FOURTH BIENNIAL SESSION OF THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES in the United States HELD IN THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA May 6tk to 8tk, 1906 NEW YORK PRESS OF STETTINER BROS., 52-58 Duane St. 1907 CONTENTS. PAGE Officers, 1904-1906 5 Officers, 1906-1908 6 Constitution 7 Membership of the Conference 9 Register of Delegates 16 Program 19 OPENING SESSION Address of Welcome, William B. Hackenburg, President Jewish Hospital Association, Philadelphia 21 Address of Judge Julian W. Mack, President of the Con- ference 24 Report of the Committee on Distribution, Cyrus L. Sulz- berger 39 MONDAY MORNING SESSION Report of Committee on Desertion, Dr. Lee K. Prankel 46 Discussion: Michel Heyman, New Orleans 57 The President 57 Miss Miriam Kalisky, Chicago 57 . Mr. Zunser 58 Simon Wolf, Washington 59 Miss Gertrude Berg, Philadelphia 59 Max Herzberg, Philadelphia 60 Dr. Max Landsberg, Rochester Cl iMrs. Pisko, Denver 62 Solomon Lowenstein, New York 63 Persistency of Dependence as Indicated by Relief Statistics: Dr. Boris D. Bogen, Cincinnati, 63 Discussion: Morris Jacoby, New York 71 The President 72 Miss Sadie American, New York 73 Max Herzberg, Philadelphia 73 Dr. Jacob Hollander, Baltimore 73 Max Senior, Cincinnati 74 MONDAY AFTERNOON SESSION Placing Out of Jewish Children: Dr. Ludwig B. Bernstein, New York 75 The English and German Cottage Plan for the Care of Or- phans: Rabbi Simon Peiser, Cleveland 89 Discussion of the Cottage Plan from the Architectural Point of View: Charles H. Israels, New York 93 Jewish Delinquent Children: Falk Younker, New York . . f 99 Homes for Working Girls: (Miss Rose Sommerf eld, New York 105 Discussion: Dr. Henry Berkowitz, Philadelphia 113 Mrs. Galland, Wilkes-Barre 114 A. R. Levy, Chicago 114 Mrs. Charles Israels, New York 115 Mrs. Max Landsberg, Rochester 116 Miss Sadie American, New York 117 The President 118 Miss Sommerfeld 120 TUESDAY MORNING SESSION State Aid to Sectarian Institutions: Prof. Morris Loeb, New York 120 Statistics of Institutional Management 130 Home for the Aged and Infirm: Michel Heyman, New Orleans. 130 2114394 Institutions for Children: PAGE Solomon Lowenstein, New York 133 Discussion: W. B. Hackenburg, Philadelphia 144 Discussion on Papers of Messrs. Bernstein, Israels, and Lowen- stein: Max Mitchell, Boston, Mass 144 Arnold Cohen, Philadelphia 145 S. M. Fleischman, Philadelphia 146 Jacob Bashein, New York 146 R. A. Sonn, Atlanta, Ga 148 Dr. Boris D. Bogen, Cincinnati 149 Dr. Jacob Hollander, Baltimore 149 Dr. A. R. Levy, Chicago 150 W. B. Hackenburg, Philadelphia 150 Max Senior, Cincinnati 151 Leo Loeb, Philadelphia 152 Dr. L. B. Bernstein, New York 153 The President 155 TUESDAY AFTERNOON SESSION The Baron De Hirsch Fund: Eugene S. Benjamin, New York 156 Plan of Agricultural Settlement: A. W. Rich, Milwaukee 170 Agriculture, a Most Effective Means in Adjusting the Com- promised Economic Conditions of the Jewish Poor: Rabbi A. R. Levy, Chicago , 181 Possibilities for Agricultural Settlements in the South: Dr. I. L. Leucht, New Orleans 189 Agricultural Education: Rabbi Joseph Krauskopf, Philadelphia 195 Dr. H. L. Sabsovich, New York 203 Discussion: Rabbi A. R. Levy, Chicago 211 A. W. Rich, Milwaukee 213 TUESDAY EVENING SESSION Treatment of Consumptives in Their Homes: Dr. F. L. Wachenheim, New York 213 Local Sanatoria: Dr. Theodore B. Sachs, Chicago 220 Care of Advanced Cases of Pulmonary Tuberculosis: Dr. C. D. Spivak, Denver, Colo 229 Sanatoria for Consumptives: Alfred 'Muller, Denver, Colo 234 Discussion: Miss Annie Hillkowitz, Denver 240 Samuel Grabfelder, Louisville 241 The President 242 Mrs. Seraphine Pisko, Denver 242 Dr. S. Splis Cohen, Philadelphia 243 Dr. Louis Jurist, Philadelphia 248 BUSINESS SESSION Report from Committee on Resolutions 249 Report from Committee on Nominations 251 Retiring Address of President: Judge Julian W. Mack, Chicago 252 APPENDIX A. Report of Committee on Membership 257 APPENDIX B. Report of Committee on Jewish Sufferers from San Francisco Earthquake . 262 OFFICERS 1904-06. President. JULIAN W. MACK. CHICAGO, ILL. Vice-Presidents. BERNARD GINSBURG, DETROIT, MICH. MRS. JACOB WIRTH, ST. PAUL, MINN. Secretary. SOLOMON LOWENSTEIN, NEW YORK. 137th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. Treasurer. OSCAR H. ROSENBAUM, PITTSBURG, PA. Executive Committee. MAX SENIOR, CINCINNATI, -OHIO. MAX HESZBERG, PHILADELPHIA, PA. NATHAN BIJUR, NEW YORK. PROF. JACOB H. HOLLANDER, BALTIMORE, MD. DR. ISAAC L. LEUCHT, NEW ORLEANS. LA. A. W. RICH, MILWAUKEE, Wis. DR. SAMUEL SALE, ST. Louis, Mo. OFFICERS 1906-08. President. NATHAN BIJUR, NEW YORK. Vice-Presidents. BERNARD GINSBURG, DETROIT, MICH. MRS. EMMA ECKHOUSE, INDIANAPOLIS, IND. Secretary. SOLOMON LOWENSTEIN, NEW YORK, 137th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. Treasurer. BERNARD GREENSFELDER, ST. Louis, Mo. Executive Committee. MAX SENIOR, CINCINNATI, OHIO. MAX HERZBERG, PHILADELPHIA, PA. JULIAN W. MACK, CHICAGO, ILL. MRS. JULIUS ANDREWS, BOSTON, MASS. SAMUEL S. FLEISHER, PHILADELPHIA, PA. PROF. JACOB H. HOLLANDER, BALTIMORE, MD. VICTOR H. KRIEGSHABER, ATLANTA, GA. MARTIN A. MARKS, CLEVELAND, O. CONSTITUTION OF THE National Conference of Jewish Charities IN THE UNITED STATES. ARTICLE I.-NAME. This association shall be known as the National Conference of Jewish Charities in the United States. ARTICLE II. OBJECTS. The objects of this association are to discuss the problems of charities and to promote reforms in their administration ; to pro- vide uniformity of action and co-operation in all matters pertain- ing to the relief and betterment of the Jewish poor of the United States, without, however, interfering in any manner with the local work of any constituent society. ARTICLE III. MEMBERSHIP AND DUES. SEC. 1. Any regularly organized Jewish Society of the United States having charitable and philanthropic purposes may become a member of the association on application made to the Secretary and on payment of the membership dues. SEC. 2. The annual membership dues for each society shall be one-tenth of one per cent of the amount expended by it for its corporate purposes during the preceding year, not less, however. than $5.00 nor more than $50.00. Such dues shall be payable February 1st of each year. SEC. 3. Each constituent society shall be entitled to one delegate, but may appoint as many as it sees fit to attend the bien- nial meeting. All such delegates shall be entitled to participate in said meeting, but each society shall have but one vote. SEC. 4. Each constituent society shall certify to the Secre- tary on or before January 1st of each year the amount of its expenditures for its corporate purposes during the preceding fiscal year. NATIONAL CONFERENCE OP JEWISH CHARITIES. ARTICLE IV. OFFICERS. SEC. 1. The officers of the Conference shall be a President, two Vice-Presidents, a Treasurer and a Secretary, who with five other elective members and all ex-presidents ex officio, shall con- stitute the Executive Committee. Officers shall be elected by ballot at the biennial meeting, and shall hold office two years and until their successors are elected and inducted. SEC. 2. Vacancies in any of the offices provided in Section 1 of this Article may be filled for the unexpired portion of the term of office at any meeting of the Executive Committee. ARTICLE' V. DUTIES OF OFFICERS. SEC. 1. The officers of this Conference shall perform the du- ties usually incumbent upon such officers, and shall submit a re- port at the biennial meeting. SEC. 2. The Executive Committee shall transact the business of the Conference in the interim between the biennial meetings. It shall arrange for the biennial meeting ; and have the power to appoint regular and special committees. SEC. 3. The Executive Committee shall meet at the call of the President, or at the request of three members. Four members shall constitute a quorum. SEC. 4. When the Executive Committee is not in session it may, by majority vote of its members acting individually, au- thorize any action first submitted in writing to each of them. ARTICLE VI. -MEETINGS. SEC. 1. This Conference shall meet biennially at such place and time as the Executive Committee shall designate. SEC. 2. Delegates representing fifteen constituent societies shall constitute a quorum at such biennial meetings. ARTICLE VII. AMENDMENTS. This constitution may be amended at any biennial meeting by a majority vote of the societies represented, provided notice of the proposed amendment shall have been mailed to all the constit- uent societies at least sixty days prior to such meeting; or it may be amended at any time by a majority vote of all the con- stituent societies. It shall be the duty of the Executive Com- mittee to submit all proposed amendments. MEMBERSHIP National Conference of Jewish Charities IN THE UNITED STATES. NAME OF SOCIETY Albany, N. Y Hebrew Benevolent Society, Dr. M. Scbles- inger, Secty., 334 Hudson Ave. Alexandria, Va. . . . .Hebrew Benevolent Society, Mr. N. Woll- berg, Secty. Atlanta, Ga Federation of Jewish Charities, V. H. Kriegshaber, Pres., 8 N. Forsyth St. Atlanta, Ga Hebrew Orphan Home, Max Cohen, Seety. and Treas., 509' 7th St., N. W., Washing- ton, D. C. Baltimore, Md Hebrew Benevolent Society, Mr. B. Baro- way, Supt., 411 W. Fayette St. Birmingham, Ala. ..Hebrew Relief Society, Mr. E. Lesser Pres. Bloomington, 111. . . .The Jewish Ladies' Aid Society, Mrs. Oscar Mandel, Secty., E. Washington St. Boston, Mass Federation of Jewish Charities, Max Mitchell, Supt., Chardon St. Boston, Mass Hebrew Women's Sewing Society, Mrs Rosa L. Frank, Treas., 23 Arborway. Jamaica Plain. Braddock, Pa Braddock Lodge, No. 516, I. O. B. B., Mr. Manuel Goldwater, Secty., 629 Mar- garetta St. Buffalo, N. Y. ..... , Federated Jewish Charities, Mrs. William Elkus, Supt., 456 Jefferson St. Butte, Mont Hebrew Benevolent Society, Mr. A. IWehl. Secty., P. O. Box 452. Charleston, S. C Hebrew Benevolent Society, Mr. M. H. Nathan, Secty. and Treas., 168 E. Bay. 10 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH Charleston, W. Va. . . Hebrew Educational Society, Mr. Herbert Frankenberger, Secty., 630 Kanawha Cor. Summers St. Chattanooga, Tenn. . .Mizpah Congr. Relief Society, Mr. H Goodman, Jr., Pres. Chicago, 111 Bureau of Personal Service, Miss Minnie F. Low, Supt, 468 S. Halsted St. Chicago, 111 Council of Jewish Women, Miss Sadie American, Executive Secretary, 448 Cen- tral Park West, N. Y. City. Chicago, 111 Home of Jewish Friendless Working Girh Chicago, 111 Home for Jewish Orphans, Mr. L. Deutel- baum, Supt., 62nd St. and Drexel Ave. Chicago, 111 United Hebrew Charities, Mr. A. J. Pflaum, Secty., 223 26th St. Cincinnati, United Jewish Charities, Dr. Boris D. Bo- gen, Supt., 730 Carlisle Ave. Cleveland, O The Federation of Jewish Charities, Mr. E. M. Baker, Secty., 513 Citizens Bldg. Cleveland, O Hebrew Relief Association, Mr. A. S. New- man, Supt., 294 AVopdland Ave. Cleveland, O Jewish Orphan Asylum, Dr. S. Wolf en stein, Supt. Colo. Springs, Colo. .Hebrew Benevolent Society, Mr. N. Leip- heimer, Secty., P. O. Box 445. Columbus, Jewish Charities, Paul Karger, Secty., 333 Columbus Savings and Trust Bldg. Columbus, 0. Ladies ' Hebrew Benevolent Society, Mrs. A. B. Cohen, Secty., 392 E. Town St. Cumberland, Md. . . .Be'er Chayim Congr., Mr. Edward Tanzer. Secty. Dallas, Tex Hebrew Benevolent Society. Dallas, Tex Congr. EmanuEl, Mr. D. A. Eldridge. Secty. Dayton, O Dayton Provident Union, Mr. Sol. Flatau. Secty., Reibold Bldg. Denver, Colo Jewish Relief Society, Miss Adelaide Kaichen, Supt., 30 Pioneer Bldg. NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 11 Des Moines, la Hebrew Ladies' Benevolent Society, Rabbi Eugene Manheimer. Detroit, Mich , United Jewish Charities, Mr. A. Benjamin. Secty., 239 E. High St. Duluth, Minn Temple Aid Society, Mrs. M. Cornfield. Secty. El Paso, Tex Mt. Sinai Congr., Mr. I. Haas, Secty., care of Lion Grocery Co. Eivansville, Ind ^Hebrew Benevolent Society, Mrs. M. Ober- dorfer, Pres., 624 Locust St. Fort Wayne, Ind. . . .Hebrew Relief Union, Mr. Isidor Lehman. Pres. Gainesville, Tex. . . United Hebrew Congr., I. Cohen, Secty., Church and Red River Sts. Galveston, Tex. . ... . .The Hebrew Benevolent Society. Hot Springs, Ark. . . Hot Springs Relief Society, Rabbi A. B. Rhine, Secty. Houston, Tex Beth Israel Relief Society, S. M. Colman Treas., 1107 Congress Ave. Houston, Tex The United Hebrew Benevolent Associa- tion, Mrs. I. Keller, Treas. Indianapolis. Ind. ..Ladies' Hebrew Benevolent Society, Mrs. II. Marks, Secty., 22 W. Michigan St. Ithaca, N. Y Mr. Jacob Rothschild. Kalamazoo, Mich. . . .Congr. B'nai Israel, Samuel Folz. Kansas City, Mo. . . .United Jewish Charities, Mr. Jacob Billi- kopf, Supt, 1702 Locust St. Kansas City, Mo. . . .Hebrew Ladies' Relief Association, Mrs. II Levite, Pres. Lafayette, Ind Jewish Ladies ' Aid Society, Mrs. Max Boin Secty., 604 N. 6th St. Lancaster, Pa United Hebrew Charity Assoc., Mr. Jonas Fox, Secty., 123 E. King St. Lincoln, Neb The Jewish Ladies' Aid Society, Mrs. William Gold, Secty., 1225 Hill St. Little Rock, Ark. . . . Hebrew Relief Society, 1419 Louisiana St. Los Angeles, Cal. . . .Hebrew Benevolent Society, Mr. N. Zeisler. Secty., 110 New Hellman Block. 12 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH Louisville, Ky Congr. Adath Israel, Mr. M. Strauss, Secty. Louisville, Ky United Hebrew Relief Association, Mr. G. S. Rosenberg, Secty., 310 E. Walnut St. Macon, Ga Congr. Beth El, Mr. D. H. Whitman, Secty. Mattapan, Mass Leopold Morse Home and Orphanage, Rabbi Solomon Schindler, Supt. Memphis, Tenn The Hebrew Ladies' Relief Association. Memphis, Tenn United Hebrew Relief Association, Dr. M. Samfield, Pres. Meridian, Miss Meridian Jewish Orphans' Home and Ben. Association, Rabbi Max Raisin, Secty. Milwaukee, Wis Hebrew Relief Association, 416 Milwaukee Street. Minneapolis, Minn. . .Hebrew Ladies' Benevolent Society, Mrs. Charles Moss, Secty., 2104 Portland Ave. Mobile, Ala United Hebrew Charities, Mr. Henry Hess Pres. Montgomery, Ala. . . .United Hebrew Charities, Mr. Jacques Loeb. Nashville, Tenn Hebrew Relief Society, Mr. D. dine. Secty., 128 N. Market St. Natchez, Miss Hebrew Relief Association, Rabbi S. G. Bottigheimer. Newark, N. J Hebrew Benevolent Society, Mr. G. J, Kempe, Secty., 530 Clinton Ave. New Haven, Conn. . .Hebrew Benevolent Society, Mr. F. M. Ad- ler, Secty., care of Strause, Adler & Co. New Orleans, La. . . . Assoc. Relief of Jewish Widows and Or- phans, Mr. F S. Weis, Secty., P. O. Box 966: New Orleans, La. . . .Touro Infirmary and Hebrew Benevolent Assoe., Mr. Chas. Rosen, Seety., 3516 Prytania St. New York, N. Y The Free Synagogue, Rabbi Stephen Wise, 46 E. 68th St. New York, N. Y. . . Hebrew Free Loan Association, 108 Sec- ond Ave. NATIONAL. CONFERENCE OP JEWISH CHARITIES. 13 New York, N. Y. ...United Hebrew Charities, Dr. Lee K. Frankel, Mgr., 356 Second Ave. New York, N. Y. . . .Young Men's Hebrew Association, Mr William Mitchell, Supt., 92nd St. and Lexington Ave. Niagara Falls, N. Y. .Ladies' Hebrew Benevolent Society, Miss Theresa Gaismar, Secty., 826 Willow Ave. Norfolk, Va. . . ; Ladies' Hebrew Benevolent Society, Mrs. Chas. Meyers, Secty., 244 Holt St. Oakland, Cal Daughters of Israel Relief Society, Filbert St. Paducah, Ky Congregation Temple Israel, I. Nauheim, Secty. Pensacola, Fla Congr. Beth El, Mr. Julius Menko, Secty. Peoria, 111 .Hebrew Relief Association. Philadelphia, Pa. . . . Home for Hebrew Orphans, Mr. Meyer C. Posner, Secty., 10th and Bainbridge Sts. Philadelphia, Pa. . . .The Jewish Foster Home and Orphan Asy- lum, Dr. Fleischman, Supt., 16th and Reed Sts. Philadelphia, Pa. ... The Orphans' Guardians, Mr. S. W. Good- man, Secty., 116 N. 3rd St. Philadelphia, Pa. ... United Hebrew Charities, Mr. Moses Klein : Supt., 336 N. 6th St. Philadelphia, Pa. . . .Young Women's Union, Miss Alice E. Jas- trow, Seety., 1328 Montgomery Ave. Phoenix, Ariz Mr. S. Oberf elder. Pine Bluff, Ark Hebrew Relief Association. Pittsburg, Pa United Hebrew Relief Association, Mr. M. Himmelrich, Treas., 314 Fifth Ave. Portland, Ore First Hebrew Benevolent Assoc., 108 4th St. Portland, Ore Jewish Women's Benevolent Society. Mrs. Tillie Selling. Secty., 434 Main St. Portsmouth, O Ladies' Aid Society, Mrs. Clara K. Straus. Secty.. 25 W. 2nd St. 14 PROCEEDINGS OP THE FOURTH Reading, Pa Ladies' Hebrew Aid Society, Mr. Julius Frank, Secty. Richmond, Va Congregation Beth Ahabah, Henry S. Hutzler, Secty. Richmond, Va Hebrew Ladies' Benevolent Society, Mrs Moses May, Treas., 607 E. Broad St. Rochester, N. Y. . . .Jewish Orphan Asylum Assoc. of "Western N. Y., Dr. Max Landsberg, Secty., 420 Main St. Rochester, N. Y. ... United Jewish Charities, Dr. Max Lands- berg, Secty., 420 Main St., East. Salt Lake City, UtakJewish Relief Society, 539 E. 1st South St. San Antonio, Tex Montefiore Benevolent Society, care of D, & A. Oppenheim. San Francisco, Cal. . . Eananuel Sisterhood, Mrs. C. R. Waiter. Secty., Menlo Park, Cal. San Francisco, Cal. .Eureka Benevolent Assoc., Mr. Meyer H. Levy, Secty., 436 O'Farrell St. San Francisco, Cal. .Pacific Hebrew Orphan Asylum, Mr. Henry Mauser, Supt, 212 Sansome St. Savannah, Ga Congr. Mickva Israel, Mr. Benj. J. Apple, Secty. Savannah, Ga Ladies' Hebrew Benevolent Society, Mrs. S. L. Lazaron, Secty., 124 W. Park Ave. Scranton, Pa Jewish Ladies' Relief Society, Mrs. Louis H. Isaacs, Secty., 415 Madison Ave. Siox City, la Jewish Ladies' Aid Society, Mrs. Benj. Schulein, Secty. Staten Island, N. Y. .Hebrew Benevolent Society, Mr. Julius Schwartz, Pres., 128 Bway., N. Y. City. St. Joseph, Mo Jewish Ladies' Benevolent Society, Mrs. Julius Rosenblatt, Secty., 410 N. 6th St. St. Louis, Mo Jewish Charitable and Educational Union. Mr. Bernard Greensfelder, Secty. St. Paul, Minn Beekor Cholim Society, Mrs. B. Mark. Pres., 589 Pine St. St. Paul, Minn The Jewish Relief Society, Mrs. J. West- heimer, Secty., 846 Summit Ave. NATIONAL CONFERENCE OP JEWISH CHARITIES. 15 St. Paul, Minn. Syracuse, N. Y. Terre Haute, Ind. Toledo, 0. . . Troy, N. Y. Vicksburg, Miss. . Vicksburg, Miss. . Waco, Tex Washington, D. C. Wheeling, W. Va. Wheeling, W. Va. Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Wilmington, Del. Youngstown, 0. . ..Sisters of Peace Relief Society, 216 E. Summit Ave. ,. .United Jewish Charities, 102 Walnut Place. . . Jewish Aid Society, Rabbi Emil Leipziger Secty., 706 S. 5th St. ...Hebrew Ladies' Benevolent Society, Mrs. ..Ladies' Society, Berith Shalom Congrega- tion. B. Kaufman, Treas., 211 Scottwood Ave. . . .Ladies' Hebrew Benevolent Society, Mrs. Bettie Gusdorfer, Pres., S. Cherry St. . .Associated Jewish Charities, Sol. L. Kory. Supt. . . The Hebrew Benevolent Society. The United Hebrew Charities, Columbian Bldg. . . United Hebrew Charities, Rabbi Henry Levi, Secty. . . Congr. Leshem Shomayim, Mr. Joseph Raduziner, Secty. . .Ladies' Auxiliary, Y. M. H. A., Miss Pa- melia Constine, Secty., 275 S. River St. . . Hebrew Charity Association, Mr. Harry Gordon, Secty., 231 Market St. . .Youngstown Hebrew Charity Society, Mr. B. Hartzeli, care of Hartzeli Bros. Co. Register of Delegates V. H. Kriegshaber, Federation of Jewish Charities, At- lanta, Ga. R. A. Sonn, Hebrew Orphan Home, Atlanta, Ga. Jacob Hahn, Hebrew Benevolent Society, Baltimore, Md. Prof. Jacob H. Hollander, Hebrew Benevolent Society. Baltimore, Md. Miss Bertha H. Gelders, United Jewish Charities, Birming- ham, Ala. Myer Bloomfield, Civic Service House, Boston, Mass. Mrs. Rosa Z. Krokin, Council of Jewish Women, Boston, Mass. Max Mitchell, Federation of Jewish Charities, Boston, Mass. I. Aaron, Federated Jewish Charities, Buffalo, N. Y. Mrs. William Elkus, Federated Jewish Charities, Buffalo, N. Y. Miss Cecile B. Weiner, Federated Jewish Charities, Buffalo. N. Y. Miss Miriam Kalisky, United Hebrew Charities, Chicago, 111. A. R. Levy, Jewish Agricultural Aid Society of America. Chicago, 111. Julian W. Mack, Associated Jewish Charities, Chicago. 111. Dr. Theo. B. Sachs, United Hebrew Charities, Chicago, 111. Mrs. Theo. B. Sachs, United Hebrew Charities, Chicago, 111. Dr. Boris D. Bogen, United Jewish Charities, Cincinnati, O Sidney E. Pritz, United Jewish Charities, Cincinnati. 0. Max Senior, United Jewish Charities, Cincinnati, 0. Martin A. Marks, Jewish Orphan Asylum, Cleveland, 0. A. S. Newman, Hebrew Relief Association, Cleveland, O. Miss Anna Hillkowitz, Jewish Consumptives Relief Society. Denver, Col. Alfred Muller, National Jewish Hospital for Consumptives. Denver, Col. Alfre'd Patek, National Jewish Hospital for Consumptives. Denver, Col. Mrs. S. Pisko, Jewish Relief Society, Denver, Col. Mrs. Helen E. Wolf, Jewish Relief Society, Denver, Col. Bernard Ginsburg, United Jewish Charities, Detroit, Mich. Miss Bella Goldman, United Jewish Charities, Detroit, Mich. Miss Blanche Hart, United Jewish Charities, Detroit, Mich. *The Register of Delegates is arranged alphabetically according to eity. NATIONAL, CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 17 David Scheyer, United Jewish Charities, Detroit, Mich. Mrs. David Scheyer, United Jewish Charities, Detroit, Mich. Mrs. Emina Eckhouse, Jewish Federation, Indianapolis, Inc. Mrs. Isidor Rosenthal, United Hebrew Charity Association. Lancaster, Pa. E;dward Grauman, United Hebrew Relief Association, Louis- ville, Ky. A. Richman, United Hebrew Relief Association, Louisville. Ky. G. S. Rosenberg, United Hebrew Relief Association, Louis- ville, Ky. S. Shapinsky, United Hebrew Relief Association, Louisville. Ky. Jacob Billikopf , Hebrew Relief Association, Milwaukee, Wis. Mr. A. W. Rich, Hebrew Relief Association. Milwaukee. Wis. Mrs. A. W. Rich, Hebrew Relief Association, Milwaukee. Wis. Mrs. A. Goldberg, Hebrew Ladies' Benevolent Society, Min- neapolis, Minn. Michel Heynian, Jewish Orphans' Home, New Orleans, La. Miss Sadie American, Council of Jewish Women. New York. N. Y. Mrs. I. M. Appel, Emanuel Sisterhood, New York, N. Y. Mrs. M. S. Appel, Emanuel Sisterhood, New York, N. Y. Dr. Ludwig B. Bernstein, Hebrew Sheltering Guardian So- ciety, New York, N. Y. Julius J. Dukas. Hebrew Free Loan Society, New York. N. Y. Sidney E. Goldstein, Mt. Sinai Hospital, New York, N. Y. Mrs. Leo S. Greenbaum. Federation of Sisterhoods, New York, N. Y. Maurice H. Harris, Harlem Federation, New York, N. Y. Mrs. Charles H. Israels, Council of Jewish Women, New York, N. Y. Morris Jacoby, Hebrew Free Loan Society, New York, N. Y. Leon Kamaiky, United Hebrew Charities, New York, N. Y. Mrs. Leon Kamaiky, United Hebrew Charities. New York N. Y. Solomon Lowenstein. Hebrew Orphan Asylum Xew York N. Y. William Mitchell, Young Men's Hebrew Association, New York. N. Y. H. Rabinowich, Hebrew Free Loan Society, New York, N. Y Mrs. Louis Siff, New York. N. Y. 18 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH Miss Rose Sommerfeld, Clara De Hirsch Home, New York. N. Y. Mrs. Fred Waehtel, Ceres Sewing Circle, New York, N. Y. Falk Younker. Young Men's Hebrew Association, New York. N. Y. Charles Zunser, United Hebrew Charities, New York, N. Y. M. Himmelrich, United Hebrew Relief Association, Pittrs- burg, Pa. Miss Edna P. Kerngood, Council of Jewish Women, Pitts- burg, Pa. 0. H. Rosenbaum, United Hebrew Relief Association, Pitts- burg, Pa. Miss Julia Schoenfeld, Columbian Council School, Pitts- burg, Pa. Mrs. Fannie R. Bigelow, United Jewish Charities, Rochester. N. Y. Dr. Sigmund Handler, Jewish Orphan Asylum of Western New York, Rochester, N. Y. Dr. Max Landsberg, United Jewish Charities, Rochester. N. Y. Mrs. Miriam Landsberg, United Jewish Charities. Rochester. N. Y. Mrs. J. R. Cohen, Jewish Ladies' Relief Society. Scranton. Pa. Mrs. Martin Simmons. Jewish Ladies' Relief Society, Scran- ton, Pa. Bernard Greensfelder. Jewish Charitable and Educational Union, St. Louis, Mo. Mrs. Bernard Greensfelder, Jewish Charitable and Educa- tional Union, St. Louis, Mo. Mrs. Jacob Wirth, Jewish Relief Society, St. Paul. Minn. Simon Wolf, Washington, D. C. Mrs. George Galland, Young Men's Hebrew Association. Ladies' Auxiliary, Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Miss Bertha Strauss, Young Men's Hebrew Association. Ladies' Auxiliary, Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Morris Levy, Hebrew Charity Association, Wilmington, Del. Mrs. M. L. Roeder. Programme OPENING SESSION. i Sunday evening, May 6th, 8 o'clock, Temple Keneseth Israel, Broad Street, above Columbia Avenue, Public Meeting. ADDRESS OP WELCOME: William B. Hackenburg, President Jewish Hospital Association, Philadelphia. PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS TO THE CONFERENCE: Judge Julian W. Mack, Chicago. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON DISTRIBUTION : Cyrus Sulzberger New York. Reception in the Assembly Room of the Temple. Monday morning, May 1th. 9.30 o'clock, Mercantile Club, Broad Street, above Master. Registration of Delegates. DESERTION : Dr. Lee K. Frankel. New York. DISCUSSION : Persistency of Dependence as Indicated by Relief Sta- tistics. Dr. Boris D. Bogen, Cincinnati. DISCUSSION : 12.15. Lunch at Mercantile Club. 1 o'clock. Automobiles to Jewish Hospital, York Road and Olney Avenue. 2.30 o'clock. Meeting at Jewish Foster Home and Orphan Asylum, Church Lane and Chew Streets. "Placing out of Jewish Children." Dr. L. B. Bernstein, New York. "The English and German Cottage Plan for the Care of Orphans." Rabbi Simon Peiser, Cleveland. Discussion of the Cottage Plan from the Architectural Point of View. Charles H. Israels, New York. "Jewish Delinquent Children." Falk Younker, New York. "Homes for Working Girls." Miss Rose Sonunerfeld. New York. 5 o'clock. Return trip by automobile through German- town and Fair-mount Park. 9 o'clock. Reception, Hotel Majestic, Broad Street and Girard Avenue. 20 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH Tuesday morning, May 8th, 9.30 o'clock. Meeting at the rooms of Hebrew Education Society, Touro Hall, Tenth and Carpenter Streets. ' ' State Aid to Sectarian Institutions. ' ' Prof. Morris Loeb. New York. Statistics of Institutional Management. ' ' Homes for the Aged and Infirm. ' ' Michel Heyman, New- Orleans. "Institutions for Children." Solomon Lowenstein, Ne^v York. 12 o'clock. Lunch at Touro Hall. 1 o'clock. Visits to Home for Hebrew Orphans. Tenth and Bainbridge Streets ; Jewish Maternity Hospital, 534 Spruce Street; Young Women's Union, 422 Bainbridge Street ; Mt. Sinai Hospital, Fifth and Wilder Streets. 2.30 o 'clock. Meeting at the rooms of the Hebrew Litera- ture Society, 310 Catherine Street. Agriculture. "The Baron De Hirsch Fund." Eugene S. Benjamin, New York. "A Plan of Agricultural Settlement." A. W. Rich, Mil- waukee. "Agriculture, a Most Effective Means in Adjusting the Compromised Economic Condition of Jewish Poor." Rabbi A. R. Levy, Chicago. ' ' Possibilities for Agricultural Settlements in the South. ' ' Dr. I. L. Leucht, New Orleans. ' ' Agricultural Education. ' ' Dr. Joseph Krauskopf, Philadelphia Dr. H. L. Sabsovich, New York. Tuesday evening, 8 o'clock.. Meeting at Mercantile Club, Broad Street, above Master. Tuberculosis. "Dealing with the Consumptive at Home." Dr. F. L Wachenheim, New York. "Local Sanatoria." Dr. Theo. B. Sachs, Chicago. "Care of Advanced Cases." Dr. C. D. Spivak, Denver. "Sanatoria for Consumptives." Alfred Muller. Denver. Business Meeting. PROCEEDINGS Sunday, May 6th, eight P. M. Meeting at Temple Keneseth Israel was opened by a prayer by the Rev. Dr. Joseph Krauskopf of Philadelphia, after which. Mr. Max Herzberg, of the Philadelphia Local Committee, intro- duced Mr. '"W. B. Hackenburg, who welcomed the delegates to the Conference as follows : MR. PRESIDENT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN OP THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES: On behalf of Philadelphia's 75,000 Jews I extend to you, fellow workers in the cause of charity, a sincere and hearty welcome. Our city, the home of modern methods of dispensing charity, is proud to have been selected as the place of meeting for your Conference. It will be our purpose to make your stay with us pleasant and interesting, and we hope that you will be con- vinced that the Jews of this great city are alive to their duty in the field of philanthropy. Many of you, leaders in your local charities, have left your homes, dropped the cares of business, have travelled long distances to be present at this con- vention, to furnish us with your experience in the noble labor you have undertaken, to make those acquired experiences of value to others, and to discuss plans for improvement of systems and methods of alleviating distress. The discussion of new plans and recommendations by a class of experienced men and women is of inestimable value, not alone to the participants in this Confer- ence, but to other similar organizations in their work of relief. This Conference is the outcome or growth of improved devel- opments in philanthropic work, the result of deep thought and study by earnest workers for the relief of suffering humanity. It is a subject that has received the close attention of numerous leaders of every denomination. While you are here assembled 22 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH to consider and review the charitable work of the Jews, the Na- tional Conference of Charities and Corrections, embracing socie- ties of all religions, is to meet here for a similar purpose. With the utmost confidence and pardonable pride I make the assertion that no people in the world has devoted more time, money and labor in the endeavor to ameliorate the condition of its poor and distressed brethren in faith than we Jews, and certainly none with better results. Our methods have been regarded so near the best that similar societies of other creeds have sought them for adoption either in their formation or in the improvement of their present systems. While the affairs of our eleemosynary associa- tions, including almsgiving, hospitals, homes for the aged, orphan asylums, are all conducted upon the latest and most approved methods; in their financial affairs I venture to say, like all others, few if any, are able to keep within the bounds of their estimated income ; the liberality of our generous co-religion- ists however, always has, and I am sure, always will continue to prevent the occurrence of so direful a calamity as closing the doors of institutions or of being compelled to refuse relief to the distressed and suffering. With the growth of our Jewish population the work of provid- ing for the stricken classes has enormously increased, our relief societies are taxed to the utmost, the beds of our hospitals are constantly filled, our orphan asylums and homes for the aged and infirm have waiting lists of urgent applicants, and the scats and desks of our educational institutions, which have proved an important aid in this philanthropic work, are always in demand. While it is quite true that these largely increased demands have been liberally met by a generous community of one million five hundred thousand Jews, the few cities that have founded socie- ties known as the Federation of Jewish Charities, have, it ap- pears to us, proved themselves to be a valuable and important aid in economizing the labor of gathering funds for the support of communal charities. Of this fact no better evidence can be offered than that of our own city. Five years ago the total amount of money collected from the Jews of Philadelphia from memberships and donations was between $90,000 and $100.000. During the fifth year just closed the subscription to the Federa- NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 23 tion of Jewish Charities of Philadelphia was in round figures $145,000, being about 50 per cent, increase over the old system. I am informed that equally satisfactory results have attended the Federations that have been established in other cities, notably Chicago and Cincinnati. Not one of the twelve beneficiary insti- tutions of this city will dispute that while they are frequently short of sufficient income, yet has this financial auxiliary proved more effective to supply their wants than did former methods; these indisputable facts should invite the attention of other com- munities to its great worth and usefulness. The amount of money expended yearly by the Jews in the United States for the support of their charitable institutions and societies is very large. I believe that New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cincinnati, Baltimore. Cleveland, New Orleans and San Francisco will aggregate close to two millions of dollars. I may be pardoned for giving the figures expended in this city, where we have a Hospital, Dispensary and a Private Hospital open to all denominations, a Home for Aged and Infirm Israel- ites, a Home for Consumptives of the Jewish Faith under one management, the running expenses costing about $90.000 The United Hebrew Charities 50,000 A Foster Home and Orphan Asylum 26,500 An Educational Society 11,000 An Orphan's Guardian Society 5,000 A Maternity Hospital 10,000 A Seaside Home for Children 4,000 An Immigrant Aid Society 1,000 A Young Women's Union for Care of Children 16,000 A Sunday School Society 3,000 National Farm School at Doylestown 20,000 An annual appropriation for the Denver Hospital for Consumptives 3,000 A branch of the Alliance Israelite Universelle 500 All of these charities are beneficiaries of the Federation aggre- gating a total expenditure of about $250,000, at least $140,000 of which came from the Federation of Charities. In addition to those named there are an independent hospital, an orphan asylum, and possibly six or eight independent relief societies expending 24 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH an amount aggregating between $40,000 and $50,000. This, I think, is a sufficient warrant for the estimate I have given. In our extensive field of philanthropy we must not overlook the en- deavors being made to establish agricultural pursuits for our people. The efforts of the Baron de Hirsch Fund have met with reasonable success; its Agricultural School at Woodbine, and the National Farm School at Doylestown, with a few smaller organizations in the far West, have also had fair results. It is quite right to admit that this is a difficult problem to solve, but with the increased efforts of the Jewish Agricultural and Industrial Aid Society, an auxiliary of the Baron de Hirsch Fund, com- bined with other similar organizations, it is to be hoped that this unlimited, elevating and independent industry can be sufficiently developed to provide a livelihood, not alone for numbers of those who rely upon our societies for assistance, but will also succeed in distributing many of the people gathered in our great and crowded cities ; " a consummation devoutly to be wished. ' ' Let us hope that after reviewing the present methods of phil- anthropic work and the attendant discussions, that your delibera- tions may serve to widen the scope of our knowledge and further the power to ameliorate the woes of our suffering brethren. I cannot forbear adding a word of tribute to the generosity with which your constituents and mine have met the urgent de- mands produced by, the dreadful persecution of the Jews of Russia. Language fails to describe the scene of horror and misery in that benighted land. Conditions such as these have driven many to our shores. In discussing the question presented we must not fail to keep this circumstance in mind. You will hear speakers of experience and ability on the various problems that engage your attention, and lest I trench upon their time, permit me again to assure you of our city's welcome, of our pleasure to have you with us and to indulge the hope that you may enjoy your stay in our midst. PRESIDENT MACK'S ADDRESS. Judge Julian W. Mack, President of the Conference, said : For the fourth time we have come together in biennial conclave to consider the problems that confront the charitable organiza- NATIONAL, CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 25 tions of the Jews of America problems no longer new, though demanding year by year more imperatively than ever that the true solution be found for them. And in this city at this time, when the National Conference of Charities and Corrections is about to meet, the question again arises. Why should we confer on Jewish charity ? Aye, why have we our Jewish charities ? The Jew seeks no separation. He has ever realized the truth of human brotherhood. He is at one with the followers of all other religions in a common American citizenship. He claims no privileges that are not granted to others. He accepts no denials of the rights that are accorded to his fellow men. He recognizes that if he be of the chosen people, that people has been chosen not to ask for and to receive special favors, but to bear and to fulfill special duties and obligations. Loyalty to his country and to his faith demands that in all communal activities philanthropic and otherwise he take his place in the front rank, studying the uplifting social forces that are to bring about a regeneration, co-operating with his fellow citizens in contributing with head and heart and purse to the advancement of our civilization ; and therefore it behooves them all to participate in that greater and older organization whose sessions follow ours, and whose conferences have heretofore at- tracted some, but by no means a fairly proportionate representa- tion of Jews. A quarter of a millennium ago, when the Jews sought a home in this land, the favor, not the right, was accorded to them, but upon the express condition that they,should provide for and take care of their poor, so that they should not be a burden upon the community. To-day the Jew no longer need ask the gracious consent of the sovereign power, but may come freely and under the same con- ditions as all others. Nevertheless, he conceives it to be his duty no longer to his fellow Americans, but to himself, to his religion, to his fellow Jews faithfully to carry out this pledge given by his ancestors, the contemporaries of the Puritans and the Cavaliers. This explains the need of our own separate charities, to better and to strengthen which we have created this National Conference. 26 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH But though we undertake our self-imposed tasks gladly, aye, proudly, we shall not be the less active in all unsectarian or joint- sectarian work. We shall welcome and join in every philan- thropic union. And therefore we should give our approval to the merger of our official organ, Jewish Chanty with Charities and the Commons, by actively supporting this, the one magazine which is indispensable to everyone, who wishes to keep abreast of the times in social and philanthropic work and thought. Faithfully and earnestly, however, we should strive to lighten the load by educating the newcomer, by supplanting almsgiving with genuine aid, by making the weak and helpless self-support- ing in the city and on the farm, by eradicating delinquency and protecting our girls from the dangers that surround them, by sheltering the widowed and aged, by substituting wherever possi- ble the home for the institution in caring for our orphans, and making all of the institutions, which are essential, models of their kind, by checking disease, by adding to our hospitals the convalescent homes so essential to a complete restoration, by sup- pressing desertion and by promoting that international spirit of justice and fairness which alone can render the condition of the great mass of our co-religionists tolerable. Many of our aims are common to all Americans. The immi- gration question, e. g., is not in any true sense a Jewish problem : it is a national one. It raises the fundamental query: Shall America pursue her mission ? Shall she be the leader of liberty among the nations ? Shall her doors in the future as in the past swing gladly open at the knock of every decent applicant ? Shall she continue to be the refuge of the victim of political oppres- sion and religious bigotry ? Shall she grow greater and stronger through the labors, the energy, the love, aye, the fanatical devo- tion of those who at last have found a haven of peace and rest in her broad lands, or shall she. heeding the cry of some who fear a personal loss, themselves but immigrants one, two or three generations removed, reverse her national policy and sink to the know-nothing level ? This, I say, is not a Jewish problem, though we as Jews are vitally interested in it. AVe ask nothing for the victims of Rus- sian brutality that we do not demand for the valiant opponents NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 27 of Turkey 's misrule ; we seek no favors for the Jewish immigrant ,- we demand justice and equality, but we offer the old-time pledge, that he shall not become a burden on the community. May the spirit that prevailed in the great immigration con- ference last winter in New York, that was voiced by such leaders as President Eliot and Andrew Carnegie in demanding that we recognize the need of worthy immigration and the ability of this great land to absorb and assimilate many generations of immi- grants, find its echo in the halls of Congress. Let the standards of physical, mental and moral conditions be maintained, but do not let us substitute for the true ideal of sound character and capacity for American citizenship the false test of money and education "Not what the immigrant is when he lands, but what he shows an aptitude for becoming" should determine his admis- sibility. Many sections of the country offer abundant opportunity for work aye, even in New York, or shall I say, particularly in New York, crowded as it is, the newcomer finds little difficulty in se- curing employment; real character, even without book-learning, teaches him thrift; the opportunities that our public schoo's afford enable him to educate and Americanize his children, and none is quicker than he to take advantage thereof. Especially is all of this true of the Jewish immigrant of the last quarter century. Though he may be in the beginning and in a measure dependent upon his co-religionists not upon the community at large the persistency of this condition is very brief, as we shall learn from the statistical studies that Dr. Bogen has made on this subject. They will demonstrate that were it not for the continuous stream of immigration, most of the work that our Jewish charities, especially the relief offices, are doing, would be in a few years practically finished. But we cannot look forward too hopefully to such an end. The clouds that gathered on our horizon shortly before the last con- ference, in the Kisheneff outrages, far from being dispell' 1 '!. grew blacker and blacker, culminating in the terrible pogroms of 1905. the horrors of Odessa and the eighty or more other towns of Russia. Easter has passed without a repetition of these tor- turing crimes. What the future has in store for the Russian Jew. 28 PROCEEDINGS OP THE FOURTH God only knows. Against bigotry in high places and in low, the mighty forces of civilization are waging a fierce battle for control. Russia can never again be the Russia of old. Whether autocracy conquer in the end or constitutional monarchy, or even republic supplant it, some betterment in the condition of the Jews seems inevitable. Many generations may pass before the Russian Jew shall come into his own, but human life and liberty must surely be better protected than before. When the souls of the Jews throughout the world were torn with anguish and despair, a ray of sunshine broke through the black clouds a harbinger of hope. The mighty forces of Israel were united to a man. No longer were we American, German, Russian or Portuguese Jews separated by creedal, racial or other difference but one united band, called together and officered by those devoted leaders in New York, whose contributions of time and thought were at least as effective as their generous outpour- ing of money to stimulate the Jews of America to raise a million and a half dollars for the victims of Russian massacres. Not knowing when the call to further aid moral, financial, aye, gov- ernmentalmight come again, these leaders have suggested the establishment of a permanent committee or congress, fully repre- sentative of American Judaism. No definite plans have been adopted, a wide difference of opinion as to the advisability of any such body and as to the possibility of making it really repre- sentative may perhaps frustrate the undertaking. In the confer- ences on the subject, our organization has been fully represented. Some body, national or international, is clearly needed, to guide the great tide of Jewish immigration, to study conditions, both in Russia and in those other lands to which the victims of religious bigotry will be welcomed, to encourage a movement from the large cities by providing for not merely the necessities of human life, but the real wants of these people in other locali- ties. The work of the Removal Bureau, of which we shall hear to- night, is along these lines. In commerce and industrial life the Jew has always demonstrated his capacity, and we shall learn in NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 29 the course of this Conference that the successful pursuit of agri- culture is equally within the powers of these immigrants. None thought a few months ago that from our own people a call for aid would come. We have all poured out a golden stream for the sufferers in San Francisco. The most appalling single calamity in the history of our country aroused the American people to a prompt and united response. Jew and non-Jew have joined heartily, generously, lavishly, in giving; Jew and non- Jew will receive impartially and according to the individual needs. But, though we give never so bountifully to the general fund, we must not refuse the special additional claim of our fellow Jews, to assist in the reconstruction and temporary main- tenance of their destroyed institutions and crippled organizations. At the call of several San Francisco societies we are investi- gating the situation on the spot through a special committee. On their report a full statement will be made and an appeal issued for whatever assistance may be required. The Jews of our larger cities are ever called upon for one or the other purpose ; the country Jew too seldom knows that there are Jewish charities. This is an especial opportunity for him, and I urge particularly upon the delegates from the smaller communities to arouse their members to a realization of their larger national obligations. One of the great evils that led to the formation of this Confer- ence was the habit of sending applicants from town to town, irrespective of their ability to maintain themselves and without enquiry of, or notice to, the authorities of the place to which transportation was given. To get rid" of a case in any way was the principle that too often guided the action of relief boards. The adoption of the transportation rules has reduced the enor- mous expenditures for railroad fares to a minimum ; has brought about a genuine spirit of co-operation between our, members, and has saved the poor, overstrained, often neurotic applicants the useless wear and tear involved in shifting them about. During the past two years your Arbitration Committee has had but one complaint involving the interpretation of the governing rules. The evil is well nigh eradicated. Conld we but say the same of that other predominant cause 30 PROCEEDINGS OK THE FOURTH of distress wife and family desertion ! I shall not attempt to forestall the very interesting discussion of this subject by Dr. Frankel to-morrow. New York and Chicago are, of course, the chief sufferers from this grievous wrong-doing. A better co- operation between them, indeed between all communities, will enable the apprehension and punishment of the offenders. Though it is now clearly established that extradition should be granted for misdemeanors as readily as for felonies, the public authorities are frequently very lax in demanding the return of the criminal, and particularly in appropriating the moneys neces- sary to secure quick and efficacious results. They must be stimu- lated to an appreciation, both of the entirely disproportionate expense that the dependency of the wife and babies entails on some one and of the deterrent value of a few examples of swift and severe punishment. True it is that a conviction is often diffi- cult; the wife forgives too readily. But under our present laws she has all to gain and little to lose by forgiveness. To imprison the man does not bring her food and shelter; to try him again may do so. Could he be put at hard labor and the fruits of that labor be applied to the family support, a project frequently urged and one which ought clearly to be adopted a better condition would gradually obtain. A broad publicity would not only shame many a man to a return, but it would lead to rapid detection. The Yiddish newspapers especially have been and can be of the greatest assistance. But whilst it is important to punish the de- serter, we must not overlook the conditions that too often lead tho man astray. The present generation of children must receive the training and education that will create a healthy dissatisfaction with crowded unsanitary conditions that will enable the girls to make the home, however poor and simple, as attractive as the cafes, that will teach them to cook, to sew, to be the real com- panion to the husband, the thrifty housewife, the helpful mother. The work of Jewish charity must become more and more pre- ventive instead of merely palliative; to strike at the roots of an evil, to suppress it, to save the coming generations, may be more expensive than to patch up the damaged wrecks of humanity ; and NATIONAL CONFERENCE OP JEWISH CHARITIES. 31 the results are less readily seen in statistical reports ; to make a man self-sustaining is at the start more costly than to give him alms, but we are all agreed that in the long run it is cheaper and. theoretically, we are all doing it. Alas, the practice falls far short of the theory in most of our communities. Even when we have reached the stage of employing a superintendent, our boards of eminent citizens too often are guided by their intuitive concep- tions of relief management, based on tradition rather than by his advice based on training, experience and study. We have not yet thoroughly comprehended the need of experts in this work. Our problems are extremely complex. They re- quire years of study, both in the school and in the field. Real experience cannot be gained by merely watching and talking with the applicants for relief in the relief offices. Homes must be visited again and again; the environments must become well known ; friendly relations must be established with the members of the family. Only the trained worker can do this thoroughly. In New York, Chicago, Boston and St. Louis schools of philan- thropy have been founded. The students are also afforded the opportunity to inspect and to take part in the practical work of diverse organizations. We have established scholarships to enable young men and women desirous of entering upon professional careers in charity to obtain this training. We have had more difficulty in securing the right parties than in raising the needed funds. Our Scholarship Committee would gladly grant its aid to one or more men or women having the necessary preliminary education. While the trained superintendents are essential as guides, the hope for a betterment in the future is, in my judgment, in the Jewish women. No one who attended the sessions of the National Council last December 'failed to carry away the conviction that they are studying our problems carefully and fundamentally. The papers presented were of the highest type-, the discussions evidenced a breadth of view, a knowledge of the needs of our wards and a grasp of the most modern methods of coping with the evils that are the best guarantee for the future. We welcome to our Conference all of the twenty-five organizations that have joined us since the last meeting, but none more than that in- 32 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH fluential and highly valued body, the National Council of Jewish Women. The women have been the chief promoters of some of the newer forms of preventive work. They have estab- lished much-needed homes for orphaned working girls homes that are really places of rest, recreation and comfort, in which the girls and women find these genuine pleasures so essential to their happiness; without which their thirst for entertainment drives so many of them in our large cities to the public dance halls and to their ruin. They are guarding the female immi- grants from the scoundrels who lie in wait to take advantage of their ignorance and innocence. They are no longer pointing the finger of scorn and shame at the fallen victims; sympathy and love are finding them a home wherein, under watchful care and instruction, they are being redeemed and saved to them- selves and to society, and fitted to pursue trades that will give them a decent livelihood. To the administration of the Juvenile Court laws everywhere the women are the greatest support. As probation officers and friendly visitors they are Avatching over the coming generation of men and women, bringing them back to the paths of rectitude, encouraging them to change their habits, aiding them to find employment, taking them into their own homes, and in every way helping to eradicate the evils that* have led to the wrong- doing. As guides to the children, as friends to the parents, they are giving of their time and their thoughts and their sympathies : they are indeed doing God's work on earth. But let it not be thought for a moment that the sacrifice in one sense is without its compensation. No true, friendly visitor but will gladly ac- knowledge that she is receiving more than she is giving; the broader outlook on life, the knowledge soon acquired that the lines of wealth and poverty do not separate the worthy from the unworthy, the giver from the recipient, the helper from the aided, will be powerful influences in her own development and in that of her children. We must not, in our pride, hide the facts which are brought out daily in the juvenile and police courts. Delinquency is on the increase among our boys ; no longer is the Jewish girl a syn- NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 33 onym for virtue. This condition brings with it two problems the care of the delinquent, the prevention of delinquency. We had hoped that the Hon. Julius Mayer, Attorney General of New York, at one time Judge, and a most excellent judge, of the Juvenile Court, founder and president of the New York Jewish Protectory for delinquents, would address us to-night on the care of the delinquents, but he has been unavoidably de- tained. Primarily the care of these children is in the hands of the State, but frequently delinquent children are committed to private institutions. The facilities that the State affords too often fall short of the needs ; the aim of the Juvenile Court, not to punish and imprison, but to train and to educate, can be car- ried out only if the institutions are really schools-, not prisons. In most cities it has become necessary, from the lack of Jewish institutions and the inadequacy of the provisions made by the State, to send our children to institutions under non-Jewish de- nominational control. New York, through its new protectory, aims to check this practice. My own view is that a united public opinion should exercise sufficient pressure on the public authori- ties to provide full and complete facilities for all, but until that is done, it may be desirable to maintain a Jewish protectory. Smaller communities in each State might band together and establish a farm school for delinquents, just as years ago the Cleveland Orphan Asylum was founded, and is now maintained by a number of cities. The more important question, however, is not what we shall do to redeem the delinquent, but how shall we check delin- quency ? Primarily, we must study its causes ; we must follow the conditions that produce the lapse. At times they are susceptible of medical treatment; generally the home conditions resulting from poverty or death and depriving the child of proper parental care, sometimes, but not very often among the Jews, parental depravity, is responsible for the wrongs of the child; too fre- quently the natural environments of the section in which the lad lives fully account for them. All that is implied in the housing problem so vividly portrayed at the sessions of the National Council is of great moment in this connection, as, indeed, in all lines of our work. 34 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH Though the stream of immigration may in time be partially diverted from our large cities, and with bettered conditions in Europe be greatly checked, nevertheless we cannot hope radically to relieve the congestion of our so-called Ghetto districts. As the prosperity of the people and their demands on life grow, there is a natural tendency to seek more comfortable quarters. But newcomers who cannot be persuaded to immigrate elsewhere are ever ready to take their places. "When the physical surroundings so react on the child as to produce delinquency or dependency, the Juvenile Courts can aid by conditioning his return to the home on the removal of the family to other sections of the city. Private aid, too, in paying increased rentals in better localities to families which give promise of there becoming self-supporting will doubt- less accomplish much. But more must be done. We must bring in the good if we want to drive out the bad. The lad whose natural fondness for sport and athletics is encouraged in the gymnasium, the boys' club, the athletic field, is easily kept from the gambling dens that infest these regions and ultimately lead to theft and other delinquencies; the young girl who craves beautiful surroundings, and above all the dance, should not be driven from the dingy, over-crowded home into gaudy palaces of vice and shame from lack of decent places of amusement. Technical and trade schools are the most valuable agencies in training the young for successful industrial careers ; settlements at first attract the earnest children who are in small danger of going wrong, but when properly conducted, forming a center of light and joy, with the workers living in the house and being a real integral part of the neighborhood, they can gradually draw in those who are not eager for book learning, but have the natural desire of every healthy young person for pleasures, and stimulate them to higher aims. In some way, however, proper provision for decent recreation, for the game and the dance, the play and the song, must be made. And in satisfying the cravings of youth we should not neglect the needs of the parents. They, too, want a change from the ofttime dismal home. If thev can have a share in their NATIONAL CONFERENCE OP JEWISH CHARITIES. 35 children's joys, perhaps there may be averted that separation in outlook and aspiration, with its loosening of the family tie and its weakening of the parental authority, that is now responsible for many of the evils. In furthering those great preventive movements that are en- deavoring to make headway everywhere, the establishment of playgrounds and parks, the betterment of our public schools by the general introduction therein of manual training, by the un- graded rooms, the smaller classes, the free evening lectures, the vacation school, we must join hands with our fellow citizens. "We can gain much by a knowledge of their methods, par- ticularly in preventive work, whilst they can perhaps learn from us in the management of institutions and in the federation of organizations. The federation movement, originating in Cincinnati in 1899, is spreading rapidly throughout our country. New York is seriously considering its adoption. We of the smaller cities can offer no advice to the metropolis; her people know their own needs and how best to meet them. But we can say in encourage- ment of the federation scheme that no city in which it has been adopted has abandoned it ; in none, so far as we know, is its feasi- bility and superiority to the old system even questioned. That it has increased the subscription lists and eliminated waste is generally conceded ; that no partiality has been shown to any con- stituent body is apparent from the lack of complaint; that it does not prevent new and needed undertakings, Chicago's ex- perience in founding a Home for the Friendless and in rebuilding its hospital at a cost of half a million dollars abundantly demon- strates. If New York adopts either federation or some other scheme of financial centralization of its Jewish charities, the very greatest impetus will be given to the movement. And if she succeeds in uniting all elements of her people in one body, a new mark will be set for most, if not all, of those cities in which an Associated Jewish Charities has been established. Whatever be our superiority in financial organization and. management, we have hitherto lagged behind in the placing out of our orphans. 