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Monument to Haym Salomon First Jewish Immigrant from Poland Being Erected in America: Cornerstone to

February 26, 1931
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The noble and disinterested services of Salomon deserve the undying gratitude of all Americans, President Hoover has written to the National Conference of the Haym Salomon Monument Committee held here yesterday, at which a decision was adopted to hold the ceremony of laying the cornerstone of the Haym Salomon Monument on July 4th., Independence Day.

The aid of his financial genius, President Hoover proceeds, was of critical importance in the revolutionary struggle, and it is indeed fitting that these services should be commemorated with an enduring monument.

Haym Salomon, who was born at Lissa, Poland, in 1740, left Poland after the partition of 1772. He settled in New York and during the revolution identified himself with the American cause. He was arrested and imprisoned as a spy in September 1776 soon after the British occupation of New York. A report of the United States Senate Committee made in 1850 says that Salomon “gave great assistance to the Government by loans of money, advancing liberally of his means to sustain the men engaged in the struggle for independence at a time when the sinews of war were essential to success”. The matter was brought again before Congress in 1925 when Congressman Mooney introduced a resolution demanding that a monument should be erected in memory of Haym Salomon. Haym Salomon, his resolution said, lent and contributed to the Government, the army, and the officers during the critical period a sum exceeding 700,000 dollars, for which he received in return not one dollar either in capital or in interest. Salomon was reduced on account of his patriotism from a rich man to a pauper at the time of his death, the resolution pointed out and concluded by stating “the best way to implant into the American youth the highest degree of patriotism is by accentuating the respect and appreciation of the Government for such patriots who make sacrifices like those of Haym Salomon”.

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