| More than $1,000,000 has been
raised in the United States, of which about $200,000 was given by
Christians. The contribution of this city alone has been $430,000,
or nearly half. Efforts are now being made to raise another million.
Europe has given just as liberally. The statement which was
made yesterday to a Tribune reporter by Robert Watchorn,
Commissioner of Immigration at this port, that much of this relief
money will be used to assist immigration, will come as a surprise to
the general public. "I have no doubt whatever," said Mr. Watchorn,
"that the relief funds which have been raised for the Jews in Russia
will be used as far as possible to assist them to leave that
country. The bulk will seek America, and those who most need
assistance will come by the way of London. The headquarters of the
organizations to help Jewish immigration are in the British capital.
In Leman-st., London, for example, is a building which is known as
the Jewish Temporary Shelter, and in Middlesex-st. are the offices
of the Jewish Board of Guardians. In the Leman-st. house immigrants
are cared for until they are in shape to ship to American ports.
Those who measure up to the standards imposed at Ellis Island come
to New-York, and the majority make their homes in the metropolis.
The rest, for fear they will be deported, go to Canada, where a
premium is now put on immigration, or to the Argentine Republic.
ALL WHO DARE RISK IT COME.
"All who dare risk it, however, come to New-York. For this
reason steamship companies with lines running from or touching at
English ports are getting into the habit of refusing to take Jews in
the steerage to New-York if they have lived in England less than six
months. They are afraid of the $100 fine which they have to pay for
each passenger deported.
"Of course, these massacres will be followed by a heavy wave
of Jewish immigration, but Americans need not be alarmed, for all
that. Rigid examinations will not permit any but those who are fit
to enter. Jewish immigrants, as a rule, make good citizens. Their
only fault, as Bismarck says, is that they take advantage of
everything," the commissioner added with a laugh. "The children in
the schools even take such advantage of their studies that they get
ahead of the rest."
Mt. Watchorn is especially well fitted to speak on this
subject, as in the year of the Jewish riots in Rumania he was a
special commissioner appointed by the United States government to
investigate Jewish immigration to this country. At that time he
found that immigrants were being helped by relief funds and that
they were coming to America by way of London shelters.
Although the English alien act goes into effect the first of
next year, nevertheless it is not feared by those agencies who are
assisting immigrants to the United States. The act was passed under
the Balfour ministry, and it will be enforced by the government for
the control of those who opposed it. As the new law is
discretionary, rather than mandatory, and has "may" almost
everywhere instead of "must," it is believed that it will not act so
much as a dam as a sieve.
NEW YORK MUST SOLVE PROBLEM.
To New-Yorkers more than any other inhabitants of the United
States the Jewish immigration problem comes nearest home. The
greater part of the vast tide of humanity which is coming from
Russia to these shores will pour into this city. Two-thirds of all
the Hebrews who come to the United States settle in this community.
Last year 130,000 came, and 80,000 took up their abode in the
metropolis. Of these 80,000, 60,000 came from Russia.
So greatly does New-York attract the Hebrew that at the
present time it contains 750,000 of this people, or about one-half
the total Hebrew population of the whole United States. Thee are
more Hebrews in this community than have ever before lived in one
place. Jerusalem to-day has a population of about 50,000, of whom
only one-half are Jews. Accordingly, it would take thirty Jerusalems,
all crowded together, to become the home of as many Hebrews as have
found an abode here. If, as some estimate, a quarter of a million
Hebrews settle in the metropolis in the next twelve months, the
Hebrew community here will touch the million mark. This would equal
the total number of this race to be found at the present time
in Great Britain, Germany and France.
There are 6,000,000 Hebrews in Russia to-day. It is, of
course, impossible for them all to emigrate as did the Jews from
Spain. They are too closely interwoven in Russian life. Some of them
are so bound to their native land by sentiment, by the love of the
soil where their forefathers for centuries have been buried, or by
commercial ties, knowing that to move would mean to start life anew,
that they prefer to stay even though they must risk their lives.
Many believe that in the end Russia will have as much freedom as
America and that it would be folly to run away to strange lands. The
majority, however, it is said, would flee to America if they could.
