world is not definitely known, the estimate of 11,000,000 is usually accepted as nearly correct. According to the Russian census of January 28 (February 9), 1897, the total number of Jews in the Empire was 5,215,805 (9) or about 50 per cent of all the Jews in the world. Since the total population of the Empire has been determined to be 125,640,021, the proportion of the Jewish to the total population is therefore only a little over 4 per cent; but this percentage has little more than a theoretical value, because of the very uneven distribution of the Jews over the entire territory of the Empire. The policy of the Muscovite Government toward the Jews throughout the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries was that of absolute exclusion, and with a few qualifications the same policy has been enforced within the annexed western territories, which contain the large Jewish population. The law of 1769 definitely limited the Jew's right of domicile to certain Provinces, thus establishing the strictly defined Jewish Pale, that law being modified in 1804 by the inclusion of several Provinces and the exclusion of others. Several modifications of minor significance have been made in subsequent years. The Pale as it exists to-day was established in 1835 by the "Code of the rights of the Jews." As thus constituted, the Pale consists of twentyfive Provinces (") of the eighty-nine Provinces and Territories consti a The problem of determining the number of Jews in Russia presents some serious statistical difficulties, depending upon the different definitions of the word "Jew." In the census of 1897 both the religion and the nationality were taken account of, the latter being based upon the "mother tongue." In the case of the Jews the "Yiddish language" was taken as the decisive feature. Accordingly, the following conflicting statements may be formed: Number of persons of Jewish religion, 5,215,805; number of persons of Jewish nationality as determined by the mother tongue, 5,063,156. A closer examination of the census figures shows that there were enumerated 161,505 persons of Jewish faith who named other languages than the Yiddish as their mother tongue. On the other hand, there were 8,856 persons speaking the Yiddish tongue whose religious faith was other than the Hebrew. As the special legislation in regard to Jews applies to all persons of Jewish faith, 5,215,805 ought to be accepted as the correct figure. Yet in the census many important tables take the nationality (language) basis. The 12,894 Karaites (people of Jewish nationality and faith, but of a different sect and exempt from all special Jewish legislation) must not be disregarded; of these 383 claimed Yiddish as their mother tongue and are therefore included in the preceding groups. The data therefore may be summarized thus: Persons of Jewish faith claiming Yiddish as their mother tongue.. Total....... 5,054, 300 161, 505 8.856 12, 511 5, 237, 172 It is necessary to add that often in special tables of the census the total number of Jews indicated does not agree with either of the totals given here. The Russian word "gubernia" has often been translated into English as "government," under the influence of the French translation "gouvernement." In view of the misleading nature of this term the word "province" is here preferred. tuting the entire Russian Empire. The Pale begins immediately south of the Baltic Provinces, stretches throughout the west, and extends over the south as far east as the Don Army Territory. The combined territory of the Pale is about 362,000 square miles, or less than 20 per cent of European Russia and only a little over 4 per cent of the entire Russian Empire. The Pale includes: 1. In the Kingdom of Poland (or the region of the Vistula), the Provinces of Warsaw, Kalisz, Kielce, Lomza, Lublin, Petrikau, Plock, Radom, Suvalki, and Siedlec. 2. In Lithuania, the Provinces of Vilna, Kovno, and Grodno. 3. In White Russia, the Provinces of Minsk, Vitebsk, and Moheelev. 4. In southwestern Russia, the Provinces of Volhynia, Podolia, Kiev (except the city of Kiev), Chernigov, and Poltava. 5. In southern (new) Russia, the Provinces of Bessarabia, Kherson, Yekaterinoslav, and Taurida (except the city of Yalta). At various times many modifications of the absolute prohibition to enter the interior of Russia were made; but the entire Russian legislation in regard to the Jew's right of domicile is much too complicated to be given in detail, and consequently only the main features will be stated. Its essential principle is that, while the general prohibition remains in force, the following specified classes of Jews are given the privilege of domicile throughout the Empire: 1. Merchants of the first guild-i. e., merchants paying a very high business license-after having paid that license somewhere within the Pale for five consecutive years. This right of living anywhere in Russia, outside of the Pale, lasts only as long as the payment of the license is continued, but after ten annual payments the permanent right of domicile within the city in which the payments have been made is acquired. 2. Professional persons, such as physicians, lawyers, dentists, graduate engineers, army surgeons, midwives, and graduates of universities and higher institutions of learning in general, as well as students in such institutions. 