(a) WITHIN THE PALE. Although originally granted the right to live
anywhere within the Pale, the privilege was gradually restricted until
the Jews were, in effect, confined to the cities and larger towns.
By the law of May 3 (15), 1882, the Jews were forbidden to settle in
the villages of the Pale. By the law of December 29, 1887 (January
10, 1888), they were forbidden to move from one town to another.
By judicial and administrative interpretation “towns” were often
designated as villages and the Jews expelled from them overnight. The
net result has been the congestion of the Jewish population in the
cities and larger towns. Although they constitute only 12 per cent.
of the _total_ population of the Pale, they form 41 per cent. of the
_urban_ population. As this congestion tended to create a ferocity in
competition which reduced incomes and standards to the lowest limits,
many Jews of necessity attempted to escape into the interior of Russia.
But their illegal stay was possible only with the connivance of a
corrupt police. Even then the numerous police raids at midnight or
early dawn (_oblavy_—literally “hunts”), accompanied by an excess of
brutality, made the life of these illegal residents one of fear and
torment.
(b) OUTSIDE THE PALE. The privileged five per cent. that was granted
the theoretical right of free travel and residence throughout the
Empire, was also continually harassed by arbitrary police and judicial
measures which practically nullified their privilege. This class
comprises:
_Artisans_, permitted free residence by the law of 1865; but constant
restrictions and new interpretations of the term have reduced the
number of Jews enjoying this status to a bare fraction of the Jewish
population.
_Merchants of the First Guild_, allowed to leave the Pale after five
years’ membership in their guild, and on condition of the payment of an
annual tax of 800 roubles ($400) for ten years, after removal from the
Pale. Numerically insignificant to begin with, this class was further
reduced by police blackmail until it became almost negligible.
_Jewish graduates of Russian institutions of higher education._ The
operation of the “percentage” rule, however, reduces these to a
minimum. (See pp. 33–34.)
_Prostitutes._ Jewish women who have become prostitutes are permitted
to live outside the Pale.