FOOTNOTES:
[48] The year of the United Hebrew Charities is from October to September, that of the Philadelphia society is from November to October, that of the Baltimore society is from July to June.
[49] Cf. [table II], p. 159. The figures for Baltimore were furnished by the Baron de Hirsch Fund.
[50] For an example of this distribution cf. [table III], p. 159.
[51] Cf. [table IVA], p. 160. Thus, from November 1885 to October 1886 there entered the port of Philadelphia 2165 Jews, of whom 1624 or 75 per cent were from Russia, 260 or 12 per cent were from Austria-Hungary, 43 or 2 per cent were from Roumania, and 238 or 11 per cent were from all other countries. From July 1, 1885 to June 30, 1886, there entered the port of Philadelphia 1625 Jews. To ascertain the numbers of each nationality for this fiscal year, we may use the percentages given above for each nationality. Calculating these, we find that in the fiscal year 1886 of the 1625 Jews entering the port of Philadelphia, 1218 were from Russia, 196 were from Austria-Hungary, 33 were from Roumania, and 178 were from all other countries. In like manner, the numbers of each nationality for the other years were obtained.
[52] Cf. [table IVB], p. 160.
[53] As corrected by the methods described.
[54] For the four years mentioned, the figures are as follows, those reported by the Jewish societies preceding those from official sources: in 1886, 518, 494; in 1887, 2063, 2045; in 1888, 1653, 1188; in 1889, 1058, 893. For the official figures cf. Immigration Commission: Statistical Review of Immigration, pp. 40-44.
[56] Out of a total of 505,078 Russian immigrants from 1886 to 1898, the Russian Jewish immigrants constituted 315,355, or 62 per cent.
[57] In calculating the number of Jewish immigrants from Austria-Hungary the percentage the Jewish immigration was of the total immigration from Austria-Hungary from 1886 to 1910 and not, as in the case with the Jewish immigration from Russia, from 1886 to 1898, was used through an oversight as the basis for calculation. As the immigration of Jews from Austria-Hungary for 1885 at the port of New York alone constituted 14 per cent of the total immigration from Austria-Hungary, this figure was put down in toto, being a higher number than the one obtained by calculation. As the Jewish immigration from 1886 to 1910 constituted 9 per cent of the total immigration from Austria-Hungary and the immigration from 1886 to 1898 constituted 14 per cent of the total immigration, the difference is not large. Following is the table indicating the difference for each year from 1881 to 1884.
| Year. | Total immigration. | Jewish immigration. | Difference. | |
| at 14 per cent | at 9 per cent | |||
| 1881 | 27935 | 3882 | 2537 | 1345 |
| 1882 | 29150 | 4051 | 2648 | 1403 |
| 1883 | 27625 | 3840 | 2510 | 1330 |
| 1884 | 36571 | 5083 | 3340 | 1743 |
The increased numbers from the higher percentage involve no change in the relative position of Jewish immigration from the three principal countries of emigration, except in 1881, when the Jewish immigration from Austria-Hungary would have exceeded that from Russia.
[58] Jewish Encyclopedia: "Migration," vol. viii, p. 584. Ibid., "Russia"—Emigration, vol. x, p. 547.
[59] Ruppin uses these figures in Die Sozialen Verhältnisse der Juden in Russland, p. 11.
Hersch, (Le juif errant d'aujourd'hui), subjects the figures given in the Jewish Encyclopedia to a thorough analysis and shows their absurdity. Unaware, however, of the nature of the error committed by the writer and of the existence of authoritative sources for the figures of Jewish immigration, he drew the conclusion that it is impossible to obtain any really accurate figures of Jewish immigration before 1899. This leads him into serious errors owing to the fact that he discusses the movement of Jewish immigration from the basis of the twelve years from 1899 to 1910, representing the height of the movement, instead of for the entire period of thirty years. This vitiates his principal conclusions regarding the character of the Jewish movement to this country. Particularly noticeable is his neglect of the phenomena presented by the Russian and Roumanian movements and his elevation of the movement from Austria-Hungary as the type of Jewish immigration to this country.
CHAPTER II[ToC]
Immigration of Jews from Eastern Europe
In the thirty years between 1881 and 1910, 1,562,800 Jews entered the United States. An examination of Tables VI and VII reveals the fact that the great majority of the immigrants came from Russia, Austria-Hungary and Roumania. Of the total number, Russia contributed 1,119,059 immigrants, or 71.6 percent; Austria-Hungary 281,150 immigrants, or 17.9 per cent, and Roumania 67,057 immigrants, or 4.3 per cent. Together these three countries contributed 93.8 per cent of the total for the thirty years. The great majority of the Jewish immigrants from the United Kingdom and British North America are not English or Canadian Jews but transmigrants or transient East-European Jews, to whom England and Canada were a halfway house from the countries of Eastern Europe to the United States.[60] If we included these immigrants, the Jewish immigration from these three countries of Eastern Europe would be considerably above 95 per cent. The Jewish immigration of the last third of a century is thus practically wholly from Eastern Europe.
Summarizing the results for the three decades,[61] we find that the Jewish immigrants from Russia maintained a fairly constant proportion to the total Jewish immigration, contributing 135,003, in the decade between 1881 and 1890 or 69.9 per cent of the total for the decade, 279,811 or 71.1 per cent in the decade between 1891 and 1900, and 704,245, or 72.1 per cent, in the decade between 1901 and 1910.
Roumanian Jewish immigration was relatively smaller in the earlier decades, numbering 6,967 in the first, 12,789 in the second decade, comprising 3.2 per cent and 3.6 per cent, respectively, of the total, and in the last decade, numbering 47,301 and constituting 4.8 per cent of the total immigration of the decade.
The Jewish immigration from Austria-Hungary bore a proportion to the total higher in the first two decades, contributing 44,619 immigrants in the first decade and 83,720 immigrants in the second decade, or 23.1 per cent and 21.3 per cent, respectively, of the total, and 152,810 immigrants, or 15.7 per cent, in the last decade.
The Jewish immigrants from the United Kingdom and British North America, which, in the first two decades constituting less than one per cent of the total of each decade, were included in the rubric "all others", rose in the last decade to 42,589, constituting 4.4 per cent, and to 9,701, constituting one per cent, of the total of this decade.
An examination of the yearly contributions made by the Jews of the principal countries[62] shows that the immigrants from Russia formed the majority of the immigrants for each year of the entire period, and as a rule, did not deviate far from the general proportion established for the thirty years. The greatest increases occurred during the years of maximum Jewish immigration, in 1882, 1891, 1892 and 1906, when the Russian Jewish immigrants constituted four-fifths or more of the total for the year.
The immigrants from Roumania showed higher percentages than their average in 1887 and in 1888, and a remarkable increase of their contribution from 1900 to 1903, in which years they constituted more than a tenth of the total number of immigrants.
The immigrants from Austria-Hungary formed, on the average, less than one-fifth of the total, but varied considerably in their proportions. In general, they maintained a rate higher than their average during the earlier years of their movement. In the later years they showed a relative decline, especially during the last decade, owing to the greater relative increase of the Jewish immigration from Russia and Roumania, though their absolute numbers increased greatly during this period. Their highest ratios of contribution were made from 1883 to 1886 and from 1896 to 1900, the latter period marking their maximum relative contributions.
The influence of the Russian Jewish immigration is thus paramount. It dominates and controls the entire movement, owing to its great preponderance of numbers. To a closer consideration of its movement we shall now turn.