p. 11 | KISHINEFF AS A CITY

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, Cal. · Jan 6, 1904

KISHINEFF AS A CITY.

A CORRESPONDENT of the New York Times has written the following interesting article concerning that Russian city in which so many Jews were done to death a few months ago:—

So great has been the interest of the public in the recent massacre in Kishineff that little or no attention has been given to the physical characteristics of the place. And yet there are men over in the east side who have lived in Kishineff and say that in many ways it is quite unlike any other city in the world. One of these men, who was in Kishineff not a great while ago, and who took sufficient interest in it to learn much of its history, told recently of some of its most remarkable features. Judging from the way he spoke of it, Kishineff is not at all a bad place to live in—that is for any one but . . . Jew.

Altogether the most attractive part of the city, according to the description of the former inhabitants, are the wonderful gardens in the suburbs. These gardens occupy 12,000 acres which is about 19 square miles. The fertility is not excelled anywhere, and it is said to be a rare occurrence for a crop of anything to fail. The chief product of these acres are fruits and that kind of vegetables which in America is associated with the word "trucking." Immense quantities of wines come from the vineyards of the gardens of Kishineff. And many of the expensive foreign cigarets smoked by people here in New York are made of tobacco that was raised in these same fields.

But for all things which the Bessarabian capital is noted, said the informant, with a reminiscent smacking of the lips, the plums are the most deserving. They are dried and exported, going to Odessa or some Mediterranean port, and are famous all over southeastern Europe.

"For many months of the year," he continued, "the climate of Kishineff is just about like that of Southern California is said to be, but we had some pretty cold weather, tho it didn't last long. The coldest month has an average temperature of about twenty and thirty degrees Fahrenheit, and in the hottest month it is never over seventy-five degrees."

The formation of the city is very striking and unusual. The old, or lower town is on the banks of the river Byk, a tributary of the Dniester, and the new, or high town, is on high crags, rising in some places to nearly 500 feet above the level of the river.

It is doubtful if any town in Russia, the nation of fairs, has more of them than Kishineff. Twice a week they occur, and the yearly returns from them amount to something like $1,500,000. Trade is exceedingly active and with every year it becomes more important, Kishineff being the center of the Bessarabian commerce in tallow, grain, and countless other articles. Tho the recent outrages perpetrated there inevitably create the impression that Kishineff is in a very primitive stage of civilization, such is far from true. Whatever may be the character of many inhabitants, and however villainous and cruel they may have proved themselves, their city is very rich in some things that are usually considered adjuncts of civilization.

For instance, the schools are said to be very good, and there are several theaters, magnificent Turkish baths, large markets, especially for cattle and corn, and eighteen or twenty churches. The river Byk, winding in and out among the hills and crossed by several bridges, with the fertile fields lying in the low part of the town, presents a picture, the travelers say, far from unpleasant. The population is something between 110,000 and 120,000, and is growing steadily. The railroad from Odessa to Jassy, in Rumania, passes through Kishineff, which is only about 120 miles northwest of the former city. Kishineff is the seat of the Archbishopric of Bessarabia and has an ecclesiastical seminary with nearly 1,000 students, besides a college and several secondary schools. Steam flour mills, candle and soap works, distilleries, tobacco factories—all these are in the interesting city. The streets, however, it is said, are mostly unpaved, and the buildings are plain.

Although it is a matter of history, several hundred years old now, the way in which the immediate vicinity of Kishineff has been the home of so many different peoples is particularly interesting in view of the late race troubles. Far back, almost before history began, the Cymri and Scythians lived there. They were ousted by the Roman Emperor Trajan. In the third century, A. D., came the Goths, recently become Christians; later the Huns, then the Ayars and Bulgarians, then Salvonians, then the Bessi, from whom the name Bessarabia is taken. And so it went on, one nation coming and ousting the other. Even now there are two gypsy villages in which about 9,000 gypsies live.

All these names are only part of those of the nations that came, and now it would take an ethnologist endowed with supernatural powers to determine the genealogy of the people of Kishineff.