transaction, were compounded by the Turkish Government; and later an assault committed on the Rev. George C. Lapp, Rev. G. C. Reynold, missionaries, and Marice Pflaum, M. D., at Bitlis, Armenia, in 1933, resulted in a claim of $90,000 for indemnity which was recently paid by Turkey in spite of a diverse decision of the Turkish Supreme Court. In this latter case much credit is due to our minister to Turkey, the Honorable Oscar S. Straus.
An American citizen who professes the Jewish religion is equally entitled to the treatment accorded his countrymen, and cannot be made the subject of discrimination by Turkish municipal laws so acting as to prevent his residence in the country, the transaction of business, or the ownership of real estate in Palestine.
The Turkish Government may not draw a line between Christians and Jews who are American citizens any more than it can dictate the same policy to the United States. Turkey must recognize the American citizen solely by his passport. A nation may make general laws to govern itself, uniformly enforced, that control its own subjects and aliens as well, but it cannot enact laws that question the right of the United States to make or unmake citizens, or, at least, discredit that right at will.
The Turkish municipal laws may not operate against aliens who are under the special juris-
The Jew and "Liberty."
LIBERTY! Heine writes somewhere of how the various nations love Liberty. The Frenchman loves liberty as he does his bride: he is ever at her feet; he fights for her; he commits a thousand follies for her sake. The Englishman loves liberty as he does his lawful spouse: he stands stolidly on his threshold, and woe to the intruder who would dare force an entrance. The German loves liberty as he does his grandmother: he takes good care to provide a warm little place for her by the fireside, where she will feel comfortable.
diction of their own consulates, except in the matter of real estate.
The Turkish Government is bound by the treaty of 1871 to give its own Jewish subjects equal rights, and the Porte abides by this treaty. Therefore, it may not discriminate against American Jews according to the original treaty with the United States.
It is evident, then, that American Jewish citizens who have sustained injuries or suffered damage by being expelled or interfered with in their business or denied the right of holding real estate in Palestine, have an unquestionable claim for indemnity against the Turkish Government. Their remedy is to petition the State Department at Washington for redress and satisfaction. If such petition is based on the fact that the petitioner has been discriminated against as a citizen of the United States in breach of treaty obligations or in violation of accepted international law, as interpreted above, the claim will be sustained by our Government. The memorial must embody a concise and clear statement of the facts, giving dates and details of the injury or damage sustained, together with such proof available to corroborate the allegations made; a claim for indemnity must set forth an itemized statement of the loss incurred, attested by oath in the presence of a notary.
J. D. EISENSTEIN.
And the Jew? The Jew loves liberty as he does that dear aunt upon whom he very seldom sets eyes. Should she neglect to visit him for a time, he warmly protests, and writes to her and even demands, through the newspapers, that she come and see him. And should she remain away?—well, then must this life go on as before, without her. “To do without”—to be satisfied—that is at bottom of the unhappiness of the Jew, and with this maxim as his guide, he will always remain in the cold shadowy recesses of life. Emes.
[From the German.]