THE HEBREW EMIGRANT AID SOCIETY OF THE UNITED STATES (1881-1883)

By GILBERT OSOFSKY

INTRODUCTION

The Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society of the United States was an American Jewish organization, created specifically to give immediate aid to Jewish refugees from the Russian pogroms of 1881-1882. It disbanded in 1883 when the crisis was ended. Because it had such a brief and hectic existence no provisions were made for the protection of the society’s papers and records. As a result, little is known today of the works of this organization. References to it in histories of American Jewry and articles on Jewish immigration are often made, but the complete history of the Aid Society remains untold.

This paper attempts to rectify the situation. Aside from the few extant documents of the Aid Society, it is written largely from data found in contemporary newspapers. The gleaning of source material through a comprehensive survey of the press proved rewarding. The newspapers were filled with articles relating to the Aid Society and its activities. It is hoped that this study will add some needed flesh to our hitherto skeleton-like knowledge of a Jewish philanthropic agency that was among the pioneers in the field of East European Jewish immigrant aid in this country.

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The first of the mass persecutions of Jews in Russia in modern times occurred at Elizabethgrad in April, 1881. This was followed by more extensive pogroms at Kieff and Odessa in May and at Warsaw in December, 1881. Throughout 1881-1882, Jews were persecuted in at least 167 towns in southwestern Russia.^[1] From the first, many Jews fled Russia and crossed the border to the Galician city of Brody. Brody, though inadequately prepared to handle a mass immigrant influx,^[2] was to become the refuge center for many of the Jews who fled Russian persecution in 1881-1882. Though no Jew could legally leave the country, being refused passport by the Russian authorities, the number of those escaping increased with the magnitude and intensity of the persecutions. The reaction in European Jewish communities was to form relief committees in London, Paris, Berlin, and Vienna in an attempt to succor the victims of the persecutions. In May, 1881, a Russian Relief Committee of the United Hebrew Charities was also established in the United States in anticipation of migration to this country.^[3]

As the persecutions continued, a regular procedure for emigration and dispersion of Russian Jews was adopted by the European relief committees. The immigrants were first classified at Brody, and the most able-bodied were selected for shipment to the United States and Canada. Those who were chosen were sent to Lemberg, the capital of Galicia. From Lemberg the immigrants were shipped to Hamburg, usually in trains carrying 300 refugees. At Hamburg it was possible to obtain transportation directly to the United States. Many immigrants, however, were forwarded to Liverpool for final dispersion, since it offered a greater access to a variety of shipping lines.^[4] 

The first refugees arrived in the United States on September 9, 1881.^[5] They were cared for by the Russian Relief Committee. Prior to the mass migrations of 1881-1882, the United Hebrew Charities had assisted Jewish immigrants in America as part of its philanthropic duties. It had given individuals economic assistance and tried to find employment for them throughout America. The mass exodus from Russia as a result of the pogroms, however, presaged a migration to the United States larger than any previous one. The United Hebrew Charities was aware of this by August, 1881. A circular was distributed describing the activities of the Alliance Israélite Universelle. The Alliance “has determined to assist a number of Russian Jews to emigrate to this country,” the circular stated. It would select only those “strong and healthy, able and willing to perform hard work, and who possess knowledge of some handicraft. Mechanics and practical farmers” would be given first preference.^[6]

The immediate reaction of the Board of Delegates was to propose a scheme of colonization and settlement in the South and West.^[7] Proving inadequate to the handling of any mass migration, the Russian Relief Committee promoted the establishment of a permanent society to deal solely with the new immigrants. On September 14, 1881, a meeting of prominent Jews was held in New York City to discuss the matter. As a result of this meeting, the Russian Emigrant Relief Committee was formed. At this time the Relief Committee anticipated the arrival of 500 refugees. Beginning with a subscription of $2,300,^[8] it was expected that $50,000 would be needed to care for the refugees and to forward them “to points West and South.” To this end, the Russian Emigrant Relief and Colonization Fund was immediately established and a call for financial support was made to the community.

Predictions of numbers of arrivals and of the amount of money necessary to care for and disperse them were far short of reality. It should be noted, however, that from the very first signs of a mass migration to the United States the colonization scheme was proposed as the means by which the immigrants should be cared for. Implicit in later Jewish reaction, as Russian immigrants flooded the country, were plans to prevent the formation of ghettos in New York and other large eastern cities by settling the refugees in the West.

