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The twenty-first annual meeting of the Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society of America, known as Hias, was held yesterday afternoon, at the Hotel Astor. More than 700 delegates of various organizations in addition to individual members were present. Abraham Herman, the president, presented the annual report of the activities of the Society and other reports were made by Harry Fischel, treasurer and Albert Rosenblatt, chairman of the Committee on Organization.
The principal speaker at the meeting was U. S. Senator Robert F. Wagner of New York. The other speakers were John L. Bernstein, former president of the Society; B. C. Vladeck, Jacob Massel and the Rev. H. Masliansky. The latter speakers dwelt upon the various phases of the society’s work.
Mr. Herman, in his report, called attention to the unsatisfactory state of conditions affecting Jews in Eastern Europe which compelled emigration. During the past year there emigrated from Europe some 50,000 Jews, 12,883 came to the United States. The remainder settled in new countries such as Argentine, Brazil, Uruguay, Cuba, Canada, South Africa, Australia and France.
Speaking of conditions abroad, Mr. Herman, in his report, said:
“We have good grounds to be deeply concerned regarding the well-being of our people in various parts of the Old World. Apart from the special disabilities under which Jews in many Old World countries continue to suffer, there is a general economic condition which bears heavily upon our people. The economic and political situation of Europe, especially of Eastern Europe, has undergone a complete change. In the past ten years European countries are experiencing, as it were, new birth throes. A spirit of rabid nationalism—chauvinism—has come to the forefront. It is a nationalism which has become so narrow that it seeks to exclude all others. We have been told of minorities and minority rights and it was heralded forth that under the guarantees given to minorities, Jews as well as others would be able to adjust themselves to the new conditions and would have the elementary rights to which all human beings are entitled. However, majorities are not as tolerant in action as signed treaties and agreements would seem to indicate. Under those circumstances the Jew suffers most. We are not inspired by any spirit of undue pessimism but wherever we look, the Jew is in double jeopardy both economically and as a Jew. In consequence of these conditions which are not of the making of the Jewish people and over which they have no control, thousands of Jews must find new countries in which to settle.
“Repeatedly statements have been made that the problems confronting the Jews of any country must be solved within that country. This would be true if the countries in which the Jews live were lands of tolerance and freedom. It would be equally true if the solution of these specific problems which confront the Jews would be solved in these countries within a reasonable period of time and with a minimum of hardship and suffering. But when for thousands of our people life is made intolerable we cannot speak of finding a complete solution at home. It cannot be expected that a people wait for the grace and favors of others till it pleases these to confer the benefits which come from recognition of elementary human rights. It is tantamount to asking thousands of our people quietly to submit to what may be ultimate extermination. It is not a question of an abstract philosophy but of a concrete fact that has to be considered.
“Jews are therefore compelled to wander, and it is therefore essential for the Hias, the Ica and the Emigdirect to continue their joint activities. Any liquidation of the efforts on behalf of Jewish wanderers is unthinkable. If anything, there must be an extension and enlargement of these endeavors.”
In view of these conditions, Mr. Her man stated, the Society had extended the arrangement existing between i# and the Jewish Colonization Association (Ica) and the United Jewish Emigration Committee (Emigdirect) in augurated in 1927 for the purpose of helping Jews to settle in new immigration lands.
In the immigration lands where offices and bureaus are maintained for the purpose of affording new arrival the fullest measure of immigrant ai# Mr. Herman said, that the immigrant are received upon their arrival an given shelter; employment secured for> them, they are given the opportunity to study the language of the countr# and learn trades; are helped to settle in the interior of the country and funds are advanced through loan fund for the purpose of purchasing necessary tools or merchandise. Prior ### leaving their native countries they are furnished with full information about the countries to which they are going given language courses, certain vocational training and some are training for agricultural work in special course for that purpose.
This work the report continued, has been so beneficent that it was felt the it would be of the greatest advantage to thousands of Jews if those activities were continued.
In order to carry on this work Hias incurred a deficit of $30,495.83 which together with the deficiencies of previous years amounts to nearly $100,000 so that for the coming year Hias will have need of a half million dollars $#00,000 for its current work and $100,000 to wipe out the deficit.
Among the recommendations made by Mr. Herman were the following:
1. To protest against the proposed measure for the registration of aliens on the ground that such a measure is unjust and would create a situation setting the alien apart from the general citizenry of the country and that the proposal is un-American being absolutely at variance with the basic principles upon which the country is founded.
2. That the existing immigration laws be humanized so that certain hardships still existing be removed.
3. That funds be set aside for the purpose of making surveys of countries to which Jews who must leave their native lands can go.
4. That steps be immediately taken to raise the funds required by the Society for the conduct of its activities.
The president in his report gave some of the outstanding figures of the Society’s activities. In the United States 154,442 individuals called at the Hias offices for various advice and information. Forty-nine thousand and seven letters were received and replied to. Sixty-five thousand, nine hundred and eight meals were served to immigrants, transients and unemployed men, women and children, and 11,347 nights of shelter were given. The Society maintains a free Shelter Department in connection with which is a free Employment Bureau which found work for 1,046 applicants during the past year. In the Citizenship Bureau which assists aliens in becoming citizens, 9,608 applicants were given necessary advice and help to prepare their applications. Three thousand, four hundred and ninety-four records of arrival were verified from the Hias files, these records being necessary in obtaining first or second papers.
The society maintains bureaus at Ellis Island and Washington and has branches in Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco. In the Emigration countries the Society maintains offices in Poland, Roumania, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, France, Belgium, Holland, Danzig, Constantinople and Harbin, China.
In the new immigration centers offices are maintained in Argentine, Brazil, Urugay, Cuba, South Africa and Australia. Some 5,560 immigrants went to Argentine, 6,025 to Brazil, 2,100 to Urugay, 3,694 to Canada, 2,465 to South Africa and 2,495 to France.
The following were elected directors to serve for the next three years: Dr B. B. Berkowitz, Dr. James Bernstein, Jacob H. Cohen, Philip Hersh, Mrs. Leon Kamaiky, Rev. H. Masliansky, Albert Rosenblatt, B. Shelvin, Samuel Slotkin, B. C. Vladeck and Morris Weinberg.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
