Mr. Jackson to Mr. Hay.
Athens, April 18, 1903.
Sir: Referring to my dispatch No. 7, Roumanian series, of the 21st ultimo, I have the honor to report that, after inquiry on the spot, I am still of the opinion that no official representations were made to the Roumanian Government by any of the powers concerned, as a result of the Department’s circular instruction of August 11, 1902. During my recent visit to Bucharest no direct reference was made to the Jewish question in official circles, either at the palace, or the foreign office, or in the course of my conversation with Mr. Sturdza. I talked of the matter freely, however, with my diplomatic colleagues and others. My conviction that Germany had made no representations was made a certainty, and I learned that neither France nor Great Britain had taken any formal action. Of late, as heretofore, both at the palace and at the foreign office, the British and French ministers have referred to the subject informally; the former thinks that the instruction was productive of good, the latter thinks that it was not. As a matter of fact, although there were a number of Jewish naturalization cases acted upon in each of the houses of the Roumanian legislative body, during its recent session, only a very few—say three or four—were finally dealt with by both.
* * * In Bucharest itself the Jewish quarter of the city is relatively clean and attractive, and everywhere one sees signs over shops bearing unmistakably Jewish names. Jewish lawyers and doctors occupying good positions are also to be found—it is true only in limited numbers, and these usually actual foreign subjects—and everything seems to indicate that the prejudice is neither against the race nor the individual, but is based upon the genuine fear as to what would result from general naturalization. That the situation of the Jews in Roumania is regrettable can not be denied, but no less can it be denied that their sufferings have been exaggerated. The fact that the place of every emigrant is at once filled by immigration from Galicia, Poland, and Russia speaks for itself. The Government does not favor emigration because, as a general rule, the more competent Jews leave and their places are taken by less intelligent people. As a Jassy shopkeeper, who was closing up his business, recently said to an English merchant of whom he had formerly been a good customer, “There are too many of us here for it to be possible for me to make any money.” In parts of Moldavia 60 per cent of the population are Jews, most of whom, it is said, use the “Yiddish” (corruptGerman) language, and speak but little Roumanian. * * *
I have, etc.,