Romanian mistreatment of the Jewish minority and…

Romanian mistreatment of the Jewish minority and inequitable land distribution also are persistently troublesome issues.

Jews had begun immigrating into Romania in numbers after the 1829 Treaty of Adrianople, crowding into northern Moldavia and making Iasi a predominantly Jewish city.

In 1859 about 118,000 Jews lived in Moldavia and 9,200 in Walachia; by 1899 Moldavia's Jewish population has grown to 201,000 and Walachia's to 68,000.

Economic rivalry precipitatesriots and attacks on synagogues and Jews.

The Liberal Party, supported by the increasing numbers of middle-class Romanians, strives to eliminate Jewish competition.

Many rural Jews flee to the cities or abroad, and legal restrictions prevent all but a few Jews from gaining Romanian citizenship.