Like the earlier committee of the United Hebrew Charities, the Russian Emigrant Relief Committee was overwhelmed by the huge migration. Whereas it had expected 500 refugees, “over 1,200 are here, and they are but beginning to come,” a Relief Committee official reported.^[9] A meeting was called for November 27, 1881, to discuss the efficacy of establishing an organized, permanent, incorporated society “styled the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society.”^[10] Two hundred Jews attended this meeting and witnessed the debate between Julius Bien, a strong supporter of the new society, and such prominent opponents as Myer S. Isaacs and Jacob H. Schiff who thought such a step too radical. Isaacs thought the migration would be temporary and Schiff opposed a solely Jewish relief organization as one “smacking of sectarianism.”^[11]

When reports were heard of the destitute condition of the refugees and Bien taunted, “Who is going to Castle Garden tomorrow morning to look after those 500 Russian Jews there?” the Aid Society was immediately approved. A circular was issued stating that the Aid Society was formed

for the purpose of aiding and advising Hebrew immigrants ... in obtaining homes and employment, and otherwise providing means to prevent them from becoming burdens of the charity of the community.^[12]

A committee was appointed to draft a constitution and obtain articles of incorporation.^[13] The Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society was formally incorporated on December 8, 1881.^[14]

Among its first activities the Aid Society arranged to send Moritz Ellinger to Europe to work out practical financial and colonization procedures with the various European committees established for the relief of Russian refugees. Ellinger had been previously sent around the United States to promote the growth of local organizations willing to assist the immigrants. By June, 1882, local committees had been established at: Albany, Buffalo, Baltimore, Boston, Brooklyn, Charleston, Cincinnati, Chicago, Hartford, Louisville, Milwaukee, Montreal, New Haven, New Orleans, Newark, Pittsburg, Philadelphia, Portland, Quincy, Rochester, St. Louis, Houston, Washington, D. C., and Toronto.^[15] 

Ellinger sailed for Europe on January 12, 1882. He exaggerated the report of his European accomplishments. Everywhere he went, he claimed that he had received promises of contributions. He claimed that he was the only one to influence Baron Alphonse de Rothschild to contribute 200,000 francs,^[16] and he reported that “there was not a hamlet in Germany, Austria, and Hungary where collections are not taken up.”^[17]

As Ellinger was claiming this phenomenal success in Europe, things were going badly in America. Aid Society officials complained that refugees were being “dumped” on the United States and that the European committees did not offer the proper support. Ellinger received an urgent cablegram from the Aid Society. He was informed that many

emigrants arrive daily; majority incapable of supporting themselves; will be permanent burden on community. Our officers wearied through the intractability of refugees and lack of support ... are daily resigning.^[18]

In an attempt to straighten out these and other difficulties that had arisen over the distribution of the immigrants, an International Jewish Conference was called to meet at Berlin on April 23, 1882. Though Ellinger claimed “Europe has been told,”^[19] the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society was not given complete control over the dispersion of Russian refugees in the United States. Section 2 of the proposals agreed to at Berlin authorized the Mansion House Committee, the Jewish Relief Committee of London,

to direct the dispersion of refugees in transatlantic places; and regarding their settlement in the United States, to establish with New York the principles under which they shall be settled in America.^[20]

The lack of complete control over the dispersion of immigrants by the New York committee was one factor which later led to a break between the London Committee and the Aid Society and a threat of dissolution by the Aid Society.

The international reorganization of relief procedures did prove helpful to the dispersion of Russian refugees and generally lessened the area of conflict among the many relief committees. The Berlin Committee was to govern the “continental expedition” of the immigrants. The Paris Committee was to study the efficacy of colonization to countries other than the United States and British colonies. The London Committee was to control finances. Stipulations were made to insure that only the able-bodied would be sent to America. Responding to complaints from many orthodox Russian Jews that the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society forced them into activity which compromised their religious beliefs, the Berlin Conference guaranteed that they “be enabled to live in accordance with their religious convictions.”^[21] 

Throughout the Ellinger mission and the various European conferences there was widespread endorsement of the idea that colonization was essential to the dispersion of the Russian refugees. The American West was thought adequate to contain the entire Russian-Jewish population.^[22] That there were other than altruistic motives behind the promotion of colonization projects was evident throughout the writings of the officials of the Aid Society. Often it seemed to be the most practical way to disperse the immigrants without injuring the prestige of those Jews already established in the United States. Ellinger’s reply to Chief Rabbi (Elieser ben Zebi Abraham] Loeb, of Altona, who suggested colonization in Palestine, gives evidence of this attitude among American Jews:

