Not only had the Jews in general made progress in the decade after 1881, and were better able to cope with the new situation because they discovered their own strength in the work of helping their less fortunate brethren, and had also learned by experience that the new element adjusted itself to the new surroundings with remarkable rapidity, but there was also a new agency to assist in the work of helping some of the newcomers to find their way to work and independence. The great Jewish philanthropist, Baron Maurice de Hirsch (b. in Munich, Bavaria, 1831; d. in Hungary, 1896), some time before the new increase of immigration from Russia, created and endowed the Baron de Hirsch Fund for the ameliorating of the condition of certain Jewish immigrants in the United States. The fund, which he originally endowed with the sum of $2,400,000 (and which had grown later to nearly a million more), was incorporated under the laws of the State of New York, February 12, 1891, the trustees being: M. S. Isaacs, president; Jacob H. Schiff (b. in Frankfort o. t. Main, 1847; a. 1865), vice-president; Jesse Seligman (b. in Bavaria, 1827; d. in California, 1894), treasurer; Dr. Julius Goldman (who later became president), honorary secretary. The other trustees were Henry Rice (b. in Bavaria, 1835; a. 1850), who for many years was president of the United Hebrew Charities of New York; James H. Hoffman and Oscar S. Straus (b. in Germany, 1850; a. 1854), of New York, and Mayer Sulzberger (b. in Hildesheim, Baden, 1843; a. 1848) and William B. Hackenburg (b. in Philadelphia, 1837), of Philadelphia. Adolphus S. Solomons (b. in New York, 1826; d. in Washington, 1910) was the first general agent. The present trustees are: Eugene S. Benjamin, president; Jacob H. Schiff, vice-president; Murry Guggenheim, treasurer; Max J. Kohler, honorary secretary; Nathan Bijur, Abram I. Elkus, Henry Rice, Louis Siegbert, S. G. Rosenbaum, all of New York City; Mayer Sulzberger, W. B. Hackenburg and S. S. Fleischer, of Philadelphia. H. L. Sabsovich succeeded A. S. Solomons as general agent.
The trustees of this fund, which has an annual income of about $125,000, at first used the amount at their disposal in relieving the immediate necessities of the refugees, and in order to make the immigrants self-supporting, a number of them were given instruction in the work which is required in the manufacture of clothing, white goods, etc. The United Hebrew Charities of New York was made the agent through which the material necessities were relieved, and certain sums are still granted by the fund to institutions which make a specialty of assisting immigrants. On the other hand, the fund itself is receiving assistance from the Jewish Colonization Association (I. C. A., to which Baron de Hirsch left a large share of his fortune) in the activities which it carries on through the Jewish Agricultural and Industrial Aid Society for the encouragement of farming, and the Industrial Removal Office, for the distribution of workingmen from the crowded centers of population to places further inland (both of these institutions were organized in 1900). When the great pressure due to the rapid immigration had somewhat relaxed, the trustees carefully matured their plans of education and of colonization, doing a large amount of good with the various forms of instruction, including technical as well as elementary knowledge; while the colonization plans, which resulted in the establishment of the colonies which have been mentioned in a former chapter, meet with so many difficulties that progress is made at a less rapid pace.
The Jews of America were thus even better prepared to receive a large number of Jewish immigrants at the beginning of the last decade of the nineteenth century than they were ten years before. There was also at this time a smaller number and a much smaller proportion of helpless people among the Russian refugees, for those who lived in the interior of Russia, outside of the “pale of settlement”, and would have remained there had it not been for the expulsions, were as a rule active and fairly successful men, and therefore better able to take care of themselves than those whom poverty or lack of employment forced to emigrate. Many more found relatives and friends here than in 1881–82, and among those who were here there were also many more who could be of assistance to new arrivals than in former times. As a matter of fact, Jewish immigration from the Slavic countries had then assumed its natural form, which it has retained ever since, except in the years following the massacres in the present century. Most men come to kinsmen or personal friends, who are willing and able to assist them in finding their way. A large majority consists of wives and children, of parents and other near relatives, who come because they were sent for and because the breadwinner or the most energetic member of the family has previously established himself here and demands their presence, or feels certain that they will soon be able to provide for themselves. The helpless Jewish immigrant who has nowhere to go and nothing to do when he arrives, is now very rare, and has been rare for the last two decades.