36 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH I shall not attempt a discussion of the orphan asylum ques- tion. We threshed that out thoroughly at the last Conference. But, unless we are to build new asylums, homes must be found. New York had begun this work in small measure shortly before the last Conference. Since then, however, a real advance has been made. Dr. Bernstein will demonstrate to us that good homes are readily obtained for Jewish orphans, both for adoption and for board. AVhat holds true in New York will be found true elsewhere. The experience of the committee which had antici- pated the arrival of five hundred of the Russian orphans of 1905. and had determined that they should not receive the congregate love and care of an institution, but the individualized affection of a Jewish home, the ready response that their appeal met with in all sections of the country is a sufficient guarantee that with the necessary funds no more than it takes to maintain institu- tionsand right direction, no difficulty will be experienced. Chicago is soon to follow in the lines of New York, though with- out the financial assistance which the latter city grants to all of its wards from the public treasury. Cincinnati, ever in the lead, has sent no children to an orphan asylum in several years. There, as in some other communities, widows are granted pensions so as to enable them to keep their children at home, and not only to keep them, but to rear them. For the problem is only half solved if the allowance is so inade- quate as to compel the mothers to join the ranks of the wage earn- ers whose children, deprived of the parental care and oversight. are rapidly increasing the truant and the delinquent classes Home is the place for the mother as well as for the child. If the number of her own children does not justify a living allowance. add to them by giving her the supervision of some full orphans. Two problems are thus solved at one stroke, and rightly solved But Cincinnati is doing more than this. She is cheating death of its harvest ; she is saving the family head. Tuberculosis is chiefly responsible for our rapidly increasing number of orphans. It is to-day the gravest problem that con- fronts the charity worker. Our entire country is vitally inter- ested in it. No charity conference fails to devote a session to a discussion of its many phases. The value of local sanatoria will NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 37 be explained to us by Dr. Sachs; their efficacy in the treatment of incipient cases is undoubted. They are our hope for the great masses. But no patient who can possibly get to Denver or some other favorable location, is content to remain at home. And no wiser expenditure can be made than by sending the curable pa- tient to the National Hospital at Denver, provided the example of Cincinnati be followed. She does not rest content with send- ing the husband and father to the hospital for six months or more. When he is ready to be released, she keeps him in Denver or the surrounding country; his family is sent to him; he is es- tablished in his trade or business and until he can become self- sustaining in the new community he and his family are ade- quately supported. A costly method, you say; true. But you grant it is the humane, the genuine aid. Figure out the expense of a relapse if he returned home to his former unfavorable surroundings. Calcu- late the cost of caring for the widow and children if death claimed its victim. The experienced business man does not underrate the value of discounting his bills ; Cincinnati gets a heavy discount by reason of her large orginal outlay. But if it were not the wise plan from the business standpoint, if it were in the end more costly, should we not in every city aim to follow this noble example ? Here, if anywhere, is manifested the true spirt of Jewish charity the spirit that asks not what is the cost, but what is the result. To relieve is important ; to prevent is vital for the future. After all, it is impossible to send a great number out West ; much time will elapse before we have sufficient local facilities for the proper treatment of all incipient cases and the segregation of the in- curable ones. Until we bring sunshine and air into our con- gested districts, until the model tenements and the small homes supplant the wretched quarters into which so many of our people are driven, until the prophylactic measures essential to stay the spread of the disease are enforced, no real advance can be mado. Here, as in all departments of philanthropic work, an ounce of prevention is worth the pound of cure. What shall be said of that magnificent hospital in Denver our hospital for it is truly national. Its management and its 38 PROCEEDINGS OP THE FOURTH staff deserve the highest commendation. The importance of lim- iting its aid to curable cases is demonstrated by the cheerful, hopeful, comfortable feeling that prevades its walls, and that of itself is the best medicine for the patients. Surely it deserves our united support. Its wise and stringent rules in regard to admission, added to other causes, have led to the establishment of the Jewish Con- sumptives' Relief Society, also a national organization. Much good is accomplished at this sanitarium, though the society has been hampered in its work by inadequate funds. The tent plan adopted at first is now seen to be insufficient for certain cases. The expressed object of the society is to care for ad- vanced cases. No examination in the home city is required ; no case is rejected if the applicant succeeds in reaching Denver. That a hospital for advanced and incurable cases is highly desira- ble is conceded by all; th.e bringing together, however, of ad- vanced and incipient cases is obviously dangerous to the latter. Moreover, though incurables are not expressly invited to Denver, the knowledge that they will be cared for tends to bring them there. There is a real danger of arousing adverse public senti- ment in Colorado if this continues. That this institution comes nearer to a Kosher establishment than the other is beyond ques- tion; that both fall far short of, and in the nature of the case, cannot possibly be maintained on a Kosher basis, is equally clear. If I have pointed out some dangers involved in the newer in- stitution, I do not hesitate to praise the self-sacrificing work of its managers and staff, or to applaud their most humane an.l charitable purposes. Could it be strictly a hospital for advanced cases that have been in Denver six months or a year it would have a most valuable mission and could claim the support that the other hospital receives. Its funds hitherto have come largely from the immigrants of the last quarter century. Every advance movement from within their ranks should re- ceive the utmost encouragement from without ; the creation of the institutions which the people themselves feel are necessary to their advancement, by their own efforts under their own leaders, strengthen and develop them and prepare them the better for the NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 39 responsibilities of citizenship. Each generation must learn from its own mistakes ; the methods which the Jews of fifty years ago and their descendants adopted in their works of mutual help, do not answer the more complex needs of the people of our con- gested cities of to-day. But while the Russian Jews must and will work out their own path in American life, there surely ought to be the most active co-operation between them and their co- religionists. Too long separated into mutually mistrustful bands we have at last come together, united by a common grief. May the bond of union, cemented with the blood of our brethren in Russia, never again be broken ; may we learn to know one another better, and knowing, trust one another the more ; divided though we may be in our religious thought and practice, into orthodox, conservative and radical, in our hopes and aspirations into Zionists and anti-Zionists and Territorialists, let us henceforth be united in our works of charity and philanthopy, all pledged to the protection and help of our fellow Jews in trouble or dis- tress, here and in foreign lands, all joining with our fellow citi- zens of every creed in every philanthropic or uplifting movement that will lighten the load of the burdened, ease the troubled minds of the distressed, give solace to the suffering and hope to the despairing, that will eradicate evil and wrong and produce a generation of American citizens worthy of their heritage. And surely nowhere in the world can the foundations for such a union more appropriately be laid than in Philadelphia, the mother city of American liberty. For the welcome she has ac- corded us, we offer her our heartiest, thanks. If our gathering together within her gates shall stimulate her people to renewed endeavors in the ever-widening fields of preventive philanthropy, we shall feel that in a measure we shall have compensated her for the generous hospitality that awaits us this week. ADDRESS OP CYRUS L. SULZBERGER. Mr. Chairman. Ladies and Gentlemen. It is always a pleasure to me to come back home, and it will always be coming back home to come to Philadelphia. It gives me particular pleasure to-night to be in my native city and report to you that the work in which 40 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH 1 have been engaged, with zealous and hard-working associates, is a work in which we would never have succeeded had we not re- ceived, as we did, the earnest and hearty co-operation of loyal Jews throughout the United States. At the National Conference of Jewish Charities four years ago, the need of the work of the Removal Office was presented to the delegates assembled in the city of Detroit. It was then pointed out that the manner in which the work was at that time being done was inadequate, because of the lack of co-operation on the part of the Jews of the interior communities. An appeal was made to them to aid in this work, and this appeal, I am glad to report, was not unheeded. At the time of that meeting the method of procedure in the Removal Office was to send several men traveling throughout the country, and get orders for immi- grants of a specific kind, and we would get, say, from Kalamazoo. an order for a carpenter; then we would bestir ourselves in the city of New York to try to find a carpenter, and on that particu- liar day we got bookbinders, watchmakers and tinsmiths, but, lo and behold ! no carpenters, and after a lapse of two, three or four days, a carpenter would appear, and we would send him to Kala- mazoo. Now, it took two or three days for the order to come, and three or four days for the carpenter to be found, and then three or four days for him to get to Kalamazoo, and when he got there the place was filled, and we had a carpenter who had been out of a place in New York now out of a job in Kalamazoo. That didn't seem to us an entirely practical way of doing the work, and we thereupon resolved that instead of trying to fit the New York carpenter into the Kalamazoo job the carpenter being in the one place and the job in the other that we would send the man to the place first and get him the job afterwards. It seemed to us that in most communities there would be jobs every now and then, not only for carpenters, but for blacksmiths, tinsmith?;, plumbers, and all other kinds of persons. So there were two things we had to do ; first we had to arouse the community to the fact that it was not helping in the solution of the problem to send for a carpenter, when it needed a carpenter. At that time they wanted a carpenter more than we wanted to. send one. The real thing for them to do was to bestir themselves to find a job for a NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 41 poor Jewish immigrant out of a job. That was their job, and i'<; was our first duty to educate the communities to the fact that we wanted their co-operation, so that they might help us find em- ployment for men out of employment. The next job was to make it possible for them to do this, and we made this possible by securing employment agencies in the various cities large enough to justify our doing so ; these agencies having no other business than finding situations for the people sent to them by the Industrial Removal Office, and when we send two, three or a maximum of five persons to a given city, we know that they will be received by our employment agent, and he will do nothing except take these two or three or five persons rarely so many as five usually two or three men take these two or three to the various industrial establishments with which he has made connection previous to their arrival, and his business is, as I say, to take these two or three men,, this one a plumber, that one a carpenter, and the third a woodworker, to the plumber, carpenter and cabinet maker, until he succeeds in finding him employment, and our experience is that rarely is a man out of employment more than two or three days after he has arrived at the city to which he is consigned. In this way we have distributed from the time this work began in 1901 up to the close of last year, in our agencies in twenty-two States, and through voluntary efforts in other places, 32,491 per- sons from the city of New York. These individuals have been sent to 361 cities and towns throughout the United States, some to every State and Territory in the United States, and some to Canada. The maximum sent to any one State is 2,700 to the State of Missouri. The minimum to any one State is 1 to the State of Nevada; two to the State of New Hampshire, but no State in the Union to which there have not been sent some. Fifty- six, for instance, to Oklahoma ; 45 to the Indian Territory. Last year there were sent to 335 places less than 50 persons to a place, and to 26 places more than 50 persons to a place. Now 22,000 people sent away is in itself a considerable number, but 22,000 by no means measures the total number ; of this num- ber 6,700 were married men, sent away without their families, 1,100 having their families in New York and 5,600 having their 42 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH families still in Europe. Our experience is that when you send away a man without his family you are giving him an excellent incentive to work. There is a very large number of young men in this country who are fond of railroad travel, and they enjoy the experience, and when we sent out young fellows, strapping young fellows, 17 and 18 years old, they would go and work until they saved up money enough to come back ; and then they would come back. We are not so fond of sending young men. We send away not more than 40 per cent, of those persons who apply to be sent. In order words, if we sent all that come to the removal office we would ship more than two and one-half times as many as we really do, but we send people who come with special references, and we find the best nucleus for drawing others is the man who will work industriously because he has an object, and that is the man who has left the wife and baby behind. I know all the stories about wife desertion, but I tell you this, the number who want to be with their wives and families are 1,000 before there is one who wants to run away from that wife and family. And when you send a man away and his wife is in Essex street, or Norfolk street, or in Odessa, or some other unpronounceable place in Russia, we know we have established a man who is going to work hard and earnestly to bring that wife and baby to the town where he is, and this is, the result : That of these married men whom we have sent away 1,500 have sent for their families, and see how this number grows year by year : In 1901, 104 families were removed to join the husbands who had been previously sent ; in 1902, 237 families were removed; in 1903, 346 families were removed ; in 1904, 400 families were removed ; in 1905, 406 fami- lies were removed to join the husbands who had been previously sent. Each year, you will observe, more families have been sent to join the husband who has been previously sent out. There are 5,200 families who have yet to join their heads, or who have already joined them without our knowledge, of their own accord, these 5.200 families representing 17,000 souls approximately; add to the 22,000 who have been sent away, the 17,000 remaining members of their immediate families who are bound to join them. Now, of these 22,000 persons, how many have stayed away, you NATIONAL CONFERENCE OP JEWISH CHARITIES. 43 will ask. We have every reason to believe that more than 20,000 of those are now definitely and fixedly engaged either in the cities to which we have sent them, or in the near-by cities, because they hear of opportunities in a near-by place and go there. That number is definitely away from the city of New York. Among the other things that we learned, besides the fact that young men like experience, was that it was no part of our function to be strike-breakers. On the eve of Lincoln's birthday four years ago Mr. Bijur, Dr. Frankel, Mr. Isaacs and myself, came into the Hebrew Charities to attend a meeting of our Executive Commit- tee, and found our application room filled with several hundred men, and upon inquiry we learned that these were men who had been sent out by the Removal Office and returned to New York. So we sat down, we four trustees, to inquire why these men had come back, and from 4 o'clock that afternoon until midnight we sat there and listened to the tales of these men, and we found that the story was in almost every instance the same. They had been sent out to take the place of strikers, and when the strike was over the old men were given back their jobs and the scabs were discharged. Now, we are in the Industrial Removal Of- fice, neither labor union nor non-labor union ; we have no concern with scab or union help, but we have with the fact that the men we send are to be given permanent employment, and we have learned by experience that the men sent to take the place of strikers do not get permanent employment; therefore it is not a good thing to fill a striker's place, and we don't do it, and our agents are instructed, all over the country, not to put men in as strike-breakers, because we don't want our men put into a job for two weeks or a month and then have them thrown back on our hands after the disagreement has been adjusted. We have sent out, then, not to take the place of strikers, but to earn their livelihood in the ordinary occupations all over the United States, 13,400 adult male wage earners, in addition to which there is a considerable proportion of adult children whom we are not counting. There is a notion that all of the immigrant Jews are tailors; that the only thing any Jew who comes from Russia or Roumania can do is use the sewing machine. Now you 44 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH could not make any greater mistake than that. Of those sent out last year, there being 3,500, 22 per cent, were engaged in building trades, and only 15 per cent, in the needle industry. In other words, while there were 535 engaged in needle industry in all its forms, there were 776, or one-half more engaged in the building trades. There are 74 farmers, 868 in miscellaneous trades, and 775 unskilled workmen. The miscellaneous trades covered a great number of industries; 46 cabinetmakers. 31 coopers, 2 engineers, 14 electricians, 25 harnessmakers, 98 iron, brass and copper workers, plumbers, tanners, wood workers, wood carvers, almost any industry you can imagine. It runs some forty odd industries in which they are engaged, and they are not unskilled workmen in their industries. I learned with a great deal of pleasure that when it was contemplated to close down part of a works, instructions were given by the foremen that the last to be laid off were those who had been put in through the In- dustrial Removal Office; the work they were doing was so satis- factory they were the last that he wanted to lay off. We have reports from some of the people themselves as to the success with which they met. I want to tell you of one more personal case. At the time I was engaged in preparing this report, I was sitting at my desk and the manager of the Removal Office came over and handed me a letter on a handsome engraved letter head from Omaha a ladies' tailor, who wrote to us asking if we could send them a good ladies ' tailor. Mr. Bressler, the manager, said that this was one of our eases, and I looked up the record and I found that this was a man who had been ten years in this country (we don't often send out men who had been here so long, but he impressed us favorably and we sent him). He had been ten years in this country, and for weeks had been out of a job, and was sixty dollars in debt, and wanted to be sent away so that he could try over again elsewhere. Well, he had no friends in any part of the United States, and it happened that on that day or a day or two before, we had sent nobody to Omaha, and Omaha was upon our list, so we determined to send this man to Omaha. Four weeks later he sent for his wife and family. Two weeks there- after our agent in Omaha reported that the man was earning $25 NATIONAL CONFERENCE OP JEWISH CHARITIES. 45 a week. This was in September, 1904. In January, 1906, we received this letter from him and we sent him a tailor. A few days later the man came himself to New York, where I had the pleasure of meeting him, and he came to find two more ladies' tailors. He wanted more help, and we selected two more men in the offices in the early part of February. On the 23d of February he wrote to us that he had made a contract with these two men an eleven months ' contract, guaranteeing to pay one $20 a week, a man who had been earning $16 to $18 when employed, the other one $15 a week who had been four months in the country, and had never earned more than $5 a week in New York, and they both wanted their families sent to Omaha, and the families of both followed and they are now with their husbands ; so this man, penniless* and in debt in New York, has now established himself in business in Omaha, and has taken three tailors with their fami- lies from New York to Omaha, and they are all doing better in Omaha than they ever did in New York. Now I will show you some of the reports our agents make us. The men sent to Columbus, Ohio, between February 11 and June 27, 1905, had by the end of December, 1905, savings in bank ranging from $75 to $300. and aggregating $960. not- withstanding that three of them were sending money home to Russia, and twelve had brought their families over from Russia. A man sent to Memphis in 1901, now owns his home there. Of nine men sent to Nashville, three have their own stores; two carpenters sent to Indianapolis had savings of $800 and $700 respectively, and one shoemaker sent, to Indianapolis owns his own home. One machinist sent to Pittsburg is earning $25 a week; another $4 a day and a watchmaker is earning $15 a week. Of those sent to Rochester, six have bought houses, and others have bank accounts, not including stocks of merchandise, ranging from $300 to $500. Twenty-nine men sent to Washing- ton have aggregate savings in bank and real estate, amounting to $8,000. We feel that in doing this work we are doing good work, but we also feel that we are only scratching the surface. We have sent away 17,000 persons in five years, and I made that statement and you applauded it, and it was something; yet in two months 46 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH 35,000 Jews have arrived in the city of New York! After all, what are we doing? In order that this work may be pushed I am addressing myself not to you Philadelphians, but to the delegates from out of the city, away from the seaboard in order that this work may be effective, it requires your co-operation in every way; that means not only that you will be willing to re- ceive the immigrants who are sent, it means you must be willing to receive them in the spirit in which they should be received, so that they may willingly go to the places to which they are sent. Let us never forget that there would be no need for this immigra- tion, there would be no need for the men to leave their families back in that hell of Russia, and no need to make a new home for them here were it not for their fidelity to their religion. Remem- ber in helping make a new home for them, to make it as far as may be in such a way that they may be true to their religion, as they conceive it. It does not make any difference what we think about whether they want to keep the dietary laws, or this, that or the other -thing. It is not for us to pass on their religious con- victions. It is for us to open our doors and hearts to them on the terms in which they read Judaism, not on the terms in which we would read it for them. And unless we open our hearts to them on those terms, make no mistake, unless we open our hearts to them on those terms we don't open them at all. MERCANTILE CLUB, 10 A. M., MAY 7. 1906. THE PRESIDENT: In the absence of Dr. Lee K. Frankel. Chairman of the Com- mittee on Desertion, who is at present en route to San Francisco on behalf of this Conference, his report will be read by Mr. Charles Zunser. Agent of the United Hebrew Charities of New York in charge of Desertion Cases. REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON DESERTION. DR. LEE K. FRANKEL, Manager of the United Hebrew Charities of the City of New York, Chairman. The problem of deserted wives and children is neither new nor novel to the Conference of Jewish Charities. At the first meeting NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 47 of the Conference, held in Chicago in 1900, the Committee on Desertions presented an admirable report, in which was out- lined the status of the desertion situation at that time, and a resume of the legislation in various States directed toward pun- ishment of deserters. Several suggestions were made by the Committee in the hope of eradicating desertion. In view of their timeliness, they are repeated here. The Committee summarized these questions as follows : 1. That all our charitable institutions should endeavor, through the means of friendly visiting, the pulpit, the press, and at public meetings, to elevate the general tone of our poorer co- religionists and to impress upon them the honorable duty of providing for their families under all circumstances. 2. In connection with this work, it would be well if our insti- tutions for out-door relief could pursue a policy of endeavoring to afford sufficient assistance in proper cases to make the appli- cant self-supporting, thus removing the temptation to desertion. 3. The several charities should report to each other monthly the details of all cases of desertion which come to their knowl- edge. This should be supplemented by the endeavor of each organization to ferret out the whereabouts of the offender, and to take immediate legal steps toward his arrest and rendition to his residence for punishment. The expense of each such pro- ceeding, it would appear fair, should be borne by the organization at his residence, but it is quite possible that the actual expense of the arrest and return of the fugitive to the country wherein he has been indicted or charged with the crime will be paid by the authorities of the State or county of his residence. 4. This Conference and the individual charities should urge upon the Legislature of at least those States in which are situated the larger centers of population, the passage of a statute similar to that now existing in the State of New York. 5. This Conference and its several constituent organizations should also endeavor to secure from the governors of the various States concerned, the rendition of every fugitive wanted for the crime of desertion in any other State, together with the adoption of such rules covering extradition as would include the crime 48 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH of desertion unequivocally among those in which extradition should be compulsory. As a result of the recommendations of the Committee, the sub- ject of wife and child abandonment was eventually brought to the notice of the National Conference of Charities and Correc- tions, giving a decided impetus to the entire question and bring- ing it prominently before Legislatures and charitable societies throughout the United States. Largely as a result of this agitation, the State of New York has recently changed its form of punishment for desertion by declar- ing it to be a felony instead of a misdemeanor, as heretofore. The subject of desertion has not come up again before this Conference since the report made in Chicago. The question itself, however, has unquestionably been most prominently before all the societies connected with the Conference, and may be classified as one of the most important causes leading to the destitution brought to the notice of organizations which give relief. Various studies of the desertion question have been made in recent years to determine causes of desertion and to devise methods of bringing the deserters to justice. At various times, papers dealing with this subject have been published in the col- umns of "Jewish Charity." In the number for December, 1905. there appeared a paper by Mr. Morris Waldman, showing the results of such a study made by the United Hebrew Charities of New York in the year 1902-1903. This study brought out some interesting and unknown facts with reference to the causes that led men to desert their wives and families. Of particular importance in this connection was the statistical information obtained, showing that a large percentage of desertion was not due, as had been supposed, to lack of work or to inability to earn a living, but to various forms of immorality. A similar study made in the city of Boston in 1901, also showed that desertion could hardly be ascribed to purely economic causes. Thirty-three per cent, of the desertions in the city of Boston were due to drunkenness and a large percentage of the remainder due to general instability of character on the part of the husband or the wife. The facts brought out in the study made by Mr. Waldman show NATIONAL/ CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 49 that Jews, in this respect, did not differ from other human beings. They demonstrate equally with the Boston figures that desertion is an evil, due to lack of willingness on the part of the husband to assume the responsibilities of married life and a desire on his part to get away from the cares and the trials which mar- ried life entails. It is true that there are certain underlying facts connected with Jewish desertion which, to some extent, modify the above statement. Of particular interest should be mentioned the fact that owing to a forced immigration from European countries, a husband frequently comes to the United States in advance of his family, contracts new ties when he arrives here and is unwilling, for this reason, to maintain responsibilities originally contracted before he left his native place. This side of the question has been so carefully and thoroughly gone into that there is very little that can be added. It is well recognized to-day that desertion exists that if anything it is on the increase and that the efforts of societies should be directed rather to the consideration of breaking up desertion, even if stringent and severe methods must be resorted to, than to any academic or theoretical discussion as to the causes of desertion. The desertion law in the State of New York, which went into effect on September 1, 1905, places abandonment of children on an entirely different plane from heretofore. Under the former law, desertion was a misdemeanor, punishable by fine and by im- prisonment for a term not exceeding six months. Under this law, it was practically impossible to prosecute an offender who had left the jurisdiction of the commonwealth, for the reaso that the governor of the State was not inclined to issue extradi- tion papers for a misdemeanor. The charitable societies of the city and State, realizing the shortcomings of existing legislation, appointed a committee to draft a new law, declaring desertion to be a felony, which, after considerable pressure being brought to bear on the Legislature by the charitable activities of the State, eventually became a law. After most careful consideration, it was deemed inadvisable to make the law apply to wife desertion, since it was felt that no Legislature would be willing to punish a man very severely for 50 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH desertion of wife alone. In fact, it was felt that juries, before whom such cases might be brought, would be apt to exercise con- siderable leniency where it was discovered that no hardship was involved through the desertion of the wife, particularly in eases where there were no children. The New York law. for this rea- son, is novel in that wife desertion is not mentioned. The law as it reads has reference only to the abandonment of children. The law reads as follows : CHAPTER 168. An Act to amend the penal code in relation to the abandonment of children. Became a law April 8th, 1905, with the approval of the gover- nor. Passed, three-fifths being present. The people of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows : SECTION 1. Chapter three of title ten of the penal code is here- by amended by adding at the end thereof a new section, to be sec- tion two hundred and eighty seven, a. 287 A. ABANDONMENT OF CHILDREN. A parent or other per- son charged with the care or custody for nurture or education of a child under the age of sixteen years, who abandons the child in destitute circumstances and willfully omits to furnish neces- sary and proper food, clothing or shelter for such a child is guilty of felony, punishable by imprisonment for not more than two years or by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars, or by both. In case a fine is imposed, the same may be applied in the discretion of the court to the support of such child. Proof of the abandonment of such child in destitute circumstances and omission to furnish necessary and proper, food, clothing or shelter is prima facie evidence that such omission is willful. The provis- ions of section seven hundred and fifteen of this code prohibiting the disclosure of confidential communications between husband and wife shall not apply to prosecutions for the offense here de- fined. A previous conviction or convictions of felony or misde- meanor shall not prevent the court from suspending sentence upon a conviction under this section, or from arbitrarily fixing NATIONAL CONFERENCE OP JEWISH CHARITIES. 51 the limit of imprisonment or fine, in case imprisonment or fine is imposed upon conviction herein. 2. Nothing in this act contained shall be deemed or construed to repeal, amend, impair or in any manner affect the provisions of sections two hundred and eighty-seven, two hundred and eighty-eight, or two hundred and eighty-nine of the penal code or any other existing provisions of law, relating to abandonment or other acts of cruelty to children. 3. This act shall take effect September 1st, 1905. Immediately after the law went into effect, the United Hebrew Charities of the city of New York determined to make a very active campaign for the prosecution of deserters under the new law. In this movement, it was aided by the agitation that had been carried on for some time in the columns of the Jewish Daily Neics of New York, which paper had been making an active cam- paign through its columns towards finding deserting husbands. So that the work could be made as general as possible, a Special Committee was organized, known as the Committee for the Pro- tection of Deserted Wives and Children, under whose auspices the results that are hereafter mentioned have been accomplished. The active propaganda of the work and the funds necessary for its maintenance have been supplied by the United Hebrew Chari- ties. At the outset the committee decided on certain funda- mental principles to guide its work. It was felt that the main object of the committee was not so much to punish deserters as to reunite them with their families and prevent the latter from becoming burdens on the community. At the same time it was recognized that there would be instances in which no other means would be effective, and in which it would be necessary to apply the law to its full effect. Of paramount importance, however, was the recognition of the fact that the best way to overcome desertion was to give as much publicity as possible to the offender and to compel him either through fear of punishment or through fear of social ostracism to return voluntarily and assume the responsibility which he had neglected. It was conceded at the outset that only through a sys- tematic propaganda would the work of the committee become effective. 52 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH The matter is brought to the attention of the Conference here to show what can be accomplished with deserters under a plan such as has been outlined above. At the beginning it was recog- nized that to do the work effectively, some one thoroughly con- versant with the legal situation should be employed, who would give his entire time and attention to the work. It is only fitting that some recognition should be given to Mr. Charles Zunser, the special desertion agent, who has been employed by the committee, for the intelligence and the care with which he has carried on the committee's work. No less praise should be accorded to the Jewish press, and in particular the Jewish Daily News, for the co-operation which it has tendered in giving the work of the com- mittee the proper publicity. In fact, it can safely be said that without the help of the press, it is impossible to obtain the means of getting that publicity which is so desirable not only in finding offenders, but in inducing them to return. In detail, the work of the committee has been as follows : No- tice was given in all papers to all deserted wives, advising them to appear before the committee and bring with them all the facts in their possession, through which the deserting husbands might possibly be traced. These facts included, in particular, photo- graphs of the husband, place of his last occupation, and the name of his employer. After the wife's statement was taken, a special investigator at once visited the home, employer, relatives and friends, in order to obtain information regarding the present whereabouts of the deserter. An active campaign was at once started in the newspapers, calling attention to the formation of the committee, citing the law, and making a statement that it was the intention of the committee to organize each community in the United States in such a manner that information of the deserter was to be spread broadcast throughout the country and the re- spective communities asked to co-operate in ascertaining his whereabouts. The deserters were further given to understand that if they returned and resumed their responsibilities, there was no question of subsequent punishment. If they did not do so, the committee held itself ready to make all necessary ex- penditures in finding the husband, engaging the necessary legal counsel, prosecuting him, and where it was not possible to prose- NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 53 cute in New York city, to send the wife and the family to the residence of the husband to prosecute him in the city or State in which he lived. The effect of this propaganda was immediately apparent. The matter was taken up by the readers of the Jewish press throughout the United States, many of them at once offer- ing assistance in organizing similar committees in other communi- ties. It was not uncommon for a deserter, whose whereabouts had been unknown for years, to write to his wife, asking for for- giveness, and promising to return if he would be guaranteed against punishment. In all of these instances the wife was told to advise the husband that the committee would take no action, if he would only support his family. In other instances, the whereabouts of the husband were discovered either through friends or acquaintances, who read the description of the men in the newspapers, with the result that correspondence was opened at once with the societies in the respective cities. If the man was located, the committee did not hesitate, if they could not prosecute under the New York State law, to forward at once the wife and children to the city in which the husband lived, at the same time guaranteeing the society of the city against any ex- pense that might be involved either in the support of the family while in the city or in making the necessary prosecutions. This action was necessary in many instances, for the reason that the New York law was not retroactive and desertions taking place before September 1st, 1905, are still considered misdemeanors and cannot be classified as felonies. The results of the work that has been done by the committee since October 15th are best told in the accompanying statement : 54 PROCEEDINGS OP THE FOURTH REPORT OP THE DESERTION AGENT. For the period beginning October 15, 1905, and ending May 1, 1906. PLACE OF DESERTION. In New York State before Sept. 1, 1905 292 In New York State after Sept. 1, 1905 195 In other States of the Union 36 In foreign countries 57 Desertion story found to be fictitious 11 591 TERMINATION OF CASES. TABLE 1. Number of eases settled in court 54 Of these, husbands now supporting families 33 Of these, husbands serving a term in prison 18 Of these, husbands released from prison at wife's request 2 Of these, husband arrested but could not be made to support his family, as he is without means .... 1 TABLE 2. Number of cases settled outside of court and hus- bands now supporting families 63 Of these, husband wrote wife, mentioned Deser- tion Committee, and returned 2 Of these, husband requested wife to come to him ... 6 Of these, families sent to husband and reunions effected 6 Of these, wife was deserted in another city, man came to New York, effected a reunion and took family with him 2 Of these, supporting families as direct result of committee's work . 47 NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 55 TABLE 3. Number of cases pending in court 48 Of these, warrants issued for 31 Of these, action for divorce was begun by woman. . . 5 Of these, pending in court outside of New York State 3 Of these, in hands of Corporation Counsel 1 Of these, awaiting trial, man released on bail 2 Of these, indictment found 3 Of these, in hands of attorneys 3 Of these, extradition proceedings pending 1 TABLE 4. MISCELLANEOUS. Of these, numbers of cases in which the families were sent to prosecute or join husband, cases pending. 23 Of these, number of cases in which negotiations for settlement are pending 42 Wife refuses to prosecute as she received a "get" from husband 3 Desertion story fictitious 11 Awaiting further information and development. . 349 426 The results that have been thus far accomplished demonstrate one thing, namely, that if the system which has been followed in New York could be extended throughout the United States, it would be possible to discover many of the deserters, whose cases were quoted above as still pending investigation, and that the percentage of desertion occurring could be materially reduced. The number of bank robberks that occur to-day in the United States is apparently limited. There can be no doubt that this is due to the knowledge on the part of most individuals that crime of this kind is not forgotten and that the criminal, even if he be a fugitive from justice, is followed up to any part of the United States or even to any part of the earth persistently and relent- lessly by the officers of the government or of the detective bureau to whom the search for the criminal has been entrusted. It 56 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH seems to be almost axiomatic that bank forgers and bank robbers eventually are located and there can be no doubt that the fear of final detection, notwithstanding the best laid plans for escape, acts as a strong deterrent against this special form of theft. The same principle must be applied to our deserters. Deser- tion has become more frequent and more pronounced for the simple reason that it is possible for an offender to leave his fam- ily, go to another State, possibly to change his name and to live the rest of his life without any danger of being apprehended. It is only when charitable societies will work in unison and harmony, so that the description of every deserter can be sent to every other community to which he may possibly have gone, and that in each of these communities there shall be an active committee or agent, whose business it will be to find his whereabouts, that the fear of almost immediate capture will, to a large extent, deter- mine the prospective deserter to remain at home and keep up his responsibilities, rather than to suffer the consequences if he is apprehended and prosecuted. Probably no other class of people is so fortunately circumstanced as are we. It is peculiar that the Jewish press circulates widely throughout the United States and reaches a class of readers who would be most apt to come in contact with deserters, and what is of equal importance, will be read by the deserter himself. If the prospective deserter knew that almost immediately after his departure from home, the relief organizations, or rather his wife, through the relief organization, were to publish through the papers, a full description of his appearance and of his photograph, if obtainable, and that there was every likelihood that his wife and family would be sent on to him or that extradition papers would immediately be issued for his apprehension, and if he realized that he would be apt to be immediately recognized in the other communities to which he intended to go, there can be little doubt that the percentage of de- sertion would be very materially reduced. It is the hope of the writer that the presentation of these facts to the Conference and to the individual societies comprising the Conference will effect some joint action leading to the formation of a National Jewish Registration Bureau for Deserters. Such a bureau should, following out the recommendations made by the NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 57 Committee on Desertion in 1900, be able to forward at once to the various societies throughout the United States, a description of the deserter and a complete statement regarding his habits, char- acter of employment in which he might be likely to engage, cause of his desertion, and the other prominent facts connected with the abandonment of his family. Such a bureau should furthermore distribute this information not only to the relief societies of the respective cities and towns, but should print leaflets describing the deserters, which might be distributed by the individual so- ciety among the people with whom the deserter would be apt either to take refuge or among whom he would be apt to live and seek employment. Such a permanent record, read by the many individuals, would have astonishing results. As stated above, the value of the press in giving proper publicity cannot be overestimated and the co-operation of the press is always to be relied upon. DISCUSSION. MR. MICHEL HEYMAN, New Orleans : Why is the law of New York only for child desertion ; why not for wife desertion ? THE PRESIDENT : I think you will find that there is difficulty in getting a jury to convict a man who leaves his wife and it is proven that she is not destitute, of a felony which is apt to mean a penitentiary offence. They won't send a man to the peniten- tiary; at least it is difficult to secure conviction in that kind of case. That is the reason Dr. Frankel assigned as covering the difference and which secured the enactment of that law. MR. HEYMAN : In New Orleans 'we have only about 10,000 Jews, a great many Russian immigrants, but to my knowledge there is only one case of wife desertion in New Orleans. There might be some others, but they didn't come before us. Miss MIRIAM KALISKY, Chicago : We have had over two hun- dred cases of wife desertion last year in Chicago. I understand from Dr. Frankel's paper that since the first of September, 1905. wife desertion is extraditable. We have located a great many deserters from New York in our city. I have them come to oir; office, and keep in touch with them weeks and weeks. I wouH like to ask the question: How many have been extradited? 58 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH MR. ZUNSER: I don't remember the number extradited from Chicago, but I know we have brought back a few. We find the greatest difficulty in inducing the women, after counsel had gone to the trouble and expense of bringing these men back, to con- tinue the prosecution. We find the woman turns right about when she hears the man is going to get a few years imprison- ment, and asks the judge to let her husband out. In this respect we have been rather unsuccessful. THE PRESIDENT: I want to correct a misstatement of Miss Kalisky. The offence did not become extraditable previous to last October. As I stated last night, it is now generally recognized that misdemeanors are always extraditable as well as felonies as a matter of law. As a matter of actual practice, Governors in some States are extremely loath to grant extradi- tion papers for what is considered a minor offence where they would grant it for what is considered a serious offence, the dis- tinction between minor and serious offence being based upon whether it is a misdemeanor, punishable by sending a man to jail or to the house of correction, or felony, punishable by imprison- ment or fine. In this State and other states where it is deemed necessary for a misdemeanor, extradition papers have been granted. The matter has been taken up very fully by the Na- tional Conference of Charities and Correction and the New York Charity Organization Society has published a most excellent pamphlet consisting of a study by Miss Brandt of some 450 odd cases of desertion, and a pamphlet by Mr. Baldwin, of Washing- ton, collating all the desertion laws of the country and enforcing in a most excellent manner the doctrine that misdemeanors are extraditable. The trouble has been, as the last speaker just pointed out, that the wives naturally forgive. It is the easiest thing, and in the individual case doubtless the best thing. The District Attorneys naturally don't want to go to the trouble and don't want to put the State to the great expense of extradition whe'i the result of the extradition will be that nothing is accomplished through the courts. That is the great hindrance to extradition proceedings that accounts for the most of the difficulty. Then in some states, as in Illinois, we have no public funds. We have to rely on private funds, and for the same reason it is hard to NATIONAL, CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 59 get private funds. Our charity funds are, of course, limited. MR. SIMON WOLF, Washington: It seems to me one of the first things to be taken up is to see that every State in the Union shall pass a law on the subject, the laws to be of uniform character. Last year I succeeded in inducing Congress to pass a law on the subject, which only affects the District of Columbia, and while we have had but very few cases of desertion, yet we have had about eleven inside of twelve months. The origin of desertion, to a very large extent, is in the place of birth, where, unfortunately, as in Russia and Oriental coun- tries, they marry very, very young, and naturally, under the exodus that has been going on for some years owing to oppres- sion, the husband coming first, leaving his wife and children over there, some of the women have aged and he comes here under new conditions and he goes astray. If something would be done to bring the families together when they emigrate, and not per- mit the one or the other to come separately, a great many depor- tations might be prevented, because the law is more lenient whera the father and mother and children come together, than where the husband comes alone and the wife and children later. In that way great good might be accomplished to try and see that families should come together and not separately, and to educate public sentiment to the point of having uniform legislation throughout the United States, and in that way a bureau, when formed, would of course, be of great assistance and of great help. Miss GERTRUDE BERG, Philadelphia : The paper presents as the reason for not extraditing the deserting man that the wife will not appear against him. Is there any other means of having him arrested and an organization appearing against the man, and if he does not go back, have him committed and making him thereby an example in the community? Is there no such law? THE PRESIDENT: It is not a question of arrest at all. It is a question after the man is arrested and brought back to conduct the prosecution. It is extremely difficult to conduct the prosecution if the main prosecutor is not willing to come for- ward and give testimony. The wife cannot be compelled to tes- 60 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH tify against the husband, and most of the facts essential to pros- ecution cannot be proven unless she is willing to testify. MR. MAX HERZBERG, Philadelphia: The law of Penn- sylvania heretofore was that it never recognized wife de- sertion or family desertion as crime or misdemeanor. It was gotten around in a different way. The Board of Guardians of the Poor, at the instigation of the deserted wife, would have a man arrested, and he would then be brought into court and the judge presiding would make an order against him for the support of the wife and children. That, however, could only be done at the instigation of the wife and upon her testimony. If he refused to pay that order after it was made he could be sent to jail, not because he had committed a crime, but because he was in contempt of court ; in other words that he had not obeyed the order of the judge and was therefore supposed to be in contempt of court. Of course, a proceeding of that kind was not such a one as the law recognized as extradita- ble, and we felt that some proceeding would have to be taken whereby the societies and others interested in seeing that deseri- ing husbands were prosecuted and punished would have a right to appear. The difficulty we found, as all of you find in every one of the states, was that after we had gone to considerable ex- pense and trouble in locating a man in the town where he was found, and had him arrested, threatening of course not to sup- port the wife until she did take steps to prosecute the man, after he was arrested she refused to prosecute, and all the trouble and expense was of no avail. In order to get around that, we had a law passed not only by which the deserted wife prosecuted or testified, but also making it a misdemeanor. The Committee, of which I was a member, really wanted to make it a felony, but the Legislature thought felony was a pretty harsh term and made it a misdemeanor, and the Governors at first were rather loath to grant extradition papers. I may say that we have had two instances under the notice of the United Hebrew Charities Society, in which we brought the offenders from other States. The first under the law was one I myself instituted. I swore out the warrant myself for the man, and sent the warrant, to- gether with the papers, up to the Governor of Pennsylvania with NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 61 a letter, and he immediately returned it honored. I sent it to Governor Higgins of New York and he returned it by next mail. I think within one week (the record time in Pennsylvania for extradition) we had the man back in Philadelphia. I'm sorry to say it didn't do much good. Inside of a month the woman, without my knowledge, went to court one morning and said she had her husband arrested and wanted to drop the prosecution, and the District Attorney merely submitted the bill and allowed the man to go, with the usual result ; he stayed home three weeks, is again a fugitive from justice, has two children in the alms- house, and the other two in different places. THE PRESIDENT : It may be possible to convict even where the wife refuses to prosecute and forgives, but it will be a very rare jury that will ever convict under those circumstances. What- ever, the law may be, it does not make the wife an absolutely es- sential witness. A man may be prosecuted for any offence he commits, without regard to the person who happens to be in- jured by the offence to prosecute. If the party injured, particu- larly in the matter of desertion, refuses to prosecute, and tells the jury she does not want the man punished, no jury of twelve men is going to be unanimous in sending the man to the peniten- tiary or to jail, in my judgment. DR. MAX LANDSBERG, Rochester: It seems to me that even if we have uniform laws in the United States, the possibility of extraditing the husband would not do away with the evil. The women always consent to live again with the men. Now I think every case, before action' is taken, should be studied. There are actually a good many instances where it is a blessing if the husband is away from the wife. We have cases where desertion is a chronic matter; we have other cases where the women know where the husbands are and only want to be sup- ported for a while; we have cases where there are no children, and where the husband will leave as soon as a child is expected in order to get rid of the expense of supporting his wife during that period. Now I do not know whether that is covered by our desertion law in the State of New York, because it refers only to child desertion. I do not know if the law refers to the desertion 62 of an unborn child. We had a case long before our law was passed years ago where a man had left, and we found it out. His wife could not read and our agent read the letter that came from Russia where the parents had lived. The man had two children and his wife. They tried to get him to come back to Russia because they had another wife for him who had a lot of money. "We engaged detectives. We were very much inter- ested in bringing the man to justice. We sent detectives with our agent in order to arrest the man, and also the rabbi, if pos- sible, the moment the ghet was delivered. They had made ar- rangements so that the ghet would be valid in the absence of the wife and they would appoint an agent for the wife, which is generally not done among the Jews, but they did so. Our agent had the man arrested before the ghet was delivered. The man was taken back to Russia and put under bonds to support his wife, and since he could not pay, he was put in the penitentiary for years, and of course then they had to let him out. The man was very penitent. He said he was wrong and he wanted to live with his wife. We set him up in business and the whole result was, after a few weeks he deserted her again and went to Wash- ington ; so that instead of a wife and two children, we have had a wife and three children to support for the last six or seven years. The only remedy is that we investigate into the history of the man. If we find him a chronic deserter we let him go, but if he is a man that does it the first time and has never done it before, and you can induce the wife in advance to pledge herself to prosecute him, then have him arrested; otherwise don't go to the expense. MRS. PISKO, Denver: It seems to me that one side of the question has not been touched upon at all, and it seems to me that that side has a great deal to do with the lack of desire on the part of the State and on the part of the woman to have the man prosecuted. Supposing that we had to bring a worthless fellow back from another State and put him in jail or the peni- tentiary for a year or two years; the woman is separated, and has to be supported by the charities. Now I have nothing new or original to offer, but I think this is something that the people who are thinking of having legislation in their States on this sub- NATIONAL, CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 63 ject ought to consider. If they would take the man and put him into prison and make him work, and give the money which he earns in prison, to support his family, I think the States would be much more willing to bring the man back, and the wives would be much more willing to prosecute if they knew the men would support them. In the meantime, the woman always hopes he is going to support her. The State doesn't want to bring the man back. He is only a burden on the State. In making legis- lation, I think that is one of the things that ought to be con- sidered. MR. SOLOMON LOWENSTEIN, New York: Inasmuch as there were certain recommendations containedlnthe President's biennial reportread last evening, and certain recommendations in the paper of Dr. Frankel, I move that a committee of three on Resolutions be appointed to consider resolutions on these subjects and such other subjects as may come before the Conference. THE PRESIDENT: A motion is made to appoint a committee of three to consider and report on all resolutions that may be of- fered during this Conference or that have heretofore been sug- gested in this Conference or in Dr. Frankel's paper. (Motion put and unanimously carried.) The chair appoints Messrs. Senior, Landsberg and Mrs. Eck- house as the Committee on Resolutions. PERSISTENCY OF DEPENDENCE AS INDICATED BY RELIEF STATISTICS. DR. BORIS D. BOGEN, Superintendent of the United Jewish Charities, Cincinnati, O. Strange as it may seem, there is a prevailing opinion that the poor persist in living in poverty and that their station in life has become a second nature to them. Instead of studying the true conditions and the real underlying reasons of poverty, our atten- tion is too often directed towards the necessity of improving or changing the tendencies of the poor, ignoring the fact that after all, poverty is not the choice of those afflicted by it, but is rather 64 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH a result of the struggle for existence in which some have suc- ceeded in making themselves independent by making others dependent. The individual is a very insignificant item in com- parison with the many influences that are pouring in from every side, to make life what it is. The charity worker cannot help being perplexed by the tre- mendous forces working against the poor, keeping them down all the time, and counteracting the different efforts made for the amelioration of their conditions. But the most discouraging feature of charity work is the fear that not only the endeavors to help the poor are in vain, but that in some instances these are liable to produce negative results and in some measure are ac- countable for the growth of misery and dependence. This fear is confirmed by experiences in the past. "The Allowance System" threatened to pauperize England's laboring classes. Pauperism increased enormously, the material conditions of the poor were not better, most of all were the poor affected morally. The fearful results of careless out-door relief have been most impressively demonstrated in the extensive and instructive report of Prof. J. J. MeCook, of Hartford, Conn., Chairman of a committee appointed by that town in 1890, upon "Out-Door Alms." He shows that Hartford in twenty years had gained 41.1 per cent, in population, 51.8 per cent, in paupers and 277.9 per cent, in cost of relief per capita. And still the methods used in ascertaining the actual cause of pauperism, and especially the manner in which conclusions have been drawn, attributing pauperism to indiscriminate relief, have not been adequate. Coincidence of growth of pauperism and the existence of cer- tain forms of relief is not a positive proof of the former being the cause of the latter there are so many other factors to be taken into consideration. "Pauperism and the resulting evils arising from the giving of material relief have been largely ex- aggerated. ' ' said Dr. Lee K. Frankel, in his paper on ' ' The Care of Families in their Homes," at the Detroit Conference. "I venture to say," he continued, "that such pauperism as may be traced to this cause is not even due to its indiscriminate use." The only safe method, as it seems to us, to prove the true condi- NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 65 tion, is to study the actual experience of our different relief agencies, as indicated by the modern record system introduced at present in many organizations. It is only lately that we began to realize the true significance of scientific methods in the sphere of philanthropy, but the keeping of strict records and the neces- sity of proper and thorough investigation has been argued only from the standpoint of protection of charitable institutions from imposition of unworthy applicants. It has been used for the better exposition of the scope and the efficiency of the given agency, but it is seldom looked upon as a valuable material for scientific investigation. This position explains the reason of the lack of uniformity of record systems in the different cities, and the difficulty in getting a reasonable amount of data of a certain kind from the mass of chaotic, unsystematized conglomeration of disconnected facts and figures. Our task to-day is limited to the discussion of pauperism among the Jewish poor. Evidently, for our purpose, pauperism will have to be considered in its limited specific meaning, namely : pauperism is a subjective condition in which a person prefers and persists in living on charity, loses his respect for self-depend- ence and has no ambition to obtain, through his own efforts, a more comfortable life. It is a psychological condition, not neces- sarily, however, combined with poverty, for many a pauper may accumulate a fortune and lead a double life. The most characteristic type of Jewish pauperism is the Schnorrer, who seemed to fill an existing demand and was con- scious of his dignified calling. These parasites of society are naturally repulsive to the normal human mind, and it is no wonder that the enmity towards this class has grown into a sus- picion against any one who applies for charity. The professional charity-worker is especially careful and often produces the im- pression of a guardian against pauperism rather than the agent for and protector of the poor. In order to discuss the subject of persistency of dependence as indicated by relief statistics, a subject, by the way, suggested by the Conference Committee, and assigned to me almost against my wish, I have prepared a set of questions which were sent to different organizations. These questions were intended, mainly, 66 to indicate persistency of dependence as expressed in the number and character of applications for relief for the last five years. Special attention was given to 1900 as a year of comparative pros- perity, and 1903 as a year of somewhat unfavorable industrial conditions. Of the fifty organizations to which these inquiries were ad- dressed only fifteen responded. Six expressed regret that they could not be of assistance, as no records have been kept; four gave answers to but a few questions, and only the following five gave satisfactory and more or less valuable material : The United Hebrew Charities of New York. The United Hebrew Charities of Philadelphia. The United Jewish Charities of Cleveland. The United Jewish Charities of Detroit. The United Jewish' Charities of Cincinnati. In addition to these, the statistical data as found in the An- nual Reports of the different organizations have also been utilized for the purpose. The study of the material thus obtained leads to interest- ing conclusions as to the question of persistency of dependence among the Jewish poor. It shows, first of all, that the number of those who applied for charity in 1903 the first time, reappear on the list in 1905 only in a very small proportion, and still more strikingly so, if we take for comparison the applicants who applied first in 1900. The statistical data can be summarized as follows: The number of applications first made in 1903, which reappear on the list in 1905 in Philadelphia 7.7 per cent; in New York, 8.7 per cent; in Cincinnati, 23 per cent ; in Detroit, 20 per cent. The number of applications first made in 1900 which reappear on the list in 1905 Philadelphia, 5.8 per cent. ; New York, 7.7 per cent. ; Cin- cinnati, 11 per cent. It is remarkable also that the number of new applications, notwithstanding the constant immigration, differs but slightly from year to year : In New York in 1900 we find 5,466 new applications. In New York in 1903 we find 6,260 new applications. In New York in 1905 we find 5,530 new applications. NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 67 In Philadelphia in 1900 we find 500 new applications. In Philadelphia in 1903 we find 610 new applications. In Philadelphia in 1905 we find 579 new applications. In Cincinnati in 1900 we find 94 new applications. In Cincinnati in 1903 we find 88 new applications. In Cincinnati in 1905 we find 68 new applications. In St. Louis in 1904 we find 565 new applications. In St. Louis in 1905 we find 581 new applications. In Chicago in 1900 we find 2.825 new applications. In Chicago in 1903 we find 2,545 new applications. In Chicago in 1905 we find 3.101 new applications. In Detroit in 1904 we find 127 new applications. In Detroit in 1905 we find 140 new applications. The surprisingly small proportion of recently arrived immi- grants who apply for charity is also worth mentioning. In New York, of the total number of new applications in the year 1905, only 34.9 per cent, were from persons who were in this country less than one year. They represented only 4.8 per cent, of the total number of immigrants who arrived in New York city with the intention of remaining there. In Philadelphia we find that of the total number of new appli- cations in 1905, only 14.6 per cent, were from persons who were in the country less than six months. This certainly shows, at least as far as statistical data of relief organizations is concerned, that the newly arrived immigrant does not possess the tendency to become dependent. The absence of persistency in dependence is impressively brought out by the investigation based upon the experience of two large cities, New York and Chicago. In the Annual Report of 1905 of the United Hebrew Charities of New York City, we find the following statement : ' ' Only three per cent, of those who originally applied in the years '94- '95 asked for assistance this year, but 5.1 per cent, of applicants be- tween the years 1894 and 1899; 7.5 per cent, of applicants be- tween the years 1899 and 1903; 14.3 per cent, of those who ap- plied in the year 1903-4 are applicants for assistance this year; 68 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH 7.3 per cent, of the total applicants since 1894 were brought to the society's notice the last fiscal year. Of the applicants who applied originally between 1874 and 1894, 450 families applied this year. ' ' In the Annual Report of the United Hebrew Charities of Chicago for 1903, we find a table which, when reduced to per cental ratio, gives the following proportions as to the age or per- sistence of cases: New cases 9.9 per cent. Assisted since 1 year. 28.9 per cent. Between 1 and 5 years 19.6 per cent. Between 5 and 10 years 26.7 per cent. Over ten years 14.9 per cent. 100.0 per cent. The same subject as to the age of cases as indicated in the ex- perience of New York, and as given in the Report of the United Jewish Charities of 1905, gives the following proportion : New cases 55.2 per cent. Assisted since 1 year 7.8 per cent. Between 1 and 5 years 17.9 per cent. Between 5 and 10 years 14.6 per cent. Over 10 years 4.5 per cent. 100.0 per cent. In Cincinnati we find that during the year 1905 there were : New cases 20.9 per cent. Assisted since 1 year 33.1 per cent. Between 1 and 5 years 28.0 per cent. Between 5 and 10 years 17.9 per cent. A special tabulation of chronic cases of the United Jewish Charities of Cincinnati shows the following results : New cases 25.0 per cent. Since 1 year 12.5 per cent. From 1 to 5 years 19.0 per cent. From 5 to 10 years 43.5 per cent. NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 69 While in all the cities under our consideration the absence of persistence in dependence is conspicuous, we notice, however, a difference as to the existing proportion between new and recur- rent cases. This leads us to the subject of "Adequacy of Relief" in the different localities. When we think that the United Hebrew Charities of New York make a per capita expenditure a little more than $6.00, Chicago $10.00, Philadelphia $33.00, etc., we can justly say that even in the selection of places of residence the poor must have good fortune. One thing, however, is true, and we may state it without going into deep mathematical calcu- lations, that the charitable organizations of the larger cities are unable to foster pauperism, were it even in existence. The story of the temperance union that engaged an inveterate drunkard to serve as a concrete illustration of inebriety, and was compelled later on to discharge him for lack of funds to keep the example in proper shape, seems to be quite analogous with the position of the charitable institutions of the larger cities. Mr. S. C. Lowenstein, discussing the subject of "Adequacy of Relief," at the last Conference, said, "May we not ask whether New York's limited relief has discouraged applications and forced the applicants to greater endeavors to become self-sup- porting? Or has its manifest inadequacy prevented those who really may have needed assistance but felt that it could not be obtained, and so sought it in other quarters?" Whatever may be the case, inadequate relief cannot be judicially advocated and the cities that pride themselves upon a low per capita expenditure in granting relief are liable to go on to an extreme detrimental to the community. This is especially evident when we consider the causes of distress as indicated by statistical data. The United Hebrew Charities of New York, in 1905, show cash relief disbursements as follows: 28.3 per cent, given to widows and children. 14.6 per cent, given to deserted women. 17.2 per cent, given to consumptives. 21.2 per cent, given to sufferers from other forms of illness. 3.7 per cent, given to applicants over 60 years of age. 15.2 per cent, given for other causes. It is rather surprising that not a single Jewish organization 70 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH mentions pauperism or unwise charity as an existing cause. This may be partly due to the general misunderstanding through which only the single cause is ascribed as a reason of distress, whereas the truth is that there is a complication of causes in each and every case; and pauperism, though not distinct and separate, may exist as a factor together with many others. The methods employed by the Associated Charities of Wash- ington, D. C., in the Annual Report of 1905, by which the causa- tion is elaborately worked out, is deserving of notice, and we have taken it as a standard for comparison between the Jewish and non-Jewish charity practice. According to the classification accepted by this organization we get the following table : Group 1 Responsibility mainly within the family, including de- sertion, intemperance, dishonesty, etc. For Associated Chari- ties of Washington, D. C., 38 per cent; for United Hebrew Charities of New York city, 12.6 per cent. Group 2 Responsibility both within and outside the family, in- cluding illness, death, etc. For Associated Charities of Washington, D. C., 15.6 per cent ; for United Hebrew Chari- ties of New York city, 47.8 per cent. Group 3 Responsibility mainly outside the family, including lack of work, insufficient income, etc. For Associated Chari- ties of Washington, D. C., 16.4 per cent. ; for United Hebrew Charities of New York city, 39.6 per cent. Though the proportion is somewhat different, it is self-evident that in every city the largest part of relief is given to applicants who are not only worthy, but for whom perforce, by reason of their circumstances, aid must positively be given in the form of material relief. Another condition as to the number of times applications were received from the same parties can be seen from the following table, deducted from the data given in the Annual Report of 1903 of the United Hebrew Charities of Chi- cago. Of the total number of applicants for the year 1903 : NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 71 Parties assisted once 69 per cent. Parties assisted twice 25 per cent. Parties assisted three times 5 per cent. Parties assisted four times 2 per cent. 100 per cent. In conclusion, to sum up our arguments we wish to say, that while the material available is not very extensive in quantity, while all the calculations are only approximately correct, for the facts themselves are not accurately recorded, still there is no doubt that Jewish charity organizations need not be in fear of fostering or promoting pauperism. The Jewish poor apply for charity only in extreme need and make their utmost endeavor to get along without the interference of any charitable organization as soon as it is possible. We have seen that only a small number of applicants remained on the list for the period of three years, a smaller still are retained for five years. The number of new applications is practically the same for the past five years. The percentage of applications from among recently arrived immigrants is very insignificant as com- pared with the total number who come to our shores annually, and the causes of distress in a very large proportion lie beyond the control of the individual, and in this particular respect the practice of Jewish charity differs from that of non- Jewish. In regard to the study of individual cases it is gratifying to state that in almost every instance the superintendents of the different organizations state that they do not find that there is a tendency among our people to rely on charity for support and to become what are generally known as paupers. DISCUSSION. ME. MORRIS JACOBY, New York : I wish to say that while the gentleman's figures are very interesting, as he himself says, they are not accurate as far as New York is concerned. The United Hebrew Charities is only a small factor in the charities there. In the City of New York, East Side, we have from three to five hundred charitable organizations, some of which have fifteen members, and some of which have 200 members. It has become a habit in New York of a great many who come from the cities. 