Fifty Years of Jewish Mass Immigration to America: Fifty Years Since Pogroms in Russia Began Preside

This year is a year of jubilee – marking half a century since the beginning of mass immigration from Eastern Europe into the United States, Mr. Abraham Herman, the President of the Hias (Hebrew Immigrant Aid and Sheltering Society) began his presidential address to the 22nd. annual meeting of the Hias held here today (briefly reported by cable in the J.T.A. Bulletin of the 3rd. inst.). It is fifty years, Mr. Herman went on, since the pogroms in Russia began. It was at Balta that the first outbreak against the Jews occurred. This was the beginning of the most terrible persecutions to which Jews were subjected. Pogrom followed pogrom. Then came the hateful May Laws which to all intents and purposes outlawed millions of Jews in the Russian Empire.

Almost from its very beginning this country was regarded as the land to which the oppressed and the persecuted among all peoples could come freely. It was but natural that Jews should look to the United States as a haven of refuge. And, indeed, they were not disappointed. The doors of America were wide open. The Goddess of Liberty, holding aloft the flaming Torch of Freedom welcomed the refugees. These defenceless men, women and children, fleeing from man’s inhumanity to man, hoped to find, and did find, here the opportunities and the peace denied them in their native country.

In 1881 the total Jewish population of the United States was 250,000 out of a total of 45 million. To-day there are approximately 4½ million Jews out of a general population of more than 120 million.

It is well to ask what these fifty years have meant both to us Jews and to America. What have these immigrants accomplished? What has their coming here meant to America? We think the answer is written in large and indelible letters in the pages of the story of the development of America. We are grateful for what America has given us bountifully. We believe that America has equal reason to be thankful for the manifold contributions to her wealth and her position through the endeavours and the energies of these immigrants who have become so closely interwoven with the American fabric.

There is unfortunately an animosity to-day against the alien, against the foreign-born, Mr. Herman proceeded. The world is awry. There is depression, and it is world-wide; there is strife; there are upheavals. The United States is no exception to this state of restlessness so characteristic of our age. And when conditions are bad, someone is looked for to blame for this sorry state of affairs, a scapegoat. And so in this present crisis, the shout is “blame the immigrant”. This is the cry of the demagogue and of the unthinking. Instead of looking for the basic trouble, since the entire world is affected, we scan the surface and blame the next man for what may be our own shortcomings. Prejudices are thus stirred and hatreds engendered. In time of stress it is the easiest thing to light and apply the torch of propaganda. This is what is being done to-day. This is at the bottom of the proposed legislation still further to limit immigration. There is absolutely no warrant for any more restriction.

Although the year had been a very difficult one, Mr. Herman went on, the Hias had saved tens of thousands of Jews from it is no exaggeration – destruction, and afforded them a new chance.

34,803 Jews had emigrated during last year from Europe and had settled in the United States, the Argentine, Brazil, Uruguay, Canada, France, Cuba, Mexico, Chile and other countries, 12,563 came to the United States, Mr. Herman reported.

In speaking of the various activities carried on by the Hias on behalf of the emigrants, Mr. Herman mentioned that the Society has a deficit of 16,539 dollars for the current year, which added to the deficits of previous years aggravates the Society’s financial burden. The income for the year had been 321,061 dollars and the expenditure has amounted to 337,601 dollars.