... we have no objection to any colonization scheme outside the United States, and would probably succeed in raising larger sums for the support ... of the Russian exiles outside of America than what we can in assisting them at home. We did not and we do not invite the immigration ….^[23]

As a means of effecting the idea of colonization, the New Orleans branch of the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society helped establish an agricultural colony on 2,800 acres of land at Sicily Island, Louisiana. The land, acquired in the winter of 1881, was distributed originally among 151 Russian refugees.^[24] Purchasing seed, implements, and furniture, and uniting themselves under a constitution, these idealistic Russian farmers had high hopes of success. J. Stanwood Menken, the President of the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society, visited the colony in January, 1882, and forecast its success. The Treasurer’s Report(24a) of the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society shows that no financial assistance was given to Sicily Island from that body. There is no evidence to establish a direct connection between the New York society and this first agricultural colony of Russian Jews. Difficulties arose as to financing and methods of cultivation, and this first attempt at colonization was unsuccessful.

Other agricultural colonies, assisted by contributions and loans from the Aid Society, were founded at Cotopaxi, Colorado, and Vineland, New Jersey. Each family at Cotopaxi was given 160 acres of government land. In January, 1883, there were seventeen families established at Cotopaxi, and sixty-seven families at Vineland.^[25] Another small group of Russian refugees founded the Beersheba colony at Cimarron, Kansas, and individual Jewish farmers were sent to South Carolina, Texas, Ohio, Oregon, Dakota Territory and Washington Territory.^[26]

The entire question of colonization was discussed in detail by Julius Goldman, who was sent to Dakota to anticipate the practical problems likely to be encountered in colonizing on a large scale. While the European committees and the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society never questioned colonization in principle, Goldman reported its failure in practice: “... to settle the refugees in lands in the West in masses... is entirely unfeasible.”^[27] His visit to the West convinced him that agricultural projects could only be successful if carried out on an individual basis: “... no colony should be organized upon the communistic or co-operative plan....”^[28] After calculating that the cost of individual settlement would be $500 per family, he concluded:

… I am fully convinced that our society at the present moment, is not able to undertake … the work of colonization on an extensive scale.^[29]

Goldman's report created a paradox in the management of relief activity. While Moritz Ellinger was in Europe advising that the refugees be colonized in America on a large scale, Goldman was reporting the necessary failure of such procedures. Large-scale colonization and settlement in the United States was to be the principal means of distributing the refugees, but no one seemed to consider the practical and financial difficulties involved in effecting it. The Goldman report largely influenced the course of action of the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society. In a resolution passed at a national conference held in June, 1882, the Aid Society abandoned large-scale colonization. The Society then maintained that

organizations now existing should not be called upon to perform the work of colonization upon any large scale; while they may assume the task... in exceptional cases, of providing facilities for independent agricultural employment.^[30]

Evident in Goldman’s report and constant throughout the existence of the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society was co-operation among immigrant aid societies of different faiths. When Goldman went to Minnesota he was assisted by Bishop John Ireland, and when he recommended a scheme for individual colonization, he adopted the plan of Bishop John L. Spalding of the Irish-Catholic Colonization Association.^[31] At the founding of the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society, the German Emigrant Aid Society of New York City offered it the loan of rooms for housing Jewish refugees and later offered it mattresses and bedding.^[32] The history of this first mass wave of Russian-Jewish migration decidedly demonstrates a feeling of community and friendship among immigrant societies of different faiths.

The Aid Society also concentrated on the more immediate needs of the Russian immigrants. On December 14, 1881, it accepted an Emigration Commission grant of housing and land on Ward’s Island. On December 29, 1881, the Ward’s Island Refuge was opened.^[33] The Refuge housed many immigrants until suitable employment was found for them. At times, immigrants were given temporary jobs and commuted back and forth from the Refuge. While living there, they were provided with kosher meals,^[34] and some were given instruction in English.^[35] In July, 1882, the Aid Society added $4,000 to Jacob H. Schiff’s contribution of $10,000, and the Refuge was completely renovated. In an agreement with the Commissioners of Emigration, the Aid Society supplied the food for the refugees, and the Emigration Commission paid for the coal, light and water.^[36] The Aid Society also established a male and female employment agency at 35 East Broadway and a Labor Bureau at Castle Garden. The New York World reported that “two or three members of a special committee, consisting of eighteen Hebrew merchants,” were “constantly in attendance examining applicants ... so that the ability of each one” would be known to the Superintendent of Emigration.^[37]

