as the latest reports state that the Hellenic Government has already decided to call Jews to arms very shortly. The latter will be employed for auxiliary service, and they can no longer receive foreign passports.
POLAND.
A petition signed by 300,000 Jews was recently handed to the German authorities in Warsaw, with the request that Yiddish be recognized as a language, the same as are Polish and German, in the schools which are now about to be reorganized there. Against this petition, there came a protest from the assimilated Jews in Warsaw, declaring that the signatories to the petition were mainly Zionists who wished Yiddish to be the language of instruction for national reasons. They urged that only Polish and German be the vernaculars in the new schools.
The Polish University in Warsaw has scarcely been opened, and already certain Polish circles are seriously agitated about the question of the Jewish students. The Polish daily Gazetta Poranne in a recent article on the subject, states that in the vestibule of the university and of the Polytechnic numerous Jews arrive daily and inquire in Russian about the conditions of admission to the Polish colleges. It remarks that the Jews would form a close corporation of their own at these academies and that it is therefore important "to see that the rights of the Christians at these colleges are not reduced.”
Despite the Anti-Semitic agitation of the Poles in Warsaw, the military government in this city invited all Jewish organizations in Poland to send delegates to a general conference at which Jewish subjects will be discussed. This is regarded as necessary in view of the changed conditions cx- isting now in that part of Poland which has come under German rule. en
RUSSIA.
The Russian daily, Dien, contains a severe criticism of the police of Kishenev and the government authorities for fining a poor Jew named Kazap, 300 rubles because his younger brother did not report at the recruiting station for military service.
The authorities insist upon exacting this money, even after it had been proven that his brother was unable to present himself for military duty and was at that very moment in a foreign hospital.
At the outbreak of hostilities he was in Palestine and when the Turkish government compelled cach foreigner tc either adopt Turkish citizenship or leave the country, he chose the latter course.
Despite all this his brother was compelled to borrow the money and pay the fine.
The Ministerial Order extending the right of domicile foı the Jews has made their legal position in Kieff actually worse. The Governor of Kieff declared that the order coulc not be valid for the city at present as the local economic and military conditions made an immigration of Jews in admissable for the present. Thus even those Jews are now prevented from settling in Kieff who always had the righi of domicile outside the Pale, such as doctors, lawyers, mer chants of first and second guild, artisans, etc. The Military Governor also decreed that Jewish inhabitants of Kieff wh« left it temporarilv are forbidden to return.
As was reported in the previous issue of "The Maccabaean," the ban against Yiddish papers had been raised and several papers had begun to appear in Petrograd and elsewhere. Recent reports, however, state that the Russian military authorities have determined not to allow the publication of Yiddish journals in Russia as long as the war lasts.
At a recent conference held by the priests of the government of Kieff, a resolution was adopted against the granting of equal rights to the Jews of Russia.
At a recent meeting of the orthodox Jews of Moscow, it was decided to open a Rabbinical Seminary (Yeshiwah). The Lida Yeshiwah which was under the leadership of the late Rabbi Reines, was closed by the government authorities and Moscow was chosen owing to its favorable geographical position.
The Jewish Community of Moscow has petitioned the Government to allow the Galician Jewish hostages to engage in trade and handicrafts, in order that they may not
become a burden upon the poor communities. Many Jewish business men have expressed their willingness to employ Galician Jews in their businesses. A few days ago 50 Galıcian Jews, including several rabbis, were brought to Berditchev and delivered as “hostages” into the city prison.
The Jewish Duma Deputies, Friedman and Dr. Bomasch, have interviewed the Assistant Minister of Education, Echaviakov, and represented the abnormal position in which Jewish students would be placed if they were not allowed, like their Christian comrades, to attend the military schools and take part in the instruction for future officers. They asked the Assistant Minister to use his influence with the Cabinet in favor of equal treatment for the Jews.
The Cabinet, which has decided to call in students hitherto exempt from military service, has discussed the question of calling in the Jewish students. After exhaustive discussion it was decided not to call the Jewish students to the colors. * * *
Despite the Ministerial Circular of last August, which allows Jews to settle in all parts of the Russian Empire, except the capitals and the districts under the jurisdiction of the Court Minister and the War Minister, the authorities in Finland still refuse to allow Jews to take up their residence there. Jews who have no “right of residence” are arrested, taken by the police to the nearest railway station, and transported "home.” Even Jews who have always lived in Finland may not, without special permission, travel from one town to the other within Finland. Jews who have the “right of residence” in one of the three largest towns of Finland —Viborg, Helsingofrs, or Abo—must have their permit renewed every six ınonths. This permit can also be withdrawn from them at any moment, whereupon they must retire to the interior of the Empire. Every Jew must leave the land as soon as he reaches a certain age, and anybody who marries a Jewess who has no “right of residence” is immediately expelled. The Finnish authorities have hitherto maintained that the anti-Jewish laws in their country were due to the Russian Government and the Russian police; but it is now evident that the Finns themselves, though subect to oppression, are indulginge in the oppression of others.
The Ministry of Education has permitted the opening of Chedarim outside the Pale in view of the settlement of large Jewish populations. The Zemstvo at Nijni-Novgorod has voted a monthly subvention to the Chedarim in the district.
The Ministry has ordered the release of all Russo-Jewish hostages still in prison, as well as of the Jews exiled to Siberia from the war zone.
The American Consul at Moscow has appealed to the Governor of Kasan to accommodate there the Galician Jewish hostages whom the Governor of Nijni Novgorod had refused to allow to remain in the town, though they were sent by the authorities of Kieff to stay there. The Consul asked the Governor not to send them to Siberia.
The Ministry has directed the Governors not to allow the publication in Russia of speeches delivered at Washington by representatives of the American Jewish Committee, who dealt therein with the future of the Jews in Russia.
According to a report received from Petrograd, the well known Jewish Advocate, Sliosberg, who represents the Jews at the government Conference on the Refugees problem, stated that the government has contributed a million and a half rubles towards the Jewish Relief Fund, and during the next year another three million rubles might be expected from the government. At the request of Advocate Sliosberg, the Fund of Grand Duchess Tatiana has agreed to devote to the fund of the Jewish Students who suffer from the war, 5,000 rubles per month.
SWITZERLAND.
The Swiss Jews have sent several remittances to Palestine, through the United States Embassy in Constantinople. Recently they sent an additional sum of 9,000 francs to Russian Poland and Galicıa. —
TURKEY.
According to a report in the Jaffa Hebrew weekly, "Hapoel Azair," the Commander of the Turkish army, Djemal Pasha, has ordered a barricade to be placed across the approach to the Wailing Wall to prevent this place from being visited by Jews. This order, however, is said to be based upon sanitary grounds.