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No. 8. Vienna, 19th February 1904 — 3rd Adar 5664. 8th Year.

The War.

In the Far East a slaughter of men is once more in progress. The last means at the disposal of civilised humanity — the killing of man and beast, the destruction of every value created by human intelligence and human labour — are to put an end to the discord between two peoples, or rather between two governments. And all around others lie in wait until one of the adversaries lies upon the ground, so that they too may shrewdly safeguard their interests.

It would be foolish to complain of this. Long yet will it be before that age arrives which our prophets preached thousands of years ago, the age of the Kingdom of God upon earth, the age in which swords shall be beaten into sickles, and in which mankind will know only from ancient legends of the bloody misery which we now see preparing itself once again. Nor do we wish to be ungrateful; we acknowledge that we have at least come so far that men no longer go quite so lightly into a "fresh and merry" war, and indeed that the contending parties do everything in their power to shift the responsibility for the war from themselves. These are at least faint signs that one day, in the distant future, such horrors will no longer be possible at all.

But now there is war, and a war which may strike us Jews in particular with great severity. The majority of our fellow Jews still live in Russia, and whether Russia conquers or is defeated, it cannot yet be foreseen in what manner this will react upon the condition of our brethren. We are not thinking here at all of the grave economic crises which are unavoidable in the course of a war. Nor of how many Jewish families will sink into mourning and misery through the death or maiming of their kin. It is the political consequences that must concern us first and foremost. And perhaps it is an omen of these that, according to a report from Moscow, on the evening of the very day on which the Japanese Minister had demanded his passports, the whole Court, with the Emperor at its head, was present at the Michael Theatre in St. Petersburg and was exceedingly amused. The amusement becomes all the more comprehensible when one learns that the piece performed was Donnay's antisemitic lampoon "Le retour de Jerusalem."

Yet we will draw no conclusions from this. For in the very latest days many newspapers have reported at length that Russian government circles are seriously occupied with studying the condition of the Russian Jews, in order to ascertain the possibility of certain alleviations. We were able to report in the "Welt" that conferences of governors had taken place, which are said to have dealt with a revision of the legislation concerning the Jews. Besides the representative of the Ministry of the Interior, the governors of Bessarabia, Vilna, Kowno and Mohilew took part in these conferences, as is reported from a well-informed quarter. There is also said to be an inclination to enlarge the Pale of Settlement somewhat, should occasion arise. The idea of granting the Jews freedom of movement in European or Asiatic Russia is said to have been rejected from the outset as not open to discussion. Deliberations are also said to be taking place on other restrictive ordinances, from which it is believed some alleviation may be hoped for.

Be that as it may. Amid the deafening din of war, men will for the present doubtless think of anything rather than the improvement of the condition of our brethren. Should national Russian chauvinism, after a war fortunate for Russia, raise its head yet more boldly than hitherto, then a revision of the laws concerning the Jews will doubtless be a long way off. It may be worse still if fortune should not smile upon Russian arms. Patriotism, heated to a glow in time of war, often manifests itself strangely when one tidings of disaster follows upon another. It is then very convenient to have at hand a whipping-boy without rights, upon whom one may vent one's wild martial enthusiasm. We Jews have much to tell from earlier times of war and the distress of war, and the sins of a great many others, who were in truth no friends of ours, have very often been visited upon us.