“In answer to the attacks of the Government organ upon the ‘irresponsible’ newspapers, we are in a position to publish a list of the ‘peaceful Jewish population’ which has been the subject of the most terrible persecutions by the authorities. =We can give the names of the reserves, mobilized at the very moment, whose children have been driven from their homes.= It is possible that the Minister of Internal Affairs did not mean to ‘aim,’ as the official organ says, at the Jews. If the Minister is innocent of the charge, we would like to know what punishment to inflict upon his subordinates who wilfully misrepresented his order. “But it is not we who are irresponsible. It is the Government that tries to mislead the public with ambiguous statements. It says that the order referred only to the brokers, who may commit dangerous acts. We know that the law punishes crimes and delinquencies which _have_ been committed, but does not anticipate crimes that _may_ be committed. Then again, the law provides strict punishment for each delinquency and not a general and preventive punishment, such as deportation. Why is it that those who have committed the infraction have not been arrested and peaceful people are being punished instead? “Even the Government recognizes that this preventive punishment is applied to the alien and such Jews as are only doing business though not living in those places. It means that the suspicion rests equally upon the alien and the Roumanian Jew, because the Jew, although not an alien, is of another religion. The suspicion then falls upon all the native-born Jews. Thus we see, that even if the official organ’s public interpretation of the law be correct, it is still the Jews who will suffer. But we cannot accept the explanation. It is false. “It is an absolute fact that not transient traders but people who are innocent, who are paying taxes in those localities have been expelled.” It is idle to speculate as to what Roumania may do if she becomes involved in the war. But it is well to consider whether, if she does not become involved, it will be possible to bring to the attention of the belligerent powers at a future peace conference the question of the status of the Jews of Roumania. These are in the anomolous position of people virtually without a country. They are subjects of Roumania, pay taxes and support the Government. But even the native-born and those whose parents and grandparents were native-born subjects of Roumania, cannot become citizens, and are also discriminated against by the Government. In this respect, Roumania may be called “Little Russia.” The situation of Roumania as a nation is exceptional. She was made an independent country by the European Powers, meeting at the Congress of Berlin, after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–8. In a treaty which was then signed by all the great Powers of Europe, the following articles were inserted: