Jewish Immigration to the United States from 1881 to 1910 Part 7

The ma.s.s-movement of the Russian Jews to the United States began in the first year of Alexander III's reign. Though in this year the number of Russian Jews entering this country amounted to a little over three thousand, the immigration grew so rapidly and in such proportions that at the end of thirty years, more than a million Russian Jews had been admitted to the United States.

An examination of the figures of the Russian Jewish immigration for the thirty years[63] reveals that it is a movement of steady growth.

The Russian Jewish immigration falls practically into two periods; the first culminating in 1892, the second culminating in 1906. Considering it by decades,[64] we find that the movement is one of geometrical progression. In the first decade, from 1881 to 1890, 135,003 Russian Jews entered the country, 12.1 per cent of the total Russian Jewish immigrants. Between 1891 and 1900, 279,811 Russian Jews entered, const.i.tuting 25.0 per cent of the total. In the last decade, from 1901 to 1910, there entered 704,245 Russian Jews, or 62.9 per cent of the total.

The annual variations are, nevertheless, considerable and largely explainable by the special conditions in Russia that have influenced the lives of the Jews throughout this period. At the beginning of this period, in 1881, the immigration of Russian Jews was small. The _pogroms_ of 1881-2 were reflected in the sudden rise in 1882 to 10,489 immigrants, more than three times the number of the preceding year. The immigration of this year was rather a flight than a normal movement. The great majority of the immigrants were refugees, fleeing from ma.s.sacre and pillage.[65]

In this year Russian Jewish immigration began its upward course.

Another high point was reached in 1887 with 23,103 immigrants, when the educational restrictions and the expulsions that followed a strict application of the May Laws indicated a renewal of the policy of the Russian government.

The rumors of new restrictions that marked the beginning of the nineties, and the opening of the second decade of Alexander III's reign, were followed by the wholesale expulsions from Moscow. The immigration in 1891 of 43,457 and in 1892 of 64,253 Russian Jews--the latter the highest number reached in two decades--reflects this situation. Nearly a tenth of the total immigration entered in these two years.

The direct effect of the administrative activity of this year and especially of the Moscow expulsions upon the Russian Jewish immigration is seen in the number of Russian Jews who entered New York during the months closely following these expulsions.[66] For the first five months of 1891, the immigration averaged approximately 2,300, evidently a normal figure for this decade. It reached its lowest in May, when 1,225 Jews entered the country. In June, two months after the order of expulsion, the number of immigrants jumped to 8,667--a six-fold increase--which up to this year was the largest number of Russian Jews entering this country in one month. This figure was surpa.s.sed in the immigration of August and September. Out of a total of 60,261 Russian Jews who entered in 1891, 11,449 came the first five months from January to May, and 40,706, or more than three times the previous immigration, came the next five months from June to October. The following five months there came only 16,832, less than half the number of immigrants of the months of June to October. And, finally, taking the year as a whole, there came over 60,261 Russian Jews in 1891, the year of the Moscow expulsions, as compared with the 28,834 Russian Jews who entered in 1892, when no exceptional circ.u.mstances occurred to affect their immigration tendency.

The six years from 1893 to 1898 were relatively mild years for the Russian Jews. The change of rulers in Russia and the comparatively lenient att.i.tude shown by Nicholas II toward the Jews in the beginning of his reign resulted in a less stringent administration of the special Jewish laws. The financial depression in the United States which began in 1893 and embraced this period, was an additional influence in diminishing the flow of Russian Jewish immigrants. The fall, however, was not as large as the existence of unfavorable economic conditions in this country might lead one to expect. For in spite of it, Russian Jewish immigration resumed the rate it maintained in the years before 1891. From 1893 to 1898 there entered this country 110,815 Russian Jews as against the 107,378 Russian Jews who entered in the six years from 1885 to 1890.