The Hebrews who now inhabit New-York, therefore, have a double
burden to bear. Not only are they making heroic sacrifices to aid
the suffering and afflicted members of their race in Russia, but
they will be called upon later to care for thousands who will seek
shelter among them. Yet, tremendous as it is this task, they welcome
it.
"The turmoil in Russia," said Jacob H. Schiff, treasurer of
the relief fund committee, and known throughout the Jewish world for
his far reaching philanthropies, "must have some serious
consequences in the United States. It will mean an immense
immigration, and this country must keep its doors wide open to allow
those who flee from that country to enter. There is room for all of
them, even though thousands more make their homes in this city. It
will depend upon us to a great extent to Americanize them."
Few outside the Jewish world appreciate the vast difficulties
involved in the Americanization of the Russian Hebrew. Though more
intellectual, more industrious, more persevering than the majority
of European immigrants, yet he has a proneness to endanger his
health by crowding into the most congested centres of population.
Having lived, as a usual thing, in a ghetto of the Old World, he
would live in a ghetto here. Although there are 3,600,000 square
miles in the United States, with an average population of
twenty-five persons to the square mile, he usually prefers to wedge
himself into the teeming East Side, where a square mile on an
average contains 400,000 persons. Many times the Hebrew is so
weakened by ghetto life when he reaches the United States that he is
not permitted to land at all, or should he pass the requirements of
the immigrant station he does not seek some outdoor, healthful
region where he may build up a stronger body, but he crowds into
some sunless, mephitic East Side tenement house.
SICKLY HEBREW IMMIGRANTS.
More Hebrews were deported from Ellis Island last year because
of bodily unfitness than any other class of immigrants. Yet fewer
Hebrews came to these shores than Italians. The physical standard of
Hebrews arriving here as contrasted with that of other races may be
seen in the following table, which places the number admitted and
the hospital cases deported last year in parallel columns:
| Race. |
Hospital
cases
deported. |
|
Sound immigrants admitted. |
| Hebrews
............................................................................................. |
1,534 |
|
129,910 |
| Italians
(South)
................................................................................ |
1,290 |
|
186,390 |
| Poles
.................................................................................................. |
991 |
|
102,137 |
| Germans
........................................................................................... |
747 |
|
82,360 |
| Slovaks
............................................................................................. |
491 |
|
52,368 |
| Magyars
............................................................................................ |
363 |
|
46,030 |
| Lithuanians
...................................................................................... |
269 |
|
18,604 |
|
Scandinavians
.................................................................................. |
253 |
|
62,284 |
| Irish
.................................................................................................... |
243 |
|
54,266 |
| Syrians
.............................................................................................. |
200 |
|
4.822 |
| Italians
(North)
................................................................................ |
158 |
|
39.930 |
| Croatians
and Slovenians
............................................................... |
128 |
|
35,104 |
| Ruthenians
........................................................................................ |
115 |
|
14,473 |
| All others
.......................................................................................... |
1,004 |
|
197,721 |
| Totals
................................................................................................. |
7,786 |
|
1,026,499 |
Of the 129,910 Hebrews who were admitted,
92,388 came from Russia, 17,352 from Austria-Hungary, 13,693 from
England and 3,854 from Rumania.
The body weakness of the Jewish immigrant is
also the cause of the most anxiety to his co-religionists in this
city after he settles among them. More applications are made to
the United Hebrew Charities of New-York City for help because of
sickness than for any other cause. Very few appeals are made
because of intemperance or shiftlessness, as may be seen in the
following figures for last year:
|
APPLICATIONS FOR HELP FOR 1904. |
| Illness
................................................................................................... |
2,807 |
| Lack of
work .......................................................................................... |
1,828 |
|
Insufficient earnings
............................................................................... |
825 |
| No male
support
...................................................................................... |
1,921 |
| Insanity
of wage earner
............................................................................ |
83 |
|
Imprisonment of wage earner
.................................................................... |
51 |
|
Intemperance of wage earner
..................................................................... |
24 |
| Physical
defects
...................................................................................... |
126 |
| Lack of
tools
........................................................................................... |
61 |
| Old age
.................................................................................................. |
301 |
|
Transportation desired
............................................................................. |
793 |
| Commitment
of children desired
................................................................ |
287 |
| Legal aid
................................................................................................ |
20 |
| Release of
baggage
.................................................................................. |
6 |
|
Shiftlessness
.......................................................................................... |
96 |
| No cause
................................................................................................ |
218 |
| All others
............................................................................................... |
887 |
| Total
..................................................................................................... |
10,334 |
The nationalities represented among the
applicants were as follows: Russians, 4,775; Austrians, 2,922;
Rumanians, 620; natives, 256.