72 PROCEEDINGS OP THE FOURTH towns and villages in Russia, to incorporate a relief associa- tion to relieve those that may come from the same place, and they never apply, or very seldom apply to the United Hebrew Charities. Their own neighbors, their own relatives, their own friends relieve them, so that they need not apply to the United Hebrew Charities so as not to become subjects of charity, and to relieve themselves. We, who represent the Hebrew Free Loan Association, last year loaned money to 18,000 applicants, and made them self-supporting. We loaned out last year, of which the speaker mentioned nothing, to 15,226 persons, $364,- 480, of which there was returned to us $356,944. In the fourteen years in which our Association has been in existence, we loaned to 88,592 people, $1,913,191, all but one per cent, of which has been returned to us. We do not say that among the many applicants there were not repeaters. Some of them have borrowed from us twice, three, four and five, and as as high as ten times until they were self-supporting. We get letters from men occasionally who have now become lenders and patrons lenders of funds to our organization. We loan money without interest. We loan from $5 to $200, taking it back in small instalments, in any way that the borrower may be able to return it, within a reasonable time, some of them take as long as six months. We have loaned to students while they go tn college ; we have loaned to professional men after graduating to enable them to open an office as dentist or doctor, etc., and they pay it back to us as the patients or clients enable them to pay it back to us. There are a good many cases that we have re- lieved in that way; they cease to become subjects of charity, or we have prevented them from becoming subjects of charity, and for that reason I think the figures stated by the gentleman are to some extent incorrect. THE PRESIDENT: Knowing that any of the statements in regard to the work of the free loan associations a subject which we had fully under consideration at the last Confer- ence would be extremely interesting and show not the persist- ency but the evidence of dependency, the chairman permitted Mr. Jacoby to continue in his remarks, although the subject of the paper was the "Persistency of Dependence as Indicated by NATIONAL, CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 73 Relief Statistics;" therefore, the remarks, although extremely interesting, and the work of the loan association deserving of the very highest applause and commendation, are not quite in order. Miss SADEE AMERICAN, New York : I would like to ask a ques- tion of Cincinnati. The smallness of the first group in the last statistics given is so very remarkable, I would like to ask Cin- cinnati how they managed it the group called "Criminality" by Dr. Bogen. DR. BOGEN : I was expecting this question. This group was different from the others. The smallness in the number of de- sertions in Cincinnati makes the group very small in comparison with other cities. MR. MAX HERZBERG: I do not know that Cincinnati is any more moral than possibly Detroit or Cleveland, to say nothing of Chicago, Philadelphia- or New York, but, after all, Mr. President, figures can be made to prove almost anything, and the effect that their deduction has brought about, in reference, for instance, to per capita, is an instance in mind. Where, for instance, New York reports spending only $6.00 per capita upon each case they have reported on their books, Philadelphia proudly acknowl- edges (although possibly some persons think we ought to hold our heads in shame), that it spends $3.00 per annum, and possibly the difference is this: We never record an instance, where we may give a man out of our own pockets, twenty-five or fifty cents; in fact, we very rarely do that. Nor does the man or woman who comes to the office of the United Hebrew Charities and expects to get $2 ever get it. They have no busi- ness with the United Hebrew Charities. Of course, you can jug- gle figures to prove anything. Nevertheless, I think that in a general sense the effort of Dr. Bogen has been a very interest- ing one. It is a subject well worth pursuing well worth know- ing what other communities have done, and I for one am very glad to have seen it done, and thank Dr. Bogen for the time and attention given to it. DR. JACOB HOLLANDER, Baltimore: The interesting paper which Dr. Bogen has read and graphically illustrated, 74 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH is a very pleasing exhibit, it seems to me, of the effi- ciency of the Federation of Jewish Charities in five of the cities and of the peculiar efficiency of the Cincinnati organiza- tion. I think we pricked up our ears a little at some of the mar- velous differences in percentages between the same colony in the five cities. I was struck also by the occurrence of the exact per- centage 15, 20 and 25; it is a very rare coincidence. That will occur in the best regulated statistics. But I think it would be very regrettable if the Conference should content itself with so rosy and optimistic a picture as exhibiting the actual condition of relief in the United States. You will all agree, I think, that whatever other virtues may attach thereto and whatever difficul- ties may accompany the Federation or the organization of the Jewish charitable organizations of a city, two results are inva- riably present. One is a correlation of the existing relief socie- ties, by virtue of which relief is subject to less duplication (it is not entirely eliminated, but in the main it is made more difficult for the same energetic applicants to receive relief for the same ailment from two or three organizations at the same time) and the second result of the federation is that the relief which is ad- ministered, is given with a great deal more care. The mere fact that Dr. Bogen found it possible to gather statistics from only these five cities indicates that the records and classifications are more carefully kept, and the showing is far superior in them. What I mean to suggest, is that the figures which he has given us are applicable only to these five cities the most advanced or- ganizations in the United States, and are by no means applicable, even if they were statistically accurate in every detail to the con- dition of charity dispensation throughout the United States, and it would be very regrettable, I think, if we were to solace our- selves with the cheery picture placed before us. MR. MAX SENIOR, Cincinnati : Without adding anything par- ticular to the discussion, I wish merely to call attention to the fact that Dr. Bogen, with whom I collaborated in the prepara- tion of some of these figures, found it almost impossible to get head or tail out of some of the statistics. This matter was the subject of a discussion at the very first Conference we had. I suggest that the details shown in this picture may have some in- NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 75 fluence in keeping the proper form of records in the various or- ganizations. There is no community so small or insignificant that it is not worth while to keep statistics and proper records in that community, as all of these little communities, and the large ones throw some light upon the condition of the Jews in the United States, and furnish us in many cases with magnifi- cent ammunition against the attacks of the immigration restriet- ionists. I hope that the forms that are in use in the federated charities of the larger cities may be speedily adopted in the smaller cities, so that these statistics may be available for the very valuable use to which they can be put. MAY 7, 2.30 P. M. JEWISH FOSTER HOME AND ORPHAN ASYLUM. THE PROBLEM OF BOARDING AND PLACING OUT JEW- ISH DEPENDENT CHILDREN. LUDWIG B. BERNSTEIN, PH.D., Superintendent, Hebrew Shelter- ing Guardian Society of New York. (Orphan Asylum.) In presenting to you this subject, it appears to me wisest to divide it into three parts ; first, the theoretical aspect of the ques- tion ; secondly, the practical results thus far achieved by the Xew York Bureau ; and lastly, the presentation of a few typical cases. I. The Theoretical Aspect of the Problem of Boarding and Placing Out Jewish Dependent Children. Assuming that the normal parental home is the best child-car- ing method, it might be interesting to analyze some of the factors that help to make the parental home the very best and most natural method of taking care of children. So far as I can see. there are among other elements, the following five, which we might call the essentials : 1. The affection and tender care given to the child even in the poorest home, constitute the sunshine necessary for the natural growth of the child. 2. The frequent expressions of rapture, joy and encouragement on the part of the parents over the slightest possible manifesta- tion of progress in the child form a second important element, psychologically almost as strong and valuable as the first. 3. The child's contact in school with hundreds of other types 76 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH of children of similar and different home surroundings, the numerous friendships, comradeships and rivalries which a normal school life naturally engenders, and in general, the inter-relation of the two great social factors, the home and the public school, are a powerful stimulus for the development of the child as a social unit. 4. The consciousness on the part of the child of occupying a dis- tinct place in the family economy, together with his observation of the relations of various members of the family to one another, and to the child himself, may be considered as another important element in the social training of the child. 5. The varied acquaintance with practical problems of life, the knowledge of money values, which the child in the ordinary home acquires as a matter of course, the daily relations of outside life to the home, the numerous interests, proficiencies and accomplish- ments which the child in the parental home absorbs without con- scious effort, are a valuable equipment for his future struggle in life. Using the five essential characteristics of the normal parental home as a criterion by which to measure the relative merits of the various child-caring methods, we have to consider above all that plan which will make it possible to train the dependent child in his own parental home, namely : 1. The Method of Pensioning Parent or Parents or the Family. It is needless to argue that the preservation of family life is one of the fundamental concerns of organized society. The first great method of taking care of dependent children is therefore the same as that of taking care of non-dependent children : the natural home. On theoretical grounds a system of liberal pensions in order to prevent the breaking up of families even temporarily is cer- tainly the most natural, the most advisable, and I would say, the most advanced plan. Caution, of course, must be taken that the child or the children in a family, receiving pension, should not be made to feel that they are dependent on or the recipients of charity. The supply to such children of wearing apparel, bearing the distinctive mark of the ' ' Charity Bureau quality, ' ' has a posi- tively demoralizing effect. This method of pensioning presup- NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 77 poses first of all adequacy of pensioning, and takes furthermore into consideration supplementary supervision of children in case of sickness or physical incapacity on the part of one or both parents. Semi-inadequate or inadequate pension is an injustice to the children as well as to the parents. Its consequence may be not a normal, but an abnormal home, not a naturally poor home, throb- bing with the cheerful hope of better days, but a miserable ex- istence marked by cheerlessness and by a lack of that individual care and attention which is the foremost characteristic of the normal home. In the absence of funds fairly adequate to pen- sion a family on a self-respecting basis, it would seem to be much more advisable to relieve temporarily the parent or parents of the care of the children, and to give the struggling father or mother a chance to reach a self-supporting stage with a view of returning the child to them as speedily as possible. But whatever maybe the just objections to an inadequate pension plan, let us remember that the natural parental home, adequately supported for the purpose of keeping it intact, holds the highest rank among the various methods of taking care of dependent children. 2. Home of Adoption. We now pass to the second child-caring plan, which preserves practically all the characteristics of the natural parental home : I mean the free home, or the home of adoption. At this juncture the question arises as to whether, outside of the natural home, a child is better taken care of in a private home or in an institution. In the chaos of conflicting opinions on this subject, it is necessary to bear in mind the following : The advocates of the institution plan concentrate their chief arguments on the contention that a well-managed institution gives the child a superior equipment, for life. In support of such an argument they say that the institution offers to its wards, in ad- dition to a sound scholastic and religious education, excellent facilities for social development together with splendid oppor- tunities for musical and manual training, military drill, athletics, etc. They furthermore claim in favor of the institution, that its 78 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH wards develop a very considerable degree of self-control, owing to the habits of regularity, obedience and promptness which such children readily acquire in a short time. On the other hand the advocates of the home of adoption consider the home influence, the individualism of the child and the realiza- tion of all the elements that enter into the development of the average child in the normal parental home as by far more potent factors for the future of the child as a useful member of society than band music, military drill and manual training. They con- sider home life as even more important than the extraordinary advantages of acquiring habits of regularity, promptness and obedience. Furthermore, they prefer the charge against the pre- vailing congregate institutions that in a number of instances their alumni, especially those that had spent with them a very long period, were found to be lacking in initiative, in self-reliance and in those qualities that make for manhood and womanhood. Confining ourselves to the problem of full orphans or totally abandoned children, or in other words, of children who are per- manently deprived of a hom,e, I may say that by far the weightier arguments are on the side of the home of adoption. Even the most enthusiastic adherent of the institution method will have to agree to the cardinal point, that it is a physical impossibility for him to offer that tender care and affection to each individual child that he is anxious to give. The moment he admits the impossi- bility of doing so, he subscribes to the main contention made by the advocates of the free home, and the problem then presents itself in this way : Under what conditions is a home of adoption the best child- caring method? It is desirable, first, if the home is good and promising, promising as far as the future of the child is con- cerned. It is furthermore desirable if the foster parents have no children and are willing to take the burden of bringing up a very young child. Thirdly, it is desirable only, if an agreement is made by which the home can be made subject to frequent intelli- gent inspection before and, to some extent, after the adoption of the child. On the other hand, the policy of placing children ranging be- tween ten and fifteen years of age into distant homes of adoption, NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 79 a policy by no means uncommon among non-Jewish child-placing agencies, must be emphatically condemned. In a number of in- stances it has resulted in ruined careers and in slavery. Thus it will be seen that the home of adoption is the superior child-caring method only for full orphans and abandoned chil- dren up to ten years of age. It is not available for orphans of over ten years of age, nor is it available for half orphans and temporarily destitute or dependent children. What is to become of the three classes of children just mentioned? Is it wiser to place them in a boarding home or in an institution ? 3. Boarding Home or Institution? Using as a basis of judgment the five characteristics of the nor- mal parental home, the institution enthusiast has again to yield to the superiority of the ideal boarding home. In the latter it is absolutely possible to get every essential characteristic of the natural home. But the difficulty of the whole question lies in this : Are the available boarding homes ideal, and with particular reference to the Jewish problem, are our Jewish boarding homes of such a nature as to make them a powerful rival to the best in- stitutional care that has been devised for children temporarily dependent ? f The city of Boston and the State of Massachusetts have perma- nently abandoned their children's homes by introducing a board- ing out system on a large scale. Homer Folks, in Chapter XII of his book "The Care of Destitute, Neglected and Dependent Children, ' ' in speaking of the present tendencies, remarks that it is doubtful whether any other States will emulate the example of Massachusetts and of Boston in doing away altogether with "tem- porary" institutions. Edward T. Devine, in his excellent book "Principles of Re- lief." coolly and impartially discusses the advantages and dis- advantages of both methods without passing final judgment as to which of the two methods is better. In this connection, you must further consider the fact that the motive in applying for the care of a child in the case of the boarding mother is not quite as pure as that of the childless mother. Even in the good boarding homes the question of pecu- 80 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH niary consideration enters as an element more or less potent, by which I do not mean to say that because of this element the home is necessarily bad. In my experience with Jewish boarding homes for children, I have found that the care and attention given by boarding mothers to a child are certainly out of all proportion to the small compensation given them. Moreover, I may definitely say that in a majority of cases the charitable instinct is at least as strong as the desire for compensation. From the point of view of the child, it is a fact that certain children will never thrive and prosper in an institution, such as a certain class of children that are nervous by nature ; children that are somewhat ungovernable, so-called mischievous children; some children who are semi-deficient mentally and children that come from a physically weak ancestry, etc. Even the staunchest friends of the institution plan for temporarily dependent children will have to grant this point. On the other hand, the enthusiasts of the boarding home, both Jewish and non-Jewish, will have to admit that there are certain children who need the trained skill of the pedagogue rather than the common sense treatment that the average foster mother is capable of giving, and that by far the majority of the boarding mothers and fathers have to divide their cares between their own children and the children placed with them. The boarding home friends will also have to admit reluctantly that the boarding home, as a rule, is not of the same high type as the free home. Finally, they will have to admit that there are numerous chil- dren, the product of Jewish institution training, who have in- deed developed a high type of character and a rare degree of ability that the Jewish institutions have a higher conception of their educational aims for their wards than some non-Jewish in- stitutions, and that a fair majority of their alumni are certainly successful in life. Summing up again the theoretical aspect of the question, it must be said that, if ideal boarding homes could be secured in large numbers, irrespective of cost and maintenance, that I would consider this method as superior to that of the institution. But, on this point, theory and practical experience do not blend. There are homes, pseudo-homes and miserable homes. NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 81 Until such time as it will be possible to secure a uniformly high standard of boarding homes, as high a type as that of the free home and I do not say that this is impossible until such time as the Jewish communities are willing to invest large sums of money to pay liberally for the highest possible class of board- ing homes and I hope that they will do so the boarding homes will remain confined to the special class of temporarily dependent children referred to above, and the institution will remain the chief child-caring agency, especially if it frees itself of the just criticisms and objections. I refer here to the justified criticism that the congregate insti- tution is carrying out on a smaller scale the ancient Greek- Spartan ideal of collective training of youth ; an objection which the cottage home institution has successfully met. The cottage home has also made adequate provision for a practical training in economic values, and has made it possible to individualize chil- dren on a satisfactory basis. 4. Scattered Cottage Plan. Before passing over to the practical workings of the Bureau of Boarding and Placing out Jewish Dependent Children, permit me to mention one more child-caring method which, to my knowledge, has not yet been attempted in this country, a plan which com- bines all the intrinsic merits of the natural home training with- out involving the difficulties encountered in finding first class boarding homes for normally dependent children. I refer to the plan of establishing scattered cottages with a higher type of women or possibly couples, to keep house in each cottage, or flat for only five or six children. Such a mother, or matron, or cottage couple should be given a certain allowance for the economical management of their house or flat, and for the proper training to be given to the children. The supervision of all such cottages or flats could be made central. I am satisfied that ultimately, such a plan, which is theoreti- cally closely akin to the ideal boarding home, might possibly yield better results than an elaborate cottage home institution. 82 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH II. Practical Results Achieved by the New York Jewish Bureau of Boarding and Placing out Jewish Dependent Children. In passing over to the practical results achieved by the Bureau, it will be necessary to remark that we have intentionally en- croached upon the domain of the existing Jewish Orphan Asy- lums only in as far as we have dealt with and have assumed the resonsibility for total orphans and abandoned children up to ten years of age. In regard to all other classes of children that the Bureau has taken care of, it has performed an important supple- mentary function to that of the existing child-caring institutions of New York, rather than a co-equal one. I mean by this, that in addition to the total orphans and abandoned children up to ten years of age, the Bureau has dealt with a peculiarly local situa- tion which we have to face in New York, namely, with the prob- lem of overcrowded Jewish institutions, with the problem of a large number of Jewish children in non-Jewish institutions, and with the problem of preventing the commitment to non-Jewish ringworm and trachoma hospitals of such children as might be safely admitted to private homes but not to institutions. Lastly, the Bureau has attempted to aid the various child-caring institu- tions in placing in suitable boarding homes such of their inmates as were in particular need of individual attention and care, owing to such causes as nervousness, mental semi-deficiency and poor health. On July 1, 1905, Miss Sarah Michaels, on behalf of the Joint Committee on Jewish Dependent Children, handed over to us ninety-four cases of children that had been cared for by her in various ways, Jewish children, who, through her efforts, had either been adopted or placed into free homes, or into boarding homes, or had been returned to their parents and relatives, or had been sent to hospitals or child-caring institutions. On the same date, the management of the Bureau was shifted to the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Orphan Asylum, with the understanding that as far as the child-placing work was con- cerned, it was to act under the auspices of the Joint Committee on Jewish Dependent Children, said committee consisting of representatives of the following institutions of New York: The United Hebrew Charities, the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, the He- NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 83 brew Sheltering Guardian Society, the Hebrew Infant Asylum, the Jewish Protectory and the Brooklyn Hebrew Orphan Asylum. On December 16, 1906, eighteen months after the re-organiza- tion of the Bureau by the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Orphan Asylum, the number of new children handled was 333. The total number of children thus handled since the inception of the Bureau in 1903 is 427. Some of the following facts may be of interest to you: 1. Total number of applications for children received since July 1. 1905 838 2. Number of applications for the adoption of children .... 134 3. Number of applications for adoption of children rejected as unfavorable 72 4. Number of applications for the adoption of children fa- vorably passed upon and filled 39 5. Number of applications of families offering boarding homes to children 704 6. Number of applications of families offering boarding homes rejected as unsuitable 536 7. Number of children placed in suitable boarding homes . . . 174 8. Total number of free homes, old and new cases 45 9. Total number of children placed in board, old and new cases 238 10. Total number of children under actual supervision at the present time 205 As regards the method pursued by the Bureau, all that is nec- essary to say in this connection is that the most approved meth- ods, such as are used by the Children's Aid Societies of Massa- chusetts and New York, were adopted with such modifications as our peculiarly Jewish conditions seemed to require. The following is a very brief description of the modus oper- andi used by our Bureau : The applicant fills out a blank containing about twenty ques- tions. These questions refer to his occupation, place of birth, age, number of relatives and children living in the house, their occupation, number of rooms, character of the neighborhood of the house, distance from the school, possibility of giving the child S4 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH a proper training in Hebrew and religion, the motive in applying for the child, the kind of child the applicant is desirous of taking into his home, etc. The applicant must give as his references at least three gentlemen not related to him. Immediately upon receipt of application, the visitor makes a personal inspection of the home, and after such inspection, refer- ence blanks are furnished to the parties mentioned by the appli- cant. The questions on the reference blanks are framed with a view of securing accurate information as to the general character of the applicant, as to the nature and disposition of his wife, his social and financial standing in the community, and as to their ability to give a young, unprotected child a proper physical, moral and religious training. Under no circumstances must the appli- cant be the recipient of charity of any kind. When the references are found to be satisfactory, a child is selected for the home. Before or soon after such child is de- livered to the foster parents, a very careful and detailed medical examination is made of the child's physical condition, and the record of such examination is filed for future reference. Of the 704 families offering boarding homes for children, there were naturally very many who applied solely with a view of paying off their debts, or the mortgages on a farm, or, in gen- eral, with a view of replenishing their depleted finances. A number of applicants "were recipients of charity. Every pre- caution was taken to exclude homes of this kind with the result that 536 applicants have been rejected as unfit. Among the re- maining boarding homes that were approved and filled within the past eighteen months, there are possibly as many as twenty- five that will ultimately be turned into free homes. Of the 134 applications for children to be adopted there were several that came from physicians, lawyers and teachers; most of them, however, came from prosperous merchants. There were also a number of applications offering free homes to girls of 13, 14 and 15 years of age. As a rule, such loving souls were very anxious to have a ' ' companion ' ' who would do just a ' ' little light housework. " It is hardly necessary to say that this kind of appli- cation is treated as a pretext for getting a servant girl without NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 85 pay. Of the 39 free homes actually filled during the past eighteen months, there has not been a single failure. Every one of the children is doing splendidly and has helped to bring sun- shine into a childless home. An analysis of the 704 applications offering boarding homes to children reveals the following interesting facts : Three hundred and fifty-seven applications were received from the borough of Manhattan, 125 from the Bronx, 75 from various localities in the State of New York, 5 from Maryland, 38 from Connecticut, 2 from North Dakota, 27 from Pennsylvania, 1 from Texas, 45 from New Jersey, 8 from Michigan, 7 from Massachu- setts, 5 from Ohio, 1 from New Hampshire, 1 from Virginia, 1 from Minnesota, 2 from Wisconsin, 2 from Illinois, 1 from Ver- mont, 1 from Iowa. Similarly, the 134 applications for the adoption of children are distributed over a very wide range of localities; thus, 52 were received from Manhattan Borough, 21 from Brooklyn, 13 from various localities in the State of New York, 13 from New Jersey, 7 from Massachusetts, 6 from Connecticut, 3 from Rhode Island, 3 from Pennsylvania, 2 from Indiana, 4 from Michigan, 2 from Wisconsin, 1 from Maryland, 2 from North Dakota, 1 from Geor- gia. 1 from Illinois, 1 from Canada, 1 from Maine, 1 from Florida and 1 from Alaska. In order to maintain a proper system of supervision and in- spection, the Bureau employs a staff of three who are required to give frequent reports of the visits paid to the homes. As a consequence of such frequent visits, it was found necessary to transfer 24 children from one home, to another. ///. Two Typical Cases Employed by the Bureau. In conclusion, permit me to present to you two cases as an illustration of the practical workings of the Bureau. The first case is that of a child Rubin. October 4, 1905 : Rubin was this day placed with Mr. A. Men- delsohn, of New York city, at the rate of $104 per annum. October 6, 1905 : Visited child. Rubin is very careless, slovenly and stubborn. In appearance, very untidy. People complain that they have a good deal of trouble with him. This child, being a total orphan, whose mother died in Manhattan State Hospital, 86 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH is a fit subject for indenture ; but it is necessary to keep him for awhile in a boarding home, so as to prepare him for his future permanent home. October 8, 1905: Visited home. Child has attended Temple Israel Kindergarten School, but the teacher insists on his being withdrawn for a short time, because he is too negligent and dirty. I have instructed the foster mother to pay special attention to the child's cleanliness. October 14, 1905: Child was visited in company with several gentlemen. Rubin was playing in a park with Isidor, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Mendelsohn. Foster mother informs me that Rubin has considerably improved in his habits, particularly as far as cleanliness and table manners are concerned. October 20, 1905 : Child is doing splendidly ; is attending kin- dergarten. Teacher reports that she has no trouble with the child, the latter appearing to be very much tidier in his manners. Mrs. Mendelsohn feels quite proud of Rubin's improvement. October 24, 1905 : Rubin shows again signs of stubbornness and disobedience, particularly in the kindergarten. I called at the kindergarten last night and asked the teacher to make allowances for the child. November 12, 1905: Child was sent away from kindergarten for being disobedient. He seems to be very nervous, restless and noisy. The physician examined the child, and recommends that Rubin be sent to our institution temporarily, so that the doctor could observe him while he plays with other children. February 18, 1906: Mr. Schneider, of Kokomo, Ind., applies for the care and maintenance of a little boy. Mr. Schneider states that he has three children of his own. His object in ask- ing for a child was purely charitable and in direct response to advertisements and notices that he had read. His interest had considerably increased since the Jewish massacres in Russia. He had decided to apply to this institution for the care and eventual adoption of a little orphan boy. Mr. Schneider was accompanied by his wife who made a most excellent impression. Both Mr. and Mrs. Schneider were introduced to the superintendent, who en- gaged them in a conversation about their motives in applying for a child. In the course of this investigation the following was brought NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 87 out: Mr. Schneider is a dry goods merchant, in partnership with his father, and does a very large business in his town in Indiana. He is estimated to be worth $60,000 and he figures his income at $10,000 per annum. Mrs. Schneider seems to share keenly the desire of Mr. Schneider to adopt a little orphan. Both were emphatic in their assurances that their treatment of the child to be adopted would in every respect be as good as that extended to their own children. Mr. Schneider himself makes the distinct impression of a gen- tleman of education and refinement. In the course of conversa- tion, he stated that what he wanted was to get, above all, a deserv- ing child. It was explained to Mr. Schneider that Rubin had a tendency to be nervous, restless, to be stubborn and to be rather slovenly. Mr. Schneider seemed to have fallen in love with the boy, and stated that he had seen a number of children that were handsomer than Rubin, but that he considered his case as par- ticularly deserving. He pleaded earnestly that the boy be placed in his care. February 22, 1906 : References furnished by applicant have re- sponded, speaking highly both of Mr. and Mrs. Schneider. Ref- erences agree that applicant would give child a splendid home. February 24, 1906 : Rubin, age 6. a former inmate of the Nur- sery and Child's Hospital, was this day placed in the care of Mr. Schneider, of Kokomo, Ind., who promises to maintain and care for the child, free of all charge to the Bureau, and who further promises to adopt the child after a trial of one year. February 27, 1906: KOKOMO, Ind. My Dear Friend Thursday evening we arrived home and the folks received our little Rubin with love and affection. My dear wife and children are more than satisfied with the boy, and hope to make a good man out of the waif. He is perfectly happy in his new home, and it is as natural for him to say mamma and papa as if he were born to us. On Monday we will take him to the public school, and in a few weeks we shall take pleasure in sending you his photo. As soon as you can, please send me the photographs of the two little boys 88 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH under three years that you spoke of, as it is likely that I am able to place them here in good homes for adoption. April 21. 1906 : My Dear Friend I am pleased to say that Rubin is all right. A little headstrong at times and stubborn, but with all, much better than the average. He plays with all the neighborhood children, and is quite a favorite with them. He speaks much more plainly than formerly. I am happy to say that his habits are good, that he is clean, and that we all like him. I will now turn to the case of Harry. October 1, 1905 : Mr. and Mrs. Solomon Feldman apply for the adoption of a child. I visited their home. They occupy two nice floors of nine rooms. They are childless and have an old mother living with them. Mr. Feldman is engaged in the leather finding business, and has a very handsome income. Both Mr. and Mrs. Feldman are plain but bright people. They are known in the neighborhood as charitable and kindhearted. They state that their object in applying for a child is to make it one of their own, as they have been married for fifteen years, and have given up hope of having children. On one occasion, they had cared for a nephew of theirs, but he died, at the age of twenty years, and from the information received from neighbors, I gather that the child had been treated splendidly by them. All this leads me to believe that if a baby were given to them, they would take excellent care of it. Both Mr. and Mrs. Feldman are rather orthodox religiously. They belong to a synagogue and attend it regularly. In business Mr. Feldman has a fairly good standing. His capital and stock are estimated to be worth in the neighborhood of from $15,000 to $18,000. October 20, 1905 : Harry, age 16 months, has been placed this day for eventual adoption with Mr. and Mrs. Feldman. This child was turned over to us by the State Charities Aid Associa- tion, the latter having placed the baby boy with Mrs. Minnie Mc- Carthy. November 1, 1905 : Harry is doing splendidly. Mr. and Mrs. Feldman are fairly in love with him. The only thing that troubles them is the rule of our Bureau not to give legal adop- tion papers before the end of one year. I NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 89 November 7, 1905 : Mr. and Mrs. Feldman have celebrated most elaborately the Brith Milah of Harry. November 14, 1905 : Child is doing very well. Foster parents are strongly attached to him. February 16, 1906 : The following letter was received from Mrs. McCarthy, the former boarding mother of Harry: ' ' Miss W. told me that perhaps after four or five weeks I might be able to see Harry, and she also told me to call at the office to find out. But I would rather you would tell me in a letter, for if I must take "No" for an answer, I would rather be at home to get such an answer. Kindly let me know, and do not think that I am too much trouble, for I love the boy as my own life. He took a great deal of sunshine out of this home when he went away. It is too bad we loved the boy as we did. I would never love another child as I did Harry. I cannot help being good to them all, as they are so helpless. But I will never let my heart go out to any child as I did to the boy. "May he always be a good boy and grow up to manhood, and ever love and respect the kind father and mother that gave him such a good home. ' ' THE COTTAGE PLAN IN GERMAN AND ENGLISH INSTI- TUTIONS FOR CHILDREN. RABBI SIMON PEISER, Asst. Superintendent of the Jewish Orphan Asylum, Cleveland, O. On the second of December, 1905, a meeting of a special com- mittee of the City Council of Berlin, Germany, was held for the purpose of discussing the proper care of orphan children. The members of the committee, learned and professional men each one of them, decided after a lengthy discussion by a vote of 11 to 2 in favor of the placing-out system; granting, however, that all institutional care of orphan children could as yet not be entirely abandoned. The two opposing votes were cast by Councilman Gombert, who having graduated from an orphan asylum, spoke loyally in its defence and would not subscribe to the dictum that " institutionalise! meant death to individuality," and by a Dr. 90 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH Bernstein (mark the name!) who earnestly insisted that children received better care and attention in orphan homes than in fami- lies which in consideration of $25 per annum open their hearts and houses to them. Dr. Bernstein's plea for the retention and modernization of orphan asylums fell apparently upon unwilling ears, for the committee decided as stated before, and reported its decision to the general council. And as Berlin then decided, many cities had already done. Nine of the leading German cities have adopted the placing-out system, and have, at least from their viewpoint, achieved great success. To this circum- stance must be ascribed the fact that the cottage plan has not found the appreciation and development in Germany with which it has met in England. There are, however, a few institutions which have introduced the cottage or group plan and of these the following deserve to be mentioned : 1. "Das Bauhe Haus," situated at Horn near Hamburg, sup- ported by a religious order. This institution harbors twelve to fifteen boys in a cottage which is in charge of a "brother" and two assistants. The boys are properly educated and receive also industrial training which, however, according to an American authority, is rather superficially imparted. 2. "Das Johannis-Stif t, " at Plotzensee, near Berlin, maintain- ed by the same religious order. At this home there are ten fami- lies of boys, each family consisting of ten to fifteen boys and two families of girls, a family composed of ten or twelve girls. Each family has its own household, is provided with its own play- ground and garden, and is in every respect separate. The food served to the boys and girls is prepared in the kitchen of the "Main Cottage," but eaten in the cottage dining rooms and not in one common dining hall. 3. "Die Brandenburgische Erziehungsanstalt, " in Strassburg. has six divisions of boys. Prom thirty-five to forty boys of dif- ferent ages form one division and are in charge of a caretaker. The four divisions of girls consist of twenty-five girls each and are properly cared for by women caretakers. The education given is both mental and industrial. NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 91 The "Hamburger Waisenhaus," situated at Hamburg, differs considerably from the institutions mentioned before. "While the other homes limit their work to the care for and attention to the children given into their charge, the Hamburg Orphan Asylum combines the group plan with the placing-out system. It sup- ports 2 ; 979 children, 2,432 boys and girls are placed with fami- lies and 547 are reared and educated in the home. The institu- tion, which may look back upon three centuries of work faithfully done, seems to be superbly managed and deserves our most hearty commendation. It insists upon a careful medical examination of its prospective wards, endeavors to learn the history of each child and his parents as far as possible, keeps all the data con- nected with the child correctly recorded and has grouped and housed its wards separately. There are fifteen groups, one con- sisting of infants, two of kindergarten children, i.e., girls and boys from four to six years of age, one group of girls and boys six to eight years old (the only institution in which boys and girls of such age are permitted to remain together), three groups of girls, each group composed of the girls of two school grades, one group of confirmed girls, six groups of boys, each group repre- senting one school grade, and one group of boys who receive spe- cial educational attention. Each one of these fifteen groups has its own living, dining and sleeping apartments, represents one family and is in charge of a man or woman assistant. The for- mer is usually an educated artisan who is required to give manual instruction to the boys of his family. The educational advantages offered to the children are especially good. The home school is equal to any elementary school and lays special stress upon the study of German and arithmetic. There are sepa- rate classes for dullards and for those children who are mentally so deficient that their progress can be but very slow. Manual training forms part of the school curriculum, and the boys are instructed in carpentry, carving, bookbinding, brushmaking. etc., and both girls and boys devote some time to garden work. The occupation of the children is varied as much as possible, as is also the diet. Four kinds of meals are prepared and served respect- ively to the kindergarten group, to the sick, the well and the con- firmed children. The Orphan Asylum authorities provide the 92 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH graduates with positions and assist them even after dismissal from the home. In England the cottage plan has found a fuller and wider de- velopment and adoption than in Germany, and among the many institutions which are conducted according to the cottage plan and which have been carefully described by J. S. Ward, Jr. (cf. Fifteenth Annual Report of the N. Y. Juvenile Asylum, p. 99.) one especially deserves our careful consideration, viz., The Girls Village at Ilford. This home for girls was founded by Dr. Bar- nardo, the father of "Nobody's Children," who during the forty years of his activity worked and provided for over 60,000 chil- dren, and is situated in a most beautiful part of Essex county. It houses 1,200 girls in nearly sixty cottages and represents the cottage plan at its very best. The cottages are substantially built and simply but tastefully decorated. They are as homelike as any private home, and are presided over by a "mother," who, as the last report states, "is usually a woman who has offered her- self to our Lord in his service among the destitute children. These women, with few exceptions, neither ask nor receive any re- muneration and are only accepted after having shown their fit- ness for the position. The relation between "mother" and orphan girl is that ' ' of loving obedience. ' ' The girls are free and unrestrained, act naturally and are in every respect like other girls brought up by their parents. In addition to a good mental education, they also receive a splendid industrial training in housework, laundry work, dressmaking, cream and cheese making, weaving and art needlework. The industrial principle which has always been emphasized by the late Dr. Barnardo, is especially noticeable at Ilford. Every girl is taught to work and given some work to do. Each one is treated as an individual with per- sonal characteristics of her own and is dealt with what might be reasonable to expect from each of them. It surprises, therefore, no one to learn that Dr. Barnardo 's girls are in great demand and that upon leaving the beautiful home each girl finds a good, well- salaried position. Dr. Barnardo ascribed the success with which his work at Ilford has been crowned, to the change from the bar- rack to cottage plan and is outspokenly in favor of the latter. While there are but few nowadays who deny the justice of the NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 93 claims made for the cottage plan by its advocates, yet we cannot conclude this -brief account without merely hinting at two great difficulties, which the cottage plan offers in America, viz., the securing of a larger number of good, fit assistants and the in- creased expenditure. These difficulties present a serious prob- lem which, no doubt, will in good time find a proper solution. Let us hope that ere long well-trained and well-educated men and women will devote their energies to the rearing of orphan children and that our co-religionists will become more and more- alive to the necessity of generously discharging their debt to chil- dren bereaved of fathers and mothers, so that all Jewish institu- tions for children will find it soon possible to introduce the cot- tage plan. DISCUSSION OF "THE COTTAGE PLAN FROM THE ARCHITECTURAL POINT OF VIEW." CHARLES H. ISRAELS, NEW YORK. The architectural problem of the Cottage Institution is the problem of the city in miniature. All of the principles which apply to the proper planning of larger centers of population, ap- ply equally to their smaller prototypes. For the past ten years there has been a wave of discussion in both the lay and the tech- nical press as well as in the professional societies as to the proper architectural solution of the city plan. This discussion is the result of economic necessity; but it is demanded that the archi- tect's answer must do more than simply meet this necessity it must be artistically satisfying as well. The problem of the city plan has gone beyond the realm of academic discussion and certain basic principles arrived at by all of the experts are being incorporated in the improvements now under way or in contemplation, in New York, Washington, Cleve- land, Buffalo, Baltimore and San Francisco. The principles are : That the plan should be of such a character that it may be devel- oped in any direction indefinitely along the main lines of travel. That civic or public centers should be created ; thereby co-ordinat- ing the public offices and providing the opportunity for a consist- ent architectural treatment of the more important structures. 94 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH That congestion is best avoided by easy and rapid circulation. That small buildings are only possible where there is no con- gestion, and that these principles may be best served by a de- parture from the rectangular plan, so common to American communities, and the adoption of a system of diagonal and radi- ating roadways with the result of making possible easy and rapid circulation, while at the same time providing isolated sites for structures of various types, preventing congestion and giving artistically satisfying vistas. Each of these principles applies with equal force to the cottage community, and it is fortunate that the impetus toward the building of such institutions comes at a time when this discussion has reached a point where all of the men who have studied the problem agree as to these basic principles. The designer of an institution has one all important advantage that does not often come to the worker for city improvements. The institution is usually planned as a reasonably consistent whole from the beginning. The planning of a city is usually the result of chance, and until it actually becomes an important cen- ter of population, the wastefulness of a haphazard method does not impress itself upon the people, and the correction of basic errors can then only be obtained at an enormous cost except when such catastrophes as those of Baltimore and San Francisco help to simplify the problem. Accepting the three principles mentioned as axiomatic, let us see how they apply to institutional work on the cottage system. Pew institutions know at their inception exactly the form of work which they will be called upon to perform in all its details. The Boys' Industrial School, at Lancaster, Ohio, one of the oldest segregate institutions in this country, has been in process of alter- ation and expansion for many years in order to meet the latest expert opinion. Even if an industrial programme is prepared with the utmost minuteness, experience and changed conditions may cause the work to be radically changed in the future and the plan of the institution should be elastic enough to meet the new demands. Two of the most successful cottage colonies in the East, such as the Good Will Farm at Hinckley, Maine, and the new State In- NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 95 dustrial School at Rochester, N. Y. (now under construction), go to the extreme of segregation and are primarily agricul- tural institutions with large tracts of territory in which formality of plan is purposely not considered; as their very segregation allows for expansion at will. The New York Orphan Asylum, at Hastings-on-Hudson, and the Juvenile Asylum at Dobbs Ferry (now partially completed), are, in my opinion, defective in this particular, as their architec- tural schemes around one central court leave no room for future development along consistent architectural lines ; and if the next decade should bring about as radical changes in the conduct of such colonies as has been the case during the past few years, the time may come when these institutions, at present models of their types, will find their very completeness a barrier in the way of the development necessary to keep them abreast of the most ad- vanced ideas. Granted that this feature should be the primary consideration, it is self-evident that a cottage institution should be planned with special reference to the following propositions : First. That the general scheme should be so planned with reference to the topography of the site that its future develop- ment may keep pace with the growth of the institution upon both the main and subordinate axial lines in any direction. Second. That all axial lines should be so adjusted as to give the greatest economy of circulation consistent with the segrega- tion of the various classes of inmates and the ease of circulation from all points to the buildings used for congregate purposes. Third. That the various buildings should be disposed with proper consideration for the peculiarities of the site, their segre- gation, their architectural importance, their particular relations to the other buildings of the group, and the questions of water, heat supply, and sewerage disposal. Fourth. That the individual buildings should be planned with single eye to economy of maintenance except in the case of the cottages; where the consideration of homelike surroundings for which the cottage system stands should be given equal import- ance. 96 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH The experience of cities has proved that the plan which best meets these conditions is a system of rectangular, diagonal and radiating roads and paths forming a series of definitely bounded sites thereby providing the isolation so necessary for the various groups the main buildings and those for co-ordinate work being in the middle of the composition and forming practically a civio center from which the main roads radiate while the subordinate groups are placed at the points of secondary importance formed by the intersection of the radiating roads. This scheme allows for the extension of the main or secondary roads in any direc- tion; and these extensions provide numerous logical sites for farm buildings, work shops or any other structures at a greater distance from the main buildings as the demands of the institu- tion may dictate in the future ; while they would be at the same time in the most direct communication with the center of the composition. With each short extension of the roads a new site is provided and these sites are always in their proper relation both architecturally and economically to the primary group. The intersection of the cross roads also provides a natural point for lamps or other embellishments which may be added at any time. The movement for municipal improvement now sweeping over the United States is hampered in almost every instance by the difficulties of circulation in cities laid out upon a rectangular plan in which access to important centers is never direct, with consequent congestion, long travel and loss of vistas. The only American city which has avoided these defects is the City of Washington, in which diagonal circulation was originally pro- vided, which not only gave the desired results, but has also made possible the contemplated improvements recently adopted by the Government upon lines which are logically developed from the existing plan. The same principles apply to this miniature city ; as by means of the diagonal and radiating streets, immediate straight, short and uninterrupted access is possible from all subordinate build- ings to the main group, and from one group to the other, while at the same time providing individual spaces for the various build- ings suited to both large and small structures, enclosed within NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 97 plots with actual boundaries which confine a greater area than is possible within any other geoinetrical form, thereby reducing the actual length of travel to the absolute minimum consistent with the space enclosed. Having determined upon a plan of this general character, the various buildings of this miniature village may be easily plotted in the numerous symmetrical and isolated sites which the system provides. The main buildings for co-ordinate and administrative work naturally group themselves in the center of the composition, equidistant from the minor buildings, with the Superintendent's house and such buildings as the Honor Cottage in prominent locations on primary lines of travel one for purposes of utility, the other to emphasize its architectural importance. Grouped around a secondary center, outside of the main composition, and dependent for position on the topography of the site, the work- shops and other industrial buildings should find a place ; and in grouping the cottages, those intended for the class of inmates who are to use the industrial buildings should be kept nearest to their work. The buildings forming the main co-ordinate group may in this form of plan be entirely surrounded by smaller groups of cot- tages in such a way that the several groups for the various classes of inmates may be kept separate and distinct one from the other. The Reception Cottage and the Hospital must naturally be placed outside of the main composition; the one near the entrance and the other in some isolated location; but the radiating system will always keep them on a main line of travel. The character of the buildings required for a cottage insti- tution must be dictated by the industrial necessities of each particular ease. The theory of the cottage institution demands isolation and segregation. The greater the segregation, the more successfully the plan is apt to meet the most advanced demands of the cottage institution, but the greater the cost of mainten- ance; and it therefore becomes of paramount importance that at the inception of the work the officers of the institution should decide for the architect's guidance, if each cottage is to have its 98 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH own household economy or if there is to be a congregate dining room, and whether the cottages shall have separate rooms or dormitories. Of the buildings themselves, the only one presenting problems peculiar to the segregate institution, is the cottage itself. Except in an Honor Cottage, the experts generally agree that in most institutions separate rooms are inadvisable. The consensus of opinion seems to place 20 to 30 inmates as the proper number which it is possible to care for adequately under one roof. If the appropriation permits the buildings should be fireproof; but if economy declares otherwise at least the stairs and halls should be so constructed and should be placed in a central location equidistant from all sleeping apartments. Two dormitories should be provided on the second floor with adjoining locker rooms through which the toilet and wash room is entered; one such room answering for the two dormitories. Opposite the stairway on the sleeping floor and in such a posi- tion as to command the dormitories the designer should place the rooms of the person in charge of the cottage, and it is also advisable that the toilet rooms be entered from the halls as well as from the locker rooms. Large storage spaces are essential and a sewing room is usually advisable. In planning the first floor of the cottage, every effort should be made to be as uninstitutional as possible ; as no peculiar problems are presented other than may be found in any large home. The details, of course, depend upon the amount of segre- gation which each case demands. The cost of each cottage providing from 20 to 30 beds would be from $10.000 to $15.000 each, dependent upon the methods of con- struction. No very complete statistics have been collated as yet as to the average cost of the cottage institution as a whole; but in a recent address of Dr. Hastings H. Hart, he stated that "an adequate plant for a Juvenile Reformatory (on the cottage sys- tem) can be built and equipped for from $600 to $1,000 per bed, including land." I am inclined to think, however, that while these figures may be correct for the west they would be found considerably higher in the eastern states. Further segregation than even the cottage affords, is obtained NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 99 in the Girls' Training School at Geneva, Illinois, by the housing of small families in separate flats, each household having its complete family life within its own apartment. In determining upon the details of the buildings of the group other than the cottages, the more the architect can forget that he is designing an institution and the more he can consider his problem one of an industrial village, the more successful he is apt to be in solving the problem and meeting the conditions for which the cottage institution stands. Considerations of construction, sanitation, water supply, heat- ino; and lighting service, and the numerous other problems which confront the city builder all have the same relative importance in the institution and call for solution upon a smaller scale in a similar way. The more the architect has the miniature city before him, the greater will be his success. Architecture is the servant of OUT industrial and economic conditions. It is successful only when it meets the demands of the time, and meets them artistically and economically. Environment creates types of buildings as well as people. New York's tenement and skyscraper problems are both the result of environment of city plan. The Parisian apartment is the result of that city's broad streets and well-planned avenues, and so the buildings of an institution will respond under the hand of the skilful architect to the well-considered and economic plan of the miniature city. It is a new problem in modern sociology it must be met in the new way. JEWISH FOSTER HOME AND ORPHAN ASYLUM, 2 p. M.. May 7. 1906. JEWISH DELINQUENT CHILDREN. FALK YOUNKER, Secretary of the Young Men's Hebrew Association, New York City. The large number of Jewish delinquent children to care for in the city of New York, involves many problems, all of which must be carefully considered, if their number is to be materially re- duced. If we consider conditions in the metropolis that we have 100 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH to contend with, it will not be surprising to learn that the number has grown to such large proportions. Between 28 and 30 per cent, of all children brought to the Children's Court are Jewish children. There are three and a half times as many children among this number who are the children of recently arrived immigrants as there are of native born parents. Fifteen years ago Jewish prisoners were an unknown quantity. Let us briefly consider conditions in the metropolis. It is con- servatively estimated that the Jewish population of New York is 700,000. Upon investigation we find that in the Ghetto, families are huddled together, and when we reflect that in a few dingy rooms large families live and frequently several boarders be- sides, does it need any further argument to convince us that the home life is unbearable for the children, disease must thrive and that immorality has a breeding place amid such wretched sur- roundings. "We must get at the root of an evil, if we wish to effect a positive cure, and the root of the evil is here. "We of course recognize the fact that all large cities have the problem of how to deal with their poor. We know that we can- not wipe out poverty and sin. We are interested in trying to learn what we can do to reduce suffering and wretchedness, and to improve conditions to such an extent as to make life worth living for all those whom we possibly can reach. Here is an opportunity for our great philanthropists to do noble work. Homes should be erected for these people, where they can live decently at a minimum cost, but should not be known as philanthropic enterprises which would wound the pride of the worthy poor, but there should be groups of such buildings in certain localities and have it generally known that here self-respecting families could find neat apartments amid sanitary and inviting surroundings. E. R. L. Gould and Robert Fulton Cutting are at the head of a movement that houses people in cities and suburban homes, in which it is claimed that out of several hundred thousand dol- lars collected in rents last year, less than .$10*0 was lost in col- lections, which proves that the example of a well regulated apart- NATIONAL CONFERENCE OP JEWISH CHARITIES. 101 ments conducted by a responsible superintendent and a compe- tent janitor has the desired result. It is needless to state that such improved conditions as out- lined would have the most beneficial effect upon the lives of our Jewish youth. We hear of magnificent apartments in fashionable sections of the city, which contain spacious and elaborate halls, where receptions and various social functions may be held. "Would it not be a grand thing if such homes as I have just de- scribed for our worthy poor, would also contain a hall where they could have their neighborhood gatherings, entertainments and receptions, and other innocent amusements which would bring so much happiness and good cheer into their lives of toil and hardship. The New York Truant School contains a large number of Jew- ish children. The number varies, but a general average would be about 35 per cent, of the total number. The principal of this school informs me that she considers the ignorance of the parents responsible for a large number of the children committed to the school, many of whom seem to be totally ignorant of the school laws. They send the children out to sell papers, shine shoes and peddle, when the father or the bread winner of the family is out of work, and such children are compelled to fall in line and thus help to support the family. Mothers' meetings would help to offset this problem. Such parents ought to be made to realize that a great injustice is done to the child who does not receive the necessary education to have a fair start in life. In Harlem in the vicinity of 115th street, between Fifth and Madison avenues, and several of the adjoining streets where there are a large number of cheap tenements, a condition of affairs exists almost as bad as in some of the worst sections of the lower East Side. In investigating several probation cases, I found it necessary to visit a school in the neighborhood, one of recent and modern construction, and also one of the largest in the city. The teacher of one of the boys suggested that I meet the principal, and ob- tain further information regarding conditions in the neighbor- hood. I was accordingly introduced to the head of the school. 