3. Master-artisans working at their trades when admitted to their artisans' guild, or possessing the necessary legal evidence of proficiency in their crafts. In all these cases the acquired right of domicile extends to the members of the immediate family, and in cases of the merchants of the first guild and the professional persons to a limited number of servants and clerks of Jewish faith. In regard to the Jewish artisans, the limitations are much more numerous; and in 1891 their further emigration from the Pale into the interior of the Empire was made exceedingly difficult, and those artisans who were living in the city, as well as those living in the Province of Moscow, were compelled to withdraw. Another considerable class of Jews that is permitted to live throughout Russia are the discharged soldiers; but this right is granted only to those who served in the army prior to 1874. This class, therefore, can not increase in number. Besides these general provisions, there are minor exceptions that grant to limited groups of Jews (usually determined as persons or descendants of persons who were living in certain localities before certain dates) the right to remain in specified localities, or, in a few cases, anywhere in the Empire. Among these exceptions are to be found the resident Jews of Siberia, Turkestan, Caucasus, the Province of Courland, and a few other localities. The temporary sojourn without the Pale of Jews who have no right of permanent domicile is strictly limited by law to from six weeks to two months, and then only in cases of proved necessity, such as a lawsuit, commercial transactions, or probating a will. Moreover, in these cases important limitations have been introduced. Thus, the important city of Kiev has been excepted from the Pale, and even merchants of the first guild may live only in certain districts of that city. In 1893 the city of Yalta was excepted, and the important cities of Rostov and Taganrog, by being transferred from the Province of Yekaterinoslav to the Don Army Territory, were also excluded from the Pale. (a) How well the object of this legislation was accomplished will be seen from the following official data: TOTAL POPULATION OF RUSSIA AND NUMBER AND PER CENT OF JEWS, WITH PER CENT OF DISTRIBUTION OF JEWS, BY LOCALITIES, 1897. [Compiled from Premier Recensement Général de la Population de l'Empire de Russie, 1897.] Of all the Jews residing in the vast Russian Empire, 93.9 per cent live in the Pale (including the 10 Polish Provinces), 4.0 per cent live in the remaining part of European Russia, and 2.1 per cent live in all a See M. J. Mysh, Rukowodstvo k Russkym zakonam o evreakh (Handbook of Russian legislation in regard to Jews). St. Petersburg, 1904. the Asiatic possessions of the Empire. The Jews, therefore, constitute almost a negligible part of the population of Russia beyond the Pale. Hence the present study will naturally be devoted almost exclusively to the economic conditions within the Pale. Even within that limited area, the Jews constitute only 11.6 per cent, or about one-ninth, of the entire population. The proportion varies considerably from one Province or region to another, and the reasons for this variation are not difficult to find when the historical line of migration of the Jews is taken into consideration. The southern Provinces, having been thrown open to the Jews at a comparatively recent date, have a smaller percentage of people of that race than has either Poland or Lithuania. TOTAL POPULATION AND NUMBER AND PER CENT OF JEWISH POPULATION OF THE PALE, BY PROVINCES, 1897. [Compiled from Premier Recensement Général de la Population de l'Empire de Russie, 1897.] The Jews living in Lithuania, as well as those who live in White Russia, are known as Lithuanian Jews; the Jews of the ten Polish together at length before accepting any proposition. The [padrone] banker must be able to persuade, argue, and induce them in every way. He must have infinite patience to answer countless questions numberless times, to realize their point of view, to speak their language [there are a great number of languages or dialects spoken by Italians from the different sections of Italy], and to use diplomacy, cajolery, or violence, as the occasion requires. I have often seen one of these "bankers" physically and mentally exhausted and absolutely voiceless after having procured 100 or 200 laborers for a contractor; but it is worth his while. If his efforts fail and the men leave the bank undecided, he signals to his waiting "runners" to follow them and to use any means to bring them back to the bank, where the contract is finally made. As soon as the propositions are agreed to the fee is paid, each man paying the requisite sum as his name is registered. Often the employer pays this, holding it back on his first week's pay, but in this case the man's name is not registered unless he leaves his luggage or his tools as security. The time of departure quickly follows the registering, usually the next morning, and one of the bank's agents accompanies the men. Thus the employer, their agents, the bosses, the boarding agents, and the bankers form a solid chain which hopelessly binds the laborer, besides the ties of family, friend, and compatriot, a chain most difficult for even a solidly organized labor bureau to break. The padroni, or bosses, take advantage of the immigrants not so much by the fact that they exact a fee of from $2 to $5 for procuring work, as by advancing their traveling expenses and by the contract system of feeding and housing the laborers. This illuminating picture of the workings of the system ends with the departure of the Italian laborer from the agency for the commissary labor camps. Other links of the chain that binds him may be added. He may not have a dollar in his pocket, but he need not concern himself about that, nor with the expenses of transportation. If he is to work for a railroad company, he is carried free on its line; if for other employers, his fare is advanced. He does not and need not seek an interview with his employer or the superintendents or foremen under whom he is to work to make his wants or his wishes known or to know something of the nature of his work. He is kept from personal contact with them and is led to believe (with a good deal of truth) that they are unapproachable so far as he is concerned. His friend, townsman, countryman, the Italian agent of the company and the commissary, is his virtual employer, his sole guide and confidant. Through the Italian commissary agent (whether padrone or independent) the American railroad company or contractor houses him apart from other men. In addition to adopting new and unusual methods for his employment, the American employer transports special food for him and provides stores for the commissary agent to sell to him, with facilities for the individual cooking |