Another rise began in 1899. Economic depression, revolutionary terrorism and anti-Jewish propaganda paved the way for a great inpouring of Russian Jews to the United States. The Kishineff ma.s.sacre of 1903 sent thousands of Jews in veritable flight to the United States, a fact which is reflected in an immigration of 77,544 Russian Jews in 1904, the greatest number up to this year. With the beginning of the Russo-j.a.panese war, the outbreak of the revolution and, above all, of the Jewish ma.s.sacres the immigration rose in 1905 to 92,388.

In 1906, a year of _pogroms_, it reached the number of 125,234, the highest in the entire period--and in 1907, 114,932, the second largest immigration. The diminution in the numbers in 1908 reflects largely the relative change for the better that took place in the situation in Russia, with the beginning of parliamentary government, as well as the panic conditions in the United States of the preceding year. How great still was the impulse to leave is shown by the fact that in spite of the panic of 1907, the number of immigrants for 1908 was 71,978. The great rise of the immigration from the United Kingdom during these years was also due to the number of Russian Jews that came to the United States by way of England. In all, during these five years which form an epoch in contemporary Russian Jewish history, there streamed into the United States half a million Russian Jews, const.i.tuting more than two-fifths of the total immigration for the entire thirty years.

Of special significance is the part the Jewish immigrants play in the total Russian immigration to the United States.[67] By far the largest group of immigrants coming from Russia are Jews. For the entire thirty years they const.i.tuted 48.3 per cent of the total Russian immigration.

As a general rule, the proportion of the Jewish in the total Russian immigration rises during the critical periods of these thirty years.

Thus in 1891, the year of the Moscow expulsions, the Jewish immigrants const.i.tuted 91.6 per cent of the total immigration from Russia, and in the following year, under the same influences, 78.8 per cent. The years 1886 and 1887 are also signalized by the great proportion of the Jewish immigrants, who formed 79.2 per cent and 75.1 per cent, respectively, of the total Russian immigration for these years. In the last decade, when the Jewish partic.i.p.ation in the total immigration had become relatively lessened, the three years which represented the climax of the movement, 1904, 1905 and 1906, show a higher relative proportion, 53.4 per cent, 50 per cent and 58.1 per cent, respectively, than the average for the decade or for the entire period.

Considering the proportions by decades,[68] we find that of the total of 213,282 Russian immigrants entering in the decade from 1881 to 1890, the Jewish immigrants contributed 135,003, or 63.3 per cent. Of a total of 505,280 Russian immigrants in the decade from 1891 to 1900, the Jewish immigrants numbered 279,811, or 55.4 per cent. In the last decade, from 1901 to 1910, of a total of 1,597,306 Russian immigrants, the Jewish immigrants were 704,245, or 44.1 per cent. The diminishing importance of the Jewish in the total Russian immigration, in spite of the fact that the former shows so great an increase, is due to the rapid growth of the immigration tendency among the other races in Russia, especially in the last decade.

Nevertheless, a closer examination of the relative partic.i.p.ation by the various peoples of Russia in the immigration from that country from 1899 to 1910[69] shows that the Jews maintain their position of predominance, contributing a larger proportion to the total Russian immigration than any other people throughout this period, except in 1910, when the Poles contributed a slightly higher proportion to the immigration of that year. The Polish contribution is next to that of the Jews, attaining its maximum at a point where the Jewish immigration is at its lowest, relatively, in the twelve years.

The preceding sufficiently indicates the abnormal extent of the Russian Jewish immigration but its intensity may be judged further from the fact that though the Jews in Russia were less than one-twentieth of the total Russian population, they formed nearly half of the Russian immigrants to the United States. In other words, they were represented in the Russian immigration by more than eleven times their proportion in the Russian population. As, however, the emigration movement of the Russians proper is directed chiefly to Siberia, we may limit the comparison to the Pale, where the Jews are overwhelmingly concentrated, and where they const.i.tute more than a tenth of the total population. Even with this limitation they were represented in the immigration to the United States by more than four times their proportion of the population.

Another method of judging the degree of intensity of the Russian Jewish movement is to compare the proportion the number of Jewish immigrants for a period bears to the total Jewish population in Russia--their rate of immigration--with that of the other Russian peoples represented in the immigration to the United States. The rate of immigration of the Jews is by far the highest among the peoples of Russia. From 1899 to 1910 the Jewish immigrants to the United States const.i.tuted on the average one out of every 79 of the Jewish population in Russia.[70] The Finnish immigrants const.i.tuted one out of every 191 Finns, the Polish immigrants one out of every 200 Poles, and the Russian immigrants proper one out of every 11,552 of the Russian population. The relative position of the Jews is thus strikingly indicated. The rate of immigration truly becomes an index of the economic and social pressure to which the Jews have been subjected for a third of a century. This rate of immigration for the Jews, moreover, shows large fluctuations in the twelve years from 1899 to 1910.[71] Of every 10,000 Jews in Russia there came to this country on the average for the twelve years from 1899 to 1910, 125 Jews. From 1899 to 1903 the annual rate of immigration was much lower than the average. In 1904, with the beginning of the critical years, the annual rate rose to 152, and in 1905, to 181. It reached its climax in 1906, with 246, almost twice as large as the average for the entire period.

It fell slightly below this in 1907 with 226. In 1908, there was a great fall to 141, though the rate was still above the average for the period.

The movement of the Russian Jews to this country in the last thirty years is seen to be steadily rising and to reach enormous dimensions in the last decade. The Jews are more largely represented in the movement from Russia than any other people, and predominate practically for the entire thirty years. The rate of immigration is abnormally high, as compared with that of any other of the immigrant races from Russia. For the most part the Russian Jewish immigration reflects the unusual situation confronting the Jews in Russia.

FOOTNOTES:

[63] _Cf._ table IX, p. 162.

[64] _Cf._ table X, p. 163.

[65] Sulzberger, _The Beginnings of Russo-Jewish Immigration to Philadelphia_ (Philadelphia, 1910), pp. 125-150.

[66] _Cf._ table XI, p. 163.

[67] _Cf._ table XII, p. 164.

[68] _Cf._ table XIII, p. 164.

[69] _Cf._ table XIV, p. 165.

[70] _Cf._ table XV, p. 165.

[71] _Cf._ table XVI, p. 166.

CHAPTER IV

IMMIGRATION OF JEWS FROM ROUMANIA

The immigration of Roumanian Jews to the United States began as a small stream at the end of the sixties, and a.s.sumed significant dimensions in the eighties. Two important periods of rising immigration are clearly distinguishable. The first period attains its maximum between 1885 and 1889. The second attains its maximum and that of the entire movement between 1900 and 1904.

In the thirty years between 1881 and 1910, 67,057 immigrants entered the United States.[72] In the first decade, 6,967 immigrants, or 10.4 per cent of the total, arrived. In the second decade, 12,789 immigrants arrived, or 19.1 per cent of the total. The great majority, 47,301 immigrants, or 70.5 per cent of the total, arrived in the last decade, more than twice as many as had arrived in the two preceding decades. The Roumanian Jews thus began to take a significant part in the Jewish movement only within the last decade.

The annual variations are closely connected with the conditions in Roumania which have been previously discussed.[73] The rise in 1885 to 803 immigrants, the first number of any consequence, reflects the measures taken in Roumania to restrict the economic activity of the Jews, chiefly through the hawkers' law of 1884. The continuation of the administrative activities against the Jews, the expulsion of many from the villages, and particularly the beginning in earnest of the attempt to drive them from industry and commerce, by the law of 1887, are responsible for the wholesale exodus in that and the following two years. In these three years more than 7 per cent of the total Roumanian Jewish immigration entered the country.

After 1889 and for nearly a decade the immigration of Jews from Roumania subsided, resuming the proportions established before 1887.

Another rise began in 1899. In 1900, the Roumanian Jewish immigration reached the relatively great number of 6,183, around which point it stood for the next two years. In 1903, it reached its maximum with an immigration of 8,562 Jews, one-eighth of the entire Roumanian Jewish immigration for the thirty years. In the following year the immigration still held to the high numbers reached before 1903. The years following 1904 show a fall to less than 4,000, which was interrupted in 1908, when the immigration rose to 4,455. In 1909, a sharp fall ensued to 1,390, and in 1910 to 1,701.