102 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH who informed me that it was a source of great anxiety to him that so many of the children of his school were delinquent, and that he had given some thought to this important problem. The per- centage of Jewish children in this school is nearly 80 per cent. ; those who were delinquent were nearly all Jewish. The principal stated his belief that a great deal of the trouble is due to the fact that the parents of these children have a great struggle to earn a livelihood. They are at work practically all day long, and the task of preparing meals, besides taking care or the house, is usu- ally left to one of the older children of the family. The children are on the streets nearly all day long, finding nothing to attract them in their dingy homes, and in the streets mam 7 bad habits art 1 formed. The temptations of the penny theatres are very al- luring, and many of the attractions there poison their minds and characters. There are also the 5-cent theatres and other low class theatres, as well as degrading museums. The children having nothing at home to amuse or entertain them, crave for these pleasures, and in order to obtain them, begin by taking little change left on the mantel piece at home and then resort to petty stealing, which gradually leads to greater wrong-doing. I visited several of the five-cent theatres recently, and can best describe them by stating that they are the dime novel of the stage, they consist of moving pictures which appeal to the vicious side of life, give an entirely erroneous idea of true manhood. and are demoralizing in every respect. The principal also said to me, "Would it not be a fine thing if your philanthropic and educational institutions would enter into competition with these low class attractions, and offer amuse- ment that develops the better side of children's characters and appeals to their nobler instincts?" He also suggested "That we ought to gradually weed out such resorts by making a very slight charge for our attractions and also send free tickets to the public schools to be distributed among the best children as a reward for punctuality and good behavior." I am also informed that there are a number of little cigar shops and candy stores in the neighborhood where boys are permitted to lounge and smoke cigarettes and cultivate the habits of the NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 103 corner loafer. If these resorts could only be broken up, it would be a great thing for the future of our boys. The religious training of the children of immigrant parents N also sadly neglected. Unfortunately among nearly all the parents of these children their religion is to a large extent based upon superstition and ignorance, principally due to persecution, and counts for little, if anything, as a moral factor in their lives. They worship the letter of the religious law but ignore the spirit. Our great Washington said: "Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion." It remains for our educational and philanthropic institutions to step in and teach religion as it should be taught, and by this I do not mean orthodoxy or reform, but I mean the fundamental principles of our sacred faith, which is the essence of all true religion, and which teaches us that it is impossible to be truly religious unless religion is brought into the daily life by cor- rect conduct and strict, adherence to truth and honor. If we are tactful, this can be taught without estranging the child from the parent, which we all know must be avoided. In order to do this let us always confine ourselves to these fundamental principles, and the children should be made to realize that the ritual and ceremonial part is not of paramount importance, but that we must abide by the wishes of our parents or those nearest to us in ref- erence to these details. My experience has taught me that what is sadly needed is the trained social worker. Let us not be carried away with the thought that college degrees are all that is necessary to fit one for this important problem. Emerson said: "Wealth without a good heart is like an ugly beggar." I should apply this to the social worker. Wealth of knowledge without heart and sympathy for the work will never fit anyone for social leadership. The problem before us is an enormous one. "Let us be strong and of good courage," and let our high-minded men and women go into this work with the thought that effective results can only be accomplished by meeting our unfortunate brethren upon their own level. We must learn to be patient with them and realize that we would not be any better were we born in a coun- try where bigotry and superstition reign supreme. We also need a campaign of education. Our people must be made to realize 104 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH that charity of the heart must be combined with charity of the mind, and that helping others to help themselves is the highest, best and most practical form of charity. After considerable agitation the Jewish Protectory has now become a reality. The Jewish press stated recently that $500,000 has been raised for this purpose, and that the work of construction would be pushed forward to completion. The establishment of this institution was made absolutely necessary owing to the large number of Jewish children being committed to Catholic institutions and those of other denominations. Is it not timely to ask ourselves this ques- tion: What will be the condition of affairs after its doors are thrown open? Will it find that its capacity is soon taxed to the limit, as many of our institutions discovered soon after entering commodious homes ? Should we not realize that prevention is bet- ter than cure, and does it not behoove us to support philanthropic and educational endeavor, and how shall it be done? By organ- izing new societies ? Decidedly no. Our leading educational and philanthropic institutions are having a great struggle to further their work, and therefore the formation of new societies must be completely discouraged. If we are to deal with the problem in- telligently we must give all possible assistance and encouragement to the leaders of our recognized institutions. Their work must expand if existing conditions are to be improved. If they can arrange to combine in doing this work, so much the better, but if not they should at least confer and divide up the work intelli- gently among themselves. Recreation centers must be established wherever most needed, and here our Jewish youth must find healthy amusement to offset the temptations of the street and at such centers moral and religious influence must be brought to bear upon them. It is only by such endeavor and better home environment, as outlined at the start, that we can prevent our youth from becoming sick mentally and physically, chronic bur- dens to the community by reason of the fact that lessons of in- dustry, ambition and self-reliance were lacking. We can also prevent them becoming aged in their youth by putting a check upon the tendency to lead wayward lives. We can likewise avoid their becoming infirm and crippled morally by teaching princi- ples of integrity and honor, and last, but not least, we shall pre- NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 105 vent them being ob.jects of charity by teaching that pride and self-respect should be held in highest esteem, and that when we part with these we part with our most sacred possession. Let us have stout hearts for the undertaking before us. and when we feel that we need inspiration let us go to some poor neighborhood, stop at the street corner and listen to the Salvation Army. These men and women are there every evening, no matter how inclement the weather may be. They are the brave soldiers of a mighty army which has never met with defeat, for they are fighting ignorance, poverty and crime with God's messages of sympathy, love, comfort and forgiveness. Heaven smiles upon their work, for the most noble of all charities is that which tries to lead into the right path the wayward and the erring. We of the Jewish faith can well afford to profit by their ex- ample, and we ought to do similar work among those of our own people who need just such help and guidance. HOMES FOR WORKING GIRLS. Miss ROSE SOMMERFELD, Superintendent of the Clara de Hirsch Home, New York City. Recently a book was published in New York, entitled, ''The Long Day. or the Story of a New York Working Girl as told by herself, ' ' in which the writer very vividly depicts the intolerable conditions under which most girls who drift to large cities seek- ing work are compelled to live. Since the publication of that book public opinion has been stirred to its greatest depths and thinking men and women have begun to realize that while they have done much for working girls in the way of clubs, classes, etc., they have failed to get at the root of the trouble, which is the proper housing of the girl. Although there can be no doubt that homes for working girls are needed in all large cities, it is probably in New York where thousands come yearly to seek work that the problem of providing the proper accommodations will lie most difficult. In smaller cities rents are less expensive, the cost of living is not so great, and consequently there is very little difficulty in making such homes self-supporting after they have 106 PROCEEDINGS OP THE FOURTH once been organized. In New York conditions are entirely different, and, therefore, it will be interesting to watch the experi" ments that are to be made. Though this question has been agitated recently, we must not lose sight of the fact that years ago the Y. W. C. A. in connection with its work established homes for working girls, but, unfortunately, they were based upou such narrow sectarian lines that those of other faiths than Protestantism were not as a rule admitted. Miss Richardson, in her book ' ' The Long Day, ' ' deplores the fact that religion should have anything to do with the homes as such, and in describing what she considers the ideal home, strikes the proper keynote when she says "homes for working girls should not only 'be non-sectarian, but non-religious." As the homes conducted by the Y. "W. C. A. were not able to accommodate all who applied, homes of , all descriptions have been organized in many cities through the efforts of private individuals, and while many of these homes are doing good work, they are so hedged in by rules and regulations that the great majority of those for whom they are primarily needed, fight shy of them. "Why should we attempt to force upon the working girl those things that would not be acceptable to us? Which of us stopping at the Waldorf-Astoria, the Walton, or even a boarding house would like to be compelled to attend religious services morning and evening? The working girl who pays $3.00 per week for room and board feels just as independent as the woman who goes to a hotel and pays that much per day, and she does not care to be coerced into doing anything. It is true every hotel has its rules and so must work- ing girls' homes, but these must be reduced to a minimum, and must not interfere with the personal liberty of the girl. The great difficulty to my mind has been that the homes started by individuals have, as a rule, been in charge of women totally unfit for the position they hold. With few exceptions the women art 1 of the working housekeeper type, or have been selected because they are ' ' consecrated, ' ' as one directress told me, and ' ' therefore require very little salary" an important consideration, no doubt, as most of the homes lead a hand to mouth existence, and have barely enough to meet their expenses even when subsidized by a -board of managers. As a result, the home lacks atmosphere. NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 107 the girls have no ambition, and very soon lose their ideals if they ever had any. It is most important, therefore, to have the proper person in charge even if she is not ' ' consecrated, ' ' and must have a large salary, for upon her, more than anyone else, depends the success of the home. In establishing these homes, two classes of girls must be taken into consideration. The first class consists of that large group of girls over twenty-five years of age with limited earning capacity, and who, therefore, are able to pay from $3.00 to $6.00 per week. For them we require a system of boarding and lodging houses where they will be free to come and go without qiiestion, as they no longer need the moral back- ground that younger girls require. These homes should be absolutely self-supporting. They should be plain and comfort- able, and the girls should only get that for which they are able to pay. In New York, where so many homes are needed, it might be well to grade them according to price, so that the girl in the $3.00 a week house would be ambitious enough to want the extra comforts she could get by paying $5.00 per week. The Franklin Square House in Boston, the Eleanor Hotel in Chicago, where the price of board is $2.75 and $3.25 per week, prove that these homes can be made self-supporting. In the coming month Mr. W. K. C. Martin, of New York, will open his hotel, "The Trow- mart Inn," which will accommodate from 300 to 400 girls at $4.50 and $5.00 per week. This hotel no doubt will soon be full to overflowing, and if properly managed, will, I am sure, pay a small percentage on the investment. This should lead other philanthropists to put up similar buildings in cheaper neighbor- hoods, so that those women earning from $5.00 to $7.00 per week can be cared for at prices suitable to their scanty purses. Some few years ago, desiring to have a list of places where girls with a, very small income could board, I advertised in the daily papers for room and board, the price not to exceed $3.00 per week. I ' received some twenty-five answers, and visited each place. My heart ached for the poor unfortunates who would be con- demned to live in such surroundings ; for with few exceptions, the rooms were dark and filthy, and I was glad to beat a hasty re- treat. The other, and to my mind, the more important group, and the one that should be our first consideration, consists of those 108 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH beginners in the world of toil, girls between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five, to whom the pleasures of life are so dear, whose young hearts yearn for light and warmth, and physical comforts and who very often, not because they are vicious, but because lacking the proper environment, join "the ranks of that other, silent figure in the tragedy of failure, the long lost erring Eunice" whom Miss Richardson so pathetically describes. The question has been raised that as soon as employers find that hotels and homes for working girls are being established where they can get board and lodging for $3.00 per week, the salaries will be cut down and philanthropists will be supplementing the wages that girls should be earning. My experience during nearly seven years has been quite the reverse. In the first place many em- ployers do not take the trouble to inquire where the girls whom they employ are living, except that very often the girl who lives with her parents secures the coveted position, and has precedence over the girl who boards, no matter how small the amount she has to pay, because the girl with a home can afford to accept the smaller wage. It frequently happens, however, when the em- ployer does find out that the girl in his employ is living in a home, that he becomes very much interested, and she is among the last to be "laid off," as he appreciates that her problem of tiding over the dull season is a difficult one. If the home has achieved any sort of reputation, the employer very often prefers its girls because he knows that the girl from that home is re- spectable, that she is living in good surroundings, is properly nourished, and, therefore, much better able to work than those who live in unhealthy lodgings, dining in cheap restaurants; that she does not spend her time idling, is not given to the use of ugly language, and lacks the bold ways that too often char- acterize those girls "who are a law sufficient unto themselves." What difference could it possibly make to an employer whether the girl paid her board in a home where she had not only the necessities of life, but some of its comforts as well, or whether she lived in a cheerless hall bedroom, taking her meals in restau- rants, except that the work gotten from the former would be of a much better quality than the latter could possibly give. Philan- thropists will not have to supplement the wages of working girls NATIONAL CONFERENCE OP JEWISH CHARITIES. 109 because model homes are provided. Girls are, as a rule, under- paid, but that is due to the fact that competition is so great on the one hand that prices are continually being cut, and the other, and more important reason, is that the majority of girls have not been taught how to work properly, and, therefore, in the em- ployer's estimation, usually get as much as they are worth. We need trade training schools, but that is an entirely diff erent ques- tion, and need not be dwelt upon here. Recently at a meeting in Xew York called to consider the advisability of establishing Homes for Working Girls, one of the gentlemen present created a hubbub of excitement because he declared that there was no place for the girl who only earned $3.00 per week, her position was hopeless, and she would have to be left to herself. It is true the position of the girl who is no longer young and who only earns $3.00 per week is hopeless, and perhaps we cannot con- sider her, but while there always will be girls earning $3.00 per week, fortunately it is a moving crowd, because as quickly as the $3.00 girl advances, there is always another girl who is just beginning who is ready to take her place. She is by no means hopeless however. The girls with whom I have come into contact rarely remain $3.00 girls very long. Either they are given the opportunity of learning a trade, or they are made ambitious by those in charge to improve their position. The very fact that a girl has a comfortable home, that she is not cold and hungry gives her the ambition to improve her condition. She goes to the night school, or joins one of the many evening classes, so gen- erously provided for the purpose of helping girls to help them- selves, and before long she has increased her earning capacity. In a' home like ours, one girl is an incentive to another. The office girl earning $4.00 a week comes in contact with the stenog- rapher earning $8.00 or $10.00, and consequently she becomes ambitious, and soon joins a class in stenography in order to be able to better her position, and get a larger salary. I find also that girls are not always properly placed. They take the first thing that offers because they must have work, and are not ex- perienced enough to know how to make the best use of the talents they possess. Upon the superintendent 's more intimate acquaint- ance with these girls, their possibilities are discovered, and they 110 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH are placed in positions where their earning capacity is of the greatest value. Another class of girls who have received very little attention from philanthropists and those interested in all that pertains to the welfare of women, are servant girls. Their condition is in- deed pathetic in the extreme, for when they are out of work, their usual lodging houses^ are the back rooms of one or the other so-called "Intelligence Offices," many of which are more or less disreputable. In articles written in the newspapers and maga- zines, as well as in her book, entitled, "Out of "Work," Frances Kellor has pointed out in no uncertain terms the dangers to which this large group of girls is subjected. In each community there should be a home for servant girls, where a girl temporarily out of work could board until she secures another position. Very often, too, these girls, who have very little time to themselves, as most households are constituted to-day, require a few days' time between places, in order to renovate their clothes, or rest up a bit. The home could have its attractive sitting rooms Avhere these girls could spend their free evening, or Sunday, and re- ceive their men friends, a privilege seldom enjoyed by them in the ordinary household. They would go back to their work happier, and better for the relaxation, and perhaps part of the servant problem would be solved. Thus far I have considered the subject generally, but what have we as Jews been doing for those of our co-religionists who, because of the dietary laws, find it impossible to live in the usual Working Girls' Homes? What problems are we facing for the future ? I believe the women of Baltimore were the first Jewish women to recognize the need of such a home, and fully ten years ago, opened the doors of a modest dwelling to a few girls who were orphans, or who had no parents in this country. The home soon grew too small, and they bought the beautiful house in which to-day they are caring for twenty-eight girls. The next home to be established for Jewish working girls was the Clara de Hirsch Home in New York, over which it has been my privilege to preside for nearly seven years. This home occupies a unique position, as it is different from any of the homes in this country, combining as it does, a trade training NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. Ill school for girls, and a boarding department for those who go to work. The two features are closely allied and interdependent. There are 135 girls living in the large building provided for the purpose, through the generosity of the late Baroness de Hirsch, who also endowed the institution. Of these, 85 girls are merely boarders, paying as a rule $3.00 per week, although some few are taken for less until their earning capacity has been increased in the way I have pointed out. When Miss Richardson's book first appeared, I placed it in the hands of a group of my most intelli- gent girls, getting them to read it, and discuss it freely. To my utter amazement, when Miss Richardson came to dine with me one evening, she told me she had received a letter from one of these girls, who wrote that having carefully read the book, she begged Miss Richardson to come to visit the Clara de Hirsch Home, as it was very much like the ideal one which she described. It has but two rules: Punctuality at breakfast, and the house closes at 10 :30 every evening, except Saturday, when it is open until 12, to give the girls an opportunity to go to the theatre, etc. Exceptions to this rule are frequently made when a group of girls desire to go anywhere. As they are all between the ages of 15 and 25, it can be readily understood that there must be a time limit. Everything is done to make the girls feel as if they were living in their own homes, and to do away as much as possible with the artificiality of institution life. The girls are allowed to entertain their friends, and to have them at meals at a nominal cost. The social life is a most important feature, and every Sunday evening the library is gay with music, song and dance, for it is the evening when most girls receive their men friends, and is usually the occasiQn of a jolly good time. The young men are encouraged to call, for it is our aim to make the home attractive not only to the girls, but to their friends, so that they will have less desire to seek pleasure elsewhere in places and ways which may lead to infinite harm. The beautiful library with its well filled book-shelves, and its comfortable furniture entices the girl to rest after her day's toil, to entertain a friend, or read a book. To those who have been engaged all day with hundreds of others, hearing the busy hum of machinery, the quiet of her own room is most attractive, for in this home almost 112 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH every girl has a room to herself, a comfort much appreciated. The great drawback to the Clara de Hirsch Home is the fact that owing to its size, and the educational work that it is doing, it can never be made self-supporting. This has not lessened the independent spirit of the girls, however, nor has it pauperized them because they understand why it cannot be done, and are ambitious to improve and make room for those who need it as they did. During the past year, the Jewish women of Chicago have awakened to the necessity of providing homes for Jewish working girls, and as a result, two have opened their doors. The first opened last June, called "The Miriam," occupies three apartments in a four-story apartment house, and accommodates 26 girls. In a letter received recently from one of the directresses, I am assured that the home is now absolutely self-supporting, the girls paying from $2.00 to $3.50 per week for board, and that through the efforts of those in charge, the wage-earning capacity of each girl has been considerably increased. This directress also wrote me that if they had a building suitable where they could accommodate 40 or 50 girls, she felt sure they would be able after the first year to pay a small per cent, on the invest- ment. The second home opened in January, called "The Ruth," has accommodations for 16 girls, and is also said to be self -supporting. Surely these successful attempts should encourage others to pro- vide suitable homes for Jewish working girls in those cities where they are required. We are now facing a heavy immigration, and hundreds of girls are coming from Russia, Roumania, Galicia, and Hungary, un- accompanied by their parents, and very frequently having no friends in this country with whom they can live. What are we going to do for these girls? Shall we leave them to their fate? Alone, unaccustomed to American ways, strangers in a strange land, is it any wonder they become the prey of unscrupulous people whom they have trusted because they promised to secure them work or a lodging ? A few years ago I picked up the New York Herald one morning and read where two Russian girls, sisters, had attempted to asphyxiate themselves, having become discouraged because their money was gone, and they had not NATIONAL CONFERENCE OP JEWISH CHARITIES. 113 been successful in finding work. We immediately sent to the hospital to which they had been sent, and had them brought to the home. They were girls of wealthy parents, and owing to family troubles, had decided to seek their fortune in America, feeling sure they could earn a splendid living. They were in- telligent, and even had some knowledge of English, but, alas, they soon discovered that their talents had no market value in this country, and after many weeks of deprivation, they finally decided to end it all. Unfortunately, one of these girls became a victim of melancholia, and finally had to be sent back, but the other was encouraged, and helped, and to-day would not be recog- nized as the unfortunate girl of two years ago. This is not an isolated case. The story repeats itself with one variation or an- other, over and over again, and if we wish to meet our highest obligations, we must heed the immigrant girls' cry for help. Owing to the heavy immigration of single girls during the past two years, the trustees of the Clara de Hirsh Home opened a special home for immigrant girls, during which time they have cared for fully 600 girls. Do you not think it has meant much to these girls to have had a decent home, and friendly advice on their arrival in this country ? In smaller cities there would be no need for a separate home for immigrant girls, but something must be done for the immigrant girls who very often come to the larger cities with wrong or incomplete addresses and through ig- norance are robbed and cheated and endangered in many ways. ' ' An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, ' ' and by pro- viding decent homes for these girls upon their arrival in a new land we guard them against the scoundrels who are waiting to take advantage of their ignorance 'and innocence. Study the situation in your own city and do what you can to improve the condition of the Jewish Working Girl by giving her a decent comfortable home. It can raise her from a lonely crea- ture who seeks companionship and excitement where and how she may, thereby endangering all her womanhood, to the happy healthy normal girl who loves pleasure but who has a realization of her responsibilities. DISCUSSION. DR. HENRY BERKOWITZ, Philadelphia: One of our most en- thusiastic workers in work of this kind in this community made 114 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH the remark to me last week that when we hear the voice of a helpless little child, it is impossible to resist it. We, too, are in full accord with that sentiment, and probably with equal effect might it.be said, when we hear the cry of an innocent girl for help, that our hearts are wrung none the less. I rise for the purpose of drawing attention to the fact that this paper has again re-echoed the call of New York City, and of the great cities to the smaller ones, North and South, that something be done to relieve the horrible conditions which are resulting in putting a stain, for the first time in history, upon the purity of Jewish women. It is a matter so grave that it rocks the very foundations of our homes homes that have been symbols for all that is sweet and noble for so many generations, and that we. in this age of light, should have come to face this new and un- known problem is a matter that certainly excites in us the ne- cessity of the gravest and most earnest reflection. MRS. GALL AND, Wilkesbarre: I desire to say something about this question. It is a question which concerns small communi- ties; it doesn't concern large cities only. Girls go astray in my own town where we have no great charities to take hold of the question and build homes. It is very hard to know how to bring joy to the lives of these girls. The girl doesn't go wrong be- cause she deliberately desires vice; she goes wrong only because she deliberately desires joy, and it is this which agitates us in our town. We have no very rich people. We may have a thousand Jewish families, but many are miserably poor. We have had some lovely girls go wrong and we try our best to make them feel that we are interested in the families -in the preser- vation of the children and home, and in the preservation of the family. It is difficult to hold them together and produce better environments. It is very hard to work against environments. You cannot produce good things in a bad and unhealthy atmos- phere. That is a problem of all charity change of environ- ment. MR. A. R. LEVY, Chicago: I would say this: These institu- tions will be ample if they can be made self-sustaining. I have, heard he^re that the home in New York has also for its object, the training of girls. I would like to suggest to the ladies that NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 115 are connected with these institutions, that we have few Jewish girls that are content to go into homes, and often good homes in Jewish families. I am speaking of the $5 a week earning-power girl. We are paying $6 a week, and a good home besides, and we can find very few. Now permit me to suggest to you, would it not be possible to train these girls? To go to a factory an-I work, or to go to any establishment, is to do something that can be done by most everybody. To be in a home and arrange that home to be a pleasant and comfortable home, is, the thing that we want. Let me tell you, ladies especially, I have known in my ex- perience, a poor man who had a good wife possessed a wife that gave him a comfortable home a home than which no sensible man or woman needs better, and he made only $7 a week. It is in the nature of men to desire to have good wives. I think this is the greatest difficulty to overcome. While we have men who are able to work and make ten and twelve dollars a week, we have no women that can arrange their homes comfortably with that little amount of money, and therein lies the difficulty in the Jewish girl question. They come from homes where they had ab- solutely nothing to do, with a lack of energy. I tell you, the factory will never bring about a solution of that problem. Teach the girls that are there, some work of utility for women. After all. we cannot change nature. I would be satisfied for men to become cooks and learn everything in the development of the house, but there is one law that is immutable a man can never become a mother. I hope and trust that these institutions will multiply. Let the standard be the girl that understands her own house. Let that be the standard, and we will gain in the end. MRS. CHARLES ISRAELS, New York : Domestic service, in some way seems to be adverse for two reasons to the American girl. Take our foreign girls foreign domestic servants. When they go into a family they imbibe very much the spirit of American freedom. Never, except in rare instances, would they consider for one moment that their daughters should become servants in people's houses. My second reason is (from personal experience with girls near home) that the proper amount of preventive work has not been done. I speak from experience with a small institu- 116 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH tion for such girls recently founded in New York. Domestic service is usually considered such an unsafe position in which to place a young girl that eighty per cent, who are under our care as having gone absolutely wrong have been domestic ser- vants and not girls in factories or other institutions. I regret that it should be so, but the Jewish girl in domestic service seems to be open to so many temptations, that she seems to fall a vic- tim more readily and more easily than her sisters. The diffi- culty seems to be again the lack of proper amusement and a proper place for these girls to go. The trouble seems to be that they go wrong in fruitless search of amusement, and in making the right kind of friends in particular. They have no homes to visit, and must go to cheap places where they fall victims of very pleasant young men. MRS. MAX LANDSBERG, Rochester: I think there is another phase to this question. I have no doubt that a great many of these people who come to New York are perfectly unable to look after their children. I speak from the standpoint of the smaller city, and perhaps have not the same experience. However, I find parents neglect their children and they run wild. The mother, perhaps, is overworked, and there is a lot of children, al- though in some cases I find the mother is in some asylam, the sis- ters go out working during the day, and the boy is left to look after himself. If that boy doesn't go to school, the New York law is that the father must pay a fine. The father will say, "That child is an ungovernable child, and I can't send him to school. He won't go." That boy would be a splendid boy if he had a good home. The parents, perhaps, cannot have it. What we need, I think, in every one of those cases, is a school like you have here in Philadelphia for the grown-up boys for boys over six- teen an agricultural school for boys from ten years or even younger ; but insist upon it that the father has to pay part or all of the expense, according to circumstances, for its maintenance. I think if that was done, the homes would be much better for those boys, and the fathers would look after them and see that the boy was at home, or one of the grown up children would look out for the boy. If that could not be done, the best thing to do would be to remove him from such surroundings and have him NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 117 go to the agricultural school, go on a farm, or somewhere, and learn something, but the father must pay. That is the main thing, I think. The parents are entirely too willing to get their children admitted to institutions at the expense of the State. I think that is done a great deal, and I am very sorry to see that it is. iliss SADIE AMERICAN, New York: Mr. Chairman; I want to offer a suggestion; it may lead the way to some practical work that may be done in institutions in which are Jewish delinquent children not Jewish institutions. It is a fact that it is only of late years that we have had our attention attracted to Jewish delinquents, from small to grown up, and personally I do not attribute this, as so many do, to Russians coming in, as to the fact, that among large numbers it is bound to happen; also to the fact that it is well known that in the course of adaptation of immigrants to a new country, the younger generation of children the children brought over very young, or born here, especially when they become industrially independent at so early an age as they do, and are forced to do in this country, bring about prob- lems of reaction against authority. Whatever the cause may be, we do find in our training schools, in our institutions, in Bridewell, and in other cities where there are so-called industrial schools, many Jewish children. They are permitted to go there through our Juvenile Courts. When they come from an institu- tion children coming out of the institution in which they are de- tained are always looked upon as having done something unusual and singled out as having had a peculiar experience, they come out with a sense of shame, and the fact that they have been in that institution, is thrown against them by parents and others. Tn either case, they need someone who shall put them into a normal state of mind, and who, if they are of a working age, shall help them to get employment and shall be a friend. For boys, pre- sumably a big brother who shall be an example ; for girls, some- one to educate them after the period when they most need guid- ance. It is a curious fact that at the lesser age, both the boys and girls are much the worst and difficult to control. We have found delinquent children between twelve and sixteen much more difficult to handle than those over that age. These cases time will not permit me to go into now. 118 PROCEEDINGS OP THE FOURTH You will find in all the institutions, municipal or state, the Catholic churches as a rule send a man to look out for their children, and the Jews send either nobody or else someone not particularly fitted to look after the welfare of the children as they come out, because to send someone to an institution to hold religious services or to teach the Bible is entirely inadequate and fruitless unless it is followed up by work as the child comes out, and unless it is preceded before the child comes out, by so gain- ing his confidence that the child will be glad to point to the re- ligious teacher there not merely as a Sunday School teacher, or as a holder of religious services, but as a real friend to whom he will attach himself and look for guidance. The suggestion I have to make is to all those here, especially the women, because it is a mother, much more than a father, that these children need. We have altogether too few women in the actual management of these various institutions. I want to recommend to the women all over the country that they ascertain where there are Jewish children in any city or state institutions connected with their towns, or in the neighborhood of their homes, that they make periodical visits, or send someone particularly suited to make periodical visits and give instruction, and keep up the connection and relation- ship until the child gets strong enough physically and spirit- ually and morally to walk by itself. THE PRESIDENT : In Chicago, no child comes out of the insti- tution to which delinquent children are sent, and of course this applies to Jew and non-Jew, without an inquiry being first made as to the home and home surroundings, and if these are not found proper, the child is either kept longer or some other home is found. The child is, placed in charge of a probation officer. AVe work up a large corps of friendly visitors. The best work of this kind is done among the Jews, and in accordance with what one of the speakers has said, we have gotten some thirty or forty young men that is, Jewish probation officers have obtained some thirty or forty young fellows who are ready and willing to give some help. They are having wonderful success with their boys. Another movement I am very glad to call attention to is i.n Omaha, where the chief probation officer is a Jew. He has been a street boy himself. He began on the street at the age of five, and is NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 119 now a married man a little over thirty, and he is in charge of the circulation department of one of the newspapers. A report was issued there a year ago. He was at once made chief proba- tion officer. He started a newsboys club on his own account about five years ago, and maintained it himself until last year. A splendid body of citizens has taken it up, and is now managing it to a certain extent. His whole heart and soul is in the movement. He has 250 newsboys enlisted, none of whom swear, smoke, chew, drink or gamble. He has a nice room for them where they play billiards, checkers and all games. He gets passes to go out at little expense, takes them to the theatre every once in a while, and does any number of things for those boys. The influence of that one man is over-powering for their good in the City of Omaha. I am very glad to say he is a Jew. Before Miss Sommerfeld closes the discussion, I would say that it would seem of first importance, as one speaker said, to have the education based on essentials that the educa- tion should be, first, for the preparation of the girls in their own homes after they are married, and when it comes to the prepara- tion for service as servants, the education should be from the other end. The housewives are the ones who especially need the education for service not the servants, but the house- wives. One word more. From an experience both in the Divorce and in the Juvenile Courts, I would say that too much emphasis can- not be laid upon education in domestic science in the prepara- tion for marriage for surely one of the great causes of the di- vorce evil and of disruptions in the family that tend to bring the children into the Juvenile Court, is this total lack of prepa- ration on the part of those who belong to the class of the work- ing girl. They marry working men who hope to find the real comforts of a home after marriage. They fail to find them, and the divorce follows as a natural consequence. So I say. while under the present conditions of the servant girl question, it is wise to train our Jewish girls for industrial work, we must not neglect to train them for their future condition as married women, and train them thoroughly in that respect. 120 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH Miss SOMMERFELD: I will say that being a great advocate of matrimony, we try to make all the matches we possibly can at the Clara de Hirsch Home, because we really believe salvation for the working girl lies in the fact of being married and hav- ing a home of her own ; so that we do give girls as much train- ing as we possibly can to make them housekeepers, not servants that part of the work has been a decided failure. We do train them so that when they do get married, they will be the right sort of home keepers. I want to say that quite a number of the girls have married, and I am happy to say they are in excellent homes very much better than the homes from which they came. The training has done them good, because after having lived for a year or two in a systematic, cleanly household, they have im- bibed that training they absorb it to a certain extent and really have very nice homes of their own. I have visited a great many of the girls that have married and they have very nice homes very superior to the homes from which they came when they came to the Clara de Hirsch Home. I also want to make clear that we would not want to take a girl out of her natural environment. I would not advocate homes for working girls who have parents living in the same city. They should be for orphans, or girls with step-fathers and step-mothers; also for girls whose parents are still living abroad. What I feel as a necessity is some place where girls can be taken care of where they can have the freedom to come and go as they please, but where they will be under proper care and pro- tection pay for everything that they get. I believe that it is much better much wiser to start this plan on a small scale, as was done in Chicago. HEBREW EDUCATION SOCIETY, TOURO HALL, 10 A. M., May 8, 1906. STATE AID TO SECTARIAN INSTITUTIONS. MORRIS LOEB, PH.D., New York City. The traveler in Switzerland observes two kinds of lakes; the ones in the highlands are the everlasting fountain-heads of the great rivers that traverse Europe; the others, in open valleys, NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 121 receive these torrents and retard their flow, giving them an op- portunity to deposit the particles of rock and earth that they have carried with them ; so that the gray mountain stream which enters at the one end issues a limpid and majestic river. Conferences such as these may perform either of these functions in the current of philanthropy; either they may serve as a reservoir whence enthusiastic efforts shall derive their being, or as the settling basin, where overstrenuous tendencies may, in calm de- liberation, be deprived of some of the flotsam and jetsam that they are carrying with them in their rush. If, therefore, I have chosen to uphold the unfashionable side of a very important question, I trust that I shall neither be considered combative nor reactionary. Shall the State's constitution forbid governmental appropria- tions toward the support of sectarian institutions ? The doctrine of the separation of Church and State is invoked on the affirma- tive, that of individual liberty of conscience on the negative side. The alignment of the Roman clergy in opposition has made the conflict one between Catholicism and Protestantism in the eyes of some ; between liberalism and medievalism in the eyes of others ; and the Jew, especially, is naturally drawn to what appears the more liberal side. To me, however, the terms liberality of re- ligious opinion and toleration for the views of others are by no means synonymous, and I believe that a clear distinction can be made between sectarian work which should not receive State aid, and that which should be so supported, both for the sake of its beneficiaries and for the sake of the State itself. We all recognize that what we call the State is in dual relation- ship toward the individuals that compose it. On the one hand it exacts allegiance to its terms of association, conformity to its reg- ulations and sacrifices of means, comfort or even life, toward the commonweal; in return, it promises to use its military power to repel a foreign invasion, its police power to restrain the crim- inal, its equity courts to maintain his rights against the encroach- ment of a fellow-citizen and to use its collective power to shield his individual helplessness. For the modern State, this last func- tion carries with it the duty of caring for the individual, when- ever causes beyond his own control deprive him of the ability 122 PROCEEDINGS OP THE FOURTH to fend for himself. The socialist demands that these dual rela- tions between State and citizen -shall be continuously in active operation ; those who differ from him believe that the true science of government leaves as much freedom as possible to the indi- vidual, stepping in only when he is transgressing or encroached upon. Under this latter doctrine, however, occasions arise when the government does find it necessary to subordinate the indi- vidual to the direction of others, through the agency of what we call public institutions, be they military, educational, eleemosyn- ary or correctional. The critical question in mind is, in which of its two functions toward the individual does the State provide the institution? In some cases, there is no doubt, the army arid navy as well as the penal institutions are organized by the State for its collective purposes and public requirements are paramount to the preferences of the individual; they must be absolutely under public official control. The maintenance of schools, too, is a duty which the public owes to itself, much more than to the pupils; this is universally recognized in our various school laws, especially those relating to truancy. The proper exercise of many of the duties of citizen- ship presupposes a certain education, and the more uniform this elementary education can be made, the better for the State. If I knew how to accomplish it in this country, I would see every pri- vate school of primary and grammar grade abolished and would allow no excuse but physical disability for non-attendance at the public school. The latter would be strictly non-sectarian; but not according to the definition of the law-giver who considers everybody a sectary whose faith differs from his own. The best justification of the existence of parochial schools which ever came to my knowledge, was the dismissal, after many years of service, of an efficient superintendent, by the School Board of a large New England city, for the crime of transferring to a school in the most fashionable ward, a competent teacher, herself a graduate of the public school system, who happened to be an Irish Catholic! The theory that teachings in a school must necessarily inculcate every form of ethical, moral and religious instruction, is un- fortunately sufficiently rampant in this country to impair seri- NATIONAL CONFERENCE OP JEWISH CHARITIES. 123 ously the efficiency of the institutions themselves; it is not only likely to bring other qualifications than teaching to the fore- ground in the selection of the instructors, but it is also likely to promote attempts to introduce subjects into the curriculum which are so loosely connected with- the essential branches of an ele- mentary education that the child is confused and one of the chief objects of schooling systematic thinking is seriously ob- structed. I am not referring particularly to the so-called fads and frills that trouble the mind of the old-fashioned school trustee; but when we find temperance societies seeking to promote their lauda- ble efforts by insisting on what is termed ' ' scientific teaching ' ' of the detrimental nature of alcohol, or when we find patriotic societies endeavoring to graft a special course in civics upon the curriculum for young boys and girls, one does feel as if the com- mon school was being employed to further individual hobbies rather than to strengthen the intellectual activity of a child in such a manner that it will be able to cope with the problems of life at that time when they really become of serious import in life. I suppose that a time will come when the right of even the school child to its own individuality will be recognized, and when it will be deemed just as criminal to attempt forcing into its mind dogmas, whether religious, political or even scientific, under the guise of elementary instruction, as we now consider it wrong to force political or religious views upon a man as a condition for granting him the necessaries of life in the moment of direst need. The experience of European countries has shown that it is per- fectly feasible to maintain public schools on a strictly non-sec- tarian basis, and even there where religious teaching is supposed to be a requisite element of the school curriculum, it is done by special religious teachers of the same faith with each group of children, leaving the secular teacher quite free from any such duties. The State, therefore, is both able to conduct perfectly non-sectarian schools, and owes it to itself to control in all re- spects the fundamental education of its future citizens, because that very education is one of the foundations of the commonweal. The State stands, however, in an entirely different relation to those who have become its wards, not for the public benefit, but 124 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH by reason of their personal disability. When the citizen is in pos- session of his normal strength, he expects to participate in the duties which the State demands of him, and, in return, he is entitled to the State's protection when either from sickness or unmerited misfortune he has become helpless. At such periods, the State has no longer the right to ask what return it is to re- ceive for the benefits it confers. These benefits are not alms, but are a part of the implied contract between the individual and the public. Whatever may have been the theory of ancient pa- ganism or medieval Christianity, the Jewish view, from Biblical times, has never swerved. I interpret the well-known injunction, "Open wide thy hand unto thy brother, for the poor shall not cease out of the land," not only as a mere invitation to do good, but as an open-minded recognition of the fact that no political or economic arrangement, however it may increase the average prosperity of a people, can guard the individual against the acci- dents of poverty and disease. But when such afflictions strike your neighbor, he neither becomes subject to your scorn nor to your whims, neither your inferior nor your slave, but remains ethically your brother. The relief of distress is the duty of man to man, and it is to be practised neither for the purpose of re- moving a painful sight from one's view the Greek attitude nor to gain peculiar merit in the sight of Heaven for one's self the medieval Christian attitude. Judaism prescribes that nothing which is done while aiding the distressed shall force degradation upon the individual, and it ought to be the duty of such organ- izations as this National Conference to uphold above everything else this doctrine in the discussion of the charitable affairs of the nation. When President Roosevelt the other day issued a special proc- lamation not to discriminate against the Chinese sufferers from the San Francisco earthquake, many must have felt that things had come to an awful pass if humanity could not be trusted to take care of the unfortunate without discrimination of race or creed, and I think the imputation justly resented by the citizens of California. But is it not almost as bad to suggest that, at a time when necessity compels a man to seek admission to a hos- pital, he should be forced to divest himself of all his individuality NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 125 and put himself absolutely in the hands of the institution, even in matters that have in themselves no concern with his sickness"; Is it not rather true that, at such times when his sensibilities are perhaps overaccentuated, everything should be done to soothe them; and that if he has any peculiar views, whether religious or otherwise, which do not interfere with the happiness of his neighbors, these should be at least respected so long as he has not the full power to take care of himself ? The principle, it appears to me, which deprecates the large orphan asylum in favor of the cottage home, in order that the individuality of the child may be preserved as far as possible, should assert itself to a still greater degree where the adult is concerned whose individuality is fully developed, and, conse- quently, all the more deserving to be respected. If, therefore, it is a comfort to him to know that he is living, and, if necessary, dying according to the tenets of his own faith, common human- ity demands that this comfort shall not be denied him. It is all very well to suggest that a State institution could permit of such individual treatment, but we all know that this is practically impossible. Just as reform legislation usually is only able to substitute a bi-partisan board for a partisan one, because the political mind is unable to grasp the idea of absolute non-parti- sanship, so a hospital or home for the aged could only be made equally acceptable to the Protestant, the Jew and the Catholic, by cumbersome division into religious wards. I am saying this with the full knowledge that the statement may sound reactionary and that hundreds, nay, thousands, of exceptions may be pointed out ; and, nevertheless, I think that fuller consideration will show that these exceptions are not proper ones. Supposing that a Jew falls sick while sojourning in a city in which he has no co- religionists; he will, of course, seek a general hospital, and his treatment will be so humane and his feelings will be so respected that he will have no fault to find ; but should he learn that there existed in that same community hundreds who could have readily provided him with those particular spiritual comforts which he naturally had to forego in the general hospital, his feelings would be of a different kind. The mere fact that a man can exist without certain comforts is in itself no argument for depriving 126 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH him of them. Similarly, the possibility of properly treating peo- ple of all kinds and creeds in a general institution does not, In itself, preclude that some of the finer sensibilities of the patient may there be disregarded. The higher ethical standpoint seems to me to be represented by the existence of the sectarian hospital, old folks ' home or orphan asylum, in which the inmate is not only granted an impassive liberty of conscience, but also enabled to live as nearly as possible in consonance with those customs which his traditions prescribe. No less natural is it that a sufficiently numerous foreign colony, in any large eity, will maintain purely social clubs, in which the native tongue of its members is spoken and the domestic customs of the old home are preserved, than the establishment of French, German or Scandinavian hospitals and orphanages in the great American cities. No sane man sees in such specifically national organizations any evidence of hostility toward the State which shelters their supporters; they have no mission excepting the greater comfort that home customs and the mother tongue can afford those whom they shelter widely differing from the schools and hospitals maintained under American auspices in the Orient, whose avowed purpose is the inculcation -of religious and political beliefs upon a native population that already owns allegiance to other systems. I think that the very fact that so large a percentage of the American population is interested in missionary institutions abroad may occasion the view that every institution which is maintained under a sectarian or foreign name partakes itself of a militant character; and yet there is a very great distinction between institutions that are carried on for the avowed benefit of outsiders and those which largely bear the character of a domestic or family corporation. Leaving aside all questions of religious prejudice or propa- ganda, it seems to the best interest of the State that as large a percentage as possible of the population should interest itself in philanthropic work, and there can be no doubt whatsoever that many more are likely to enter into work of this character, if they feel a natural call to look after people of their own class, race or faith, just as family ties are supposed to lay more duties upon the individual than those of mere humanity. Indeed, there NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 127 are other than purely selfish motives in this view, because we naturally feel an obligation to exert ourselves in those directions for which we are best qualified. It will be surely recognized by everybody that persons who share the same views or the same conditions understand each other's nature best. A State insti- tution, therefore, in order to achieve the best results for persons of various nationalities or faiths, will probably be forced to select its employees with due regard to these principles; the State in- stitution, instead of becoming non-sectarian, would become poly- sectarian. Indeed, there is a danger that if the principle be ignored, there Avould be a special inducement for the injection of religious sectarianism into politics, on the plea that the control of a political party was essential for the safeguarding of the religious interests of the inmates of the State institution. "What baleful political results may follow the governmental exclusion of all but the dominant religious faction from State institutions, may be well inferred from a study of the Kultur Kampf which raged in Germany during the administration of Prince Bismarck. If, then, the American conditions will naturally require a recognition of the different sects in the management of institu- tions, what principle is violated if the same sects are recognized in the management of private institutions? The private charitable institution, if properly managed, is certainly at least as efficient and economical as the public one. Governmental inspection, such as is provided in New York by the State Board of Charities, can eliminate those enterprises which are fraudulent, and can check abuses even more efficiently in private than in public institutions. Our governmental machinery is so complex that a State governor can readily nullify the influence of the supervising board over the executive management of State institutions. But it is much less conceivable that the private charity shall similarly escape the results of unfavorable criticism. It seems to be, therefore, a most ideal plan that institutions should be managed by those who have a direct benevolent interest in them, but that the supervision should rest with the State; this, I think, is a truism in charity work. I am at a loss, however, to find why distinctions should be made in the motives that actuate this private benevolence. If one person feels deeper interest in children and wishes to con- 128 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH tribute toward the success of an orphan asylum, this is permissi- ble in the eyes of all ; or he may prefer a hospital for the cure of certain ills; or, being a German by descent, he might prefer an institution in which German was the language of the inmates ; or he might interest himself in negroes, to the exclusion of the whites. The State is to be allowed to contribute toward the sup- port of such an institution, but if the question of religious faith enters, then a barrier is immediately to be raised. It appears to me that this is absurd, so long as there is no attempt at religious propaganda, or so long as the State has no public interest in the private views of the individual managers, since these institutions are distinctly intended for the benefit of the helpless, from whom the State has nothing to expect in return for what it grants. It is true that a Protestant might be converted to Ca- tholicism in a hospital managed by nuns, while no missionary effort could convert a white boy into a negro, if he were placed in a colored orphan asylum. But the sectarian institution should be distinctly maintained for the benefit of the adherents of its own faith in recognition of the religious wants of these people, not as a means of increasing the power of the sect or of flattering the vanity of its devotees. If this fundamental principle be kept in mind, it seems to me that a very easy line of demarkation can be drawn between those sectarian institutions which should de- serve State support and those which are to be constitutionally barred from receiving it. It must, of course, be understood that I do not plead for State subventions to sectarian institutions because they are sectarian; I think it the duty of those interested in them to provide all proper facilities out of their own means; the buildings, at least, and the general administration should be in the charge of the private supporters. But if the State then contracts to pay for the maintenance of the individual inmate no more than it would cost to take care of him in the public institution, it is difficult to point out wherein the public interest is suffering any detriment. From the point of view of the tax-payer, there is probably an advantage, since he is not called upon to contribute toward the construction and equipment of the home ; and, besides, if we as- sume that taxation is fairly distributed according to population, NATIONAL CONFERENCE OP JEWISH CHARITIES. 