The more general problems of dispersion and employment were considered in an Aid Society office at 15 State Street. A restaurant and home was established at 27 Greenwich Street, and many immigrants were housed, clothed and fed in a boarding house on Manhattan Avenue and Green Street in Greenpoint.^[38] Still others were boarded privately in homes throughout the metropolitan area.^[39]

The acceleration of distribution activities made necessary the resolution of differences between the Mansion House Committee and the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society. George S. Yates, a representative of the Mansion House Committee, was sent to the United States to settle the differences that had arisen over financial support and dispersion procedures. To assuage the complaints of many Aid Society officials, who charged that the refugees were incapable of absorption into American society, Yates claimed that though he

expected a very large emigration of Russian Jews to the United States this Summer... only the better class of artisans and able bodied men would be sent here.^[40]

At a national conference of all the American Aid Societies, held in New York City on June 4, 1882, Yates reported that he had already recommended that large sums of money be sent to the Aid Society from the Mansion House Committee.^[41] He further stated that

New York must receive; disperse and exercise the fullest control over the emigrants.^[42]

A special fund drive was initiated in June, 1882, and a large festival was held on June 6th, 7th, and 8th. An officer of the Aid Society demanded generosity from the Jews of New York. If they “were parsimonious,” he threatened, “the pauper population of this city would be increased by at least 12,000 Jews.”^[43] The drive was highly successful. Whereas individual contributions prior to June had amounted to $22,544.19, the response to the special plea in June alone amounted to $66,596.40.^[44] 

Though the Jews in the United States began to contribute, the financial support from the Mansion House Committee was still not forthcoming. Throughout June, 1882, immigrants were arriving en masse, and the Aid Society was pressed for support. With the arrival of some 1,300 refugees in one week, the Aid Society decided that it could no longer care for them. Secretary Manuel A. Kursheedt informed the Board of Emigration that the Aid Society would no longer be responsible for the immigrants:

... this society will not take charge of any Russian refugees or other Jewish immigrants who may arrive in this city.^[45]

As a result of this crisis, money was immediately forwarded from the European committees, and the Aid Society continued its work.^[46]

From the records available, it is not clear what happened at this point. It seems likely, however, that an agreement was made between the Mansion House Committee and the Aid Society concerning the further distribution of the refugees. On June 28, 1882, two days following the Aid Society’s letter to the Board of Emigration, the Mansion House Committee reported that

America has already received as many refugees as can be for the moment absorbed and properly provided for.

By the end of July, the London Committee stated that it would no longer send refugees to America, and even accepted responsibility for having sent over “large numbers of helpless people.”^[47] In exchange for the cessation of migration to America, the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society may have agreed to continue assisting those Jews already in the United States.

By the middle of 1882, with the pogroms definitely at an end, it was necessary to arrange for the final dispersion of the 9,000 refugees remaining at Brody.^[48] The Aid Society could no longer be relied upon for support. An international meeting of relief organizations was held in Vienna on August 2, 3, and 4, 1882. Edward Lauterbach attended this conference as a representative of the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society and brought with him its ultimatum:

… we would receive no more emigrants except in a few exceptional instances, confined to those now at Brody, who could not be repatriated and who could not be disposed of in some European or non-American community, and these should be sent, with such sums and upon such conditions only as should be exacted by the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society, and only after the express consent of that Society had been obtained.^[49]

The discontinuance of immigration to the United States was the product of emotional as well as practical considerations. Lauterbach described the antagonism of many American Jews when he wrote:

Immigration was not popular among our own people, and this unpopularity had, to some extent... been caused by the character... of the emigrants themselves, and there was no prospect that the grade would be improved.^[50]

Augustus A. Levey, Secretary of the Aid Society, resigned on September 2, 1882. He too expressed the antagonism that was so much a part of the reaction of the Jews of America to the Russian immigrants:

The mode of life of these people in Russia has stamped upon them the ineffaceable marks of permanent pauperism, only disgrace and a lowering of the opinion in which American Israelites are held ... can result from the continued residence among us ... of these wretches ….^[51]

There was opposition to the cessation of relief activity. Myer S. Isaacs criticized officers of the Aid Society too eager to rid themselves of their job.^[52] It was at this point that Michael Heilprin assumed the secretaryship and, without accepting a salary, became the most active relief worker in the Labor Bureau. Heilprin’s dedicated assistance to Russian refugees continued for many years after the Aid Society disbanded.^[53] 