The great rise from 1900 to 1904, during which period there came more than half of the total number of Jewish immigrants from Roumania, was largely due to the resumption of the government program against the Jews. The chief form of restriction was the pa.s.sing of the Artisans'

Law in 1902, preceded by some years of agitation and administrative activity directed against the Jews, which aimed to make it impossible for the Jewish artisans to secure work. The feeling that the Jews had nothing to hope from the government, as much as the actual distress occasioned, was largely responsible for the unprecedented immigration.[74]

The Jewish forms so large a part of the Roumanian immigration as to be practically synonymous with it. As we have before noted, the figures obtained from the Jewish sources indicate a larger immigration from 1886 to 1898 on the part of the Jews alone than the official figures give for the entire immigration from Roumania for this period.

Confining our attention to the figures of immigration from 1899 to 1910,[75] we find that, from 1899 to 1910, of the 61,073 immigrants from Roumania who entered the United States, 54,827, or 89.8 per cent, were Jews. Thus practically nine-tenths of the immigrants from Roumania are Jews. In the five years in which the Jewish movement was at its height, the Jews const.i.tuted from 91 per cent to 95.7 per cent of the Roumanian immigration. The immigration of other peoples from Roumania is insignificant. The highest number entering in any of the twelve years amounted to less than 800.

Still more significant is the intensity of immigration of the Roumanian Jews, especially in view of the negligible number of immigrants from Roumania other than Jews. The rate of immigration of the Roumanian Jews is far higher than that even of their Russian brethren.[76] The average annual immigration of Roumanian Jews, for the twelve years, from 1899 to 1910, amounted to 4,569, which represented an average rate of immigration for the Roumanian Jews of 175 per 10,000 of the Jewish population in Roumania. In the five years of maximum immigration, from 1900 to 1904, the rate was considerably higher, reaching in 1903 the enormous proportion of 329 immigrants to every 10,000 Jews in Roumania. The lowest rate during this period, that of 1900, was only slightly smaller than the maximum rate approached by the Jewish immigrants from Russia. However, in the three years which represented the highest point of the rate of immigration of the Jews from Russia, from 1905 to 1907, the rate of immigration for the corresponding years in Roumania was considerably smaller.

The Jewish immigration from Roumania is thus a product chiefly of the last decade. The rise in the first decade and the relatively tremendous rise in the last decade are a result largely of the activities of the Roumanian government. The vast majority of the immigrants from Roumania are Jews, whose rate of immigration is unprecedented.

FOOTNOTES:

[72] _Cf._ table XVII, p. 166.

[73] _Cf._ table XVIII, p. 167.

[74] In the _Century_ of Nov., 1913, Professor Ross, writing on "The Old World in the New," remarks (p. 28) that "the emigration of 50,000 Roumanian Jews between January and August, 1900, was brought about by steamship agents who created great excitement in Roumania by distributing glowing circulars about America."

It is remarkable that with so large an emigration of Roumanian Jews during these eight months, ostensibly directed to America, only 6183 Roumanian Jews were recorded as arriving in the United States in 1900, and only 6,827 in 1901. In the twelve years from 1899 to 1910, Professor Ross's figure is approached; for the entire period 54,827 Roumanian Jews are officially recorded as entering the United States.

Even of the relatively large immigration of Jews from Roumania in 1900, the cause clearly was not the activity of steamship agents.

Compare the report of the president of the United Hebrew Charities, keenly alive to the problems presented to the American Jews by the Jewish immigration:

"The last few months have been noteworthy in the history of the Jewish race for an outbreak of Anti-Semitism in a far-away country, the far-reaching effects of which have been keenly felt in this city. I refer of course, to the persecutions of the Jews in Roumania. A small group of Jewish philanthropists of this city (under the direction of the IOOB) has taken up the task of providing for the newcomers." Such a response is not usually given to immigrants lured to this country by promises of gain.