129 whatever contributions are made for such charitable support may be supposed to come out of the pocket of one who shares the religious faith of the beneficiary. In New York State, I believe that this practise is universally recognized in respect to the care of dependent children, and, whatever criticism may be made about the various orphan asylums as overgrown institutions which should be replaced by groups of smaller ones, no one will claim that the moral care of the wards is inferior to that which they receive in a public institution; that their physical surround- ings are less comfortable ; or that they cost the State as much. Indeed, one of the strong opponents of State aid to sectarian in- stitutions told me that unpleasant comment was being created by the fact that the wards of Jewish orphan asylums appear bet- ter nourished and more comfortably clothed than the majority of their fellow pupils in the public schools. I could only point out to this lady that the per capita cost to the State was less than if they were maintained in a public orphan asylum, inasmuch as the weekly stipend by the city was based upon calculations made for public institutions; any improvement in nourishment and clothing was, therefore, due to the superior management in the private institution. If these facts be so, the question resolves itself to this: Shall the State forego the advantages of effective volunteer service, of economical administration and of a scrupulous safeguard of the liberty of conscience of the individual dependent upon its care, in order that the semblance of State recognition of different relig- ions may be avoided ? If not, it is evident that better results can be obtained by the State in committing as many as possible of its wards to private care, so long as the expenses involved do not exceed those required for their support in governmental institu- tions ; and that an additional safeguard is created, for the interest of both State and individual, when a State board of charities supervises the private organization, as compared with its helpless- ness in correcting public abuse ; that the very object of prevent- ing conflict between State and church is best met by removing, so far as possible, that incentive toward injecting religion into politics, which the desire for controlling the religion of the de- pendents may create. Above all, however, we should uphold the 130 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH inaxim that we must respect the sensibilities of our fellow men in the period of their misfortune, and not take advantage of their temporary helplessness to force upon them conditions which they would avoid, if in the fulness of their strength. STATISTICS OF INSTITUTIONAL MANAGEMENT HOMES FOR THE AGED AND INFIRM. MICHEL HEYMAN, New Orleans. JPVJ9 rnirn Dipn nyfc ^sp " Before the Hoary Head Thou Shalt Rise and Honor the Face of the Old." (Leviticus, 19th Chapter, 32d verse). True Zedokoh to the old means more than charity, it means justice; and justice, in this instance, means more than food, shelter, and a decent burial ; it means respectful and loving treat- ment in every requirement of their existence. The whole house- hold must be characterized by dignity and refinement. These aged men and women should be made to feel that they are not paupers, who by an impelling fate, have been thrust upon a community which, begrudgingly, must feed and house them to the end. I recognize at a glance, when entering a home for aged, in the faces of these helpless patriarchs and matriarchs whether or not the grand lesson of our Torah. "Thou shalt honor the face of the aged, ' ' is practiced or not. There is something beautiful in the happy smile of old people, and something unfathomably sad in their tears. These old people in our homes know best that the disadvantages under which they suffer are not of their own make ; that they were once useful members of society; and having become weak and helpless, they look hopefully for a few years of peace. and hon- orable rest at the hands of good Jewish men and noble Jewish women, in a Jewish home. I believe, ladies and gentlemen, that these few words I have laid down are the foremost principles, that should guide the man- agement of our homes for aged and infirm. In the same manner, our modern social science has at last NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 131 taught us that it is not right to herd multitudes of children to- gether in palaces of stone and iron, raising them like soldiers, drilling them in a military manner, effacing all individuality out of their characters but teaching them at once a healthful and workful life, housing them in plain homes, and turning them loose in large grounds, for play and romp in order that they may enjoy the frolic and fun of youth. Then I think that we are taught now, that the life of the aged must not be a dreary desert of idleness and ennui, but, if possi- ble, should be led on to something useful and practical, in order to season their ebbing days with the blessings of fruitful occu- pation. All the trouble and all the restlessness in our Homes for the Aged is caused by the idleness of the inmates. Agitators of both sexes have only an opportunity of forming coteries of dis- content among the idlers, and not among people who are able to comfort the loneliness of institution life. The transition from one sphere into another, from work to idleness, brings about a dangerous period in the lives of the individuals. It is not so easy, as people generally believe, "to do nothing." Here I may quote the old German adage. "Miissiggang ist aller Laster Anf ang. ' ' and I may also quote from the last report of District Grand Lodge No. 1, I. O. O. B. (Yonkers), Page 83: "The spirit of unrest occasionally pervades among a few, which can only be attributed to lack of occupation." Nothing prevents old people from planting a few flowers of their choice, even a few vegetables and trees, if our institutions are located in the country and the unrest spoken of in the above report will stop. I solemnly protest against the unwarranted usage of building old peoples' homes on the same ground where hospitals are reared. That is a charity, with crape at the door. Our old people should be removed, not only physically from all that harasses them in the life outside, but they should also be protected from all mental troubles and worries ; they should not be surrounded by suffering sick people, neither hear the groans of the dying. Light, love, trees and flowers, health and comfort, and a 132 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH little pleasant work should be the pillars upon which the Homes for the Aged and Infirm must rest. There seems to be an opinion among a great many that every- body can manage such an institution, but it takes an extra- ordinary man whose wife must be a good housekeeper and a fair cook, while the husband must be able to read prayers twice a week. Without being too severe, they must be strict enough to keep in good order and discipline those whom their advanced years have made unruly or cranky. Managers, men or women, must possess, above all, a thorough comprehension of human na- ture, must be trained in social science, must be able to stand on the level of their wards, who never will have confidence in men or women, who walk by them with a mien of a Prussian corporal, giving them short commands, impressing authority with a ven- geance. Old people can be properly managed, without knowing or feeling it and the best results are attained by him who above all has a big heart in his bosom, trying to understand his aged wards, not from his but from their standpoint. It is a gigantic mistake to believe that aged people can be made happy by trying to train anew their character; their views are formed. Rules must be obeyed as a matter of course, and to accomplish it peacefully proves the talent and ambition of the Superintendent. I object to punishing old people by depriving them of luxuries or comforts; for this has no effect on them and embitters them beyond measure, growing finally into serious obstacles in the management of the whole aged family. Libraries and amusements are great needs, and should be provided in a most intelligent manner. No libraries with a tremendous intellectual apparatus should be installed, where classics, beautifully bound, are placed in evidence not for the inmates but for the occasional visitor, who looks and admires their fine buildings. We need for the aged people some daily papers, magazines and books which suit their taste. The aged people care more for entertainment than for instruction; they like to read short articles, short stories and enjoy long naps. Occasional entertainments are of great value, tending toward good government and happy life. Above all, music is a great factor NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 133 good music, well rendered. The experienced manager knows how often the old people will enjoy each performance ; as a rule, they look forward with delight to a good entertainment. But do not think that everything is good enough for the old people; be- ware of the artist that can be heard nowhere except in asylums, and to whom no one would listen, if it were to cost one cent; a stumbling pianist, a shrieking artist, frightens the poor old people with the ' ' Grandfather 's Clock, " or a violinist that would set the teeth of an elephant on edge. All this must be avoided, and only elevated and musically beautiful entertainments should be provided. In 1897 I read a paper on Jewish Child Saving in the United States at the meeting of the National Conference of Charities and Corrections, giving full statistics in the matter. I have tried to get correct statistics for the Aged and Infirm, by correspondence with the different institutions, but have not suc- ceeded, as most of the reports are incomplete or mixed up with other institutions, such as hospitals or orphan asylums. Annexed to this report there is a table of statistics which has to be completed by somebody else, as it seems to me that a Na- tional Association like ours should always have on file all in- formation necessary concerning institutions. The Department of Commerce and Labor published last year a report of the Benevolent Institution of 1904 which is however not complete or entirely correct. STATISTICS OF JEWISH CHILD-CARING INSTITU- TIONS. SOLOMON LOWENSTEIN, Superintendent of the Hebrew 7 Orphan Asylum of the City of New York. The position of the National Conference of Jewish Charities with regard to the care of dependent children is too well known to need extensive recapitulation here. At its first Conference in Chicago and most particularly at those in Detroit and New- York the reports of its Children's Committee were strongly in favor of the fullest development of the placing-out system in its 134 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH various forms. Dr. Bernstein's excellent paper at this Confer- ence has revealed to you the large work along these lines con- ducted in New York as a direct result of the original discussion in this Conference and the still larger work possible in the country at large. Yet when the largest plans of the advocates of this system (among whom, I take it, all of us are enrolled) will have been realized, there can be little doubt that the great bulk of Jewish dependent children will still be cared for by the in- stitution. It would appear therefore to be highly desirable that a careful investigation be made of actual conditions prevailing in our institutions, to learn wherein they are defective and wherein they are doing wisely and well and by comparison of their efforts to place at the disposal of all the best features of the work of each. For the purpose of acquiring this information inquiries were sent to the superintendents of all the prominent child-caring insti- tutions (Jewish) of the country. The thanks of the writer are due to the superintendents of the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society, of New York; the Jewish Orphan Asylum, of Cleve- land ; the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, of Brooklyn ; the Jewish Or- phan Asylum, of New Orleans ; the Hebrew Orphan 's Home, of Atlanta; the Hebrew Infant Asylum, of New York; the Jewish Foster Home and Orphan Asylum, of Philadelphia, and the He- brew Orphans' Home, of Philadelphia, for their valuable replies. No replies were received from the important institutions located in Chicago, Newark, Baltimore, San Francisco and Rochester. Reports were also received from the Leopold Morse Home, of Mattapan, Mass., and the Gusky Home in Pittsburg, but the num- ber of children in each is so small as to put them in a separate class from the institutions herein considered. The facts adduced therefore cannot be considered exhaustive nor for reasons to be explained later can they be claimed to be definite or statistically of great scientific value. For the opinions expressed the writer alone, of course, is responsible. In considering children's institutions the factor of greatest interest for statistical purposes is naturally the children them- selves. In the nine institutions which we are studying (viz., the eight above mentioned and the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, of NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES.' 135 New York) is a total population of 3,183 souls. These institu- tions may be roughly divided into two groups of large and small institutions upon a basis of population, the first group consisting of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, of New York ; the Hebrew Shel- tering Guardian Society, of New York ; the Jewish Orphan Asy- lum, of Cleveland, and the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, of Brooklyn, with respective populations of 1,010, 746, 500, and 312, and the second group, Jewish Orphan Asylum of New Orleans, 157 ; Jewish Foster Home and Orphan Asylum, Philadelphia, 140; Hebrew Infant Asylum, of New York, 151; Hebrew Orphans' Home, of Atlanta, 89; Hebrew Orphans' Home, Philadelphia. 78. Of the 3,183 children, 1,846 or almost 58% are boys. 1,337 or a little more than 42% are girls. These general percentages also indicate approximately the proportionate number of either sex in each institution. Of the entire population (discrepancy in additions due to approximate figures and Hebrew Infant Asylum omitted) only 403 or a trifle more than 13% are full orphans, the great mass of the inmates, 2,057 in number, more than 67%, arc half -orphans, and 582 or about 19% are destitute or abandoned children, having both parents living. Of this latter number, 311 or over 53% are in the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society, of New York, an institution which in its origin was particularly de- signed to care for this class of children; 112=19% in the He- brew Orphan Asylum, of New York, and 78=11% in the Brook- lyn Hebrew Orphan Asylum. Thus 83% of this class of Jewish children receiving institutional treatment are to be found in the homes of Greater New York. In age the children are grouped as follows: 182 or 5% under 5 years. Of these 151 or over 83% are in the institution of the Hebrew Infant Asylum of New York. 2,802=88% of the total population are of school age that is between the ages of 5 and 14 years, and 222 or 6% are above 14. Entrance conditions in the various homes are essentially simi- lar; barring the Infant Asylum, whose name indicates its char- acter, most of the institutions accept full and half-orphan chil- dren between the ages of 5 and 12 upon direct application to the institution or local representatives. In New York State all Jewish institutions receive in addition children committed by 136 PROCEEDINGS OP THE FOURTH public relief officers and committing magistrates. All institu- tions have residential requirements which, however, differ in time. Discharge likewise, in the majority of cases is effected similarly by all the institutions viz., upon the completion of the regular school term, by return to relatives, or securing employ- ment and proper homes for such children as have no natural protectors. Attempt was made to secure some statement as to the average length of residence in the institutions, but with no very satisfactory result. Replies furnished too few however to be of definite value give an average ranging from 5 to 8 years. These figures deserve some comment in addition to their mere statement. I would say, however, at the outset of the discussion that I do not believe it to be the desire of this Conference that matter already carefully discussed should be unnecessarily repeated. Without, therefore, going into details of descrip- tion, explanation or justification I would state that in all the re- marks I follow I shall favor the construction of an insti- tution upon the cottage plan with methods generally in harmony with the conditions described in his paper at the New York Conference by Michel Heyman, on "The Ideal Orphan Home" and actually practiced at such institutions as the New York Orphan Asylum at Hastings and the New York Juvenile Asylum at Chauncey. I mention this particularly at this point because of its relation to the question of population. There can be no doubt that the institutions which I mentioned above as comprising the first group are by far too large under present conditions. No institution can do full justice to the individual child when he is but one of a thousand or seven hundred and fifty or five hundred or even three hundred under one roof. And I say this mindful of the magnificent personalities of the men. some of whom are still with us, who have attempted this gigantic task and through whose merits alone failure and calam- ity have been avoided. With the adoption of the cottage plan, however, mere size ceases to be a matter of great concern, merely augmenting the difficulty of securing suitable persons to conduct the cottages. Under present conditions, however, there is little hope for immediate improvement. With the exception of the Cleveland Asylum, the unwieldy institutions are all in New York NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 137 City and the concentration of Jewish population there and the continued immigration indicate no prospect of an early reduction of numbers. It is, of course, impossible, to pronounce definitely, but it is quite likely that in that city the subvention of institu- tions from public funds conduces to a laxity of admission con- ditions and continuance of residence which helps to swell the number of inmates. The significance of the figures cited above in relation to the problem of boarding or placing-out should not be overlooked. Only 13 % of the children are full orphans; a certain percentage of these, of course, are above ten years of age the limit placed by Dr. Bernstein upon placing out in free homes, so that assum- ing the placing out of all full orphans, the largest part of the institution's population must still be reckoned with. While no definite figures were secured on this question it may be safely asserted that of the 67% of half -orphan children, a considerable majority are deprived of the father. Herein as was stated by Mr. Senior at the New York Conference (and as practiced by the Cincinnati organization) lies the chief hope of reduction of institutional population. We are all now agreed that the good mother should not be deprived of her children or even be encouraged in her desire to place them in an institution for the supposed advantages of better education and firmer disciplinary control. But, of course, no large national machinery is needed for this purpose. The orphan asylums by means of proper relief funds and the local relief societies by efficient co-operation can, as has been proved by Cincinnati and to a large degree in New York, solve this question unaided v That the average length of residence under ideal conditions should be materially prolonged despite the cry of institutionaliz- ing the child is my firm conviction. I shall, however, re- vert to this more at length in the discussion of the educational statistics elicited. The fact that over 88% of the children in institutions are be- tween the ages of five and fourteen years indicates at once the status of the institution as an educational problem. This prob- lem has not yet been solved by our institutions and its proper solution will and must determine the decision for or against them. 138 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH Of the eight institutions before us (omitting the Hebrew Infant Asylum) six, viz., Hebrew Orphan Asylum, of New York; He- brew Sheltering Guardian Society, of New York; Hebrew Or- phan Asylum, of Brooklyn ; Hebrew Orphan Asylum, of Atlanta, and the two Philadelphia institutions send their children to the public schools. In the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, of New York, the public school classes up to the sixth grammar grade are conducted in the school rooms of the institution. Two of these, Hebrew Or- phan Asylum, of Brooklyn, and Jewish Foster Home and Orphan Asylum, of Philadelphia, conduct some classes in their own build- ings, presumably for younger children. Only two the Jewish Orphan Asylum, of Cleveland, Dr. S. Wolfenstein, superintend- ent, and the Jewish Orphan Asylum, of New Orleans, Mr. Michel Heyman, superintendent, maintain their own schools. I have men- tioned the names of these two not for purpose of invidious com- parison, but because these two men, pioneers among institutional managers of this country, whose personalities have made their institutions what they are, have, I believe wisely, despite the ap- parent majority against them, held fast to the institutional school and kept the education of their wards within their own hands. I would not be misunderstood in this connection. I speak now not of ideal conditions under the cottage plan amid rural surroundings. The general adoption of that plan would make necessary the re- establishment of institutional schools because of a lack of adequate public school facilities in the neighborhood. But now, under present conditions, with our institutions located within the limits of the great cities, with all the advantages of large public school facilities I believe a good institutional school to be superior. And here I would obviate the possibility of another misconception. I take this position in no disparagement of the public school system, though I am not, perhaps, alone in the belief that this is suscepti- ble of very decided improvement in most of our cities. I am awar<> and fully convinced that in a democracy such as ours, theoretically at least and in many respects practically, a system of com- mon public education is both desirable and necessary. But the public schools are designed to meet the needs of normal children, and children in an institution are not and never can be in entirely normal relationship to the world and its life so long as they are NATIONAL CONFERENCE OP JEWISH CHARITIES. 139 in the institution. The institution should then supply these deficiencies and nowhere else can this be done so easily, so appro- priately and so efficiently as in the classroom. I do not under- value the desirability of having the children leave the walls of the home daily, to mingle with their fellows of the outside, to learn from them the lessons not learned in school, to rub up against their prejudices, to overcome their dislikes, to compete with them in all the life of the school, to have the ad- vantage of their different environment and its resultant variety of view and expression. All these are highly valuable and I should be the last to desire to lose them, but I believe they can be attained in other ways. You were told of some of the defects of institutional life at the best, of the difficulty of the child's acquiring an idea of money values and all the small economies and management of home finance, of the inadaptibility of the institutional child to all normal life relationships. These are defects which a proper educational system devised for the child of the institution, caring for his needs and based upon his life, would easily remedy and which the public school cannot effect in a large degree because its rigid curriculum is devised for all and not for special exceptions. I assume, of course, that the in- stitutional school shall be conducted upon the highest plane, pay- ing good salaries and attempting to secure a high grade school principal and first-class teachers equipped with the best modern educational methods. Then the life of the institutional child could be made a well-rounded whole with all his needs met and a beginning equipment for life designed especially to prepare him for the task that lies before him. Manual training should play a large part in his education. It is noteworthy that the only Jewish institutions laying large stress on manual training are the two conducting their own school systems. They each have a complete manual training school. Manual training in wood working is also supplied by the two larger New York insti- tutions. But of prime importance in the institutional school should be industrial training. It is an unnecessary truism to state that our children come from the poor classes and that to the laboring classes in almost all cases they will return. It is our duty to see that they go forth with something more than 140 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH their inheritance from their fathers. We ought to put into them the means of earning, not only when they leave us but throughout their lives, a good livelihood. It is easy in a large city to place the graduates of a well conducted asylum in offices, stores, shops and factories. The demand for boys particularly is always greater than the supply, but such positions while very good as beginnings offer no assurance of permanent employment or pro- motion. All of our institutions at present do some industrial work. Probably all offer instruction in stenography and type- writing. Bookkeeping, telegraphy and printing are other occu- pations taught. Sewing, cooking and household work are gen- erally taught in the female departments. All these and their similar activities should be much more largely developed and made part of the regular institutional school course, at proper hours, when the minds and bodies are fresh, and not as must now be too often the case, under the makeshift combination of public school and home instruction, after both are wearied by the com- pletion of the regular day school work. And it is because of the need of this industrial training that I would advocate under improved conditions the extension of the length of institutional residence where the institution alone must prepare the ward un- aided for life. The average child of 14 or 15, upon graduation from public school, is not physically sufficiently mature to take his place in the trades ; and in the more intellectual trades, e. g. stenography, is not sufficiently mature mentally. He needs the increased strength and power that will come to him in a year or two. To-day with the constant press of new admissions, with undesirable results arising from the close contact of masses of older with masses of younger children, with the tendency (in- evitable) to the routine and machine like activity of a large in- stitution, longer retention is in most instances inadvisable, but in my judgment our present premature pushing of unprepared children upon the world is economically, socially, and morally wrong. It would be unjust to leave the impression that nothing is done by the institutions for post-graduate work, if I may borrow the term. The Hebrew Orphan Asylum, of New York, has the Emanuel Lehman Provident Trust Fund of $100,000 for the NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 141 education in trades or professions of such wards as may be ad- judged entitled to such aid. It also has a number of smaller funds of a similar nature and much work is done along these lines. The Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society maintains sev- eral scholarships netting $150 per annum; the Educational League performs a similar service for the graduates of the Jewish Orphan Asylum, of Cleveland. In this city the Pfalzer Fund of $1,600 provides training for girls from the Jewish Foster Home and Orphan Asylum. But this, so far as the facts furnished me indicate, is all. Another matter in connection with the education of our chil- dren. All our institutions furnish religious instruction. Serv- ices are regularly held in all on Sabbath and Holy Days, in some daily. Religious schools are conducted in all. Now in a Jewish institution there should be no real reason for thus divorcing religious instruction from the daily life of the child making it something distinct and for special consumption. It ought to be part of his daily life, part of his regular instruction of at least equal importance with reading, writing and arithmetic. The instructors should be the best and the possibility for spiritual uplift is unlimited. So, too, with the instruction in Hebrew which all give. Our present methods are a disgrace to us. One man in Baltimore has shown us what can be done in this direction. With the resources at our command we should be able to make the language of our people and its Bible a real source of inspira- tion to our children and one need not be an adherent of any cult or "ism" to wish this consummation most devoutly in every Jew- ish institution in the land. To return for a moment to the industrial training, we should not overlook the moral and educational value of the assistance rendered in all institutions in the work of the home in the bed- rooms and dining rooms, in the kitchen and laundry, in the clean- ing of rooms and yards and in the repairing of clothing, darning of stockings, etc. Another matter concerning which information was sought, closely related to the education of the children and of almost equal importance, is the question of social activities, of enter- tainment and amusement. Replies indicate that in most institu- 142 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH tions this is most unsystematically provided, occasional, and in large part provided by the children themselves. Reference was made in several of the papers to the relationship between the cheap amusement centers and youthful delinquency. How are we to expect that children will be attracted to the better amusement furnished by the settlement and similar agencies if they have had no previous aesthetic training. Therefore, it would appear that if we would not only protect our wards but also afford them positive cultural advantages which whatever be their industrial condition will furnish them with an educated taste for the best things in literature, art, music, etc., we must begin early and make it a matter of careful thought and planning. The library which all the institutions conduct is, of course, of first import- ance. Clubs are a helpful expedient. The Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society, of New York, is at present making a most in- teresting experiment in graded club work under special supervi- sion. Lectures, visits to the theatre, art museums, concerts, mu- seums of natural history, etc., when available should be frequently and systematically made. The Hebrew Orphan Asylum, of New York, has made arrangements with the Evening Lectures Department of the Public Schools whereby high grade lectures were regularly given to the children during the past winter. They aroused great interest and enthusiasm among the children and will be continued in larger number next year. The importance of music as a cultural force in the lives of our children cannot be over-estimated. Four institutions report brass bands, five have choirs for religious services and two have special musical instruction in chorus work for girls. Several in- stitutions give summer outings and these can be made of much value if visits to places of local, historical, civic or industrial in- terest take the place of large outings merely for picnic purposes. Every effort ought to be made to give the institution child a thorough acquaintance with his own city. Holiday entertain- ments, e. g., Purim and Hanukah, should be both religious and social celebrations of great importance. It is almost useless to state that the health of the children is well cared for. The dietaries submitted are adequate, both nour- ishment and taste being regarded. Three institutions have reg- NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 143 ular physicians visiting daily, in others physicians are ready at call. There is, however, considerable divergence as to regular examination of children. Two institutions make regular exam- inations at stated intervals, of scalp, eyes, skin and teeth. The others report that the children are under constant supervision which may mean much or little. One institution, the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society, keeps regular written records of weight and measurements taken semi-annually a proceeding worthy of emulation. Five institutions have dentists regularly employed and examining teeth of all children at regular in- tervals. All the institutions conduct hospitals, of which, how- ever, only four are in separate buildings; four do not care for contagious diseases. Few of the institutions attempt to place out children in board. The work of New York was detailed in yesterday's report. In ad- dition the Hebrew Orphan Asylum conducts its own work through its own agent, placing children in boarding homes and subsidizing mothers. Few of the institutions outside of New York seem to have developed this feature of their work. Financial statistics most easily obtained and in largest number are at hand, but I shall not in the present paper attempt to use them. Diverse systems of accounts, contradictory grouping of different items of income and expenditure, entire lack of uni- formity except in the most obvious facts make the handling of these figures the proper task of the trained statistician. I under- stand that your committee on resolutions is considering the recommendation of a committee on statistics. This appears to me to be most important. A mass of information unsystematized and un correlated is hidden in these figures which might be of great interest and value to the entire Jewish community of the country if properly interpreted. It should be made a condition of the work of all future appli- cants for Conference Scholarships that full training in statistics be taken. In conclusion I would repeat the appeal of the Chicago and Detroit Conferences that some concerted attempt be made, preferably through your Committee on Statistics if appointed to secure uniformity in annual reports and that definite statisti- 144 PROCEEDINGS OP THE FOURTH cal tables be designed whose publication be requested of every organization holding membership in the conference. DISCUSSION. MR. W. B. HACKENBURG, Philadelphia : Mr. Heyman strongly urges that the homes of the aged should not be in connection with other institutions. I want to say, from an experience of forty-two years in connection with the Jewish Hospital Asso- ciation of Philadelphia, that the Home for the Aged and In- firm has been in continuous co-operation with it for the whole of that time. In neither institution can you find any detriment from the inmates of the Home for the Aged and Infirm being closely connected with the Hospital. They are at present in a separate building, but for years they were under the same roof in a sepa- rate portion of the building. The older people are always glad to be afforded an opportunity of visiting the sick. I cannot in any sense agree with the statement made by Mr. Heyman that it is detrimental to them. I also want to say, in regard to the matter of giving some- thing to do the matter of industry. It is almost impossible to give them any regular system of work light work. It is a question that I had presented to the National Conference of Charities and Correction in Denver many years ago, and elicited considerable debate; the result was a general agreement that it was almost impossible to get the old people in the homes for the aged and infirm to do any regular work. I will admit that the aged women do assist in some of the departments; that is, in preparing vegetables and things of that kind, but I have inva- riably found in the cases of old men, that they are not so infirm but what they could have assisted, but they absolutely refused or said after a trial of a few minutes that it would be impossible to assist in the way suggested ; so that the matter of giving them work is almost out of the question. We have tried over and over again, and we have come to the conclusion that it is no use trying any longer. Most of them come to us with the idea that they are to spend their days in idleness and without anything to do. THE PRESIDENT: We will now proceed with the discussion of Messrs. Bernstein, Israels and Lowenstein's papers. NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 145 MR. MAX MITCHELL, Boston: Dr. Bernstein, in his paper yesterday, showed us that it was possible, in a period of eleven months, to find 175 homes where 175 children were placed. Boston was the first city in the United States to illustrate the possibility of the private family for boarding out. I still maintain that the private family home is the real home that constitutes the natural home of the child. We have noAv in Massachusetts worked for the last five years in illustrat- ing the placing of the child in a private family with splendid results, and I will say this, that after four years' work in plac- ing Jewish children in Jewish homes, we have managed to turn over our worker that has worked in the Jewish charities we have placed her with the State, and the State of Massachusetts has taken up the work of placing Jewish children the way it ought to have done originally. It simply illustrates again the history of this country. What private societies are doing is to illustrate what the State should do in the future. It has been possible to illustrate this in Massachusetts, and it must be pos- sible elsewhere. MR. ARNOLD COHEN, Philadelphia : Local pride is the only thing that made me get up this time. Mr. Mitchell would lead one to believe that his town was the first one that provided fos- ter children with homes. I am sure he is mistaken; otherwise I would not get up and speak upon the matter. Dr. Samuel Hirsch instituted, I think, in 1864, the Waisen-Verein, which meant raising children in homes. This has been in existence ever since, and I have been there for twenty-five years. I have been connected with it almost since its inception. Our expe- rience has been that boarding children out with mothers has been a perfect success; boarding children out with their aunts or near relatives has also been a success ; boarding them out with strangers has been very detrimental. In ten cases out of twelve, people that accept children to board them, do it for the money that is given them. It helps them along in their house- keeping, as they are very short and just about able to get along, but the additional $2.50, $3 or $3.50 puts them in a better condi- tion. Homes for children are good when with mothers ; it is the natural home, where they will be naturally well raised. You may 146 PROCEEDINGS OP THE FOURTH have some mothers who are not raising children as we would like them to be raised ; you have them among the rich, as well as you have among the poor. MR. S. M. FLEISCHMAN, Philadelphia: There is one point I wish to call attention to, and one only, and that is, that inthediscussionof this subject we generally forget and lose sight of the merits that are specially a feature of orphan asylum education. There are many points that should be considered, but this one point I wish to call your attention to particularly, and that is the effect anl the influence of environment. Now in twenty years ' experience as Superintendent of the Jewish Foster Home and Orphan Asy- lum, I have learned two things. First of all I have learned that the evil traits in a great many instances can be overcome by the influence of environment; secondly, I have learned that the boys and girls that have remained under the supervision of the Foster Home the longest have made the best success of, and a greater success of themselves than has been the case with those who have been returned to their own relatives or their owa friends. Besides, I claim, out of all the experiences of fifty years of our institution, we never had but one single child that has ever gone out of the institution that became subject to punishment by the laws of the State. Now, there is to-day, a young man in this city a graduate of the Foster Home and Manual Training School of Philadelphia, who gave up a lucrative position a busi- ness position in Philadelphia, and worked himself through a two years' special course at Harvard University. Further than that, there is to-day one of our boys, a graduate of the Philadel- phia High School, who worked himself for two years through the Western Reserve University in Cleveland, earning his living as stenographer for the professors in College. He is to- day taking the last year's course in Chicago University, and is in charge of religious work at the Home for the Friendless all done through his own efforts, secured by getting his incentive for higher education in the environments that he found in the Jewish Foster Home and Orphan Asylum. Now those are some of the advantages of institutional life. MR. JACOB BASHEIN, New York: I will not compare whether a child is better off in an institution or whether it is bet- NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 147 ter off in a private home. Conditions to-day in New York are such that there is a large number of children who can- not be accommodated in institutions, and it is those children that we are placing out. It has been my pleasure to assist Dr. Bernstein in this work for a year. I feel, after giving careful thought to this matter, you will form an opinion that this Con- ference cannot do any better work than spread the idea through- out the country and help us place out children who cannot to- day be accommodated by Jewish institutions. Dr. Bernstein read to you the paper and practically covered the ground as to what we are doing. There is one thing, however, he has omitted to state, and that is that we have, in the course of eleven months, placed out not 176 children, but 204 children. This is the num- ber that we have placed out; 176 children are to-day under ac- tual supervision ; the others have been returned to their parents, or have been placed with relatives through the efforts of this bu- reau. So that we have relieved the State of the maintenance of 204 children in the community. Another thing I wish to point out, not only do we benefit the children particularly those we place in private homes, but also the foster parents. It may be new to you. I tell you that we have had mothers, numbers of them probably ten or twelve in all come to us and say that we brought happiness and sun- shine into their home by placing a child with them. I know of a case where a man, while not being a bad man, has stayed away from home five nights a week and some times seven nights, and since the child has been placed in their home he would not think of leaving the home. All his energjes all his thoughts are con- centrated on the child. It has brought happiness to their home and joy, and they really cannot get over it. I wish to say one more thing, before I finish, that we have the material we have the children; it is you from outside New York that have the homes. Of course, we can find quite a large number of homes in New York, but these are not the homes where we wish to place out children. We want to place them, if possible, in fine sur- roundings in country homes or among the finer class of Jews. MR. MITCHELL : I understand you to say that in one instance, before the child was brought to the home, the husband would 148 PROCEEDINGS OP THE FOURTH stay out five nights in the week, and sometimes seven nights. Must I infer that you have deliberately given one of your or- phans into the home after you have investigated after you have known that the husband was a depraved man you gave him that child to take care of. MR. BASHEIN : We did it on probation. Every child is placed on probation. Immediately after placing the child, agents visit the home if necessary twice a week. It will not absorb the bad morals of the father. MR. R. A. SONN, Atlanta : The illustration I am glad it has come before you, because it will be found upon close examina- tion, it is not an exception, is a matter of frequency, as the gentleman who spoke before has experienced as President of the Guardian Society boarding places are not a success, sim- ply for the reason that these people take the children for the revenue given them. The only thing that can be conceded is, that mothers should be subsidized, and the children held to- gether in the family, and the next is to keep them with the rela- tives. If you go beyond that you will fail. You have only been in the experimental stages of this matter. I am opposed to mak- ing experiments with children. Human souls are not merchan- dise. You have not found in every instance in a great many instances where children have been placed in private homes in New York, that it was successful, because you have found ulti- mately it has not proved a success. You have not thought that in that class of private families, that are willing to take children, changes occur of such frequency as to affect the child. A man may move from town ; what are you going to do with the ehild ; are you going to take the child along 1 Of course not ; you can- not supervise the child when he moves. A foster father of that kind, or a foster mother of that kind, will do like other people will. What is going to become of that child; get him another father another mother? I am of the opinion that too many mothers and fathers is not the proper thing. There are other reasons a man loses his po- sition loses his daily work he may die, what is going to be- come of the baby? NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 149 DR. BOGEN: I wish to say a few words about children. I must confess the sentiment expressed here experiments with children have to be made carefully is a very important senti- ment. I believe that we should try new methods from those that we have learned of now, because the work of the institution in taking care of children is not satisfactory. Now the question of placing out children can be tried on a small and a large scale. We have heard Dr. Bernstein, in his enthusiastic report of the results given us for the last year. Now in Cincinnati we always try to do things to the extreme, and spend money on experi- ments quite lavishly. We were not the first to place out children, I suppose, but we have tried to do all we possibly could in this direction. I believe there is some difference between the meth- ods of our city and others in this particular respect. I person- ally do not believe in placing children in a family where there is a man alive. I believe in placing them with widows who have to take care of their own children where they are relieved by organizations and have to take care of their families and feel in duty bound to take care of some of the children who are unfor- tunate enough to be full orphans. This being the case, we have no difficulty in finding the proper home, for the very reason thai; we can supervise directly. We happened to have five children in our place, belonging to one family. They are not orphans. The man and wife did not care for the children, so we took away the children through the Juvenile Court. Now we have a man and wife, 50 and 52 years old, unable to earn a livelihood, cf very high intellectual and moral standing. It came to our mind that the best thing was to give them a cottage this man and wife give them the five children 'and form a new family. DR. JACOB HOLLANDER, Baltimore: It seems to me we have reached a point in the discussion where further project mighi be referred to the Committee on Resolutions. There is a dif- ference of opinion. This is not a body to register decrees. It would be very undesirable to consider evidence presented pro or con or evidence sentiments by formal vote, because we do not know enough of what we are talking about. We have heard a very limited presentation based upon very inadequate facts. A greater emphasis is therefore to be put upon the recommeuda- 150 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH tion in Mr. Lowenstein's paper that the growth of statistics should be the basis of any further generalization on the matter It is very simple to do two things to talk absolutely about some- thing of which you know nothing, and to talk even more abso- lutely about something of which you know very little. In the case of the papers here that have been presented, I have no rea- son to suppose, nor do I think anyone here does, that we are building upon the experience of not more than a very limited number of communities, and before the Conference should take any action definitely, or even lend its moral support to any school of child caring industry, it is highly desirable that we should have the fullest and most detailed statistical information not statistical in the sense merely of numerical aggregates, but also of qualitative data. We should know what is being done in not one, two or a half dozen committees, but in every commu- nity where a deliberate attempt is being made to look after the welfare of orphans or half orphans. It is profitless and it is dangerous for us to attempt to formulate general conclusions upon the basis of very inadequate and somewhat emotional gen- eralities. I should say the lesson here, as in much of our dis- cussion, is let us find out more and let us talk less positively un- til we know more. DR. A. R. LEVY, Chicago : I would say this : That institutions have their faults as has every other institution that is created to rectify the faults. I see by the list in Chicago, that we have an institution that does keep children. In my own experience this came under my observation : I knew of a woman who had three children, her husband died and she was very poor. She was given $35 a month, which was cheaper than the children could have been kept for in the asylum. The woman raised the children in a proper manner; she probably worked hard till the youngest child was fourteen or fifteen years old. She has given her whole life for the children. The children were not able to support her. She has given her help in the fulfilment of duty. I can only tell you that we all recommend it to every institution to do as the society has done in Chicago. MR. HACKENBURG: I think Dr. Hollander's remarks were to the point that we are all possibly discussing a question NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 151 about which we know very little. There is one thing I do want to say I object to that portion of Mr. Lowenstein's paper in re- gard to educating children other than in the public schools. There is ho reason in the world why Jewish children from the orphan asylum should not be sent to the public schools to be edu- cated. I think it would benefit all the children. I want to say if you want to establish facts, you must refer to history. The history of every large Jewish orphan asylum in this country, and those in other parts of the world has been that children have gone out from these asylums and have invariably turned out to be good men and good women. Boarding out children in families where you don't know anything about the family is dangerous some may be very good most of them are very poor, and they take the children really for the sake of the money that may be acquired, and nine times out of ten for no other purpose. I see no reason why we should abandon the institution or try to be- little it in the manner proposed here. MR. MAX SENIOR, Cincinnati : I only have one or two sugges- tions. I want to call attention to the fact, that with few excep- tions, a live Jew is better than a dead one. And that a live father and mother are much better than even an orphan asylum or placing out institution, and that if you will give only a por- tion of the attention and the money that you give to taking care of the orphans after their father and mother are dead, to saving the father and mother while alive, you will be doing better work than all the orphan asylums and all the placing-out institutions in the country. Take care of disease at the time it can be taken care of, take care of typhoid fever cases after they have left the hospital, and when they need three or four weeks vacation. Take care of the people in order that they may live and not die, and that, to my mind is one of the best means of solving the or- phan question. If we have had any success in Cincinnati, I say it has been largely in the way of preventing orphans. Never- theless, we will have some orphans, and Chicago will have some, and Cleveland will have some, and Columbus and Minneapolis will have some, and Louisville will have some ; and if, I say if, it shall appear desirable to establish these child-placing agencies, it seems to me desirable that these various communities in the 152 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH districts that I have mentioned in the same way it could be done, for instance, in Kansas City, St. Louis and Omaha that these communities should unite in order that they may provide a proper agency in this way, in the same manner as they already unite in the other departments, namely, in the placing of childen in orphan asylums. It might be well to bring the mat- ter to the attention of the various organizations throughout the country, namely that here is a ready and fruitful method of us- ing this plan of interurban co-operation which has already been so successful in the maintenance and establishment of our or- phan asylums. MR. LEO LOEB, Philadelphia: I have given, till recently, my time for twenty-five years past, and have for the last fifteen years presided over the Foster Home and Orphan Asylum of Philadelphia. You had the pleasure of seeing the institution yesterday; you noticed its environment; you probably noticed some of the children. I do not wish to stand here and go into details, nor do I wish to stand here and defend institution life or condemn it; I do know that children raised in insti- tutions are not always bad. I speak of practical results now- not theoretical ones. I have noticed the children we have had under our observation for the last twenty-five years, and some of the people who are here to-day who have been connected with that institution for fifty years could get up and give details fur- ther than I can. I had the pleasure recently to be asked to thu alumni meeting of the Philadelphia Foster Home children who were raised at the Foster Home. There were seventy odd men and women there who were raised at the Foster Home. They represented people in every walk of life. I could name you almost every profession: the merchant, the dentist, the doctors, lawyers represented there at that meeting not only themselves, but they brought their wives and children, and I defy any man in this community or any other, to single out th<* conditions in which any other child could be handled better than what was represented at that meeting. They were not ashamed of having been raised in an institution ; in fact they were proud of it, and they so intimated to their alma mater; they love the institution in which they were reared. It is not always the NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 153 mother that lives; the mother frequently dies, and the father is unable to take care of the children. Every sentiment expressed here is always in favor of the mother. Give the child to the mother. I say that is right if you have the mother, but you fre- quently don't have the mother. DR. BERNSTEIN: According to the theory and philosophy of some of the speakers, it would seem to be the best plan in this universe to take all the poor children out of their poor, unsuitable homes, and put them into those glorious orphan asylums of red brick walls. Let those mothers look at the grand structure and then let them starve for hunger of sentiment and affection. I believe, ladies and gentlemen, that after all, the method of taking care of children is not to be determined according to brick walls and ac- cording to gymnasiums, and according to whether or not one, two, three or five hundred people have become lawyers or medical men, but after all, the great philosophy of life is whether or not society has a right to claim as one of its most important con- cerns the preservation not of the orphan asylum family, but of the real family. Of course, no one will condemn a child that has been* brought up in an orphan asylum. There is no neces- sity for doing so, but I claim that it is our plain duty to see that in addition to orphan asylum training, which is the most con- venient, but the most unnatural one, it is our plain duty to see that we have some other methods more natural, more advanced, more corresponding than the methods of training five thousand children according to our plan of discipline, routine and method, without the slightest possible effort on the part of anybody to individualize the child to offer to the child the individual love, care and attention which it is possible to offer in the ordi- nary, normal home. The objection that we pay money for the home is naturally absurd. The mother that does the work for the child cannot be paid for her love and affection and does not expect to be paid for that. Truth tells me that there are children that cannot and must not be trained in an orphan asylum. Truth tells me that there are children whom it is a crime to send to an orphan asylum. There 154 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH are children of nervous temperament; there are so-called mis- chievous children who are full of mischief in the eyes of the su- perintendent, because it is too inconvenient to just live in an in- stitution and care for the mischievous element, and yet has not the mischievous child as much right to exist, as the so-called ma- chine child the child that readily yields to the institution ma- chine and the routine ? Of course he has the right. Now, then, isn't it a fact that we, who are responsible for the care and training of these children, find that there are numbers whom we cannot deal with readily? If we are honest and frank in our work, we must admit that there are children that cannot be handled in institutions. The moment we admit it, we must look for other methods, and I pity the man who tells me that his in- stitution is so perfect that every child is lovely and grand and wonderful. I pity the man who tells me that in consequence of the glorious training received in that glorious institution, the child has become a student of law, or the child has become a medical man, or the child has become a Rabbi. I pity the man who tells me that, because when I look at the College of the City of New York at the City of New York Normal College, with six thousand children from the Jewish Ghettos, I see not only five, ten, fifteen future rabbis, teachers, medical men, but I see five thousand prospective lawyers, rabbis, and other professional men. Therefore the glorious work of the orphan asylum has no effect on me. Now, then, to sum up : Don't let us fool ourselves, don't let us imagine that because some of you worthy gentlemen who help to conduct our orphan asylums, and who find that everything looks so grand and there are twenty-five acres of ground, beautiful and blossoming land around don't imagine that this is the great method of child-caring institution, because it is not. It does not begin to be. In order to be the best method in order to be only one of the good methods, we have, first of all, to abol- ish the congregate institution. We have, first of all, to learn that instead of herding them all together like cattle, as in ancient Sparta and Greece, you have to congregate them in small groups in charge of an intelligent cottage father or mother not in groups of 150 or 300 or 500. We don't train children like that. NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 155 But I do claim above all that it is necessary for us to under- stand that of three fundamental methods of child-caring, after all the first great method is the natural poor home the home thriving with hope for greater days the home in which, after all, our greatest men were born and brought up the poor home of the mother is the first and most important method. Secondly, the most important method is the work which makes it possible to give the child a home outside of a first home, wherever that is. If you can make it possible to give a real home in your in- stitution, keep it by all means for millions of years to come, but unless you can give the child a home, you are keeping the child without a home and you have no right to do it. Do not think that your grand institutions are going to substitute the home; those that believe it are deceiving themselves. The non-Jewish child-caring methods have shown us the road. Do not try to be retrogressive. Let us work it out ; let us develop it, and then let us say to ourselves, "We Jews are doing at least as well as the non- Jewish child-caring institutions." THE PRESIDENT: The chairman has some decided convictions on this point which he does not intend to impress any further than he did in the presidential address, except to say just one word, and that is, that I suppose the unanimous opinion of this body would be that our Jewish orphan asylums are the best orphan asylums in the world, that the superintendents, of our Jewish or- phan asylums are the best possible superintendents in the world ; but whenever we succeed in finding or developing the man or woman who can be a real father and mother to five hundred or seven hundred and fifty or a thousand and twenty or more children one to whom each child can go daily with all its petty trials and troubles that make up so much of life one to whom each child before going to sleep can go and pour out those little burdens that to us as parents mean so little, but which we as parents know mean so much to the child ; then we no longer need talk about home finding institutions; when we establish as the basis of our civilization merely education of the mind; merely general, uniform moral education then we need no longer talk about home finding institutions. I do not think that this is go- ing to be the basis of American civilization, and if it is not go- 156 PROCEEDINGS OP THE FOURTH ing to be the basis if the home if the family if the individ- ual in the family home is the foundation stone of human prog- ress then we must do all we can to further and to lay deeper and better those foundation stones. Let us go home and con- sider all of these problems ; let us go ahead, those of us who have schemes for trying to find the proper homes (we are not talking about improper homes), and see what we can do in the next two years. But the one thing that I want to say is this: Do not let us go ahead in the next two years and add to our orphan asy- lums do not let us go ahead and pile on brick and mortar; do not let us go ahead and increase our congregate institutions. I do not say for a moment, tear down those walls, be- cause we need them we need them in the evolution of child-caring but do not let us add to them at this time, when so many of us feel that we are right in the throes of change; that we are moving forward and onward ; do not let us now put an obstacle in the path of onward movement; let us stop wher^ we are; let us consider what those who have other ideas have to say; let us digest them; do not let us put obstacles in the paths and if in any of these cities you are now planning to increase the size of the orphan asylums, stop that work for at least two years and see whether your own communities want it. at the end of that time, and if after then you are going to keep the present orphan asylums, well and good, but do not pile up the numbers to 500 or 1,000; keep them down to 150 or 200. and take care of the rest of the orphans in some other way. I HEBREW LITERATURE SOCIETY, 2 P. M., May 8, 1906. THE BARON DE HIRSCH FUND. EUGENE S. BENJAMIN, President of the Baron de Hirsch Fund, New York City. In the invitation to prepare a paper to be read before the Na- tional Conference of Jewish Charities, it was suggested that "be- cause of the dense ignorance which prevails among all the people in regard to the work of the Baron de Hirsch Fund, Jewish charity workers ought to know what the fund is; what is its history, and what is the work it is actually doing. ' ' NATIONAL CONFERENCE OP JEWISH CHARITIES. 157 It will give me much pleasure to present you the information suggested by your President. In view, however, of the charac- ter of the audience to whom the paper is addressed, I shall con- fine my remarks almost entirely to a concise statement of facts and figures, and shall make no effort to present any arguments to show the necessity of the kind of work which we have undertaken, nor to dilate upon the benefits that we feel must result there- from, knowing that as experts in the field of charity, you need only a statement of the facts to put you in complete touch and sympathy with our work. The Baron de Hirsch Fund was founded in 1891 by the Baron Maurice de Hirsch, who gave to a committee of nine gentlemen and their successors the sum of two million four hundred thou- sand dollars ($2,400,000) in trust for the purposes mentioned in the deed. The original trustees were Myer S. Isaacs, Jesse Selig- man, Jacob H. SchifF, Oscar S. Straus, Henry Rice, James H. Hoffman, Julius Goldman, Mayer Sulzberger and William B. Hackenburg. The objects and purposes as expressed in the deed of trust were as follows : 1. Loans to emigrants from Russia or Roumania, agricultur- ists, settlers within the United States, upon real or chattel security. 2. Provision for the transportation of immigrants selected (after their arrival at any American port) with reference to their age, character and capacity, to places where it is expected the conditions of the labor market or the residence of friends will tend to make them self -supporting. 3. Provision for training immigrants in a handicraft and con- tributing to their support while learning such handicraft, and for furnishing the necessary tools and implements and other assistance to enable them to earn a livelihood. 4. Provision for improved mechanical training for adults and youths immigrants and their children whereby persons of in- dustry and capacity may acquire some remunerative employment, either by the payment of apprenticeship, or tuition fees, or the instruction of adults and minors in trade schools or otherwise, with contributions for temporary support. 158 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH 5. Provision for instruction in the English language and in the duties and obligations of life and citizenship in the United States, and for technical and trade education, and the establish- ment and subvention of special schools, workshops and other suitable agencies for promoting and maintaining such instruction. 6. Provision for instruction in agricultural work and improved methods of farming and for aiding settlers with tools and imple- ments, and the practical supervision of such instruction, con- ducted upon suitable tracts of land and in necessary buildings. 7. Co-operation with established agencies in various sections of the United States, whose duty it shall be in whole or in part to furnish aid or relief, and education to needy and deserving ap- plicants coming within the classes designated herein. 8. Contributions towards the maintenance of individuals and families, while temporarily awaiting work, or when settled in the new homes in which they may be established. 9. Such other and further modes of relief and such other and further contributions to education and in such departments of knowledge as the said trustees or their successors shall from time to time decide. The objects of the fund, as you will see, are well defined. In a word, the purpose of the donor was to assist immigrants and establish them as useful members of the community in which they settled. This purpose, however, has often been misunderstood, and from time to time in the public press the Fund has been spoken of as a fund to assist immigration. Such a statement of our purpose is entirely unwarranted and absolutely contrary to fact. The Fund has never undertaken to promote or assist immi- gration. We deal only with the immigrant after he has arrived in this country. After he has once reached the United States he becomes a proper subject for our assistance and advice. A care- ful examination of the Deed of Trust will show that such was the wish and instruction of the donor, and in administering their trust the trustees have strictly adhered to this course. The fund, thus established by the Baron de Hirsch, was sub- sequently very largely increased by a donation made by the Baroness de Hirsch in 1898 and still further by a bequest received under her will. NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 159 A portion of the principal was expended at once, under the provisions of the Deed of Trust, in the purchase of land and the erection of buildings at Woodbine ; the balance of the principal of the fund has been kept intact by the trustees and now amounts to $3.800,000, and only the income thereof is used. This income, however, is by no means sufficient to defray the cost of the work undertaken by the trustees and we are only able to continue our many activities through the generous financial assistance annually rendered us by the Jewish Colonization Association of Paris. Having thus concisely stated the origin of the fund and the sources of its income, I shall proceed to give you a brief sum- mary of the different kinds of work undertaken or fostered by it. For the purpose of this address, I shall divide the work into five groups, viz. : 1. Genera] Aid to the Immigrant. 2. Removal Work. 3. Educational Work. 4. Woodbine ond Other Industrial Activities. 