How was it with the Germans who came hither in such swarms under the allurements of the great gold finds in the West, and the growth of steam navigation on the ocean after 1850? They too have been assimilated, notwithstanding that through their variance in language they were even more differentiated from the native inhabitants than the immigrants from the British Isles. How about the Scandinavians and the Holland Dutch, the French and Italians? Has the grafting of these scions on the rooted stem degenerated the stock? We have ample evidence to the contrary, sufficiently palpable to need no citation in detail.
Where then shall we draw the line? We have seen that the immigrant, though he arrives penniless as tens of thousands of them have done and do, does certainly not impoverish the community. We have seen, on the contrary, that though he arrives penniless, he enhances the wealth of the community by bringing with him the germ of all commodities, Labor. Where then shall we draw the line? Shall we exclude the poor Roman Catholic Pole, who is driven from his home by the vindictive policy of his barbarous conquerer? Does he not bring energy and labor? Shall we exclude the Russian Jew, who is driven from his native soil by the stupid villany of the same Tartar barbarism? Is his thrift and industry likely to impoverish our community? The pious fools who, four hundred years ago, drove three hundred thousand of such people from the Iberian Peninsula had a bigger majority than the Know Nothings of later date who wanted to do as much for the Roman Catholics fifty years ago, and they had their way. They diminished the population according to their wish, but they wrought the ruin of the then richest nation of Europe, a ruin from which it has even to this day not yet arisen.
No; let the immigrants come, as they have come. Let us but guard ourselves against the preventable evils which are likely to attend their coming, by the careful enforcement of the laws that are enacted to that end. Let us draw the line so as to exclude the habitual paupers, the habitual criminals, the incurably insane; the rest will take care of themselves and add to our well being and our wealth by filling up the waste stretches of the great expanse behind us; they will but follow in the way trodden by the immigrants who landed two hundred and seventy years ago at Plymouth Rock, and will work out their salvation as did their predecessors by making the desert to blossom as the rose.
Note:—Various movements for the relief of the Russian refugees have been organized independently from 1882 on by the Jewish communities throughout the country and especially in the seabord cities. The renewed severity of the Russian persecutions in 1890 called forth a general movement for the relief of the sufferers which was focused at a convention held in Philadelphia, February 16, 1891, and which resulted in the formation of the "Jewish Alliance of America."[125] This organization was composed in the main of Russian Jews already settled in this country, but the increasing demand on the Jewish people by the extraordinarily large influx of the refugees during 1891 necessitated a more general organization of the measures for their relief. To that end the Trustees of the Baron de Hirsch Fund issued a call[126] for a general convention of representatives of the Jewish organizations throughout the country, which accordingly met in New York City on September 23, 1891. This convention[127] resolved itself into "The American Committee for Ameliorating the Condition of Russian Refugees," and elected an Executive Committee[128] to carry out its plans. With this organization the Jewish Alliance of America was merged in February, 1892, but with the diminution of the influx in the course of that year the united organization devolved its functions on a "Central Committee" composed of members of the American Committee, the Baron de Hirsch Trust and the United Hebrew Charities of New York.
The several organized movements above noted elicited earnest expressions of sympathy from many leading men in our community. A number of these are so pointed and relevant to our present subject matter as to dictate their citation in this connection.
On the occasion of the movement for the formation of the Jewish Alliance, CARDINAL GIBBONS wrote as follows, under date of Baltimore, Dec. 15th, 1890.
"Every friend of humanity must deplore the systematic persecution of the Jews in Russia.
"For my part, I cannot well conceive how Christians can entertain other than kind sentiments towards the Hebrew race, when I consider how much we are indebted to them. We have from them the inspired volume of the Old Testament, which has been a consolation in all ages to devout souls. Christ, our Lord, the Founder of our religion, His blessed mother, as well as the Apostles, were all Jews according to the flesh. These facts attach me strongly to the Jewish race."