PROBLEM OF SIMPLE POVERTY.
"The problem which confronts us," said Leo K.
Frankel, manager of the United Hebrew Charities, " is as it has
been for the last twenty-five years the problem of the arriving
immigrant. The native born Jewish poor continues to be about 2
per cent of the total number of families assisted. Generally
speaking, it may be said that the society does not confront the
problem of pauperization. To-day, as for many years, we are
meeting a problem of simple poverty, due to the conditions under
which our co-religionists are compelled to emigrate to the
United States."
Another stumbling block in the way of the
Americanization of Hebrew immigrants is the evil of desertion
among them. In the list of appeals for charity printed above it
may be seen that 1,921 were cases where husbands had abandoned
wives.
"Of all the causes for distress among these
people," said Mr. Frankel, "desertion is the one which is
distinctly evil, and one which it should be public policy to
eradicate at the earliest opportunity. It cannot be gainsaid
that the majority of abandonments of wives and children are due
to the lack of moral stamina on the part of deserting husbands
and to the unwillingness to shoulder marital and parental
responsibility."
Yet, despite the shortcomings of the Hebrew
immigrant from Russia, his co-religionists in this city
implicitly believe that his coming will benefit not only
himself, but the whole community. Powerful organizations have
been founded to care for all who would seek these shores, to
correct both their moral and their physical weaknesses. A
crusade has been begun, for example, to eradicate so far as
possible the evil of desertion. As Mr. Frankel says in quoting
the last report of the United Hebrew Charities:
"In the belief that through concerted action the enormity of
desertion can be brought home to recalcitrant fathers, we
co-operated with a special committee on desertions, which
drafted a bill presented at the last session of the legislature
making desertion a felony. This bill has since become a law, and
went into effect on September 1 of this year.
"Since then we have instituted an active
campaign in the hope of bringing deserters to justice. A special
committee on desertions, made up or representative professional
and business men of the city, has been organized, a special
desertion agent has been engaged, and the co-operation of the
Jewish press has been secured to give as wide publicity as
possible to this movement. The committee has already been
successful in bringing several offenders to justice, and the
publicity that has been given t the movement will eventually
work as a deterrent to others who may contemplate desertion in
the future. It is the belief of the board of directors that,
through the active propaganda which will be made, it will be
possible for us, during the coming year, to materially reduce
the amounts which we spend in the care of deserted women and
their children."
To counteract the hiving tendency of the
Russian Jewish immigrant, to build up his body by transferring
him from the East Side to more healthful regions, a society has
been established called the Industrial Removal Office, with
headquarters at No. 174 2d-ave. Since it first began work in
1901 the society has sent away from New-York 25,000 Jews,
and recently it so enlarged its work that it is now able to send
out a thousand Hebrews a month. Transportation and board until
work is secured are furnished free. The society never loans
money. The work is practically a charity, as few repay what is
expended on them. As about one-half of those removed from this
city are heads of families, they send for other Jews as soon as
they get rooted. The society, accordingly, has been the means of
distributing, it is estimated, nearly 100,000 persons. The
reunions of 483 families have been reported to the New-York
office.
Missouri at the present time is getting more
Jews from New-York through the society than any other State. In
the last year 980 Hebrews were sent thither, most of them
settling in St. Louis. Other States received the following
numbers: Ohio, 622; Illinois, 528; New-York State (outside of
New-York City), 479; California, 429; Wisconsin, 364;
Pennsylvania, 225; Minnesota, 211; Colorado, 189; Indiana, 188;
Michigan, 187; Nebraska, 184; Iowa, 157; New-Jersey, 121; Texas,
110. Most of those sent are skilled workmen, sent to cities
which make a specialty of their respective trades. Weavers are
sent to Fall River; tanners to Decatur, Ala., or Milwaukee,
Wis.; hatters to Danbury, Conn., and iron workers to Pittsburg.