5. Agricultural Work. First General Aid to the Immigrant. During the first two years of his stay in this country, the immi- grant is regarded by us as in some respects our ward, and en- titled to our help. Upon his arrival at Ellis Island, an agent of the United Hebrew Charities, who is paid by us, meets the immigrant and gives him such information, advice and other assistance as the circumstances of the case may require. If the immigrant is a woman arriving here unattended, an agent of the Council of Jewish Women, for whose services we likewise make the necessary financial provision, looks after her welfare and prevents her going astray, and if she has no proper place to go to, then, until she gets a position or is otherwise satisfactorily placed, she is cared for at the down-town lodging house for im- migrant girls conducted by the Clara de Hirsch Home, which lodging house is maintained in part by our financial assistance. When the new arrival, through illness or other misfortune, fails to succeed, he is furnished with the necessary tools or im- plements of his trade, employment is found for him, a trade taught him or temporary financial assistance given him. 160 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH In New York city this assistance is given through the agency of the United Hebrew Charities ; and in Philadelphia and Balti- more through branch committees of the fund, to all of whom we supply the funds necessary to do this work. To a smaller extent funds are also supplied to Boston for similar work. The following summary of the work done through the local branch of the fund in Philadelphia in the year 1905 will give you a fair idea of the varied character of the assistance thus given. In that year tools were supplied to mechanics and others in 255 cases ; trades and occupations taught, 62 ; assisted in busi- ness, 97; assisted in support while working, 22; furnished with transportation to other points, 8; and in addition to the fore- going, employment was found for 165 others. The foregoing is a very brief sketch of the character of the general aid furnished by the society to the newly arrived immi- grant. This aid is of great value to those assisted and yet, in view of the large number of immigrants arriving here unfamiliar with the language and customs of our country, it is, indeed, truly remarkable how few in number require assistance to become self- supporting. A different kind of aid furnished by us to the newly arrived immigrant is the opportunity which we secure for him of satis- factorily locating himself in country districts and smaller towns. This brings me to the second subdivision of our work which I have entitled, "Removal Work." Second Removal Work. This work was initiated in 1891 with a view of relieving the pressure on the seaport cities at the time of the heavy immigra- tion of Jews to the United States, and large numbers of the im- migrants were settled in manufacturing towns in the East and West. This work became so extensive and its beneficent results so apparent that in 1900 it was decided to thoroughly systematize it and conduct it on a large and permanent scale. Accordingly the Jewish Agricultural and Industrial Aid Society was organ- ized, and to a branch of that society, known as the Removal Com- mittee, this work has been entrusted. Numerous agencies have NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 161 been established and working arrangements made with local societies, or with committees -of public spirited citizens in most of the important centers of the United States, and about 6,000 persons are removed annually from New York city alone and self- sustaining positions found elsewhere for all of them. The paper on Distribution read on the opening day of the Conference by Mr. Cyrus L. Sulzberger, has fully described this work in detail, and it is therefore unnecessary for me to enter into any further details on the subject, except perhaps to say that there is no part in the work accomplished with the aid of the funds of our society which gives us greater satisfaction or which has borne more immediate fruit. Third Educational Work. It is of vital importance that the adult immigrant should promptly obtain a knowledge of the English language and in the interest of good government that he should become familiar with the customs of the country and the theory of our government, and in the case of the child that he should be prepared as promptly as possible to take his proper grade in the public school, or if it is necessary for him to go to work, that he should quickly receive the minimum of education which is required by the State before he is excused from attending the public schools. To accomplish these purposes the educational work of the society is conducted. In New York city the Educational Alliance, through funds furnished by us, maintains day classes for chil- dren and adults, where the pupils are kept for a period ranging from three months to a year and half; more than 850 pupils passed through these day classes in 1905, of whom 570 were turned over to the public schools and 105 others received their working papers. In the same way a night school is maintained, supplementing the public night schools and is kept open from April to September when the public night schools are closed. This night school is attended by adults ranging in years from 17 to 50. The number applying this year was 1,600. of whom only 500 could be admitted, but additional classes will be opened to accommodate 300 more ; 90% of those enrolled have been four months in the country. 162 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH In Brooklyn we aid the Hebrew Educational Society ; in Phil- adelphia the Hebrew Educational Society; in Pittsburg the Columbian Council, and in St. Louis the Jewish Educational Society, all of whom maintain classes similar to those conducted by the Educational Alliance in New York city. A very important feature of our educational work is the Baron de Hirsch Trade School in East 64th Street. New York City. This is a fully equipped and well-housed school for the teaching of trades. With a course of instruction of ^ l / 2 months, it fits boys to qualify as helpers in certain mechanical trades. The trades taught are those of carpenter, machinist, plumber, electrical working and house and sign painting. The capacity of the school is taxed to its utmost, and its success is shown by the fact that at our last semi-annual entrance date there were 711 applicants, while the size of the building will only permit us to admit 150. In this school we try to get down to a practical basis, and to give such instruction as will fit the boy to become a valuable helper to a journeyman workman. While we do not aim to teach a trade thoroughly, it is, nevertheless, a fact that a fair propor- tion of the graduates of the school quickly become journeymen workmen and earn journeymen wages. The phenomenal success of the graduates is the cause for the large demand for admission, and indeed many of the applicants are willing to wait a year to be admitted to the school. I might say that while this school was originally instituted only for boys of foreign birth, we have of late years allowed those born in America to partake of its bene- fits, but it is true in this school, as in our agricultural school, that the foreign born boy is more efficient, earnest and successful. The usefulness of an institution to teach mechanical trades to Jewish boys must be apparent to all. The success that has attended the effort will have a far-reaching and cumulative effect in years to come In the ten years that this school has been estab- lished on its present basis, its number of graduates has grown from 50 per year to over 250 per year, and the percentage of those who have failed to follow the trade to which we have trained them, is insignificant. NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 163 Fourth Woodbine and Other Industrial Activities. One of the desires of the Baron cle Hirsch was the establish- ment of an agricultural and industrial colony in this country where the newly arrived immigrant might settle, and one of the first acts of the trustees of the Fund in furtherance of this wish, was the purchase in the fall of 1891 of a tract of land over 5,000 acres in southern New Jersey where the town of Woodbine was established. On this tract a town site was laid out, and the sur- rounding country was set apart for farms. The scheme of the town provided that the streets should be wide and that there should be a space of at least 50 feet between each of the houses, and a separate location was provided for factory buildings, and at the same time a number of farms were laid out and farm houses built. The town is supplied with water, and has its own electric light and power plant, furnishing light and water to the inhabitants and power to the industries. The town has had many vicissitudes, but is to-day a self- governing and self-respecting community with about 2,000 in- habitants, a large proportion of whom rely for their subsistence on the several factories which have been built and established there through the agency of the fund. The payrolls of these factories amount to about $150,000 per annum, and the average wages paid to adults and minors compare favorably with those paid in any town of similar size in this country. Most of the heads of families own their own houses, for the Fund has made it possible for a man to acquire title to his home by a monthly payment, amounting., in most cases, to one-half of what he would pay for three rooms in a crowded tenement house in New York city. These small homes are in the majority of cases, clean, well-kept and have small gardens attached. In the year 1903 the town received its charter as an inde- pendent community, and is governed by its own Mayor and Com- mon Council. Every municipal office is filled by a Jew, and the affairs of the town have always been well and economically administered. When the colony was first started we were obliged to subsidize all industries that we induced to locate there, in order to pro- 164 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH vide employment for the immigrants whom we brought there. But even with all the fostering care and large financial assistance which we gave it. the success of the colony was for many years in doubt, but we are able now to say that the industries of Wood- bine are practically on a self-sustaining basis, the only aid which they receive from the fund being the grant in a few cases of free rent, power and light, which is no greater induce- ment than is held out by other small towns to manufacturing concerns. Woodbine is situated in the southern part of New Jersey, not many miles from Cape May, and has a sandy soil that has no very inviting aspect to the casual visitor, but which, nevertheless, yields good returns, if properly cultivated. When the town was established by the Baron de Hirsch Fund, it was intended that its inhabitants should be industrial workers and farmers, and a large part of the tract of 5,000 acres owned by the fund was divided into small farms, and a number of farmers were settled on them. While a small proportion of those farmers have been able to make a living and improve their condition, it is but fair to say that as a farming experiment Woodbine has not been a success, partly because of its distance from a profitable market. and partly because most of the men had no previous experience in cultivation of land. It was found also that one of the causes that operated against the success of the farmer, was the induce- ment the factory held out to him to employ him at weekly wages, and it is a well recognized fact that a man cannot be a worker in a factory and a successful farmer at the same time. We have lately undertaken to develop on new lines the farm- ing possibilities of Woodbine, and with the knowledge gained by years of experience, we have every hope of being able within a few years, to cite Woodbine as a success from an agricultural as well as from an industrial standpoint. In South Jersey, about twenty miles from Woodbine, but nearer to Philadelphia, are the other so-called South Jersey Colonies of Alliance, Rosenhayn, Carmel, Norma and Brotman- ville, which were established in the '80 's and '90 's by various philanthropic societies. Since 1900 the Jewish Agricultural and Industrial Aid Society has undertaken the duty of bettering the NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 165 physical and moral condition of these early settlers. We have established several modern factories; maintained night schools and provided scholarships in high schools in neighboring towns for pupils of promise ; co-operated in building a canning factory ; provided a resident director of social and educational work, who has done and is doing much to elevate the general moral tone of the community; provided free lecture courses; built social halls; subsidized resident physicians; established libraries, and have in numerous instances made loans to the farmers of these communities. These colonies are both industrial and farming in character. The farmers have, as a rule, been successful, but the factories have not always prospered. I do not desire to be understood as advocating the establish- ment of other colonies on the plan of Woodbine. The amount of money, time and energy spent in bringing this industrial settle- ment to its present condition is out of all proportion to th.3 number of our co-religionists who were benefited thereby this same amount of money spent in removal work or in building up a farming class among the Jews would produce better, surer and more far-reaching results. At one time it was believed that we could remove large num- bers of factory workers from the cities to rural communities, provided we could supply them with employment at the place to which they were sent, and several large and costly experiments were undertaken on that line, but they have all proved failures. It was found that we could successfully remove city dwellers to points where there was an established industry offering them employment, as is evidenced by the work of the removal office ; it was also found that we could establish industries in a place like Woodbine, where we already had a sufficient permanent popu- lation to supply the industry with workmen; but it was not found either feasible or practical to remove both the industry and the industrial worker, for reasons which it would take too long in this paper to discuss. Fifth Agricultural Work. The founders of the Fund were most anxious to encourage th- Jewish immigrant in the pursuit of agriculture, and the trus- 166 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH tees have devoted much of their time and attention to the carry- ing out of this aim, and have sought in every way to induce the immigrant to settle on land and to become a farmer. It was thought that this work could best be accomplished by First, teaching the rudiments of agriculture to those who were not farmers, and Second, by rendering financial assistance to those who were farmers but had not the means to establish themselves on farms. To teach agriculture we have established First, the agricultural school at Woodbine, and Second, the so-called test farm at Kings Park, L. I. The Woodbine agricultural school was established to teach agriculture to boys. It was founded in 1895 and seeks to give a boy such an amount of technical education in the school and practical training on the school-farm, as will qualify him for filling a position as a helper on a farm, with the promise held out to him of assistance in the purchase of a farm of his own when he reaches the proper age and has demonstrated his ability to manage it. The school has been to a large extent an experiment, and from time to time we have changed the curriculum as suggested by experience. The present requirements for admission are, that the applicant should be about the age of 18, should be physically capacitated for the work of farming, and should have an ele- mentary knowledge of English. The student is given one' year of practical and technical education, and then secured a position on a farm, and if he retains his position and sticks to the work and desires further instruction of a technical or practical char- acter, he may take an advanced course the following winter. The school undertakes only to give the boy sufficient instruction and experience to enable him to work satisfactorily on a farm as a helper, and makes no attempt to compete with the many excellent agricultural schools in the country where the science of agricul- ture is taught. The problem of the school is a difficult one. There is no diffi- culty in finding places for graduates as farm helpers, but our main trouble heretofore has been, that boys would take advantage of the opportunities offered them by the school to secure a general NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 167 training and education, and would ultimately forsake farming. Nevertheless, we have a large number of very creditable gradu- ates who are pursuing agriculture as a livelihood. An equally interesting experiment is the work of the Test Farm at Kings Park, L. I. A tract of 500 acres of good land was pur- chased there and equipped with modern buildings and farming implements, and houses erected for 12 families. We locate at this test farm each year about 12 families. We provide the heads of the families with work as farm laborers, teaching them American methods of agriculture. We pay them daily wages, out of which they provide for the support of their families and pay rent for the houses which they occupy. We also allot to each one of them a small plot of ground for raising the garden truck needed for the use of his family. After a year, if they have shown a likelihood of success as farmers, we assist them in finding farms of their own and enable them to settle thereon under favorable conditions. The Fund has also, through the medium of the Jewish Agricul- tural and Industrial Aid Society, provided the means by which various agricultural experiments have been conducted throughout the United States, among others, the Colony of Arpin, A\ r isconsin, conducted by the Milwaukee Agricultural Association, and which I understand will be fully described to you by Mr. Rich. All of the agricultural work which I have described is con- ducted under the auspices of the Jewish Agricultural and In- dustrial Aid Society. In 1900 we found that our agricultural, industrial and removal work had become so extended that it was necessary to found a separate society to take charge of "these activities, hence the establishment of that society, which is main- tained partly by the funds donated by the Baron de Hirsch Fund, and partly by contributions from the Jewish Colonization Asso- ciation of Paris. A very large part of the funds of this society is used in mak- ing loans to farmers. These loans are of such a character that they could not possibly be obtained from any other source, and therefore encourage and aid men with limited means to be- come farmers. The sum of $500 is ordinarily the smallest amount that a man 168 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH should have who wishes to establish himself as a successful farmer, but the society makes a great many loans to men with less means than this when in its judgment the individual has a good chance for success. We do not idly encourage inexperi- enced men to risk their small savings in a farming venture, feel- ing that every farmer who fails in his undertaking has a depress- ing effect upon the general farming situation among Jews, and therefore we discourage men with insufficient means, or those whom we believe lack the capacity to reach success. The general Jewish public has but little idea of the decided drift towards agriculture among our co-religionists, and it will be interesting, therefore, to learn that in the year 1905 947 indi- vidual applications were made for assistance to become farmers. Of that number 416 possessed $200 or more, 60 possessed less than $200 and 230 had no means whatever. You will see by this that 476 men were anxious to become farmers, who did not have the means sufficient, in our opinion, to undertake the work, and in most cases these people were advised to continue at their pres- ent vocations until they have amassed a sum of at least $500. Our method of handling these loans is something like this: A man has $500 to invest. He comes to us, and we assist him in the selection of a farm, which costs, we will say, $1,000, on which he can get, as a rule, a mortgage of $500 from the vendor. He would then be unable to start farming, as his entire means would be used in paying the balance of the purchase price over and above the mortgage which the vendor is willing to take. Our society steps in and makes him a loan of $300 or $400, which he utilizes for the purchase of livestock and implements, and to carry him over to such time as he will realize from his crop. These loans are made at 4%, and are repayable in graduated instalments, generally commencing two or three years from the time of the loan, so as to allow the farmer to make proper head- way before he is called upon to make any payment to us. This farm loan work has grown steadily each year. In the year 1900, 26 loans were made of the value of $9,225, while in the year 1905 134 loans were made of the value of $155,804.10, and in the year 1906, up to May 1st, 83 loans have been granted of the value of $33,573.97, showing a steady and continuous NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 169 increase of Jewish families who are making their living from general agricultural work. To what extent these farmers succeed, is best shown by the payments they make in the reduction of the principal of their loan. Of the loans made in 1900, 28% of the principal has been returned, 1901, 46% of the principal has been returned, 1902, 34% of the principal has been returned. On the loans made later than these dates, the date of repayment has not commenced in a large majority of cases, so that the figures are not of any value. The farmers meet their interest obliga- tion with great promptness, and the average delinquency of interest on 6 years' business is only 8-10 of 1%. The records of the society show that there are 1,382 Jewish farmers of whom we have cognizance in one way or another, with a total farming population of 7,491 souls, cultivating 125. 434 acres, with a real estate value of $2,170,850, and with a personal property value of $545,799. This by no means represents the total Jewish farming popula- tion of the United States and Canada, because from experience we believe that there are fully as many more of whom we have no records who are cultivating farms in the United States and Canada. In addition to this we make home building loans to dwellers in small cities and villages who wish to acquire their own homes, and in the past 6 years, 83 of these loans have been made. The foregoing completes the very general outline of the numer- ous activities in which the income of the Baron de Hirsch Fund is utilized. No adequate conception, however, can be given of the immense amount of detail and executive work found neces- sary to give this work proper supervision. We maintain three separate organizations; one to do the work of the Fund proper, one to do the work of the Jewish Agricul- tural and Industrial Aid Society, and a third to do the work of the Removal Office. For the good results of all these undertakings we must perhaps look largely to the future, because the work is of such a kind that immediate results are not always discernible. Certainly 170 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH those branches of the work which are concerned with the removal of the new immigrants to places outside of the large cities, the education and Americanizing of those immigrants and their chil- dren who elect to stay in the large cities, the teaching to a large number of boys of trades which have heretofore not been gen- erally adopted by the Jews, and the encouragement of the Jew to become a farmer, are all efforts which tend to the uplifting of the Jewish immigrant as a class, and which will produce good results not only now, but to a much greater extent in the years to come. It showed remarkable foresight on the part of the founder of the fund when, realizing that America would naturally attract a great many of the Jews of Kussia and Roumania, he decided to devote a part of his fortune for the purposes outlined in the de Hirsch Deed of Trust, and history will record few men who have accomplished as much for the good of their race as has the Baron Maurice de Hirsch. THE PRESIDENT : We are certainly very grateful to Mr. Ben- jamin for this very clear exposition of the aims, purposes and accomplishments of the Baron de Hirsch Fund. I may state that it was at the express request of our Executive Committee that this statement was made for the purpose of letting the Jewish workers in philanthropy know just what has been done. The general subject of the afternoon is ' ' Agriculture. ' ' PLAN OF AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENT. A. W. RICH, Milwaukee. Wis. The proposition of farming by Jews, if considered in the ab- stract through a paper such as I have been invited to present, would, without doubt, be received with considerable skepticism on the part of the greater portion of this assembly, owing partly to the unfortunate fact that a number of instances can be re- ferred to where such undertakings, from one cause or another, have proven unsuccessful, and also through the further fact, that to many even of our most benevolent men and women, it has be- come almost a conviction that the slow plodding process of farm- NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 171 ing, is not calculated to satisfy the energetic, ambitious Jew of so- called natural commercial instinct. However, it is not my desire at this time to discuss the causes of those unsuccessful attempts any further than to say that in the majority of cases the reasons for failure can be easily traced to the lack of forethought and proper preparation to meet absolute requirements of such undertakings. In other words, for a man to become a farmer his will alone to work hard is not the only equipment necessary. There are many trying conditions which he must be prepared to meet and overcome before he can expect to take firm root as a farmer with reasonable hope of success. Believing that the most essential conditions referred to are fortunately provided for in the plan which forms a part of this paper and upon which the trial settlement at Arpin, Wis., is established, I have chosen rather to submit to this Conference existing facts as to the inception, progress, and the apparent out- look for the future of the Arpin settlement, than to present a theory simply based on views of my own or upon those of any- one else on the subject. The year 1901 witnessed 011 a large scale, as you all know, the exodus of Jewish people from lioumania, owing to the repressive and tyrannical laws of that government; laws which virtually deprived the Jew of the means of a livelihood, by debarring him from every reasonable privilege of a citizen as well as from the pursuit of almost every honest and suitable employment. This deplorable condition, the outgrowth purely of religious persecu- tion, aroused the utmost sympathy of Jews residing in various civilized countries, and led to certain ameliorative measures in behalf of the unfortunate victims. Thus, through the aid of the munificent legacy of that nature's nobleman, the lamented Baron de Hirsch, thousands of these refugees were aided not only in finding homes in this blessed country of ours, but also to obtain employment whereby to maintain themselves and their families. After the first one hundred thousand or more of these poor immigrants had landed in the city of New York, thoughtful and benevolent minds began to realize the imperative necessity of distributing at least a portion of these newcomers into various 172 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH parts of this country, in order to avoid such serious consequences as might result from the congestion in the already thickly-popu- lated districts of the seaport cities. For this special purpose, the Industrial Kemoval Office was established in New York city under the guidance of that inde- fatigable and zealous worker, Cyrus L. Sulzberger ; and through a visit from him, Milwaukee was among the first cities to enlist in the work of removal, and records show that in a period of about two and a half years the Industrial Aid Society of that city placed at work, both at skilled and unskilled trades, nearly 800 of the more recent immigrants, and later on united many of these men with their families. In the meanwhile, possibly through the remembrance that in my youth I had considerable experience as a pioneer farmer, the idea of creating farmers out of some of the refugees became with me a matter of daily thought, until finally a carefully prepared plan was evolved, put into writing and submitted to the Jewish Agri- cultural and Industrial Aid Society of New York, for its con- sideration and support. After considerable correspondence and several conferences with members of the Executive Committee of that society, I was finally authorized to organize the Mil- waukee Agricultural Society, whose duty it should be to under- take the work as outlined, and to act as trustee in its behalf. A moderate appropriation was then made by the New York so- ciety, enabling us to give my plan a trial. Thus the first substantial step was taken with an appropriation about sufficient to supply seven families, as in accordance to the plan, each family was to be provided with forty acres of good land, with live stock, implements, a suitable dwelling house and other incidental expenses, among those the salary of a capable foreman who, it was designed, should have charge of the settle- ment. In my original proposition to the committee, I had planned for a settlement of eighteen families, assigning to each forty acres of land ; and since the tract selected which I considered ideal for that purpose contained 720 acres, and was offered to me at a much more advantageous price per acre than the same could have been purchased at if provision was made for only seven NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 173 families (280 acres), I assumed personally the responsibility in the purchase of the additional 440 acres, so as to enable me eventually to carry out my original plan, calculating that if the experiment with the seven families proved satisfactory, the New York Society would doubtless deem it advisable to make a further appropriation which would enable me to complete under its auspices the settlement of 18 families. It was understood that the first seven families selected to be- come the pioneers of this settlement would not be required to furnish any money for this undertaking; first, because they had very little or no money to invest, none of them having been in the United States more than two years, and furthermore it was a part of my plan that the settlers should serve a perio.d of one year on probation, and thus to reserve for the society the privi- lege of discharging at any time during the year such as might prove either inefficient or undesirable. This particular feature is more fully explained in the draft of the plan appended hereto. The first of December. 1905, marked the first anniversary of that settlement, as on that date in 1904 five settlers with their wives and twenty-three children arrived at Arpin. via the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad, with two car loads containing their household goods with a few farm implements, and during the subsequent week the two remaining families, in- cluding eight children, followed, thus completing our first quota. Having reached our destination, where we hope to establish a true Zion on a moderate scale, I will introduce to you our geo- graphical situation, and then review what has been accomplished during the first seventeen months. The so-called Arpin Settlement of Jewish Farmers, now con- sisting of 14 families, is located in Wood County, Wisconsin, adjoining the village of Arpin, 150 miles northwest of the city of Milwaukee, and can be reached by three lines of railroad; the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, the Chicago Northwestern and the Wisconsin Central. The village proper has a population of about 200 souLs and contains two stores, a railroad station, a public school where the children of our settlers together with other children of the village and neighborhood receive English in- struction in all branches. The schoolhouse is situated from one- 174 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH half to three-quarters of a mile from the homes of our settlers. At present about fifteen of these children attend the school, which has in attendance about the same number of non-Jewish children. The cities of Grand Rapids and Marshfield, the former con- taining a population of about 6,000 and the latter of about 14,000, are within 12 miles on either side of Arpin and can be reached by two of these railroads. The village itself was established about twelve years ago by Arpin Bros.' Lumber Co., which bought large tracts of land in that county for the purpose of converting the heavy hard wood timber contained upon the land into lumber ; with that view the company located a large sawmill there which furnished employ- ment to a large number of men, and for their accommodation quite a number of modern frame houses were built and later a church and a sehoolhouse. After several years' work, the most desirable timber suitable for lumber having been removed and there being no further use for the sawmill it was transferred to another locality, followed by most of the employees of the company, except those that pre- ferred to engage in farming instead of continuing to work in a sawmill. Thus it happened that at the time the Arpin Settlement was formed (November, 1904), several of the houses in the village were vacant; and it was arranged that our new settlers should occupy these houses for Ihe term of one year to enable them to enter at once upon the work of clearing land and pre- paring at least a garden spot for planting the first seed of potatoes and other desirable vegetables. Owing, however, to the unusual severity of the winter, progress in the above direction was rather slow, still by the first of April each settler had cleared, without any paid assistance, from two to three acres upon the land assigned to him, a portion of which was utilized for planting the most simple vegetables for family use. After that the remainder of the summer was largely spent in making roads, clearing additional land, making necessary preparation for building houses, digging wells, constructing fences, etc. In the month of August we began to build dwelling houses, the plans for these having been made to suit conditions and at the NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 175 same time the needs of the settlers. While the majority of them favored the erection of substantial two-story frame houses at a cost of from $400 to $500 each, two of the men whose families are small, preferring not to create an indebtedness larger than absolutely necessary, decided to build log houses at a cost not exceeding $100 each. We have at the present time upon our lands six substantial frame houses and two log houses, besides a num- ber of small barns, sheds, etc. Each family has also been supplied with one or two cows (according to the number of children in the family), a horse, wagon, and necessary implements for clearing and cultivating the land. Incidentally, it may be stated that our settlers now have cleared on an average about ten acres of land and hope to raise a fair crop of potatoes, corn, pickles and other vegetables in addi- tion to sufficient hay to feed their stock during the winter; and if this season proves fairly favorable, the proceeds of that part of the crop that they may be able to market should make them absolutely self-sustaining ; whereas, the sale of the cordwood, which has been cut during the past winter, should enable them to make the first payment of interest on their indebtedness to the Association. Before closing this review, it may be of interest to refer again to the " Probation Feature" of our plan, which gives us the right to discharge undesirable settlers. This provision has already proved to be a good precautionary measure, since it en- abled me, without any conflict, to remove three of the original families, who were becoming a disturbing element in the settle- ment because they were denied certain extravagant requests. One of these removed men, within three months after leaving Arpin begged to be reinstated ; and offered twenty-five dollars to one of our influential settlers to prevail upon me to allow him and his family to return. Within four weeks, however, after the three families left, I had at least ten applicants, among whom were several relatives of the original and enthusiastic settlers, desiring to locate on the vacated premises. One of these came direct from Scotland, with a capital of some four hundred dollars, two hundred of which he gave me .as part payment on his forty acres. This family, composed of 176 PROCEEDINGS OP THE FOURTH husband, wife and four children, are now comfortably located on their homestead. The man is very earnest and industrious and very freely expresses happiness and great hopes for the future. In fact, without a single exception, all of the families are lavish in words of gratitude words which have a truly genuine ring to them; and I must confess that at times it is difficult to judge which feels the greatest amount of happiness in the apparent hopeful conditions prevailing there, the settlers or the projector of the Settlement. Of course, I realize that it is probably too early to predict with any degree of positive certainty as to the future of our pro- ject; at the same time, judging from existing conditions, this much is certain: That a solid foundation for a Settlement of Jewish farmers has been laid in Wood County, Wisconsin, where Judaism in simple form is reverently upheld and hard work cheerfully and faithfully performed. In this connection it may be of interest to note that our settlers abstain from work on the Sabbath and on that day as well as on all holidays hold religious services, including the reading of the Sepher Torah with which I presented them. That this adds a great deal to their feeling of contentment need hardly be em- phasized. Quite frequently, also, and especially during the holi- days, they also have in attendance at their services co-religionists from some of the surrounding villages. And as soon as circum- stances will allow they hope to have in their midst a Melammed, one capable not only of instructing their children in Hebrew, but of performing other religious functions. In conclusion, I feel thorough^ justified in saying (having now had nearly one and a half years' experience with the Arpin Set- tlement) that the outlook is highly favorable. I have, of course, found it absolutely necessary to make frequent personal visits to the colony in order to keep in close touch with the require- ments of the same and occasionally to adjust slight personal differences, which arise now and then; but at no time did any- thing occur sufficiently serious to threaten the disruption of the Settlement. The peremptory removal of the three disgruntled men and their families, instead of creating any feeling of dis- couragement, had the effect rather of clearing the atmosphere, NATIONAL, CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 177 and of rendering the remaining settlers more energetic and self- reliant than before. I will now conclude by reading to you the plan as originally submitted to the Executive Committee of the Jewish Agricultural and Industrial Aid Society. The "Milwaukee Plan," Adopted &t/ the Milwaukee Agricultural Association which served as a guide in Founding the Settlement of Jewish Farmers at Arpin, Wis. 1st. Men should be selected with a view to their physical strength and apparent eagerness for the undertaking. 2d. The land need not be cultivated, as such land, if in all respects thoroughly desirable, is likely to be too high in price for a philanthropic project; but the soil must be fertile (clay loam preferred), so as to be suitable for general farming; thousands of acres of so-called cut over lands answering above description are to be had in the central west from $7.00 to $20.00 per acre. 3d. Such lands should be located at the utmost within five miles from some prominent line of railroad, as a distance from seven to eight miles, or farther, from a railroad, for various reasons, is likely to prove a great source of hardship and danger to the undertaking. 4th. Not less than ten and not more than twenty families should form such a settlement at the start, and each family to be placed separately on a forty-acre tract. 5th. A thoroughly reliable, practical woodsman and farmer, one who can talk German, should be placed in charge of the men to teach, guide and control them in their work for the term of one year-, such man, whom we may designate as " Foreman," should be expected to work under instructions of the president or manager of the Association, and to render weekly reports to headquarters of progress made. 6th. The men selected to form the settlement should be pro- vided with all necessary implements of which the foreman must keep an account, as the property of the Association until the close of the first year, or until the same is divided and properly ac- counted for. Each man shall be paid five dollars per week as wages in full for his work, and providing the work and conduct 178 PROCEEDINGS OP THE FOURTH is entirely satisfactory to the management, such men shall con- tinue to work for the term of one year for such wages. If, how- ever, any man should be found unsatisfactory then he is subject to discharge without previous notice and he must, with his family, vacate the premises previously assigned to him without further claim upon the organization of any nature whatsoever. 7th. At the close of a year of each man's continuous service an inventory shall be taken of the proceeds obtained from his labor (presumably from the sale of wood) and he shall be credited with the amount against the sum that has been paid to him for either weekly wages or other purposes, and any amount, if any there appears, that he may have earned in excess of the amount paid to him. shall be placed to his credit as part payment upon the forty acres of land, which has been assigned to him at the price agreed upon at the time when he entered upon the work; from that time on he may be released from further supervision of the foreman to rely on his own resources for maintaining him- self and family. He is to be given a land contract for the forty acres, upon conditions specified hereinafter. 8th. The terms of the land contract shall include the pay- ment of interest at the rate of four per cent. (4%) per annum on his entire indebtedness, payable semi-annually until two such payments shall have been made, interest to begin one year after arrangements are entered into with such settler; at the third semi-annual payment of interest there shall also be due and pay- able one thirty-second part of the principal of the entire indebted- ness and the same proportion every six months thereafter until four payments on the principal and the interest then due shall have been paid. At the following semi-annual payment two thirty-seconds of the principal shall be paid, including the interest then due, and the same amount of the principal shall be paid with the interest due semi-annually until eight such payments shall be paid ; after that, each semi-annual payment shall be composed of three thirty-seconds of the principal and the interest which shall be due on the balance of the indebtedness, until the entire account is paid up in full, making the entire period nine years from the date of the said contract, or ten years from the time that each settler entered into the settlement. NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 179 As an example of the above calculation to show the manner and exact amount of each payment that would be due from a settler whose indebtedness, for instance, would be fifteen hundred dollars at the close of the first (probation) year, the following figures show details. We will suppose that the settler located upon the land May 1st, 1907. no interest will begin to run until Mav 1st. 1908 : Amount of Amount on Total Amount Month. Year. Interest. Principal. to Pay. May 1. 1908 $30.00 $30.00 Oct. 1, 1908 30.00 30.00 May 1, 1909 29.06 46.88 75.94 Oct. 1.. 1909 30.00 46.87 76.87 May 1. 1910 27.19 46.88 74.07 Oct. 1. 1910 28.13 46.87 75.00 May 1. 1911 24.38 93.75 118.13 Oct. 1 ? 1911 26.55 93.75 120.00 May 1. 1912 20.63 93.75 114.38 Oct. 1. 1912 22.50 93.75 116.25 May 1. 1913 16.88 93.75 110.63 Oct. 1. 1913 18.75 93.75 112.50 May 1. 1914 13.13 93.75 106.88 Oct. 1. 1914 15.00 93.75 108.75 May 1. 1915 8.44 140.63 149.07 Oct. 1. 1915 11.25 140.62 151.87 May 1. 1916 2.82 140.63 143.44 Oct. 1. 1916 5.63 . 140.62 146.25 $360.03 $1,500.00 $1,860.03 9th. It is also agreed that when one-half of the principal and the interest shall have been fully paid by the "settler" he shall receive a Warrantee Deed subject to a mortgage for the balance due ; or if at any time during the life of said land contract or the mortgage on the property, said "settler" shall desire to pay up in full in order to be released from said mortgage, he shall have the privilege of doing so. 10th. The Association also niav. with the consent of each 180 PROCEEDINGS OP THE FOURTH settler, purchase an insurance policy on his life in favor of the Association for its and his family's protection in case of death; but if the indebtedness to the Association is paid up during the life of such insurance policy then the same will be assigned at its cash value to such settler for continuance if he sees proper to do so. The special features of this plan are : 1st. To create from the start a settlement of ten families instead of scattering the people in single families among other settlers of various nationalities, which would deprive them of the religious atmosphere so dear to them, as well as the companion- ship of their friends and countrymen without which but a very small proportion do feel thoroughly contented and happy. 2d. Under this plan the men are selected with a view to their physical strength and fitness for hard work, believing that a man who has a strong desire and the physical ability to enter upon a pioneer farmer life, is more likely to make a success of the under- taking, even without money, if reasonable assistance is rendered him, than the man who is assisted in buying a cultivated farm just because he has a few hundred dollars of his own to invest in the enterprise, which he has saved through several years of peddling or tailoring, but lacks the essential elements of either strength or experience in hard labor of any kind, which after all are the chief factors to insure successful farming. 3d. The proposition to engage an experienced, intelligent farmer to superintend all the work of the settlement and to lead, teach and control the men in and about their work appears to be one of the vital provisions of the plan, as it is likely to inspire the men with confidence in the various branches of their work in which they have had very little, if any, experience. By this plan the teacher is with them to guide and instruct and thus avoid groping in the dark and plodding along in an uncertain fashion likely to lead to serious mistakes, and finally to abandon- ment of the undertaking. 4th. The "probation" idea whereby each settler is employed at a moderate wage by the week for a term of one year subject, however, to being discharged at the end of any week if he is in any way unsatisfactory, is quite apparent as to its intention. NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 181 It has two distinct objects in view first, to inspire the earnest settler with energy, perseverance and hope; secondly, to enable the management to dispose of undesirable individuals in a prompt manner without any chance of claims of any kind against the Association. 5th. And finally, this plan is based upon the idea of selecting suitable men with families who have not been fortunate enough to acquire a firm foothold in any pursuit that promises the or- dinary comforts of life, men that consequently live from hand to mouth and have very little or no means of their own. The estimated cost of providing such settler with such a farm and necessary equipment, is as follows : 40 acres of land at $20.00 $800.00 Log house and barn 350.00 Cow and chickens 40.00 Tools necessary first year 50.00 One horse, wagon, etc 150.00 Provisions for six months 150.00 $1,540.00 These figures are, of course, subject to change as good "cut over" land can also be bought for less than $20.00 per acre. It is also possible that during the first six months in clearing his land the farmer may obtain from the sale of the wood cut by him more than the amount that he requires for provisions and other necessary living expenses. AGRICULTURE, A MOST EFFECTIVE MEANS IN AD- JUSTING THE COMPROMISED ECONOMIC CON- DITIONS OF JEWISH POOR. RABBI A. R. LEVY, Secretary of the Jewish Agriculturists' Aid Society of America, Chicago, 111. It is conceded on all sides that agriculture must prove a most efficient means in the work of properly adjusting the social- economic condition of persons who struggle with questionable 182 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH success to gain a livelihood in the large centers of population. The efficacy of Maxwell 's slogan : ' ' Take an acre and live on it, ' ? prescribed against the evils of poverty, is questioned by none, and its application is continually gaining in favor with all think- ing people. This is rightly so. Nothing meets the situation in the large cities more squarely than does that proposition, and it is as impossible as it is needless to catalogue the effects agri- cultural pursuits must have when followed by the countless thousands of our city poor, upon their own conditions as well as upon the general welfare of the people engaged in other branches of the country's industries. But however beneficial farming must prove to the poor in general, it is exceptionally valuable as an occupation for our Jewish poor. For them it is not only the best, but perhaps the only means wherewith they may successfully combat against their poverty. For, let it be stated, while the evils of poverty are everywhere the same, and the same means will contest them everywhere, still there is a sufficient difference between the sources of the poverty among the non-Jewish poor, and the sources from which springs poverty among Jews, to justify the claim that not all remedies are alike applicable to stem the evils of poverty among Jews and non-Jews, though these evils are practically alike in their consequences. Permit me, ladies and gentlemen, before I enter fully upon the subject of my address, to make clear my contention as to the causes of poverty among Jews, especially among the JeAvish poor as we find them in the larger cities of this country. It is generally held that the poverty of the largest number among the poor is due to, and is the result of aversion to work, shiftlessness, improvidence, lack of ambition, drunkenness, etc. Accepting the correctness of this theory, AVC should indeed have very little poverty among our immigrant JCAVS from Russia, Galicia. and Roumania. Whatever the short-comings of these people, it must be admitted that their capacity for industry and economy can never be over-estimated. Their frugality and thrift is justly proverbial, and their ambition to rise in the scale ot social standing is so pronounced, that it is steadily being usc.l by those ill-disposed to them as an argument to justify their NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 183 ostracism from certain circles. Nor is the vice of drunkenness common among these Jews. But, in spite of these facts, who will deny that poverty is rampant in the midst of these people ? Or, does it require the discerning power of the scientist and the keen insight of the student to detect the signs of poverty, and to recognize the vice and evil founded in misery and want, among the population of the congested Jewish districts in our larger cities? Surely not. This very Conference, a conference con- vened for the express purpose of considering how to meet the situation among the Jewish poor in our cities, proves the con- trary. What, then, is the cause of the distress among the Jewish poor? It would be as illogical as it is impracticable to point to one particular fact and ascribe to it the poverty of the ghetto. The conditions there, like conditions everywhere, are brought about not by a single cause. They are the outgrowth of a combination of causes. It is however, not difficult to discover the material cause, so to say, in that combination; the main and foremost factor in the production of the forces that operate so potently and so adversely in the life of our Jewish poor. At the root of the evil is not a malevolent tendency, but a deplorable predica- ment. Not mental perversion and obstinacy make up the prime cause of the distress among our immigrant Jews. What they suffer from is physical ailment. The pernicious laws and the wicked exclusions under which these people and their ancestors were forced to live for centuries, have so shaped them physically that they are, at their coming to this land of stern activity, not best fitted to cope with the new t conditions as they find them here in America. It is this plight of the immigrant Jew which makes him amenable to all the miseries of the ghetto and its environments. \Ve notice the sweatshop with its horrors, and are not slo\v in ex- pressing our disgust and condemnation for that institution. We are ready to comment disapprovingly on the limited range of occupation followed by the Jewish immigrants. AVe are ready to ask why are so few Jews engaged in the larger industries of the country? Y\"hy have the Jews not their quota among those employed in the iron industries, in the shipping interests, in the 184 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH builders ' trades, etc. ? Again, we notice the delinquency of the women, the squalor in the homes of the ghetto; we hear of the > frivolity of the young, of the criminal tendencies among the chil- dren, and of their disrespect to parents, and we stand aghast. We feel that these things deserve and must have our attention, and feeling concerned, we ask : ' ' Why are they ' ' ? Undoubtedly more than one reason can be advanced for the economic disparities and for the apparent discrimination against Jewish laborers in the lines of the larger industries. However, the fact is potent and clear that the physical condition of a very large number of our immigrant Jews excludes them from the ranks of those who may find employment and hold it at the im- portant industries. There are hundreds, if not thousands, among our immigrant Jews who are willing to try, and actually do try themselves at the work in the foundry and rolling-mill, who attempt the handling of freight in railroad and steamship ware- houses, and who engage in all manner of labor where exceptional physical strength and endurance are required. But, in spite of willingness and effort, not being equal to the task, they are soon discharged and lose the job. Is it to wonder, then, that the sweat- shop exists, and that the Jew is fostering and furthering the in- terest of the institution where arrangements are suitable to his conditions, where he can qualify and meet the requirements? Unlike the great industries, the sweatshop and the cigar factory are pre-eminently institutions of "piece work." The individual worker can here easily be accommodated to work fourteen, and if it need be, sixteen hours daily, in order to eke out a bare existence, if he is unable to accomplish it in ten hours. It matters not how we consider the institution where such dreadful slavery is tolerated, the immigrant Jew views it from a different side. To him it is the generous benefactor that shields him against starvation. It is an exceptional advantage that it offers the feeble but willing-to-work newcomer, and he is, therefore, not slow in helping to multiply these institutions. Unfortunately, our im- migrant Jew becomes the victim of his own creation. The afflic- tion which suffering in his native home has forced into his nature, finds in the sweatshop a most favorable atmosphere for its full development. Here the toiler, weak in body, sits at the machine NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 185 working more with his will than with his physical power, sooner or later to suffer mental or physical prostration and be added to the number of completely incapacitated, a class not insig r nificant among the population of the ghetto. Nor is the apparent delinquency, and the indifference to en- vironment so glaringly noticeable in the homes of our Jewish poor always due to willful negligence. The wives and mothers in the ghetto suffer from lack of energy, an affliction contracted in the stifling atmosphere of a life of inactivity to which their ancestors have been condemned, and in which they themselves were reared in "Darkest Russia." The removal from the Rus- sian "Pale of Settlement" to the American ghetto, does not spell out freedom to them. The surroundings as they find them in the ghetto are not well fitted to arouse them from the lethargical state and stimulate them to useful activity. Again, on account of the physical incapacity of many upon whom devolves the duty of supporting the family, children are the bread-winners for an abnormally large number of house- holds in the ghetto. This, in not few cases, affects the tie of family relation, weakening, if, in fact, not wholly destroying the filial respect so essential to the welfare of the household. Many other evils that prey hard on our Jewish poor are, like the evils mentioned, directly traceable to the victim's physical state. The student of the situation in the ghetto finds the bane- ful influence of physical incapacity on all sides. It is the spectre stalking about in shop and in home, dominating every phase of life, a concomitant to every agency that operates adversely among the Jewish poor. In the face of these facts, the question of how to relieve the situation in the ghetto, finds its true and best answer in the slogan already quoted: "Take an acre and live on it." Air, fresh and plenty of it, is the first condition of the remedy to be applied to offset the evils as we find them in the ghetto. The free and open country is where our immigrant Jew from Russia and Roumania will find the richest boon that can fall to his lot in America. He will here come in possession of what tyranny and oppression has robbed him of. He will gain physical strength and mental equanimity. No employment within the range of 186 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH human activity will so readily and so effectively accomplish this for him as will the life on the farm. The work, hard and labori- ous as the immigrant will undoubtedly find it at first, will strengthen him physically as he is at it. His willingness and eagerness to work will stand him good in his first attempts, and he will develop the capacity required to carry on his work suc- cessfully. Another advantage of farm life and farm work lies in the fact that it develops self-reliance and inspires self-respect. Nor will the producer from the soil ever fall into the wicked way of promoting a ruinous and destructive competition. Unlike the toiler at the machine, the worker on the farm will never offer his products at lower prices in competition with his neighbor. Rather than this it is natural for the farmer to ask and obtain for his products the highest market price possible. Farm life also tends to develop a sense for order and punctuality. Farm work is of such nature that it does not permit being deferred to "some other time." Nor can "overtime work" be applied to it. Seed-time and harvest are distinctively marked by God's own hand in a manner that commands timely and punctual attention. To be near, and in touch with nature is the surest means to bring to one's knowledge the great law of order, method and regularity written by God's own hand in the open book of nature. Nor is the potency of farm life less effective in regulating th.^ household duties and in enforcing their execution. Aside from the fact that the pure, fresh air of the country, and the proper wholesale food will soon mend the shattered nerves of the wife and mother, bringing her to a state of health where exertion in useful activity is a natural manifestation, her responsibilities are in the farm home, so clearly defined, that any evasion of duty will only help to uncover her guilt. Meal time, bed, and rising time, come on the farm with a stronger demand for the attention due them than in the city. The turning of night into day is a feat not so easily accomplished on the farm as it is in the city. The failure to prepare the meal in due time cannot be atoned for through the medium of the "Delicatessen Store" around the corner. The sheer certainty of the punishment that will, on tV NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 187 farm, follow every neglected duty, must tend to correct the error and stop the folly of delinquency. As to family relations, rural life, especially the life on the isolated farm, has a decided tendency to strengthen the ties that bind husband and wife, and parents and children in family affection. The alienation between parents and children we find among the city poor, is rarely found among farmers. Whatever the ability or inability of the father may be regarding the work on the farm, his supremacy in the household is never questioned. The very law of the land, which regulates possession of the soil, upholds the father in his position and helps preserve the dignity of the home, should there be a tendency in the children to dis- grace it. There are other and possibly greater advantages than those mentioned, farm life secures for the immigrant Jew. My experi- ence with Jewish farmers for more than fifteen years, has forced this conviction upon me. I have watched and studied the changes for the better that come into the lives of the poor, down-trodden immigrant Jews when they are removed from the city to the farm, and I am prompted to state that agriculture holds the key to the solution of the problems that confront the Jewish poor in America. In fact, I am tempted* to say that agriculture is the panacea for all the ills of the American ghetto. In contending for the proposition that farming is a most effective means to adjust, the economic condition of our Jewish poor, I have nothing further to add. I have argued the question from one standpoint only ; from the standpoint of the should-be- farmer, emphasizing that his removing to the farm is conditioned by his own physical state. I am sensible of the limitations of my argument. Other, and stronger reasons could be advanced to prove my contention. But, though valuable from a social-eco- nomic side, they are not needed to strengthen my position. For, if the condition of the individual who is to become the farmer does not make the change he is to undergo from urban to rural life, and the great sacrifices such change necessarily in- volves, his imperative duty, all other arguments for the proposi- tion are mere shifts and subterfuges. If the Jew was to go to the farm merely to relieve the overcrowded districts in the city, it 188 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH would be his duty to do so iu no greater degree than it is the duty of any other citizen. But his going to the farm is not so much to correct an abnormity in the economy of the common- wealth, as it is for his own individual good and benefit. In this, I deem, rests the strength of my argument, and it is this point that should be strongly emphasized whenever and wherever propaganda for the cause is made. In conclusion, permit me to say, that the contrast between city and farm life I have endeavored to picture to you, and the in- ferences I have drawn, are not mere theories, but statements of facts gathered by observation and study in actual life. There is now a sufficiently large number of Jewish farmers settled in the different states of the Union to afford ample and correct study of the question. The lives of many of these farmers, both the life they led while yet in the city, and the life they are now leading on the farm, are well known to me. The question of ag- riculture among Jews can no longer be considered a subject lack ing evidence in fact to prove its feasibility and practicability. It has long passed that stage. It is no longer a question admitting of academic discussion only, but one pressing for an immediate active solution. It is now a real, life question with thousands among our Jewish poor. The time has come when the Jew, rec- ognizing his own condition and position in the city, is ready and anxious to go to the farm. Said the late Counsel A. M. Simon, of Hanover, when during the summer of 1903 he studied the Jewish situation in America , "I rely on the sagacity of the Russian Jew and on his clear- headedness. He will embrace the opportunity America offers him for gaining a home in the country. I have full confidence in his ability to establish himself permanently and bring about his complete emancipation in this country. What he displays in his present position in the ghetto is not the manifestation of his true characteristics. It is the after-effect of his life in Russia. He abhors slavery too deeply, and loves liberty too well to remain the wage- worker in factory or sweatshop. Help him along, and he will go to the farm." NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 189 POSSIBILITIES FOR AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENTS IN THE SOUTH. DR. I. L. LEUCHT, New Orleans, La. In presenting this paper, I beg to say, that I am not employed as an immigration agent, to earn a per capita tax for every soul delivered. Therefore I ask that my statements, as to the .ad- visibility of settling the Russian emigrant on Southern soil, be considered to be the result of the closest study at the hands of men and women, deeply interested in the question, and who can be absolutely relied on. I hope I have not misunderstood the task allotted to me, and the information, which I hereby submit to you, may be of some value in the near future. The South has had a long and hard struggle to break the ' ' in- vidious bar" of a worldwide mistrust of her climate. Her sincere ante-bellum belief that African slavery was an indispensable necessity, not only to her prosperity, but her very material existence, has clung to her like the shirt of Nessus. and has only lately been torn from her. Within the last fifteen or twenty years, colonization in the South has been very rapid and large, and it may be said to be strongly representative of all the white races of the earth. To particularize somewhat; in North Carolina, a large body of Germans, a colony of Waldensians from the Italian Alps, several colonies of farmers from the northwest of the United States have found homes; in South Carolina, many French, Irish, English. Swiss and German settlers have found homes also ; several colonies of northern and western people have bought large tracts of land in Georgia; many Italians have found homes in Florida and Louisiana; several Swiss, German and Scandinavian colonies have been planted in Kentucky; a colony of Finns has been established in Tennessee, and many Italians are truck gardening in that state; in Alabama there are colonies of Scandinavians, Germans and Italians ; there are twenty-five thousand emigrants from the North and "West in Southwest Louisiana, mostly engaged in rice culture ; there are one hundred families or more of Hun- garians in Tangipahoa Parish, near the City of New Orleans. 190 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH Texas has the largest foreign-born population of any Southern State, and representatives of nearly every European nation. The Bohemians there are computed at nearly sixty thousand in num- ber ; and large bodies of Scandinavians have found homes in two or more counties. These immigrants have been warmly wel- comed by the people of the several states where they have settled, and have been particularly successful in truck gardening, fruit growing, dairying, stock raising, soil reclamation, and intensive culture. No stronger argument in favor of the healthfulness of the southern climate and the feasibility of field labor, could be adduced, than this steady stream of foreign immigration, through all these years. One need not go far to explain the healthfulness of the people, as the climate of most of the South is blessed, by nature, with her choicest benedictions. Her winters are short and mild, and, in much of her area, scarce deserve the name. Her summers, though protracted, are full of refreshments in grateful breezes, heat-tempering showers, and invigorating and sleep-inducing coolness at night. So salubrious, in some districts, is the air which fans her fields, that it is an antiseptic; and fresh beef is dried and cured, by placing on a pole to protect from depreda- tions of beasts of prey, or cut in slips and dried on the fences, without any taint of putrefaction. And, in much of this area, the air is a specific for many neurotic complaints, for nasal and bronchial catarrh; greatly alleviative of rheumatism, and a rejuvenator of the old. The vicinity of Covington, La., is world- wide in its renown for its healthfulness. There are aesthetic aspects of the South in her bright skies, her year-long flowers, her varieties of charm, which must pass without comment. The scope for profitable farming in the South is varied and marked by such conditions as scarcely obtain anywhere else, and are so multifarious as to be hardly enumerable. In agriculture (in its usual import), in horticulture, in trucking, in stock rais- ing, even in floriculture, there is ample room. The soil and climate of most of the South permit most of the products of the above vocations to be raised in her borders. Thus, NATIONAL CONFERENCE OP JEWISH CHARITIES. 