and others like him, as well as a section of the Jewish press,
particularly the _Bazsvyet_, insisted continually on the necessity of
organizing the emigration movement, which they regarded as the most
important task confronting Russian Jewry at that time. The Jewish
oligarchy in St. Petersburg, on the other hand, was afraid lest such an
undertaking might expose it to the charge of "disloyalty" and of a lack
of Russian patriotism. Others again, whose sentiments were voiced by the
Russian-Jewish periodical _Voskhod_ and who were of a more radical turn
of mind, looked upon the attempt to encourage a wholesale emigration of
Jews as a concession to the Government of Ignatyev and as an indirect
abandonment of the struggle for emancipation in Russia itself.

In the spring of 1882, the question of organizing the emigration
movement had become so pressing that it was decided to convene a
conference of provincial Jewish leaders in St. Petersburg to consider
the problem. Before the delegates had time to arrive in the capital, the
sky of South Russia was once more lit up by a terrible flare. Balta, a
large Jewish center in Podolia, where a Jewish emigration society had
had sprung into being shortly before the catastrophe, became the scene
of a frightful pogrom.

It was shortly before the Russian Passover, the high season of pogroms,
when the Russian public was startled by a strange announcement published
towards the end of March in the _Imperial Messenger_ to the effect that
from now on it would accurately report all cases of "Jewish disorders"
in accordance with the official information received from the governors.
The announcement clearly implied that the Government knew beforehand of
the imminence of new pogroms. Even the conservative _Moscow News_
commented on the injudicious statement of the official organ in emphatic
and sarcastic terms:

The _Imperial Messenger_ is comforting the public by the
announcement that it would in due time and at due length report all
cases of excesses perpetrated upon the Jews. One might think that
these are every-day occurrences forming part of the natural course
of events which demand nothing else than timely communication to the
public. Is there indeed no means to put a stop to this crying
scandal?

Events soon made it clear that there was no desire to put a stop to this
"scandal," as the Moscow paper politely termed the exploits of the
Russian robber bands. The local authorit