Former traders constitute the bulk of the Jewish farmers in the new colonies in Russia created with the aid of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, according to a report received by the United Jewish Campaign headquarters. Until the beginning of last year this element constituted only 15 percent of the Jewish farmers while today they number 70 percent.
The reasons for the preponderance of the merchant class in the farm settlements were ascertained by a representative of the Joint Distribution Committee who studied Jewish living conditions in several typical towns which are the sources of migration. His findings show that from 1917 to 1926, the Jewish population of the Russian small town decreased.
In general, the Jews in Russia may be classed according to their occupation, as follows: traders 44 percent, custars 16 percent, artisans 15 percent, laborers 8 percent; the rest consists of “indefinite occupations”. The proportion who require elementary relief is from 3 percent to 5 percent.
Almost half of the Jewish population is engaged in trade, the report says. This trading consists of grain and drygoods.
Thousands of Jews in the district of Kiev earned a livelihood before the revolution by trading with grain. Under the present laws they dare not compete with the government granaries. Their business is limited to the local market which, however, is not in need of the middlemen. since wheat can be bought directly from the peasant.
The dry goods trade faces a similar situation, according to the report. The trader cannot buy merchandise directly from the factory. He must buy from the middleman, generally a third or fourth middleman, with the result that the same article of merchandise will cost twice as much if bought in the open market, as it would if purchased in the government cooperatvie stores. The Jewish trader is being crushed, his capital wiped out in a hopeless competition with the government cooperative.
The high cost of raw materials works against the custar, the home-worker, even though there are no governmental difficulties confronting him.
The artisans are in a much better position. The average cobbler or tailor earns about 50 or 60 roubles a month, and the more skilled as high as 100 to 120 roubles. But the artisan must look to the loan societies set up by the Joint Distribution Committee for capital.
Samuel Perrin a resident of Pittsburgh, Pa. has just been selected an aide-de-camp with the title of colonel on the staff of William J. Fields, governor of the State of Kentucky. Col. Perrin is the first Jew living outside of Kentucky that has ever been named a colonel by a Kentucky governor. Untiring public service merited his appointment.
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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.