191 for instance, any cereal that can be raised anywhere, can be raised in most of the South. In stock raising, before the war, the South was renowned for its thoroughbred horses and beef cattle and its immense produc- tion of farm animals. The racing stock of Louisiana and the shorthorns of Louisiana and Mississippi were the foundation of some of the most renowned strains of these respective breeds in the world, before the war. In a number of Southern States are to be found, now, fine herds of thoroughbred beef and milch cattle. The health and fecundity of sheep are almost a marvel. The quality of their wool is unsurpassed; and some day wool manu- factories will stud the South, as do cotton manufactories now. It is an unexploited and most inviting field; as is raising early lambs for the markets. North and West, and mutton for home con- sumption. The healthfulness of Southern raised farm animals is another large topic, and the saving in food, by reason of their being able to graze every day in the field in winter, on the most prized sum- mer grasses of the North and West. Thus, year-round, pastur- age, healthfulness, saving of the feed that would be fed in colder climates for their sustenance, the chance for the farmer to pocket the value of this feed, these and more aspects, discriminate the South as against the North and West. I could speak here also of the raising of hogs, but my Kosher conscience will not permit this unclean digression. Poultry raising is a very eligible field of industry in much of the South. The largest cities of the South consume many chickens and eggs, and millions of the latter are imported into the United States. Broilers, or spring chickens, bring fancy prices in the North and West; and newcomers, in many instances, are conducting the business of chicken-raising, through the medium of incubators. Fowls of all breeds and species do well in the South, and, in some of its more southern sections, get little or no other feed in winter, but grasses growing in the field. In horticulture, the South has made immense strides of late years, and there is hardly a state in her borders that has not large areas devoted to fruits; strawberries and peaches, especially, 192 PROCEEDINGS OP THE FOURTH whose shipment to northern and western cities, early in the spring, are a notable feature of railroad transportation, in refrig- erator cars, and, as a rule, are fancy crops to their producers. It would take me too far into details to enumerate the many varieties of fruits that can be successfully raised in the South. Suffice it to say, that no area in the world can equal the South in this respect. Trucking, or vegetable-raising, is another great development in many parts of the South, within recent years. Its proportions are immense in some areas, and the transportation of the various vegetables is a special feature with the railroads. The markets are in the northern and western cities in early spring, and the profits have been so great as to not only develop an immense business, but to bring into the South many thousands of garden- ers from the North and West, who have introduced one of the most stable and remunerative industries of the ' ' New South. ' ' The desiccating and preserving, on the scene, the surplus of fruits and vegetables, raised in the South, affords an immense opening for a profitable line of enterprise. The South, itself, is a very large consumer of such products, and this consumption will afford an ever- widening market; and it also has a great opportunity to supplant a vast quantity of these products from the North and West. Cheapness of living in the South is a very important matter, the mildness of climate, making clothing inexpensive in this country ; the abundance and cheapness of fuel ; the garden fur- nishing fresh vegetables all winter and much in the summer; cheap lumber for building and fencing. While the lands of the most of the country have much appre- ciated in value in the past few years, many of them are still obtainable at very low prices. Much of this cheap area is virgin soil, whence the timber has been recently cut; and large tracts of such land can be had in solido, which are especially available and eligible for colonization. These bodies of land are in a health- ful climate, ample rainfall, among a hospitable people, markets. railroads, educational advantages, religious privileges, have no equals in the world for homes of happiness and opportunities for prosperity. NATIONAL. CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 193 It is impossible, in a paper like this, to give either an adequate view of the natural resources of the South, or her development in later years. Her waterways are invaluable in their supplies for cheap navigation, for their supplies for cities and farms ; for their stores of fish; for their powers to run manufacturing in- dustries and other purposes. Their water powers are a prodigious and almost unexploited potentiality; and the late Abram Hewitt said of them, that ' ' they are upon a scale of grandeur unequaled elsewhere. ' ' The South is surpassingly rich in timber resources ; in no line of industry is there so much activity elsewhere as in lumber manufacturing; and railroads are incapable of filling the needs of the occasion in supplying cars for transporting lumber for consumers. The vast mineral resources of the . South, almost untouched, largely unexplored, in many areas doubtless unsuspected, are to furnish the raw material for the greatest industrial enterprises. Its wealth in coal is inestimable. One State, West Virginia, has 16,000 square miles, while the entire coal area of Great Britain covers about 12,000 square miles. West Virginia, Alabama. Ken- tucky and Tennessee have nearly 40,000 square miles of coal fields. Almost every Southern state has a supply of coal, and much of it is easily mined, delivered on navigable water, some of it of a superb character; and, in places, an immense store so close to limestone and iron ore, as to constitute a combination of advantages and possibilities for material development unequaled in the world. Of bituminous coal, the Southern States are mining over 70,000,000 tons. In 1880 the United' States (the South included) mined only a little over 40,000,000 tons; and mining of coal, South, may be said to be only begun. With iron ore, coal and limestone in such close juxtaposition, Alabama will probably dominate the basic steel production of the world. As the basic steel so far surpasses the Bessemer, and is so rapidiy supplanting it, this would seem to be the logic of such condition. It is amply demonstrated that, in both steel and pig iron production. Ala- bama can distance any competition elsewhere. In pig iron production, the South furnishes nearly 4,000,000 194 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH tons or about the same quantity as the country at large a quarter of a century ago ; and the activity in its development is increas- ing beyond any measure. The spread of manufacturing industries based on coal, steel and iron, in the South, is the greatest marvel of Southern de- velopment. Almost every product marking the industries, any- where, is now found South; all must soon follow the logic of development. One could devote much space to the description of the rocks and stones of the South, which are of large varieties, fine quality, and are an inexhaustible store for future residences and manu- factories of the South. Some day these stones will rear and decorate some of the most superb palaces on earth. Sandstones, limestones, granites and marbles are among the resources of this vast store, some of them unexcelled, if equaled, elsewhere in beaut} r and structural qualities. In fine, one cannot at all enter into the diversity, abundance and quality of the mineral or subterranean riches of the South. Her marls and clays are topics very inviting, nor shall I com- ment upon oil or petroleum a most sensational theme. The largest topic is that of the South 's peculiar product, and the industries cognate to it cotton. This plant is, as it were, the imperishable foundation of her prosperity, the most conspicuous feature of her agriculture, a sort of preserve or private domain on which the agricultural activity of the rest of the world may not successfully intrude. Such is, of late, the wealth of the South, that, with cotton manufacturing, organization and wise management of her farmers, she bids fair to make of this product and its manufacture such a source of wealth that it is absolutely dazzling. Cotton at its present prices, 10 to 11 cents a pound, is said to be about the price of the last 100 years. For several years past, the cotton crop of the South has averaged over $600,000,000, which is nearly twice the value of the late greatly stimulated gold production of the world. In the last five years, the South 's cot- ton crop has yielded $1,000,000,000 more to its raisers than the preceding five years. Every statement made in this paper I have gathered from sources which are absolutely reliable, and are based upon the NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 195 closest study of this most important question. I have endeavored to place before you the real truth of conditions in the South, for the purpose of inviting your most serious attention to the ques- tion, whether or not our Russian immigrants should be located throughout the Southern land, in order to become self-sustaining, and for the purpose of lightening the great burden of our north- ern cities. I know that there are many who conscientiously op- pose colonization of our Russian brethren, on account of many failures in that direction, and on account of the inadaptability of a great many of them, but still I strongly advise that a beginning be made and, if this view will prevail, you will find that the Southern people in general, and the Southern Jews in particular, will do their share in making welcome those forlorn and home- less strangers helping them to earn a livelihood in a benign climate and from a generous soil. One point I have not discussed, and that is, the religious re- quirement of the immigrant, which I deem in close connection with the colonization question but this must be kept for a future paper and discussion. I cannot do justice to it, under the limit of time allotted to me. AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION ITS POSSIBILITIES IN PREVENTIVE CHARITY. RABBI JOSEPH KRAUSKOPF, D.D., President of the National Jewish Farm School, Philadelphia, Pa. The Committee on Program displayed commendable wisdom in setting aside one afternoon of the convention 's limited time for a discussion of the possibilities of agriculture as a means of pre- ventive charity. That act declares either their own belief or that of others that the pursuit of agriculture holds out the promise of relieving the congested centers of Jewish population and of restoring to physical and moral health and to self-dependence large numbers who, by reason of such overcrowding, have become diseased, defective, or dependent. It has taken twenty-five years for this belief to mature. The desirability of it was felt from the time of the first landing upon 196 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH our shores of refugees from Russian persecution, but the prac- ticability of it was doubted because of a general unbelief in the Jew's willingness to enter upon agricultural callings, or in his ability to make a success of the pursuit of agriculture. Notwith- standing the distinguished record of the Jew of the past as an agriculturist, it was the general belief that his long compulsory abstention from that vocation had wholly unfitted him for it, and his long enforced crowding together in the Russian Pale of Settlement has disqualified him for the isolation which, to a greater or lesser extent, rural habitation involves. And these doubts seemed more than verified by the failures that attended the few attempts that had been made, some ten or twenty years ago, at settling Jewish immigrants in agricultural colonies. It is true, many of the settlers failed. But their failure is to be attributed not so much to their unwillingness to till the soil or to their incapacity for it, as to mistakes that were made in the organization and location of the colonies. The organizers seemed to have been as inexperienced as the colonists. They seemed to have had little knowledge of the fact that fertile soil, advantageously located as to market, constitutes a large factor in making the pursuit of agriculture attractive and profitable. Neither seemed to have had an adequate understanding of th fact that prosperous farmers cannot be made, in a year or so, of peddlers and petty traders, who are physically weak and who lack that brawn that constitutes a large part of the capital of a husbandman, who are uninured to hard outdoor labor, whose past lives little fitted them for rough and exhausting pioneer work, such as clearing forests and brush-land, draining swamps, build- ing homes, fertilizing wildernesses and the like. To their lasting credit be it told that many of them tried hard enough, and a goodly number of them took root, and some of them have persevered in it, with considerable success, to this day, showing only too clearly what signal success might have been achieved had mature experience guided the choice of land and of those who were to till it. Another factor that militated against making the attempted colonies successful was their ignorance of modern practical and scientific methods of agriculture. For the securing of a mere NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 197 living the method of farming in vogue in the least progressive parts of Europe might have sufficed ; but agriculture pursued for profit requires a knowledge of practical and scientific methods so as to enable labor and soil to yield the largest possible results. Such knowledge was not possessed by the colonists, and for the imparting of it no provision had been made to equip at least the young with what their elders lacked. The consequences, as might well have been foreseen, were disastrous. The younger generation found little allurement in a life that was all hardship, isolation, and privation, and so they struck out for the city, whither they soon drew their elders after them. But the mistakes have been recognized. Provisions have been made to make a repetition of past failures impossible. Two agri- cultural schools are now at work training scores of Jewish lads in practical and scientific agriculture, for a profitable pursuit of the honored calling of their ancestors, and for successful location and leadership of Jewish colonies. Graduates of these schools have laid to rest every doubt that has hitherto been entertained as to the Jew's fitness for agricul- ture or as to his willingness to take it up as a life calling. Quite a number of them are to-day employed by the Agricultural De- partment of the United States Government. The Secretary of Agriculture has repeatedly spoken and written of the excellence of their work. Others are creditably filling positions of trust and responsibility either as managers of estates or as foremen, gar- deners, horticulturists, orchardists. florists, dairymen, poultrymen and the like. The wages they receive are considerably in excess of those earned by the average young man of their age in ghetto sweatshops or in city stores, to say nothing of the infinite superi- ority, as to physical and moral health, of the work in which they are engaged. The mistakes of former days have been recognized also in another direction. Jewish farmers have recently been located in accordance with a plan quite different from the one that was followed a score of years ago. Due regard was had to proper land, to a proper location of it, to proper selection of those who are to till it. and to proper incentives for keeping them contented in rural callings. And the eminent success that has attended the 198 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH efforts has proved conclusively the potency of agriculture as a means of relieving the congestion of our large cities, and of les- sening the disease and debasement to which it gives rise. Naturally, whatever has been done along these lines has been carried on on a small scale. The knowledge of past failure and the widespread unbelief in the Jew's fitness for agriculture have been too deep-rooted to command the large moral and financial support necessary to carry on the work on a larger scale. But the time for doubt is past. The experimental stage is over. The most convincing demonstration has been given that the Jew is as fit for agriculture as any other man, if not more, considering his superior thrift, temperance and practical sense. The appalling physical and moral status of the overcrowded ghettos of our large cities, the dependency of thousands on the charities, the ravages of consumption among those engaged in sweatshop work within filthy tenements, the immoralities that are festering on the very surface of these seething pestholes, which, in the City of New York, for instance, house within an area of one square mile a population as large as that of Pitts- burg, Cleveland, or Buffalo, the constant inrush upon the already overcrowded of new streams of immigrants this appalling state of affairs makes scattering of this population no longer a choice but an urgent necessity, makes colonization of large numbers of them, under leadership of agriculturists trained in our Jewish agricultural schools, the most pressing duty of the hour. Never, in the history of human kind, have such enormous sums been expended on the alleviation of suffering among the poor as at the present time. Millions upon millions of dollars are an- nually sacrificed to the Moloch Pauperism. Buildings upon buildings are erected and organizations upon organizations founded for the care and cure of the diseased and dependent of society. And yet, the more the ravenous appetite of dire want and fell disease are fed, the greater is their clamor for more. From every direction comes the cry for more money, for more hospitals and homes and shelters, for more penal and corrective institutions, for more charity workers to take the place of the disheartened or the despairing. And a far louder cry than has hitherto been heard is vet to NATIONAL CONFERENCE OP JEWISH CHARITIES. 199 resound. From the Boards of Health of our larger cities comes the report of the alarming increase of disease and exhaustion among the poor, of the frightful havoc of consumption among the overworked and underfed in the tenements and ghettos, of the thousands that enter life there, born in disease, with disease, and for disease. Prom the police courts comes the report of the deepening of vicious and immoral tendencies among the tene- ment population, and of their moral and mental debasement in quarters not only unventilated, unlighted, filthy, but often so cramped that a single room must serve the purpose of workroom, kitchen, dining room, nursery, hospital, sleeping room for the entire family, of both sexes and of all ages. And from the studies of scientists comes an ominous prediction as to the future harvests from such present plantings, as to the onerous burdens we are heaping upon our children, despite, if not with the aid of, the millions of dollars we are annually expending on the cure of pauperism. What if we had known a quarter of a century ago what we know now? "What if we had entered a quarter of a century ago upon a cure of pauperism by preventing its propagation? We would not have permitted ghettos to spring up in these free United States, and in these ghettos an industrial system that first diseases the treadmill slave and then taxes the public for the caring for the diseased in the charity hospitals, or for the rearing of their children in the asylums. We would not have deliberately created the disease first, or suffered it to root, to deal with it at an enormous expense when no longer eradicable. We would not have allowed its indwellers to fester in congested quarters. We would not have condemned them to breathe polluted air when their enfeebled lungs required large quantities of oxygen. We would have removed them to the country. We would have en- couraged them in agricultural labor, for the upbuilding of muscle and morals. We would, in brief, have reversed our mode of spending millions on impossible cures, with scarcely a dollar to spare for possible prevention. We would have spent thousands on prevention and saved the millions we are now obliged to spend on the maintenance of institutions and societies for remedial charity. 200 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH "But they will not leave the ghetto for the country" is the objection with which our cry "Back to the Soil" is frequently met. That objection was valid at one time. It is, however, no longer true to the same extent it was in former times. One needs but to inquire of any of the agricultural aid societies, or see the applications that reach our agricultural schools to see the change that has taken place in the attitude of the ghetto population to- ward country life and country pursuits. If you doubt it, then you have not read the latest threnodies of Rosenfeld, the ghetto poet, in which he, the consumptive sweatshop representative of all the sweatshop slaves, gives passionate and morbid utterance to the ghetto 's yearning for the sound of rustling trees and sing- ing birds, for the sight of waving fields and flowery meads, for the smell of fragrant flowers and f reshmown hay ; then you have not read his poem entitled "Despair," in which an overworked and overcrowded sweatshop slave is solaced thus : ' ' You wish to be in fields where it is airy and green ? Never mind, you will b; carried there soon enough." Then you have not read that other poem of his entitled ' ' The Nightingale to the Laborer, ' ' in which he makes the beauties of nature call aloud to the sweatshop slave : ' ' Enough of your slaving in stifling shops ! Break away ! See how nature opens wide to you her rosy arms to press you to her joy- throbbing, life-giving, health-distilling bosom. All are there but you, and all ask for yon. Your part is there, there is your share, so take it, oh, take it, you sweatshop machine ! ' ' Another objection is raised on the grounds of lack of means to establish colonies in sufficient number perceptibly to relieve the congestion of the ghetto. Such objections might have been valid prior to the organization of the National Conference of Jewish Charities. It is possible for the different organizations composing the National Conference to set aside annually a sum sufficient for part payment of a number of tracts of arable, properly located lands and for the expense involved in the starting of a few settle- ments. It is possible for them to provide homes and the neces- sary farm equipments, and they can so locate these as to constitute groups of settlements, so as to satisfy the social and educational and religious requirements of the colonists and to content the young as well as the old. NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 201 In addition to farm equipments, they can provide industrial shops, so that field and factory shall mutually supplement each other, afford work and wages, in winter as well as in summer, for women as well as for men, for the old as well as for the young, and what is most essential, provide an outlet for different tastes and for different skill in labor. In charge of a few of such agricultural settlements, the Na- tional Conference can place a practically and scientifically train- ed leader, a graduate of one of our Jewish Agricultural Schools, who, besides teaching them the art and science of agriculture, will watch over their best interests, will open profitable markets for the produce of their fields and shops, will look to cheapest transportation, and to all other matters that may assure success. After the settlements shall be fairly on the way to success, an opportunity can be afforded to every colonist to acquire his own homestead, on terms that, while working no hardships on him, shall reimburse the organization's original investment. There will, therefore, be no charity in this plan but true phil- anthropy. It will be a philanthropy that, though involving a considerable expense at first, will be the cheapest in the end. It will make laborers instead of paupers, bread-producers instead of bread beggars. It will build up physical and mental and spirit- ual health instead of Ghetto degeneracy and disease. It will restore the Jew to his original Palestinian pursuits, and there on field and moor, it will create within him anew that moral and virile fibre that, in ancient times, produced kings, prophets, law- givers, bards, inspired writers to whom, to this day, the whole civilized world does homage. It will build up a body of people that, by reason of industry and thrift and intelligence and per- severance, will enable their country to apply to them, in slightly altered form, the words of the Proverbs : ' ' Many people have done righteously, but ye excel them all. ' ' If transplanting of large numbers of these people of the Ghetto to far away districts be deemed too hazardous and too expensive, there is no reason why small settlements, partly agricultural and partly industrial, might not be established in villages close to the overcrowded cities. Speedy trains and trolleys will give them a sense of nearness to the city, and to its religious and social and 202 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH educational advantages. The need for their products in the cit> will make their labor profitable. A number of factories can be built in such settlements to furnish labor for such members of the family whose services are not needed on the little truck or daily farms. Little six or eight room cottages can be erected and rented at a price no higher than is now being paid for two or three dark and damp and filthy tenement rooms. By easy instal- ments, these little houses may in course of time become their own. The agricultural work about the home, such as the raising of garden truck, dairy products, flowers, fruits, poultry, and the like can be carried on for the most part by the women and chil- dren, at profits larger than those they now earn in the filth- reeking and life-sapping and demoralizing sweat shops, and which, besides adding to the earning capacity of the household, can help out the needs of the family in times when labor is slack and when the industries are idle. It is a plan that has been tried abroad with marvellous success. It has restored health and morals. It has built up real homes and real family life. It has made paupers self-supporting. It has fitted young men and young women for noble careers. Even if this simpler mode of entering upon relieving the con- gestion of the Ghetto and of lessening the enormous drain on the charities be deemed unfeasible or too expensive then, if the Na- tional Conference of Jewish Charities is really serious in its in- tention of devising ways and means for practical, preventive philanthropy, if it really desires to build up the physical and moral fibre of those condemned to live and toil in the pest-holes of our large cities and that make necessary nearly all of our eleemosynary institutions, then let them at least save the young by making possible an agricultural education for the hundreds of Ghetto boys, as well as girls, who are desirous of an agricul- tural training, and for the hundreds of others, who could easily be induced to take up an agricultural training, and thus be saved. It ought to be the paramount duty of each organization com- posing the National Conference of Jewish Charities, and of the others as well, to lessen the number of inmates of our eleemosyn- ary institutions by making possible an increase in the number of pupils in our agricultural schools. NATIONAL CONFERENC3 OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 203 Every one taken out of the Ghetto, and made healthy, vigorous and self-dependent in the country, will in due time draw hun- dreds of others after him. His example will find followers. His success will stimulate emulation. His physical and moral health will make a benefactor of him who, had he continued in the Ghetto, might have become a beneficiary. AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. DR. H. L. SABSOVICH, General Agent of the Baron de Hirsch Fund, New York City. In presenting to this Conference the subject of Agricultural Education for Jews in the United States, it is impossible to treat it independently from the general status of farming and agri- cultural education as carried on in this country. In view of the great difficulties Jewish farming has had to en- counter in the past, and even now has to contend with, and in view of the general standing of farming, the question has arisen in the minds of many : ' ' Is it advisable to direct the energies of the Jews into a new channel of activity agriculture ? ' ' We will not consider Jewish farming here as the result of a spontane- ous movement toward farming, but as the result of certain phil- anthropic efforts to regulate this spontaneous movement, and prevent, if possible, an unnecessary waste of means, energy and enthusiasm in a large number of our co-religionists, principally newcomers, in their efforts to better their material conditions. I will therefore consider here Jewish farming as one of the pre- ventive problems which present themselves to Jewish philan- thropy in the United States. The question of the advisability of fostering and encouraging Jewish farming by giving Jewish lads an agricultural training is not an idle one. 1. Farming in the United States In comparing the numbers engaged in various employments, the enumerators of the twelfth census report that out of 29,287,070 persons of ten years of age and over who were in 1900 engaged in gainful occupations, 10,- 438,219, or 35 6-10 per cent,, were following agricultural pur- 204 PROCEEDINGS OP THE FOURTH suits, while 24 3-10 per cent, were engaged in manufacturing and mechanical arts; $20,439,901,164 were invested in farming, and $9,831,486,500 in manufacturing and mechanical trades. There- fore farming is still the most important industry in the United States. It is true that during the past twenty years the number en- gaged in manufacturing has increased 86 2-10 per cent., while in agriculture, only 34 6-10 per cent., and the produce of manu- facture has in 1900 exceeded the value of farm products by over $2,000,000,000, namely, $5,981,454,234, representing the value of manufactured goods and $3,764,177,706, farming products. Up to 1880 agriculture was the principal source of wealth in the United States, but thanks to the wonderful development of agriculture, as well as mineral resources in this country, and highly developed transportation facilities, the United States has risen to the first position among the manufacturing nations of the world At this juncture I wish to say that the prevailing belief that the rural districts in this country are losing their population and that the cityward movement is on the increase, is not correct. The figures given by the twelfth census show that the urban population during the decade ending in 1900 has increased only 36 3-4 per cent., while during the decade ending in 1890 it was increased 61 1-2 per cent., and that the number of cities having a population of 8,000 or over, during the decade from 1890 to 1900 has increased 22 per cent., while during the decade ending in 1890, 63 2-10 per cent. ; the greatest increase of the urban population took place in the decade ending 1890. On the other hand, the rural population has slowly but steadily increased from 11 6-10 per cent, in 1890 to 14 per cent, in 1900. These figures show that the cityward movement was checked in the last decade. Agricultural industry in this country ceases to consist of mere exploiting of the gifts of nature. Man's mind is called upon to assist natural forces to serve his needs in foodstuffs. Hence, agricultural education becomes a necessity. The Federal govern- ment, as well as the State governments, now more than ever, are furthering American farming by disseminating among farmers, scientific and practical information, through the publication of NATIONAL CONFERENCE OP JEWISH CHARITIES. 205 bulletins by the different bureaus of the Department of Agricul- ture in Washington, and State Experiment Stations and also Farmers' Institutes. The Federal government is maintaining a splendidly equipped department of agriculture with thousands of workers investigating all branches of farming, and every State in the Union also has well equipped agricultural schools and ex- periment stations. In some of the Northwestern States secondary schools of agriculture are maintained either independently or in connection with the Agricultural Colleges for farmers ' children ; such, for instance, are the School of Agriculture in the Univer- sity of Minnesota, St. Anthony Park, and that of the University of Nebraska, or the Agricultural High Schools of the State College of Washington and the Rhode Island College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts, at Kingston, R. I. In some of the Western States there are County Agricultural High Schools, such as the Dunn County School of Agriculture and Domestic Economy of Menomonee. Wis., and the Marathon County School of Agri- culture, Wausau, Wis. Alabama has nine high schools with agri- cultural departments, and Missouri three normal schools with agricultural courses. There are also elementary and primary agricultural schools, principally for dependent children. The negro is provided best with agricultural educational facilities. Sixteen Southern and Southwestern States maintain schools for the benefit of the negro, where agriculture is an important, though not the only taught branch; some trades as well as normal courses share equally with agriculture in the curriculum of these schools. Lately a strong movement has been inaugurated to in- corporate agriculture in the curriculum of the public schools in the rural districts. The American educators are attaching great importance to this recent movement. At the biennial meeting of the National Educational Association, held last July in Asbury Park, N. J., a special committee reporting regarding agricultural education in rural schools had the following to say : ' ' The committee thought that the mastery of such part of agri- cultural science as is within the capabilities of elementary and secondary school pupils furnishes a mental training unsurpassed in extent and quality by the mastery of any other body of knowl- edge now regarded as essential to our common school courses, and 206 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH requiring an equal amount of time, and that for utility value it is unequaled by any other body of knowledge at present acquired through the expenditure of the same amount of time and effort. ' ' 2. The agricultural situation in this country as presented to you justifies our philanthropic efforts towards opening to the Jews new fields of employment and new means of earning a healthful living through the pursuit of farming. For the general Jewish welfare we must certainly have a farming population, as we will stand better with our neighbors when we are able to point out that the agricultural industries are taken up by us as a life vocation. From an economic standpoint, farming, as a new Jewish trade, is not only advisable, but is an absolute necessity. In all large cities, Jewish committees are maintaining trade, industrial and technical schools, following the general tendency in this country to replace the medieval form of apprenticeship by regular long and short courses of technical and trade train- ing in special schools. In 1900 there existed in the United States over 110 educational institutions where manufacturing and me- chanical arts were taught. In 1900 the average number of wage-earners employed in the hand trades, such as building trades, blacksmithing wheelwright- ing, furniture and cabinet making, etc., was 801,284, hardly 2 3-4 per cent, of the total number of wage-earners. The metal workers in this country, including iron and steel, number about 1,000,000. less than 3 1-2 per cent. Workers in wood and those in the tex- tile industries, including the manufacturing of clothing, do not compose more than 5 and 10 per cent, of the total laboring population, and yet the total product of each enumerated group of industries exceeded the home consumption. These industries are well provided with labor and observation points toward a state of affairs which is making employment in these branches of industry unsteady. On the other hand, the agricultural industry gave employment in the same year to over 10,000,000 persons, or over 36 per cent, of the total number of wage earners, and while it is true that the country has produced more farm products than it needs, Ameri- can farming, to a certain extent, does not meet such fierce com- petition in the world's market as American manufacturing and NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 207 mechanical trades. Again, the farm labor market is not satiated. By giving an agricultural training to our youth, we will direct them from occupations that are already overcrowded into new fields of activity where their labor is more sought for. 3. Can we utilize the existing agencies for agricultural edu- cation to train Jewish youth for farming pursuits, or do we need to maintain special Jewish agricultural schools ? These questions are of vital importance since the Jewish communities are over- whelmed with problems which already heavily tax their financial resources. Jewish organized charity should not only avoid duplicating ex- isting agencies for dispensing charity in order to prevent waste of means and energy, but should especially abstain from competing with State and municipal institutions. To my mind the principal function of Jewish organized charity is to step in, then and there, when and where, the State or municipality fails or cannot act, and co-operate with existing institutions. It would, there- fore, be not only unwise but wasteful to maintain special Jewish agricultural schools whenever the State school meets the Jewish need for agricultural education. Unfortunately, however, none of the present schools meet fully the Jewish needs for the obvious reason that all the agricultural colleges and agricultural high schools were established to further American agriculture, while we have yet to create Jewish farm- ing. It is true that in view of the several thousands of Jewish families now engaged in farming in this country, our immediate task is no longer to demonstrate whether or not the Jew can be a farmer, but as yet, on account of small numbers, we can hardly consider Jewish farming a well established economic factor in the life of the American Jew and past its experimental stage. To a still greater degree is this the case with Jewish agricultural edu- cation, since it is entirely a new activity, about ten years old, and requires more fostering. This cannot be accomplished by the ex- isting general agricultural school. The contingent from which we are to draw our agricultural school pupils is different from the contingent at the command of the American schools. The latter is composed of children of American farmers who learn the practical operations of farming 208 PROCEEDINGS OP THE FOURTH upon their fathers' farms during their childhood, and go to the colleges and schools to study improved methods of farming. As a matter of fact, all the farm schools are not in operation during the summer months, and are principally theoretical schools, though the methods of imparting agricultural knowledge in some of them may be eminently practical. Under these circum- stances, should the children of the Americanized Jew be willing to study agriculture, their lack of knowledge of elementary farming operations and farm life would prevent them from taking ad- vantage of the existing agricultural colleges and high schools. This is still more so with the main contingent from which we have to recruit our pupils, the immigrant Jew. To the absence of practical farming training which the Americanized Jew lacks, may be added the lack of knowledge of the English language on the part of the immigrants, and of the American ways of think- ing and acting. 4. In order then, to enable the Americanized and the immi- grant Jewish lads to take advantage of the educational facilities offered by the State colleges and secondary agricultural schools, preparatory Jewish agricultural schools should be established where they can learn that which the farmers ' boys learn at home, namely, the farm operations and farm life. The agricultural education, however, which we are to give, must be such as will enable us not so much to prepare the pupils to enter higher agricultural schools, but which will eminently fit them to become practical farmers, and also to prepare them sufficiently to be able to take up advanced studies for practical purposes, should they desire to do so. It has been suggested that we invoke the assistance of the American farmers by apprenticing to them those of our young men who may be desirous of learning farming, and thus make a special Jewish agricultural school unnecessary. The American farmers, however, are business men and not philanthropists. They would employ the young men apprenticed to them at such tasks whereat they could get out of them the best services and necessa- rily at the lowest and least remunerative of all farm work. Such unattractive work and scant wages would certainly not serve as an incentive to learn farming. NATIONAL CONFERENCE OP JEWISH CHARITIES. 209 To make the Jewish boy stay on the farm by keeping him igno- rant of the scientific methods taught in schools is impracticable in our day and in our land. Ignorance and stagnation will not solve problems in our country. The Jewish Agricultural School must train farm helpers, who may, after several years of work for others, become independent farmers. The task of such a school, therefore, is to train the young men for the rank and file, and not for leadership. No Jewish community can afford to equip and maintain a school which will equal even the poorest equipped State institution, and in such we cannot train leaders. With less sacrifice, if leaders are needed, individual communities can educate them in the higher agricultural educational institutions, like Cornell University in the East and the Michigan Agricultural College in the "West. The curriculum of a Jewish agricultural school, accordingly, must be arranged so as to train the largest possible number, and with the view of making the pupils practical farmers; the age must be sufficiently high so as not to extend the course too long, since we must not forget that no matter how young the boys may be, they are of an earning age, and their earnings are needed for their families. In connection with this, it might be suggested, nay, strongly be recommended, that the orphan asylums should introduce agri- culture for their wards, not with any practical purpose in view, but as a form of manual training, the object of which should be to arouse in the children an interest in nature, and to develop through nature studies their higher intellect ; to teach them some facts, the knowledge of which may make them useful on the farm ; to make them familiar with domestic animals by bringing them in contact with farm animals in the stables; to teach them the principal parts of plants and their uses to men. By introducing school gardens we may arouse interest in farming in some of the wards and prepare them for the career of the farmer. It might also be practical to establish agricultural homes for Jewish delinquent and dependent children. The hundreds of children that are committed to non-Jewish reform homes would justify our efforts in this direction. During the past year about 1,400 Jewish children were committed to institutions in New 210 PROCEEDINGS OP THE FOURTH York city only. Out of that number 655 were sent to Jewish in- stitutions. The rest were taken to non-Jewish places under the protest of the religious parents. The ever increasing number of delinquents in our cities must not be ignored. The Jewish Agricultural Schools, as any other educational in- stitution, should not be looked upon as revenue bringing enter- prises. They, just as the trade schools, cannot be considered a business proposition for profit. Neither should the school farm be attempted to be run as a model farm. The very unskilled labor of the pupils cannot be expected to work wonders. A model farm, however, conducted strictly on a business basis, should be maintained near the school in order to demonstrate to the pupils what agricultural skill can produce. Those interested in Jewish agricultural education should not become discouraged by the first results. For a period of years the number of gradu- ates and the number of former pupils engaged in the pursuit of farming may be small, but the value of the school should, never- theless, not be underestimated. Because of the fact that the num- ber of the students in the agricultural departments of the 65 colleges endowed under the Acts of Congress of the 2d of July, 1862, and the 30th of August, 1890, were only 8,011, in 1901, and because the number of graduates was still smaller and not all of them followed farming after graduation, no one who is even superficially familiar with farming in this country will deny the great services these colleges are rendering to American farming. We must not forget that Jewish agricultural students, while they may be benefited by the training they are to get in agri- cultural schools, in order to remain at farming, must revo- lutionize all of their habits of urban life and break all city con- nections, and get accustomed to a life which as yet remains isolated, the trolley, telephone and traveling libraries notwith- standing. Neither must we overlook the fact that although there are vague yearnings for country life and farm life among our people in large cities, the sentiment is not crystallized and the prejudice of the old country Jew against farming, as the peas- ant's occupation, is still a factor to be contended with. Never- theless, signs for a better understanding and a more intelligent regard for farm life among our people are not lacking. During NATIONAL CONFERENCE OP JEWISH CHARITIES. 211 the last month, the month of admission to the Baron de Hirsch Agricultural School, at Woodbine, some applicants between the ages of 18 and 22 were accompanied by their fathers, who pleaded to have their sons admitted to the school, since they themselves expected to settle on farms and desired to have some one in the family to run them. Before closing my address I want to say that some of the sug- gestions presented to you have been applied to the Woodbine Agricultural School, and some are being experimented with. In summing up this paper. I would say, first, an occupation which supports in comfort and keeps the wolf from the door of over one-third of American people, and partly supplies England and some of the continental countries with foodstuffs, can safely be recommended to our brethren looking for a new source of livelihood. Moreover, Jewish farming is an important political factor in the life of the American Jew and an economic necessity. And, secondly, Jewish agricultural schools must be organized and conducted so as not to duplicate the work of the State Agricultu- ral Colleges and High Schools, and fit their pupils for practical farming. DISCUSSION. RABBI A. R. LEVY: I regret to say that the effort in mak- ing Jewish farmers has not been tested at all in America. I regret to say very much it has been attempted in a manner that is bewildering, and one of the things that good men have accomplished is the bungling of un- systematized work. Read in the Jewish Encyclopedia and you will find one failure after the other. Not a single attempt to make a Jewish farmer has lasted more than four years, when it requires eight to ten to make a farmer not a single attempt outside of the Baron de Hirsch Fund. Of the individual at- tempts none has lasted more than three years. I mean to say the men are not given a chance. We have among our farmers a man who owed us $480 on the books; he was a failure. I urged the members (200 or more) to give him a chance, and a committee came to me, saying, "No." "I am a very poor man." I said, "and if you don't I will do it myself." And 1 212 PROCEEDINGS OP THE FOURTH threatened the committee of wealthy men, and they did it. The man owed us after six years a thousand and forty dollars, of which $640 were received from the Jewish Agricultural Aid So- ciety of New York. Then when the man began paying, the fol- lowing year, he paid $240, and the third year after he was able to pay, he paid everything he owed and four per cent, on the money invested, but it took eight years. You can't do it in four ; sometimes it takes longer. We have another .instance also of money advanced partly by the Jewish Agricultural Aid So- ciety, and it took twelve years to enable the man to pay. The man has been living with a large family for twelve years on a farm and he has struggled along, and there is not a cent lost of the investment ; because the property in itself, which was bought at $6 an acre, is worth to-day $25 or $30 an acre. Nothing has been lost and everything gained. A gentleman in charge of agriculture told me: ''You will get nothing from work on the farm, ' ' he says, ' ' because the Jew wants quick returns." I said, "You are the one that wants quick returns." It is not true that the Jew must have money in his fingers all the time. It is not so. Experience has taught me that the Jew is patient, but he must have large assistance. It requires a great deal of money not to be given but to be in- vested, and whenever and wherever the Jews will be able to as- sist a movement like that I have not the slightest doubt but it will be a success. We have the best men in this country with us. There is no use arguing; everybody admits agriculture is the means which we ought to apply to elevate our Jews. No- body disputes that, but what we lack is funds the willingness of the people to take their surplus money and invest it where it is necessary. Believe me, Jews or non-Jews have invested in papers that are not a tenth as good as the securities which we have they never get back ten or twenty per cent, from the ex- change. Let a Jew invest $10 in a farm and not get it back in three or four years, then you will hear you cannot succeed. I tell you here is where we have to change. I tell you that holds good to-day. If the Baron de Hirsch Fund will buy a hundred thousand acres of land you will see if the money is not a thou- sand times better invested than in bonds. The Jewish Agriculturists Aid Society came into existence on NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 213 the 28th of October, 1888. We have demonstrated that its work can be done, and to-day we are in touch with 183 Jewish families farmers where the amount outstanding has not yet reached $50,000, if we deduct that which the Jewish Agricultural Aid Society advanced. Now, supposing it is true that only forty per cent, is good; supposing you wipe out the whole thing, we have made so many people self-sustaining, and if you count up what they own to-day, it amounts to a quarter of a million dollars at the very least. MR. A. W. RICH, Milwaukee: Rabbi Levy betrayed the se- cret of success of the Chicago Agricultural Society, and that is exactly what every other community requires. There is a man by the name of Levy there who is giving the best part of his life for this work. I consider that more requisite than money. I would say with reference to Dr. Leucht's paper, I haven't any doubt that the South can give the country an opportunity in creating farmers and farms. The best thing is to look around and find the man who will give his time, effort and sacrifice in order to carry out the plan who will pave the way and find the money. You can talk of your societies giving you millions. If you haven't the men to lead in the communities you are not going to make successful farmers; it is the personal work; it is the same as Rabbi Levy has been doing that is needed. You ought to find a man in every community who is willing to make a sacrifice, and if you do that you can make successful farmers. You cannot do it with money alone. MERCANTILE CLUB, 8 P. M., MAY 8, 1906. THE PRESIDENT : The general subject for the discussion of this evening is "Tuberculosis." THE TREATMENT OF CONSUMPTIVES IN THEIR HOMES. F. L. WACHENHEIM, M.D., Chairman of the Committee on Tuberculosis of the United Hebrew Charities, New York City. Four years ago the United Hebrew Charities of New York made an investigation, the first in this country, to determine the feasi- 214 . PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH bility of treating consumptives in their homes with benefit to themselves and the community. In the following year the Com- mittee on Tuberculosis of the Charity Organization Society in- vestigated along the same line, obtaining results but slightly different. Neither society adopted this special field of philan- thropy as a permanent and distinct department, although the latter organization has, very recently, taken up the subject anew. The cases of tuberculosis that come to us for home treatment may be grouped as follows : First, we have the advanced cases, beyond the early, miscalled incipient stage, and no longer promis- ing subjects for sanatorium treatment. Secondly, there are the quiescent cases, where a certain proportion of wage-earning power remains, so that home treatment affords certain economic advantages. The cases that are likely to do well under institu- tional treatment do not concern us here, for the facilities for tak- ing care of them promise to be entirely adequate within a year or two, being nearly so to-day ; the provision for the family, while the wage-earner is in a sanatorium, is altogether a question of ordinary pecuniary relief. In the City of New York a plan has been evolved, by which the Department of Health and the various relief societies co- operate in attending to the medical and economic needs, respec- tively, of poor families, one or more of whose members are afflicted with tuberculosis. The Health Department even goes so far as to furnish additional food, in the form of milk and eggs, to its patients, where the family resources are inadequate; medical relief proper is afforded through a visiting and nursing staff and special dispensaries, whose management is unquestion- ably of a high order. We might assume, from the above, that the management of tuberculosis is pretty well in hand, and that the home treatment just outlined, supplemented with sanatoria for early cases, hospitals for the incurables, and a complete system of general relief, covers the ground quite fully. It will be my main endeavor to prove that such is not the case, admitting, on the other hand, that our present methods are far from useless, and do meet the situation to a certain extent. One set of cases, the second group, where there is still some wage-earning power, is eminently adapted to home treatment; NATIONAL CONFERENCE OP JEWISH CHARITIES. 215 I refer especially to the numerous class who are discharged from sanatoria as "improved," "arrested" and "quiescent." Many of these patients have enjoyed institutional care for as much as a year, without giving hopes of a complete cure, but also without going utterly to pieces. If we can obtain light outdoor work for these individuals, they can be handled very well through the dispensary, if that institution is open early in the morning and late in the evening. The customary afternoon classes are quite unsuited to such as have to earn a living, the more so as, with the present crowding of our dispensaries, a visit means the loss of almost an entire afternoon. It may be said that the dispen- saries under the supervision of the New York Health Depart- ment, as well as a few others, are open at suitable hours, and too much praise cannot be bestowed upon those who attend at such uncomfortable hours as seven A. M. in winter, to provide for the medical relief of this group of consumptives. Where the victim is not a wage-earner, the matter is of course quite simple, so far as medical relief is concerned. Visits by trained nurses are an important element in the proper management of these cases, and constitute one of the most valu- able features of the present system. Only thus can general hygiene, and more particularly the special hygiene required in the presence of tuberculosis be maintained; I have convinced myself that ordinary friendly visiting does not quite meet this phase of the subject, for the relief agent is usually either afraid of infection, or not fully conversant with the sanitary precautions long since proved necessary. The full importance of proper disposition of the sputum has only become apparent since attention was called by Behring to the probability that the majority of infections with tuberculosis take place during early childhood, though the disease may remain latent for years or decades, or manifest itself solely through the symptom group called scrofulosis. As young children pass most of their time creeping or running about on the floor we see that any uncleanliness, so far as relates to the disposition of sputum, is quite certain to spread the infection to the next generation, which does not acquire tuberculosis by constitutional heredity. as so often assumed, but by infection in the ordinary sense. 216 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH An important, perhaps the most important, element in the care of the consumptive at home is the supply of plentiful and nutri- tious food. The diminished wages of the semi-invalid are often inadequate and one of the dietetic mainstays, fresh eggs, is an expensive item in winter. When a whole family is dependent on an income of six to eight dollars a week, the consumptive is quite certain to be insufficiently nourished. The average family, of two adults and four children, requires a minimum outlay of ninety cents per day for food at the prevailing high cost of living; statistical research shows that many families endeavor to subsist on half that sum, with inevitable and evident injury to their members. The addition of varying amounts, either in money or in kind (milk, eggs, etc.) therefore forms an integral feature of this plan of treatment, and the New York Health Department, in co-operation with the various societies, but also on its own account, is making an intelligent effort to meet this phase of the situation. One point must not, however, be lost sight of, namely, that it is quite essential to see that the whole family is well fed, otherwise some of the invalid's special supply is apt to be diverted to the half-starved children. Assuming that the wages of the head of the family amount even to eight dollars per week, the relief required by the average family, as mentioned, requires an outlay of five to ten dollars per month as a steady pension. To permit the eking out of the rent by taking a lodger is inadmissible in these families, both be- cause of the risk of infection and the inevitable overcrowding, for the consumptive requires a light and well-ventilated room for his or her exclusive occupancy. I have not touched upon the point that the said family will require at least three rooms, but should have four, signifying a relatively high rent ; that the cheaper and very unsanitary tene- ments are utterly unsuited to such cases, but that the removal to more wholesome quarters uptown calls for various extra ex- penditures in the way of carfare and the higher prices of things in general. The main question in the group mentioned has been that of cost; the consumptive in the active stage, too far advanced for cure in a sanatorium, presents a far more complicated prob- NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 217 lem, for which home treatment affords no solution; it has been given a fair trial, extending over years, and found wanting, for the following reasons. When the sole wage-earner is the victim, the family rapidly falls into utter destitution ; the constant attendance on an invalid who does not even permit his family to sleep, invariably results in the undermining of the health of his wife, who is apt to develop symptoms of tuberculosis within a moderate number of months; the infection of the children then becomes almost a certainty. As the general breakdown of the family progresses, the sanitary requirements, so necessary in these homes, become more and more neglected; even if the grosser masses of sputum are still disposed of according to rule, the family washing, the scrubbing of the floors, and the like, fall steadily farther into arrears, and the neighbors, even if able to assist, are apt to be in some dread of doing so, and quite rightly. It is through these cases that houses, and even entire blocks, become so badly infected with tuberculosis that nothing short of demolition is likely to stay the epidemic. When the wife is the victim, matters are at first not quite so bad. but the infection of the husband is almost certain to ensue in time, and the above picture of squalid misery develops with equal rapidity and certainty. It might be supposed that pecuniary relief and nursing would meet the situation in these cases; the former, however, is very often likely to exceed thirty dollars per month, and the latter cannot possibly be made effective, for sufficient time is not at the nurse's disposal, to look after an entire family. When the husband is disabled, it is practically necessary to supply every penny of the family's support; eco- nomically, at any rate, the care of this group of consumptives at home is a ghastly and expensive failure. It is no wonder, therefore, that the pioneer in the campaign against tuberculosis, Prof. Robert Koch, expresses himself as follows : " It is all very well to send curable cases to sanatoria, and record results that are often brilliant ; in addition, however, the advanced cases should be given the benefit of hospital treat- ment. Few of them may be really cured, but we shall at any rate cut off the danger of infecting others; the consumptive 218 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH should not, under any circumstances, be permitted to waste away and die in his home. ' ' It is to be feared that many of those who advocate home treat- ment for advanced tuberculosis, and for that matter other forms of chronic wasting disease, are unfamiliar with conditions in the lower class of tenements for the poor, and the hopeless inade- quacy of the resources at the command of these families. In acute disease the hospital is likely to be sought at once, but to bring a wage-earner through an attack of pneumonia or even typhoid fever is mere child's play, compared with the unending labor, expense and danger to all about, involved in the care of a far-advanced case of pulmonary tuberculosis. It is, of course, the lack of facilities for handling the latter group of patients that is largely responsible for the mentioned state of things, but a final analysis shows that the trouble lies with the defective education of the public at large ; our philanthropists and public men are evidently but feebly aware of the gravity of the situ- ation. It is plain that the treatment of advanced tuberculosis at home involves two questions, the one being medical and hygienic, the other economic. In managing tuberculosis in its earliest stages we solve the former by means of sanatorium treatment, and make the latter less urgent by the removal of the patient; but when we are confronted by a case of the kind now under consideration, we have but inadequate means of handling it in an effective way. Hospitals or sanatoria for advanced cases, analogous to those provided for the early or incipient ones, would appear to offer the best solution for this grave problem. In New York City the municipality has done something in this direction and promises to accomplish much more ; one or two religious organizations have also provided facilities, notably the Roman Catholics, in reserving 350 beds in St. Joseph's Hospital in the Bronx. For advanced cases among Hebrews there are only about thirty beds provided in the Montefiore Home for Chronic Invalids. The inadequacy of this provision is evident ; the Jewish consumptive, for various sound and sufficient reasons, is unwilling to submit to the regu- lations and dietary of municipal or gentile hospitals; Jewish NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 219 philanthropy in New York is, therefore, confronted with a situ- ation that calls for the founding of an institution providing at least 150 beds, if the Jewish consumptive poor, whose prospects for cure or permanent improvement are inferior or bad, are to be treated as well as their gentile fellow-sufferers. It is apparent that the economic stress of the afflicted family is relieved even more by the removal of an advanced case of tuberculosis than of one in the earlier stages. There is another side to the situation, often disregarded, namely, that some rather well advanced cases, with cavity formation, become quiescent under sanatorium treatment. Every physician encounters an occasional patient who comes to him with some indifferent ail- ment, and is otherwise apparently hale and hearty, but in whom physical examination reveals extensive destruction of lung tissue by an old process, which has become quiescent or passed into cicatrization. Such cases would undoubtedly become quite numerous under a systematic plan of treatment, as just outlined. Too exclusive attention has been paid to the treatment of so-called incipient consumptives; advanced consumptives should receive similar treatment, not in a city hospital, but in a suburban or out-of-town sanatorium. It goes without saying that brilliant results cannot be expected from an institution of this kind ; relatively few beneficiaries will be cured, many will go from bad to worse, and most will remain a burden to the institution for many months or even years. On the other hand, each occupied bed will signify one less focus of infection in the tenements, one less family handicapped by an ever-growing burden, and one case less on the books of the already overcharged pension list of a relief society. Beyond all doubt, the removal of so helpless and dangerous an invalid as a consump- tive in the advanced stage, would save many a family from economic ruin, besides checking the spread of the most devastat- ing chronic disease known to medical science. 