g
account of life in some Jewish villages in a certain part of Russia, of
the dirt and degradation of the people there, their cunning and greed,
their hang-dog expression of countenance, and disgusting clothing. Every
one is familiar with the stories told of the usurer and the extortioner
who suck the blood of their inexperienced and unsuspecting victims, and
it is not for me to question their accuracy. We may all admit that
Shylock is a type. But still environment plays its part, and it would be
difficult to picture any other result from the treatment which has been
meted out to Jews in Russia than the degradation which has followed.

A very different picture, however, is given for us by Mr. Rothay
Reynolds, in the report of a _Russian_ official, sent out by his
government to visit the settlements of Russian Jews in the Argentine
Republic. He made a formal report, but it was no dry and formal
statement, but a real picture, painted in glowing colours, of the
"change wrought in them by the free and open life of the new land," and
he described with enthusiasm the rich farms possessed and admirably
cultivated by the former children of the _ghetto_. He drew a contrast
between the peaky, timorous Jewish boys of the Russian pale and the
lusty Jewish youngsters astride half-tamed horses on the ranche. And the
settlers spoke of Russia as our colonists speak of the old country, as
"home." No Jew _in Russia_ dreams of calling himself a Russian, but when
he goes and settles in another land far away, and prospers there, then
he can speak of Russia as "home."

There are 6,000,000 Jews in the empire, and 250,000 of them rallied to
the colours, we are told, at the general mobilization. It may be
claimed, therefore, that they have "done their bit." Will this count for
nothing after the war? We are assured by one authority after another
that the war only precipitated the proclamation of autonomy for Poland,
and gave it wider application and comprehension. We are told, and I for
one believe it, that the government have been preparing for some time to
give constitutional rule to Finland as well as to Poland, and that the
old idea of "Russifaction" is entirely abandoned and set aside. All this
is in keeping with what has followed, in some cases swiftly, in others
slowly, but in all important matters which concern the well-being of the
state, _in some measure or other_, since 1905. This being so we should
expect that the Jews will also be