All that remained for the Aid Society to do was to care for and disperse the immigrants already in the United States. On September 13, 1882, the Jewish Messenger announced the closing of the boarding house in Greenpoint. On September 22, 1882, it reported the vacating of the Aid Society’s office at 15 State Street. On November 3, 1882, the Greenwich Street restaurant and boarding house was closed, and on November 10, 1882, the United Hebrew Charities resumed control of the refugees in New York City and reported that the application

of the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society to have their local relief cases attended to by the Charities was accepted ....^[54]

The Monarch Line, which had supplied transportation and kosher food for many Russian immigrants,^[55] was deprived of a valuable source of income. The New York Central could no longer offer discount rates to Jewish passengers.^[56] 

The Aid Society was now responsible only for the refugees remaining at Ward's Island. It did its best to clear the Refuge rapidly. On March 16, 1883, the Jewish Messenger announced that less

than ten persons remain in the Schiff Refuge on Ward's Island... and the work of the Society is practically closed ....

By March 30, 1883, Ward’s Island was free of refugees and the work of the Aid Society was completed.^[57] 

In perspective, the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society was a makeshift organization that was presented with an almost impossible task. Within less than a year the presidency of the Aid Society changed three times and the secretaryship four times. It lacked the full financial and psychological support of the Jewish community, and the New York City community as a whole. It was supported only moderately by the press both non-Jewish and Jewish. It had no established position or rights among the international relief committees, and was in constant conflict with the Mansion House Committee. The refugees themselves, appearing strange to many American Jews, and offering a threat to their tenuously established position in the American community, arrived in such a hectic manner that conflicts of understanding were bound to arise. With all its handicaps, however, the Aid Society assisted in caring for and dispersing some 14,000 Russian refugees.^[58] 

Any analysis of the Aid Society must take these factors into consideration. It must also be noted that it had few precedents to work with and no former Jewish society had met with such an immense migration in so short a period of time. A farsighted and prophetic editorial written in the American Hebrew in March, 1883, offers much to a final understanding of the role that the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society played in caring for the first mass influx of Russian Jews to America:

An immense amount of experience has been gathered, which will stand us in good stead when, as will doubtless happen, another phase of the same question is presented.^[59]

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APPENDIX

CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION OF THEHEBREW EMIGRANT

AID SOCIETY OF THE UNITED STATES^[60]

In the Matter of the Application

of

The Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society

of the United States

to become a body corporate.

We, the undersigned, being of full age, citizens of the United States and of the State of New York, desire to associate ourselves for benevolent and charitable purposes, and do accordingly in pursuance of the Act of the Legislature of the State of New York entitled “An Act for the Incorporation of benevolent, charitable, scientific and missionary Societies,” passed April 12th, 1848, and the Acts amendatory thereof, hereby make, sign and acknowledge this certificate in writing, that is to say:

Firstly.

The name or title by which said Society shall be known in law is “The Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society of the United States.” 

Secondly.

The particular business and objects of such Society are:

1. To afford aid and advice to emigrants of the Hebrew faith coming to the United States from countries where they have suffered by reason of oppressive laws or a hostile populace.
2. To afford aid and advice to emigrants desiring the help of the Society in settling in the United States upon lands of the Society or otherwise; and to check pauperism by discouraging the emigration of persons incapable of labor and by assisting and directing the needy to industrial or agricultural employment or pursuits.

Thirdly.

The number of Directors to manage the said Society is forty-five.

Fourthly.

The names of the Directors of the said Society for the first year of its existence are:

Fifthly.

The place of business or principal office of said Society is in the City, County and State of New York.

In Witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands and seals at the City of New York this Fifth day of December in the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty-one.

J. S. MENKEN

HENRY S. ALLEN

CHs. MINZESHEIMER

FRED. NATHAN

E. L. BOAS

On the Fifth day of December in the year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Eighty-One before me personally appeared J. S. Menken, Henry Allen, Charles Minzesheimer, Fred. Nathan and E. L. Boas, to me known to be the individuals described in and who executed the foregoing instrument and personally acknowledged that they executed the same for the purposes therein mentioned.

J. H. ROSENBAUM 

Notary Public (74)

N. Y. County

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[ENDORSEMENT]

Certificate

of

Incorporation

of

The Hebrew Emigrant

Aid Society of the

United States

_________

I approve of the within certificate and consent that it be filed in the office of the Secretary of State and in the office of the Clerk of the City and County of New York, Dec. 5, 1881.

C. DONOHUE