The number of the new immigrants needing assistance immediately after their arrival had been reduced to such a small fraction that those having the interest of the Jewish masses at heart began to express their opinion that it would perhaps be better if organized charity would leave them alone altogether. At first this opinion was uttered mostly in the Yiddish press or at meetings of immigrants. But in time there came not only a still further improvement in the general condition of the Jews, and also a further diminution in the number of helpless immigrants, but the voice of the immigrant-citizen became more potent in communal affairs. The folly of appeals, in which the wants of that class were exaggerated, became apparent; a large number of the employees of charitable institutions, and even some of the directors, were now Russian or Galician or Roumanian Jews, with a closer acquaintance with the needs, and also with the lack of needs, of the new arrivals. Much of the friction due to the resentment against help, which was rendered sometimes with more ostentation than the circumstances required, was obviated under the altered conditions, and the ground was prepared for a new co-operation of all elements of the community.
The foundation about this time of the American-Jewish Historical Society, whose objects are the collection and preservation of material bearing upon the history of the Jews in America, may be taken as an indication that the times were now again considered normal in the Jewish community. It was organized in June, 1892, with Oscar S. Straus as president, and Dr. Cyrus Adler (b. in Van Buren, Ark., 1863) as secretary. The latter is now (since 1899) its president, and Albert M. Friedenberg and Dr. Herbert Friedenwald, secretaries. It has thus far issued twenty annual volumes of its “Publications,” which form an invaluable collection of material on the subject, much of which has been used in the preparation of this work. The president and both secretaries, as well as its curator, Leon Hühner, and some of its officers and members of its Executive Council, like Professor Richard J. H. Gottheil (b. in Manchester, England, 1862; who came here with his father, Rabbi Gustave Gottheil (1827–1903) of Temple Emanuel, New York, in 1873), of Columbia University; Professor Jacob H. Hollander (b. in Baltimore, 1871), of Johns Hopkins University, and Max J. Kohler (b. in Detroit, Mich., 1871), are among the most important contributors of papers and monograms on various historical subjects to the publications of the society.
Another society of a kindred nature, but appealing to a wider circle, The Jewish Publication Society of America (organized in Philadelphia, 1888; incorporated there 1896), began to attain prominence about that time. It has published for distribution among its members and also for sale to the general public about sixty books on a large variety of subjects, some of them, like the English edition of Graetz’s History of the Jews, Schechter’s “Studies in Judaism” and the earliest works of fiction by Israel Zangwill, are highly valuable. Morris Newburger (b. in Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, 1834; a. 1854) was its first president and held the office for fourteen years, until he was succeeded by the present incumbent, Edwin Wolf, in 1902. The leading spirit of the society is the chairman of its Publication Committee, Mayer Sulzberger, the eminent communal leader and Jewish bibliophile, who has been a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia since 1895. The secretary of that committee, Henrietta Szold, has done much useful work in translating or preparing for publication a considerable part of the works which the society has published.
This society is the third of its kind in the United States. The first, which was called the “American Jewish Publication Society,” was founded by Isaac Leeser in 1845, and in the same year an auxiliary society was established at Richmond, Va. It published fourteen works between that year and 1849; but went out of existence after its plates and books were destroyed by fire, in 1851. The second, The Jewish Publication Society, was established in New York in 1873, by Leopold Bamberger, Benjamin I. Hart, Myer Stern, Edward Morrison and several others of New York, William B. Hackenburg (b. in Philadelphia, 1837) of Philadelphia and Simon Wolf of Washington. Rabbis Gustave Gottheil, Moses Mielziner (b. in Schubin, Posen, 1828; d. in Cincinnati, 1903, where he had been Professor of Talmud in the Hebrew Union College since 1879, and Wise’s successor as president) and Frederick de Sola Mendes (b. in Jamaica, W. I., 1850; since 1874 rabbi of Congregation Shaarey Tefilla); Marcus Jastrow of Philadelphia, and Moritz Ellinger (b. in Germany, 1830; a. 1854; d. 1907), editor of the “Menorah” and of the “Jewish Times,” constituted its publication committee. It existed only for two years.
The Jewish Chautauqua Society, “for the dissemination of knowledge of the Jewish religion by fostering the study of its history and literature, giving popular courses of instruction, issuing publications, establishing reading circles, holding general assemblies, and by such other means as may from time to time be found necessary and proper,” is also a product of this new period of spiritual and literary activity in the American-Jewish world. It was founded in 1893 by Dr. Henry Berkowitz (b. in Pittsburg, Pa., 1857; since 1892 rabbi of the Congregation Rodeph Shalom, Philadelphia), who is still its chancellor. It now has about three thousand members.
Miss Sadie American.