Almost every occupation is represented among the Jews helped by
the office. Lat year, for example, among those sent from
New-York were 339 tailors, 282 carpenters, 224 shoemakers, 145
blacksmiths, 114 farmers, 109 tinsmiths, 106 butchers and 56
bakers. About two-thirds of the cases cared for were those of
Russian Jews.
FINDING WORK FOR JEWS.
In addition to the removal office there are
many charitable agencies to find employment for Jews in this
city. Until recently there have been few Hebrews out of work. In
spite of the fact that 80.000 more of them settled here last
year practically all obtained something to do. Inquiry at the
East Side Free Employment Bureau, at No. 80 2d-ave. found that
there are about 350 applicants for work on an average each
month, of whom 220 get positions. Nearly one-half are Russians
who have recently landed. Recently, however, the number of
appeals for work has increased, due, I. Irving Lipsitch, manager
of the bureau, says to the coming of the vanguard of the army of
refugees fleeing from Russia. "New-York will, no doubt, have a
tremendous immigration from Russia," he added, "which will for
the time tax the resources of the Jews of New-York to the
utmost, but I believe we can take care of all of them."
RUSSIAN JEWS BRAINY.
That the Russian Jew, under the proper
conditions, has the stuff in him to make not only a good citizen
but often a brilliant member of society is the testimony
rendered by all prominent educators who have watched his growth
in this country. In the common schools, the City College,
Columbia University and the National Academy of Design, a
greater number of prizes each year are carried off by Russian
Jew[ish] pupils. In the trades they uplift rather than pull down
wage standards. According to figures prepared by Cyrus L.
Sulzberger, chairman of the Removal Office and secretary of the
relief fund committee, the average wage in the clothing industry
in 1880 before the first wave of Russian Jew[ish] immigration,
when the industry was in the hands of natives, was $285 a year.
At the present time, when the Jews practically control the
clothing trades, the average wage is $416 a year.
IMMIGRATION A BLESSING.
"The immigration of Russian Jews is a
blessing, not a menace, to America," said Oscar S. Straus,
ex-Minister to Turkey. "Colonization and immigration have been
for conquest, for commerce and for causes of conscience. The
experience of America, and indeed the experience of all history,
is that the immigration for causes of conscience is the best,
because thee people affected have been willing to sacrifice
every material consideration for ideas or spiritual ideals. This
was true of the Pilgrim, and it is true of the Russian Jewish
immigrant at the present time. This also accounts for the fact
that there are so many noble and refined men and women among
Russian Jews."
Among the 130,000 Jewish immigrants who
landed last year there were 1,163 who had a profession, 60,135
who had trades, and only 8,169 laborers; 342 were musicians and
322 were teachers. Nearly all the important trades were well
represented, among them being 22,334 tailors, 5,070 carpenters,
3,824 shoemakers, 2,849 painters and glaziers, 2,036 butchers
and 2,068 saddlers. This was a far better showing than was made
by most of the other races of immigrants now entering the United
States.
WHY JEWS COME HERE.
Every wave of Hebrew immigration to this cit
has been caused by persecution or political upheaval. The first
were Spanish and Portuguese Hebrews, who came here in 1654 as a
result of persecutions in Brazil. The Thirty Year War in Europe
sent the first German Jews to America in the middle of the
eighteenth century. The first partition of Poland in 1772 sent
the first Polish Jews. Yet tit was not until 1848 that the
Jewish immigration to New-York City became at all noticeable.
Then the revolutionary movement in Germany sent hither the
founders of most of the rich German Jew[ish] families of this
city. A lull followed, until in 1882 the restrictive May laws in
Russia started a heavy stream of Jewish immigration from that
country. In the twenty-four years following 1882, it has [been]
estimated that a half million Russian Jews have come to this
city.
|