220 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH THE MISSION OF LOCAL SANATORIA IN THE CRU- SADE AGAINST TUBERCULOSIS DR. THEODORE B. SACHS, Chicago, 111. The progress of a country may be measured on the basis of edu- cation, kind of government, state of science, accumulation and distribution of wealth, etc. . . . but, after all, real civilization means establishment of conditions, under which every individual unit of a nation has a chance to attain proper physical, mental and moral development. The health of a nation is the index of the country's advance. If a disease, that is preventable, claims every year 100,000 victims in the United States, we will have to confess that our progress is at a standstill, until this frightful mortality is grad- ually wiped out. There are signs of awakening all over the country, and it will not be surprising, that while not the first to start the crusade against tuberculosis, the United States may be the first to solve this great problem in the most effectual way. Tuberculosis, the disease of poverty, overcrowding, unsanitary workshop, insufficient wages, long hours of work, etc., should not exist in a country so vast in extent and so rich in resources. The every-day work of organizations represented at this Con- ference may consist of extending assistance to classes tem- porarily dependent or permanently disabled ; but the broader aim is, of course, a higher standard of Jewish citizenship in the Uni- ted States. In raising the banner for a sturdier manhood and woman- hood, we are face to face with a number of diseases, which every- where, here and all over the world, impede the progress of humanity. Among these, as a colossus, towering above all other harvesters of human life, stands the grim reaper of death, the most wide- spread disease of all, the "White Plague." We know that outdoor life and pure air, combined with regular habits and nutritious diet, are the only preventives of tuber- culosis known. The same kind of life offers the only hope of cure or improvement to an individual already infected with NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 221 / tubercular germs. This principle of fresh air, day and night, lies at the foundation of all sanatoria or open air camps for con- sumptives. That tuberculosis is a curable affection, was known 25 centuries ago. Hippocrates, the medical genius of the ancient Greek civil- ization, advocated strongly the idea of curability of this disease, if treated at an early stage. Centuries later, about the time of Christ, the same view was expounded by Cornelius Celsus, the most celebrated Roman physician and, in the latter part of the second century, Claudius Galen, the learned student of Hippocratic teachings, was in accord with the same idea. Most of the ancient authors considered a suitable climate and a proper mode of life important elements in the treatment of this disease. Through centuries of observation came accumulation of evi- dence pointing to the infectious nature and communicability of tuberculosis. The 19th century, noted for the greatest advance in all chan- nels of human thought, furnished Villemin, whose famous com- munication to the Academy of Medicine in Paris, on Dec. 5th, 1865, fully demonstrated that tuberculosis is transmissible. Since then a most exhaustive study of the disease was carried on by the best minds in the medical profession, leading gradually to the famous discovery in 1882 of the tubercle bacillus, as the cause of the disease, by Dr. Robert Koch. The first glimpse of the modern sanatorium treatment of tuber- culosis can be seen in the attempt made in 1839 by Dr. George Bodington, an English country practitioner. Fully convinced that fresh air day and night and a nutritious diet are the most important factors in the treatment of a con- sumptive, Dr. Bodington fitted up a special house for the ad- mission of this class of patients. In his time, as well as, to some extent, at present, the tuberculous patient considered any draught of fresh air antagonistic to his chances of recovery. As these ideas were supported by the medical profession at large, the institution started by Br. Bodington became the subject of rid- 222 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH icule, was eventually closed and later transformed into an insane asylum. Twenty years passed and the first sanatorium in the world was founded by Dr. Hermann Brehmer, of Gorbersdorf, Germany. To him rightfully belongs the title of father of the sanatorium idea. The principles of Brehmer 's treatment of tuberculosis were the following: First A life spent in the open air ; second, an abundant diet ; third, constant medical supervision ; fourth, methodical hill climb- ing, as an exercise. With the exception of his ideas of exercise, which are con- siderably modified in modern institutions, Dr. Brehmer 's chief principles of treatment are at present in vogue in every sana- torium for tuberculous patients. His own sanatorium at Gor- bersdorf is now the largest private institution of its kind, having accommodation for 300 patients. From the time of Brehmer the idea of open air treatment, as the only effective method of combating tuberculosis, has steadily advanced. Germany now standing in the foreground with the largest number of institutions, supported by the state, govern- ment, insurance companies, etc. In our own country Dr. E. L. Trudeau, of Saranac Lake, New York, was the first to establish, in 1885. the, now well known, Adirondack Cottage Sanatorium. At present the United States has accommodations for about 8.000 tuberculous patients, one-third of which are in the state of New York. The energetic campaign in the United States against tubercu- losis, during the last five years, stimulated sanatorium building to a great extent; of one hundred and thirty-five institutions scattered throughout the United States and Canada, almost one- half were built during the last five years. The country is awake as to the proper methods of dealing with the "white plague" and the next decade will, no doubt, bring greatly increased sanatorium facilities for the proper care of the consumptive individual. It is of great importance to us to know what is the situation at present in regard to tuberculosis, what are the principles of sana- NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 223 torium building and to what extent a sanatorium is a factor in the crusade against this disease. ' A census in this country of all individuals affected with tuber- culosis would be impossible under the present conditions; still, from the total annual mortality of 100,000 persons from this disease, we may roughly estimate that there are from four to five hundred thousand tuberculous individuals in the United States, while total accommodations are only for the treatment of about 8.000. Thirty thousand consumptives walk the streets of New York, while all the institutions in the entire state could not accommo- date even ten per cent, of them. I do not know what is the consumptive population of Phila- delphia ; if it is twelve to fifteen thousands, then the entire ac- commodations of your state are sufficient only for the care of 5% of them. In our own city of Chicago we have at least 15,000 consump- tives, while the entire State has hospital and sanatorium accom- modations for only 300, of which 160 beds are in the Dunning Poorhouse. In this connection should be mentioned the pro- posed Edward Sanatorium at Naperville*, near Chicago; this in- stitution is made possible by the generosity of Mrs. Keith Spalcl- ing, a director of the Visiting Nurse Association of Chicago, which association conducted last summer a very successful camp for tuberculous poor, at Glencoe, Illinois. The next few years may bring into existence a large number of sanatoria for curable cases ,of tuberculosis, as well as hospitals for advanced, but we can never hope for sufficient accommo- dations for all tuberculous patients, unless the reduction in the prevalence of tuberculosis is brought about through a radical change in conditions that are responsible for this disease-, and this means, of course, abolition of crowded districts through spreading out of the population, a sanitary home and workshop, hours of work commensurate with human strength and wages sufficient to supply the needs of an American family. Till we reach that ideal condition of affairs, which certainly ought not to be very distant in our country, sanatoria will continue to take care only of a fraction of tuberculosis cases, and while their 224 PROCEEDINGS OP THE FOURTH important object will be to effect a cure or improvement in patients under their shelter, their chief mission will remain to teach a proper mode of life to the community in general and the consumptive in particular. The present conditions in every large city of this country, with its enormous number of tuberculous individuals, point to the necessity of local sanatoria near every city, as educational centers for the spreading of the gospel of life in pure air as the only proper mode of life for every human being. In its modern sense, a sanatorium is an institution built in such a location and in such a way, that the tuberculous patient can en- joy the. benefits of open air life during the entire 24 hours; it means also a suitable nutritious diet and strict medical super- vision. In building sanatoria a number of conditions are to be con- sidered. 1. Climate, The climate that makes open air life through the entire year more feasible, is conceded to be the best, provided the patient is in a sanatorium, where by the strict regime of the institution he is to avail himself fully of the benefits of open air treatment. It would be impossible here to discuss the advantages of differ- ent climates ; it will suffice to say that even if the results are more gratifying in the mountainous regions of Colorado or other states, we certainly can never hope to give even a small percentage of our consumptive population the advantages of their favorable climates. It is certainly useless to send a man without means to Colorado, Arizona or New Mexico, unless admission is secured for him to some institution. In transporting poor consumptives to other climates, the Jewish charitable organizations all over the country are the only ones, if I am not mistaken, to make provision for their future maintenance. I do not need to dwell upon the great record of the National Jewish Hospital for Consumptives in Denver, with which you are fully familiar. This institution, national in scope, was the first to start the procession for eradication of tuberculosis among the Jews of this country ; it has done and is doing grand work and NATIONAL CONFERENCE OP JEWISH CHARITIES. 225 we should do everything in our power to make it the greatest monument to the generosity of the American Jew. In its superior appointments, splendid facilities for treating first stage cases, humane spirit, etc., it is the best example of a first class sana- torium and as such it certainly deserves a much more liberal sup- port all over the country. Granting all the advantages of more favorable climates, the fact remains that the vast majority of consumptive cases, par- ticularly among the poor, have to be taken care of near their homes. Statistics of sanatoria in home climates, like Loomis, Adiron- dack, in New York, Rutland and Sharon in Massachusetts, etc., show that, under open air treatment, arrest of disease can be accomplished in 75 to 80% of first stage cases. In institutions where all stages are admitted, open air treat- ment at home results in a cure of 25% and great improvement, viz., considerable prolongation of life in 50 % more. In our dealing with poor consumptives of large cities we must have local sanatoria. Even if the state supplies one, it is not sufficient; every city of any proportion should have a local sanatorium, the expense of which would be much less than the financial loss sustained through the rapid decline and premature death of the majority of the tuberculous poor and the expense of supporting widows and orphans. 2. Suitable Site for Sanatorium. The plans for the King Edward VII'. Sanatorium in England call for ' ' an elevated and sloping site with a sunny exposure, well sheltered from cold winds, a dry and permeable soil, together with an abundant supply of water." An elevation of at least 1.000 feet is considered by some absolutely essential to insure sufficient purity and dryness of the atmosphere, which are of con- siderable importance in the treatment of tuberculosis and still the results are excellent in institutions built at much lower altitudes. Comparing the results obtained at Sharon Sanatorium, 250 feet above the sea level, and Massachusetts State Sanatorium. J.100 feet. Dr. Bowditch, who is at the head of both institutions, 226 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH finds that the results, if anything, were somewhat better at Sharon. If the experience so far obtained is in favor of high altitude, at least 1.000 feet, as a proper location for a sanatorium, it must be admitted, that the question of altitude is not as important as a porous soil, good drainage, shelter from harsh winds, sunny ex- posure, good water supply, properly constructed building, nutri- tious diet, etc. Build your sanatoria and camps at as high a level as can be obtained near your home city, provided other conditions are ful- filled. Results at an altitude of a few hundred feet will be just as good as at 1,000 feet. It would impede greatly the creation of proper facilities for the care of the consumptive poor, if any set rule is laid down in regard to the altitude. Expedience as well as other considerations should determine the location of the institution. As to nearness to the city, a distance of thirty to forty miles will insure air that is not contaminated ; again a shorter distance, dictated by circumstances, may give just as good results. 3. Character of Buildings. The majority of European sanatoria consist of a central ad- ministration building with wings on either side for the housing of patients. Large verandas surrounding the entire front are utilized for the open air treatment. The building may be two or three stories high. Another plan is a group of small cottages around a central administration building as exemplified in a number of sanatoria in this country, for instance, the Loomis and Adirondack Sana- toria in New York. Advantages of this plan consist of easier classification of patients, more homelike surroundings, greater amount of fresh air, etc. The disadvantage lies in increased expense, necessitated by a more difficult supervision, extra heating, and so on. Cost of construction, as given in the Prize Essay on the erection NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 227 of a sanatorium for the treatment of tuberculosis in England by Dr. Arthur Latham, is as follows : In many sanatoria built for the poor the cost is from $1,250 to $1,500 a bed. The expenses are much greater in institutions which contain single-bedded rooms, reaching as high as $3,000 to $5,000 a bed. The tendency of the modern sanatorium construction is toward greater simplicity and smaller expense. What we need is more accommodation for tuberculous patients. Fine exterior of buildings is of no importance; it does not pro- mote an iota the chances of a consumptive. A local sanatorium, consisting of a plain administration build- ing with all the necessary provisions and a number of frame shacks as the lean-to's of the Loomis Sanatorium, is conceded to produce just as good results as more imposing buildings, the ornamentations of which frequently impede the entrance of light and air. It is estimated that an up-to-date sanatorium, devoid of all unnecessary ornamentation, can be built at the expense of $400 per patient. A circular issued by the Ottawa Tent Colony in Illinois, a private institution, conducted by Dr. J. "W. Petit, places the expense of construction at $35,000, which includes an excellent two-story administration building, waterworks, first-class bath- house, tents for patients, etc. The total number of patients at present being sixty, the cost of construction per patient amounts to $600. This sum will be greatly reduced with the gradual in- crease in the number of patients. The average cost of maintenance of a tuberculous individual in a sanatorium conducted in economical way amounts to not less than $9 to $10 per week. The number of tuberculous cases requiring sanatorium treat- ment is so enormous that it is our duty to provide accommoda- tions at the least possible expense of construction, using any additional money in giving the sufferer the best kind of food and medical supervision. To quote the ideas of Dr. S. A. Knopf, one of the most enthusi- 228 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH astic tuberculosis workers in this country, the mission of sanatoria is very manifold : 1. Removal of a tuberculous patient to a sanatorium means the removal of a center of infection, which may claim sooner or later many lives. 2. A sanatorium gives the best chance of cure, particularly to the patient in the first stage. 3. The consumptive learns to live right and on his discharge is the most earnest propagator of the ideas of right living. 4. It trains physicians in the methods of early recognition of tuberculosis and the only rational method of treatment of this disease. 5. It teaches the gospel of a closer communion with nature and orderly life, which means a sturdier citizenship, freed from all kinds of disease due to overcrowding, filth and contaminated air. Under ordinary conditions the regular mode of life of the Jew, his abstinence from alcohol, etc., protect him to a considerable extent against the ravages of tuberculosis. The diabolical perse- cution by certain European governments, with its attendant lack of opportunity to earn a livelihood, constant anxiety, frequently starvation have undermined to a great extent his resistance to this disease. Thus, we witness at present a greater prevalence of tuberculosis among the Jewish masses than ever before ; this has reference also to the acute type of the disease, "quick con- sumption," infrequent among Jews under normal conditions, at present claiming numerous victims in every large city. It is our sacred duty to provide better housing conditions and suitable occupations for our immigrant class. The physical make-up of our brother citizen is one of our greatest concerns. Among all agencies helping to build a healthy citizen, be that a settlement, a city homes association, an agricul- tural colony, etc., a sanatorium occupies a prominent place. Its influence reaches far beyond the consumptive himself; it stands as an exposition of a right kind of living. The Jewish Charities of every large city have provided bountifully for the treatment of every kind of disease. NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 229 Is it not about time to extend a helping hand to the poor con- sumptive by building local sanatoria in every large city? THE CARE OF ADVANCED CASES OF PULMONARY TUBERCULOSIS. A PLEA FOR SCIENTIFIC, PRACTICAL AND HUMANE METHODS OF ERADICATING THE WHITE PLAGUE. DR. C. D. SPIVAK, Secretary of the Jewish Consumptives' Relief Society, Denver, Colorado. The crusade against contagious diseases in general, and against pulmonary tuberculosis in particular assumes with each succeed- ing year a more definite form. From the survey of the volumin- ous literature on the subject of tuberculosis, two uncontrovertible facts have been established : First, that tuberculosis is an infec- tious disease, and, second, that tuberculosis is a curable disease. The solution of the problem must be reached, therefore, through two avenues: First, in so far as it is infectious, how can it be prevented, and, second, in so far as it curable, what are the best methods to be pursued. There are two distinct ways; the one does not include the other. The crusade against tuberculosis, as I understand its meaning, and purport, does not occupy itself with the cure of the disease, but it copes with the greater and more important problem, that of preventive medicine. It undertook the task of checking the spread of the disease, with a view of eventually exterminating it from the face of the earth. It took more than twenty-five years to elaborate the method of combating tuberculosis, and yet more than three thousand years ago, the method of combating infectious diseases was laid down in such lucid and clear terms that one is amazed at the stupidity of being obliged to call our ignorance "civilization," sluggish thinking ' ' progress, ' ' and the doling of alms ' ' charity. ' ' ' ' Let us bring the book and see, ' ' as the Talmudists were wont to say. Open the book of Leviticus, Chapter XIII. Moses handled the crusade against infectious diseases thus : " If a man 230 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH shall have in the skin of his flesh a swelling, a rising, or a bright spot" which might develop into an infectious disease, then he shall be brought for an examination before an expert health officer a priest. If the symptoms are obscure and lack definite- ness, the suspected man shall be quarantined, and be re-examined at intervals of seven days until a final diagnosis is reached. Should the symptoms warrant the diagnosis of an infection, ' ' the priest shall pronounce him unclean. . . . And he on whom the plague is ... shall cover himself to his upper lip and 'un- clean, unclean' shall he call out. All the days whereon the plague which rendereth unclean is on him, he shall be unclean ; alone shall he dwell, without the camp shall his habitation be. ' ' Thus spake the great law-giver ! The theory that certain diseases are ''unclean," which was enunciated centuries ago, has, after three decades of hesitation, at last been accepted, and we now gleefully pride ourselves that we are. forsooth, really and truly, a civilized race. The practice, however, that one thus afflicted shall be removed from his sur- roundings, so as not to be a menace to the community, "alone shall he dwell; without the camp shall his habitation be," this social prophylactic measure has not as yet been fully understood, nor thoroughly recognized. The work that is now being carried on throughout the so-called "civilized" world will remain merely an abortive attempt at eradicating the evil, as long as the rules and regulations laid down by the Mosaic law are not fulfilled to the letter. Let us briefly review the lesson we learned about tuberculosis : Tuberculosis is an infectious disease. But not all tubercular patients are a menace to the community. Tuberculosis of the glands of the neck, of the spine, of the hip and knee-joints, etc., are perfectly harmless. They do not sow the seeds of tuberculosis, because the tubercle bacilli are locked up in the body and can- not come in contact with the outer world. Such cases are called "closed" tuberculosis. Tuberculosis of the lungs and throat does not become a source of infection, until cough and expectoration appear. It is only when the sputum, loaded with tubercle bacilli, comes to the sur- face and in contact with the internal organs of another human NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 231 being that it becomes dangerous. Such cases are called ''open" tuberculosis. But even cases of open tuberculosis differ in their degree of infectious virulence. Men and women in the incipient stage of the disease, those of cleanty habits and who are able to take care of themselves are perfectly harmless. I would prefer as a com- panion an intelligent consumptive to a Hercules of dirty habits. The most dangerous patients, however, are those who are ignorant, of the rudiments of personal hygiene, or who have reached such an advanced stage of the disease, when through weakness and exhaustion they have become helpless, and are unable to taka care of their expectoration. We must remember that the danger of tuberculosis lurks not alone in the expectorated solid sputum, but also in the tiny, almost microscopic droplets which are showered all around during violent coughing, and even during the process of articulation. Now, viewing the question of tuberculosis from the above stand- point, which is the standpoint accepted by all students of tuber- culosis, let us see what method do the modern crusaders pursue in their efforts to exterminate tuberculosis from the face of the earth. While they provide sanatoria and hospitals for incipient eases, for such who do not spread contagion at all, or whose liability to spread the disease is but infinitesimal, they permit the advanced cases open tuberculosis, the source and fountain head of all contagion to continue the work of wholesale destruc- tion. Such a method, ladies and gentlemen, is scientifically ab- surd, practically futile, and morally brutal. The war cry of the physician and the sanitarian is : " Remove the cause." I shall not speak of the predisposing cause poverty. Let the sociologist grapple with this problem. The direct cause of every case of tuberculosis is a preceding advanced case ; and. therefore, it is evident that the cure of an incipient case is tanta- mount to removing the effect, which is not scientific. That we cannot hope to diminish or even check the spread of tuberculosis while harboring the advanced cases in our midst, is such a self-evident truth, that all our efforts hitherto made in building hospitals and sanatoria for incipient cases are prac- tically futile. 232 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH And, since from a psychological standpoint, the sympathy of normally constituted human beings is in direct ratio to the in- tensity of the suffering they witness the greater the suffering the greater the sympathy it arouses, the more the helplessness the greater the pity it evokessurely it is the advanced case, the man or woman who is racked with pain, shattered with cough, consumed with fever, a helpless living corpse, in short, the ad- vanced case with all the horrors and tortures it represents, who should bring forth all our latent humane feeling, and, therefore, the decadent tendency of all modern sanatoria to help only those who can help themselves is brutal. Had the contemplation of the mistakes made by groping humanity not been such a sad affair, the present movement to exterminate tuberculosis by such unscientific, unpractical and brutal methods would appear Quixotic a sort of fighting the windmills. The question of exterminating tuberculosis cannot be solved by cheap talk, sickly sentimentality, and fear of looking squarely into the face of truth. Especially cheap talk will not do it. If we cannot organize our campaign of crusade upon such a basis that eventually every advanced case "alone should dwell, without the camp shall his habitation be," if we cannot build sanatoria wherein the thousands upon thousands of advanced cases could be isolated and taken care of, we may just as well admit to our- selves that we are spending money, time and breath for no pur- pose. Hear what Robert Koch said in his Nobel Lecture delivered at Stockholm, Nov. 12, 1905: "We must not hide from ourselves the fact that the crusade against tuberculosis requires money. In fact, the whole movement is a question of money. The more free beds there will be established for the consumptives, and the better the families of the afflicted will be taken care of at their homes, so that the sick may be free from worry as to the fate of their dear ones, the sooner will tuberculosis cease to be the disease of the masses." Once the question of eradicating tuberculosis will be viewed from the above standpoint, namely, that all advanced cases must be isolated, I am optimist enough to entertain the hope, that the NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 233 means wherewith to carry on this work will be forthcoming. Tuberculosis although a disease of the poor masses, yet respects not the rich. With men in our midst who own millions which they cannot use up while living, nor save with them their children when stricken with the White Plague, it should not be at all a difficult matter to raise a fund of ten million dollars with which to place this movement upon a scientific, practical and humane basis. The poor cannot do it. The rich can and must do it. Not only do they owe it to the poor who have helped them to become rich, but they owe it to their own children whose welfare they must protect. Permit me to cite an imaginary example: In a certain city there stand two institutions for combating tuberculosis: one erected by the munificence of the rich for taking care of incipient cases of tuberculosis, who present the least menace to the com- munity wherein they dwell ; the other institution, erected on the pennies of the poor for taking care of advanced cases of tuber- culosis who are a constant menace to their fellows. One institution cures tuberculosis a noble mission, no doubt. The other institution helps to exterminate the disease. Which of the two institutions is in the vanguard of the crusade against the White Plague, I leave to your wisdom to decide. In conclusion I wish to say that the care of the advanced cases of pulmonary tuberculosis consists in isolation, and that you must not delude yourselves into the comfortable attitude of mind and soul that you are doing great things by helping incipient eases. You commenced at the wrong end. Read once more the Bible: "All the days whereon the plague which rendereth un- clean is on him, he shall be unclean ; alone shall be dwell ; without the camp shall his habitation be." THE PRESIDENT: The next paper one postponed from yes- terday by Mr. Alfred Muller of Denver on "Sanatoria for Consumptives," in connection with the subject of the "Statis- tics of Institutional Management." 234 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH THE SCOPE OF INSTITUTIONAL MANAGEMENT IN SANATORIA FOE CONSUMPTIVES. ALFRED MULLER, Secretary of the National Jewish Hospital for Consumptives, Denver, Colorado. The aim of the Sanitarium for the treatment of tuberculosis in its earlier stages, should be, not to stretch the dollar, but to restore human vitality. Its slogan should be, not how much it can save, but how many. Combined efforts, untiring, unceasing, lead to this goal. The physician's skill, the institutional man- agement, and the patient himself, all must co-operate. It is a potent fact, self-evident, that nothing is of so much importance in the care and cure of consumption, as the internal management of an institution dedicated to this purpose. In matters of institutional management, the sanitary are keep- ing pace with medical methods. In fact, one hardly knows at times where medical treatment ends and management or super- intendence begins. Take for instance, the subject of foods; in this, the work of the doctor ends with the prescription. Its in- stitutional complement begins with the purchase of the right kind of food, at the right price and at the right time. Purity, freshness and reasonableness all have their degree of importance. When I say "reasonableness," I do not necessarily mean cheapness. Of prime consideration are purity, freshness, and above all whol^someness. Several of our largest sanitaria for the treatment of consumption find it necessary in order to procure unadulterated products, to buy the crop of an orchard and have it canned under inspection ; to buy the butter, milk and eggs of sanitaria inspected farms and dairies. There is no excuse, however, as rule for paying exorbitant prices for even the most necessary provisions. It is the duty of the superintendent to watch the market just as does the com- mission merchant. The food proposition is but one feature in which institutional management has kept pace with the requirements of advanced medical methods. Among others, appearance and general hospital cleanliness are NATIONAL CONFERENCE OP JEWISH CHARITIES. 235 matters of the most vital importance. They have long since drifted out of the realm of the medical and into that of the Superintendent or managerial board. It is the management that prepares the institution with the simplest and most sanitary of equipments; that rejects the dra- peries that catch the omnipresent germ and the useless corners that hold the deadly dust; that provides only what is whole- some and inviting. When the general topic of the day was submitted to me I asked for enlightenment, and Avas told that "this paper should be largely concerned with the expenditure of the funds, and the management, financial and otherwise, of institutions, and was not to directly concern itself with the large question of tuberculosis. ' ' You will pardon me if, in my understanding of these instruc- tions, I appear to stretch them to fit what I really want to say to you to-day, and if I do dive into the general topic of tuberculosis, it will be solely by way of illustration. It is the study of institutional methods in sanitoria for the cure of tuberculosis that has taught us that we have no confines that are not confines of the highest humanity. We feel that the cause of the sanitorimn is the cause of each individual within its care, even until he stands before the world unshackled of dis- ease, unbound of custom, a free and earning entity. And this brings me logically to the crying problem I would put to you to-day, a problem I have often put to myself, and the solution of which is still in the future. Worded succinctly it is this: Are the funds of our great, charitable and correctional in- stitutions used beyond the narrowest interpretation of their needs ? Should not the management of these institutions be con- cerned with everything that is basic in the purposes for which they were created ? One of the great problems one with us in Colorado in the insti- tution which I have the honor to represent, the National Jewish Hospital for Consumptives one of the great problems is that of finding for, and giving to the patient a new trade ; of finding a new calling for the new man. The necessity is apparent the duty is imperative of keeping the discharged patient away from the sweat shop, from dan- 236 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH gerous employments which have caused the disease, and lead him into new fields different occupation. We, in our Denver insti- tution, have had in the past several years, as part of our institu- tional management, an Employment Committee to procure for these men and women work consistent with their condition. This committee has done and is doing splendid work, but in Colorado, and I take it this holds true in other localities, the right employ- ment for these new men and women, as we may aptly call them, is scarce, and the wages at a minimum. We are, therefore, now involving plans for a trade school within the institution, to teach him an industry which he can follow after his discharge, and one the strain of which his physique can stand which will give him the opportunity to take up again his God-given right to labor for himself and the loved ones dependent upon him, which will render him, not a mere pittance thrown at him almost as a charity offering, but yield the dignity of a man's return for a man's labor. These are our hopes, as yet unrealized, plans as yet in the em- bryo, but with the indefatigable workers at the head of our in- stitution, hammering at this ideal, consummation is not far distant. Our experimental work is far enough advanced to give us the assurance that we may solve the problem a new, a proper call- ing for the new man. The management further believes to be not only an industrial necessity for these stricken ones, but a physical benefit to lead their sorrow-burdened minds into new fields; to teach the un- taught immigrant, who forms the greatest percentage of inmates in the National Jewish Hospital for Consumptives, the afflicted children sent there for treatment, and of necessity deprived of their usual schooling, the rudimentary English branches. These classes are, as our trade school will be, conducted in the open air, the eternal sunshine of Colorado making this arrange- ment not only possible, but pleasurable, with graded hours, and under such regulations as will not interfere with the tissue building treatment of the sanitarium. Thus far this latter school has been experimental only and been carried on by volunteer teachers, not always to be depended NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 237 upon. We, of Denver, believe the experiment to be a success and the school a necessity, and hope that at the next annual meeting of our institution the National Board will agree with the Denver Board of Managers that this work should be permanent and be conducted by professional teachers. I repeat : ' ' Should not the funds of our great hospitals for the cure of consumption be used beyond the narrower interpretation of their needs ? ' ' To the world at large the sanitarium has one great purpose the cure of tuberculosis, to test methods for effectiveness, to send back into the hum of life the men and the women and children, educated not alone to combat the disease in themselves, but pre- pared to teach others to fight the white plague. In a way we have hospital statistics, that is, we have records of cases and interesting deductions facts of prime importance in the eradication of the disease, but nothing uniform and nothing concerted. There is no lesson of great value to know the per capita expense of the various institutions for the cure of tuberculosis. What you demand for the funds allotted is achievement. Show me an institution of this kind whose chief pride is in its low per capita, and I will show you one whose aims are cramped and whose ac- complishments are narrow and incomplete. The purpose of the sanitarium is as high and as deep as the ne- cessity that created it. It should delve back to the source of the thing and look forward to its elimination. Its work should not be random, but based upon world-wide aim. For the need of one is but the epitome of the need of hundreds of thousands. Each hospital or sanitarium, I find, works out its immediate and superficial problems without any reference to concerted ef- fort. A thousand tremendous questions concerned with the eradi- cation of the disease are tentatively approached, but the greatest method of all, that of working on the same general lines always, seems utterly impossible of realization. The result is that the funds expended by our sanitaria in the war of so-called research brings us the minimum of good, for whatever is done is individual spasmodic. There is a purpose in the creation of our sanitaria far beyond 238 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH the curative end, and the sooner we realize that the funds of these institutions should be at least partially expended in the preparation of what I shall call concerted historic statistics, the sooner we shall have data that may completely revolutionize our methods of fighting the white plague. In other words, I believe that the duties of the officials of the sanitaria do not begin and end with the most perfunctory imaginable statistical informa- tion concerning patients, and their medical care. I believe that it is the duty of our sanitaria to extend at least a portion of their funds in the most painstaking search into the lives of the patients, into the surroundings in which the contagion came upon them, into the diseases of kin. And these researches must be thorough and constant, they must be on the same general lines in every sanitarium in the world; researches not based upon imperfect medical knowledge but upon such a carefully prepared medical substructure that no medical practitioner, no sanitarium or society could mistake its way. In fact, the necessity for something of this kind has cried for a hearing almost in vain until now. At the meeting in Wash- ington this month it is possible that the efforts of Dr. Vincent Bowditch, of Boston, in this direction will bear fruit. At any rate, a tentative basis for uniformity in statistical research has been submitted to sanitaria officials all over the country, and the subject will, at least, as one medical gentleman put it to me. "be hammered out." The so-called Turban plan, which divides con- sumptives into four classes, but which it is not in my province to discuss, is also to be submitted at Washington. Let us at least hope that something will be done. We do not realize how meagre our statistical information i,-. Taken together we have made no very decided advance since the days of Hippocrates, who knew definitely the proportion of mor- tality .to age in victims of tuberculosis. We have never fully realized the dread character of the disease in its incipiency. As one practitioner put it, ' ' Let a leper with but a sore on his hand, appear, and humanity isolates him with the rapidity of lightning. Yet, let a consumptive appear with a half eaten lung hidden from sight, and we think nothing of it. ' ' It is the insidious nature of the disease that makes statistics so necessary. The bacillus works long and works silently, and its NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 239 grip tightens unknown to patient or to kin. It is this feature of it that makes it so necessary to awaken the world to the nature of the peril, not alone by giving matter-of-fact, largely unheeded instructions, but by showing the frightful death rate by giving definite ideas concerning the mortality rate from certain occupa- tions, by teaching the proper sanitary mode of living. Statistics that cover millions of cases are what we want sta- tistics that will convince people that by proper precautions this great danger can be reduced to a minimum. The peril has tre- mendous proportions. The remedy must have like proportion. Instead of a record of 200 patients on some vital point, I would have the record of 2.000,000 patients. In place of sporadic investigation I would have it so general, so perfect, so effective that the deductions would awaken the world to a realization of its peril. You ask me why the government does not undertake this. I can only answer in the words of a famous statistician: "The only mortality statistics of a reliable character are those Avith whose collections the census had nothing to do." Or from the pen of Dr, Oressy L. Wilbur; "No one knows except by con- jecture what the death rate in the United States is, nor can the relative prevalence of the important infectious diseases be satis- factorily determined from the census data." ' ' Two things alone defy the power of immortal gods, ' ' said Sir Robert Peel, "figures and the past." And when once you have circled the globe in your search for accurate data, when once you have thundered them at humanity, you, too, will find in figures the lever that will lift this plague from our disease- burdened frames. Statistics of hungering school children brought all England to its feet in shame and indignation. And statistics properly com- piled by our sanitaria will awaken even the submerged world to the necessity of better, cleaner living. Why, the little that has been done in the way of concerted health board work has had its effect in reducing the death rate from consumption. How much more effective will be the mighty hand of a thousand sanitaria? The educational work that is now being done under the auspices of the National Society for the Study and Prevention of Tuber- culosis is good and will bear fruit. 240 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH When you supplement your advice with incontrovertible con- clusions, when you supplement "instructions on prevention, " with an array of appalling figures that bring the truth home to even the most ignorant or most unsanitary household, you will have put the wedge that will eventually drive out the disease. In Germany they have at least made a beginning. The state insurance companies are themselves paying for the erection and the care of sanitaria, finding it cheaper to search out the disease in the earliest possible stages when it can be thoroughly eradi- cated, to restore the policy holder to an insurance-paying basis, then to be mulcted for heavy sick benefits during a lingering ill- ness in the last stages of the disease, and for the full life insur- ance afterwards. How well this principle applies to our local charity fields ! Think of the saving of our relief societies all over the country if a similar plan were adopted here if in addition to proposed registration, excellent as far as it goes, compulsory inspection for tuberculosis be had in every home in the land. Think you that it is impossible ? Vaccination is compulsory and the law is obeyed. We are going through the schools daily to catch the first signs of contagious diseases. Why not examine for signs of tuberculosis? It is easy to educate people to the necessity of government paternalism in a given direction if they know their peril. Gather the facts through the sanitaria of the world, summarize them into telling arguments, then placard them over the length and breadth of the land, and see how quickly the people will demand the inspection which they might now, with the meagre knowledge at hand, resent. Let us not forget that the duties of the sanitaria for the cure of tuberculosis are as broad as are the sufferings they would assuage, as deep as the causes of the disease, and as high as its complete eradication. Not alone is at stake the cure of the com- partively small number within the protecting radius of the sani- tarium, but your safety and mine, the protection of the whole human family. DISCUSSION. Miss ANNIE HILLKOWITZ, Denver: I would like to say some- thing of the Jewish Consumptives Relief Society. It has partly overcome the problem of what the patients should do NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 241 after they come out of the sanatorium. We are lucky enough to have twenty acres of ground outside of Denver. We have an agriculturist there who teaches the patients farming, both practical and theoretical; of course, always subject to the doc- tor's orders, and they are allowed to work and learn farming, so that when dismissed from the institution employment is found for them on farms. And you know Colorado is also a farming State, so that they can pursue the life of the farmer, which, you all know, is the best life for a consumptive. Then, also, we have our own poultry yard, so that the eggs are always fresh served for the institution ; we have also our own dairy, so that the milk is the freshest, and thus, in my opinion, the ex- pense is lessened. Pure milk is given and we have the eggs right there, and the milking is done on the ground; that is partly provided by the Jewish Consumptive Relief Society in their ag- ricultural department. MR. SAMUEL GRABFELDER, Louisville : I did not intend to say anything on the subject, because I am under the impression that this Convention is more for the purposes of the cure at least this evening's deliberation is more for the purpose of hearing papers read as to the cure and stamping out of this disease, in preference to hearing about individual institutions. My idea was and is to correct, perhaps, an error that inadvertently will impress itself upon your minds, or the idea has been impressed upon your minds, that is, that the National Jewish Hospital at Denver is only for incipient cases. That is not quite true. We take, in the first place, consumptives in the first and second stages. When these patients are examined by physicians throughout the land, at their homes, you know, and I know, and the doctors know that they will quite frequently close an eye and send us cases already in an advanced stage or in the third stage. Now we do take first and second stages, and we do get quite frequently those in the third stage of consump- tion. I want to impress upon the minds of the members of this conference the fact that this is true. The National Jewish Hos- pital for Consumptives was opened in December, 1899. Since that time, ladies and gentlemen, we have had in that institution 242 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH 900 patients. We have turned out over 750 thoroughly and positively cured. Unfortunately, ninety-five per cent, at least of our patients are foreigners and know nothing about the English language. Now I think, in order to fit a man in this country to make him a breadwinner, outside of doing manual labor, he ought to know the rudiments of English. If I can get the assistance, I am go- ing to start, in our Hospital, a school with someone to teach our patients how to read and write and speak the English language They can do all that by the time they get cured of con- sumption, and when ready to be discharged they will be fitted to go out in the world and understand. Another point is that of starting a loan association under the auspices of the Hospital at Denver. I believe that fifty or sixty per cent, of the patients that we turn out of the Hospital who are cured, if they could find some sort of work in Denver or in Southern California or New Mexico or a portion of Texas, or through that zone if they had some good employment and could stay out there and make a living, could not merely live and be healthy, but they could send back to the cities to Phila- delphia, New York or Chicago or wherever it might be for their families and support them, and be not alone healthy but happy. I am satisfied that I am going to start that loan asso- ciation for the Denver Hospital. I have worthy patients who ought to want to go into some little business or who can start some little farm something from which he or she can make a living. We are going to keep them there and assist them to do so. THE PRESIDENT: I trust when the Denver Hospital people start that loan association they will not forget that the Russian Jews in America are the ones that have had the most successful, best managed, best systemized loan association of which we know anything. MRS. SERAPHINE PISKO, Denver: I just want to say a word about the care of incurable consumptives. I consider it very important. While I 'personally have been very closely con- nected with a hospital that is intended to aid the work of cur- ing consumptives, I have never for one moment forgotten the NATIONAL CONFERENCE OP JEWISH CHARITIES. 243 great importance of taking care of incurable consumptives. I believe that that is a work that we have not even begun to do in this country, although a great deal has been said and a great deal has been done in that direction. I believe, furthermore, that it would be an absurdity to say we are going to send every incurable consumptive to Colorado, to Texas, to Arizona or to Nevada ; but I say that every city and every State has a duty a sacred duty toward its incurable consumptives, and the sooner every city and State will take up that question, the sooner we are going to begin to touch the problem the real problem of tuberculosis. In the sanatorium out west we can help a few persons, and we can do a great educational work with those few persons, because we can send them home with a lot of knowledge as to how tuberculosis patients may prevent the spread of the disease; but we cannot begin to think of caring for the incurables, and we cannot begin to permit all of the cities and all af the States to empty their incurable tuberculosis patients into those Western States. Now, it seems to me that this is what the members of this Convention ought to agitate in their homes : Every city that is big enough ought to have a sanatorium for incurable consumptives. I say it is your duty to take care of them at home, and when you send them away from home, knowing they are incurable, you are shifting responsibility ; you are shirking a duty. It is your duty to take care of incurable consumptives, and your duty to have provided places to take care of incurable consumptives. When you send them away because you want to be rid of them you are doing a crime. Yon must not shift that responsibility. You have got to do the work at home, and you have got to have local sanato- ria for incurable consumptives. Make them as comfortable as you can. Put the sanatoria in the country, if you will, but, for Heaven's sake, don't attempt to send all incurable con- sumptives to some small community out West and to communi- ties already overburdened. DR. S. SOLIS COHEN, Philadelphia: We have heard several parts of the truth set forth by several speakers, each one setting forth that particular truth which he had in mind very earn- estly. Now these truths are not conflicting. They make up 244 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH part of the great truth which we have to consider in this very complicated problem. When one gazes for a long time at a small, bright object he becomes hypnotized. There is nothing brighter than the truth, and if you gaze for a long while at one small, bright vista of truth you become hypnotized and blind to all the rest of the light, and therefore any man is to be pardoned if he comes before a gathering like this and sets forth his con- tribution to the subject in a very earnest and enthusiastic way, even though he is blind to the rest of it. Now this problem of tuberculosis is so enormous that one needs to look over the statistics for some time to find out how enor- mous it is. The statistics are very imperfect the statistics of morbidity of tuberculosis the number of cases actually exist- ing at any one time anywhere are absolutely inadequate. For example, I had a talk with President Abbott of the Bureau of Health to.-day, and he gave me some figures from the reports to that bureau. For example, in the whole year 1904 there were only reported 2,594 cases; in the year 1905 there were only re- ported 2,703 cases; in four months of the year 1906 there have been reported 2,085 cases as many eases in four months as were reported in previous years. That does not mean that tu- berculosis is on the increase; it means that since January 1 the physicians, have been reporting. A great deal of the trouble in reporting cases is due to unwillingness. If you take the sta- tistics for 1906 in the city of Philadelphia as correct (and in my judgment it is only about half the number of actual cases) but, assuming it to be true that there were 2,085 new cases of tuberculosis developed in the city of Philadelphia in three months of the present year assuming that the average will con- tinue throughout the year (as it has been pretty steady for those months), that would mean about 8,000 new cases reported in the city of Philadelphia in one year. Now, the average life of cases of tuberculosis under all circumstances, treated, untreated, neglected and otherwise, is about four years. That means that for every new case reported there are three other cases in exist- ence, giving some 25,000 cases of consumption existing in the city of Philadelphia at the present time. To extend that pro- portion throughout the United States would not be fair, because in the country conditions are better, but multiplying 25,000 not NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 245 by seventy to make seventy millions against the million and half in Philadelphia, but multiply only by fifty and see what an enormous number of consumptives exists. Say that only one tenth of these need charitable care, you have a hundred thou- sand persons in the United States needing assistance because they are afflicted with tuberculosis. Now, each one of these persons needs to have spent upon him at least $500 in a year, to say nothing of taking care of his dependents, and that makes the enormous sum of $50,000,000 in a year which it is neces- sary to raise if charitable institutions are going to han- dle at all the problem of the dependence of the sick, to say nothing of the still larger problem of prevention ; so that it takes everybody to work, and everybody to work in every way he can. But the prevention of the disease, as has been said here, is much more important than the care even of the suffering. Moses has been alluded to, and Moses had to let a generation die in the wilderness before he could take the people into the prom- ised land. We have to look at these problems after all not al- together in a sympathetic way but in a cold-blooded way. It is necessary to care properly for the sick; it is much more im- portant to see what can be done in the way of prevention. Even if the old generation dies out, let the new generation have a chance to live. Now I was very glad to hear several of the papers allude to the fact that the treatment of tuberculosis was largely socio- logical. I am not a sociologist, but I will go further and say that the problem of prevention is entirely an economic question, tf the economists will solve the problem of poverty, tuberculosis will disappear. The prevention of tuberculosis depends upon two things low rents and high wages. Now that is the way to prevent tuberculosis in the coming generations. Make it possi- ble for the present generation to have low rents and higher wages. It is a housing problem ; it is a nourishing problem, and you have to solve that. Just think; it has been said here that there is provision in the whole of the United States at the pres- ent time for 8,000 tuberculosis patients, and there were 2,000 new cases reported in the city of Philadelphia in the first three months of the year, and then talk about your accommodations ! You have got to look at the largeness of the problem, and you have to take 246 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH it at its root. Tubercle bacilli can come and go and do no harm to a perfectly healthy man unless injected into his veins. Someone said years ago in 1830, I think it is impossible to learn how to make a consumptive man well, but that by learning to pursue the opposite course we may prevent it, and he told his pupils how to make a man consumptive. He said: "Let him dwell in the damp, dark and dirt; let him be poorly nourished; let him be harassed and worried and let him not know from day to day where a living is coming from or how his children are to be taken care of, and you will make him a consumptive. Take him out in the air and light, feed him, give him a chance to work in the free open air and he will not become consumptive. ' ' That is just as true after the discussion as before the discussion on tuberculosis. If you say we want to prevent consumption, you have got to study how to make rents low so that people can have plenty of space, so that we won't have over-crowded tenements; so that we won't have ten families living, as we do in Philadel- phia, in a house not big enough for two. When you say to a consumptive, ' ' Sleep in a room by yourself and keep all windows open" and that man has to sleep with six others a wife and children you might just as well talk Choctaw. We are doing as Napoleon did. You know how he drove with his cannons that broke through the ice. Organized society is driving mil- lions into the waters of consumption; then we put out in boats and say, "Take thousands." Now, then, coming down to palliation. I want to heartily endorse what was said about the local sanatoria. If Ave must only palliate and cannot prevent, then we have to take care of those who cannot take care of themselves and who cannot be taken care of by their families and who are sources of danger to the whole community. We have to take care of them, and we have to take care of them in Philadelphia, if we are Philadel- phians; if we are New Yorkers, in New York. They should never be sent away from home. I consider it criminal to send or to invite advanced cases of consumption to Denver or any other climatic city. You have got to begin the care at home, and properly, and there must be large provision. Now. I am not a socialist, but I realize facts, and the only concern thai NATIONAL CONFERENCE OP JEWISH CHARITIES. 247 can provide the means to take care of poor consumptives at home is the State. "We must be willing to tax ourselves to do it. We can buy proper buildings and lands and prevent some of the over-crowding that now increases the number of consumptives and now makes hopeless the attempt to take care of advanced eases in their surroundings. We have got to invoke the power of the State to suppress nuisances if we cannot do it in any other constitutional way. We must blow up by dynamite, if we can- not do it in any other way, some of the back to back houses and rear-court houses and the like, as they did in San Francisco to stop the spread of the fire. Consumption is as bad, practically, as fire, and we can use the same measure to prevent it. If land- lords won't consent, landlords must be made to see their duty, and the State must exercise the right. I stand subject to cor- rection by better authority. THE PRESIDENT: Judicially and as layman, the chair is en- tirely in accord. DR. COHEN: Now, then, as Jews, with the problem of the Jewish consumptive, what are we going to do? If we are go- ing to take advanced consumptives and put them in places where there are conditions in beds where they can have a chance to recover (which sometimes occurs even in advanced cases), we have to recognize that the poor Jew wants to respect the dietary laws, and whether we strictly observe the dietary laws or do not. we have got to have our dietary laws observed in our hospitals and homes, and if anybody says that perfectly proper food for a consumptive patient cannot be fed with strict regard to the dietary law, I say that man is mistaken. Now I say that from study and experience as a physician not merely as a Jew. There are several other problems brought up here. I do not want to take too long a time, and I will conclude with reference to only one, of which I made a note, and that is this: It has been well said that after you get a man cured (speaking now of incipient and advanced cases not too far advanced cases) after you get a man cured and the disease arrested, or whatever it may be, and you send him back into the same conditions out of which he came, it simply means that it is like pulling a man out of the water, drying him. feeding him. clothing him. and tumbling him 248 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH back into the water again. You have got to have an industrial sanatorium, and you have to further such broad, magnanimous projects as that which we have heard to-night the proposed loan association, by which people can be set up on their feet and enabled to earn their living, and the only place that consump- tives can earn a living is out of doors in the sunshine in the open air. DR. Louis JURIST, Philadelphia : It appears to me that it is not any longer the duty of the physician to cure or prevent tubercu- losis. The medical profession is the only profession in the world that is constantly busy trying to rob itself of its own work its bread and butter and showing the people how. It is not any more the function of the doctor to-day to cure tuberculosis ; it is the business of the State. It is very well to establish sanatoriums and send patients there, and very well to provide for advanced cases, but as long as men are willing to make thousands of dol- lars in renting tenement houses, housing people by the hun- dred and making cases right along for the doctor, what is the doctor going to do? I may do all I can, I may take care pri- vately; is there any definite result that I can see? None at all. It would be far wiser to put it in a different way if men of wealth were to devote a certain portion of money to the preven- tion of disease and not, in years afterward, to the cure of cases which they or other people have made. As soon as people rec- ognize their duties toward their fellow man, tuberculosis will then be a thing of the past. NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 249 BUSINESS SESSION. THE PRESIDENT: We now come to the matter of unfinished business. The Committee on Resolutions has presented a series of resolutions which I take the liberty of reading to you, and on which action will be taken seriatim. The first is "Inasmuch as the meetings are biennial, the Executive Com- mittee is requested to continue the work between sessions more actively than has heretofore been done by publication of pam- phlets and correspondence with those communities which may seem to offer fields for greater or better activity." Resolution adopted. Second : ' ' The Executive Committee is hereby directed to ap- point a standing committee of three on Desertion, with a view to carrying into practical execution the suggestions of Dr. Prankel, and to secure the co-operation therein of the constitu- ent organizations." Resolution adopted. Third: "The Executive Committee is hereby directed to ap- point a standing committee of five on Statistics and Uniform Reports, with a view to the establishment of uniform records by all of our constituent organizations, not only as to relief but as to all branches of organized work and their careful tabulation so as to throw light on Jewish problems." Resolution adopted. Fourth: "The Executive Committee is hereby directed to appoint again a Committee on the Placing-out of Children, with a view to the further study and prosecution of this work, es- pecially as it may be secured by interurban co-operation." Resolution adopted. Fifth: We recommend the adoption of the following resolu- tion offered from the floor: "Whereas, it has been reported to members of this Conference that unscrupulous labor agents in the large Eastern cities are sending Russian immigrants to in- terior points on false promises of large pay and light work; 250 PROCEEDINGS OP THE FOURTH Therefore, be it resolved, That this Conference requests its Executive Committee carefully to investigate this matter, and. if proved, to apply such remedial measures as will tend to stop such a great wrong said to be practiced against our co-reli- gionists. ' ' Resolution adopted. Sixth: We recommend the adoption of the following resolu- tion offered from the floor by Mrs. Landsberg : "Resolved, That the National Conference of Jewish Charities request the National Conference of Charities and Correction to recommend uniform legislation for all States and Territories, providing that when children are committed to public institu- tions the parents shall be compelled to contribute to the extent of their ability toward the maintenance of such children. ' ' Resolution adopted. Seventh: "The Executive Committee is, hereby empowered, if it be deemed advisable by it, to establish a separate section of this Conference for superintendents and other executive em- ployees of relief associations with a view to securing closer co- operation and interchange of information and experience in the practical relief work. ' ' Resolution adopted. Eighth: "The Executive Committee is hereby directed to appoint again a Committee on Membership." MR. BERNARD GINSBURG: I want to say one thing about the Committee on Membership. I happened to have the privilege of being Chairman of that Committee last year. One thing I found useful and that is that members themselves can aid the Committee. I found in the correspondence I had to undertake that quite a few cities in the neighborhood of the place I wanted as members had some persons there that could have been of some assistance to the Committee. We were very unsuccessful in getting assistance in most cases. I suggest to the members that this Conference needs membership; we need it more to-day than we ever did because of the growth of the Industrial Removal Office work. We need the assistance of every community in the country that has a Jewish Charity Organization. We especially NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 251 find, in our experience, the smaller cities doing the dumping act, passing persons from one town to the other without regard to the size and whether they are wanted or not. The smaller towns ought to be induced to join in the co-operation with the larger city. Resolution adopted. Ninth: "The Executive Committee is hereby directed to print a report of the Proceedings of the Conference, and in de- termining the number of copies, to take into consideration the advisability of distributing the same to non-members of com- munities as well as to the members. ' ' Resolution adopted. Tenth: "The Executive Committee, acting either alone or in conjunction with other organizations or individuals, is hereby au- thorized to appoint a committee whose members, without expense to this Conference, are to visit Russia and such other places as may be deemed desirable for the purpose of studying conditions surrounding Jewish immigration and the causes influencing its destination. On the report of such Committee the Executive Committee is authorized, either alone or with others, to call an international Jewish Conference to consider the same, and 10 take such action as may be deemed desirable." Resolution adopted. THE PRESIDENT : The last resolution will be deferred at pres- ent. The report of the Committee on Nominations is in order. MR. HERZBERG: Mr. President: Without making speeches I desire to report, on behalf of the Committee on Nominations, the following officers for the National Conference of Jewish Charities for a term of two years : President, Nathan Bijur, New York. First Vice-President, Bernard Ginsburg, Detroit. Second Vice-President, Mrs. B. Eckhouse, Indianapolis. Secretary, Solomon Lowenstein, New York. Treasurer, Bernard Greensfelder. St. Louis. The Executive Committee in addition to the three former Presidents of this Conference : Dr. Jacob Hollander, Baltimore ; 252 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH Mat-tin A. Marks, Cleveland; Mrs. Benjamin Andrews, Boston; Samuel Fleisher, Philadelphia; V. H. Kriegshaber, Atlanta. THE PRESIDENT: You have heard the report of the Nominat- ing Committee, what is your pleasure? MR. G. S. ROSENBERG: I move that it be accepted as read, Mr. President, and that the Secretary be directed to cast the ballot for the members of this Conference. Motion is carried unanimously. THE PRESIDENT: I regret exceedingly that I cannot intro- duce to you my successor, than whom you could not have chosen a better or worthier representative of the American Jews for the high honor of President of this National Conference. Permit the chairman to say in conclusion that he is deeply indebted to the members of this Conference for the totally undeserved honor that was conferred upon him, for he had never done such work in connection with American Jewish philanthropic affairs as had been done by his two predecessors or as has been done by his successor. The work of the Executive Committee has not been particularly active, except that of the Membership Committee, of which the present and the future Vice-President was chair- man. They have been extremely active and successful, and the highest credit is due Mr. Ginsburg, the chairman, and the other members of that Committee for the work done by them. To the delegates for their continuous attendance at these con- ferences the officers are extremely grateful. They feel that you have approved of the programs submitted. They have endeav- ored to prepare a program that would permit a presentation of the present problems of Jewish philanthropy to you. They have endeavored to call particularly to your attention the problems of preventive philanthropy, of which we have heard so much during all of the sessions particularly in the matter referred to to-night the tuberculosis question. But in all these matters of Jewish philanthropy we must all consider the great problems of prevention in order that our successors the future generations may be spared the problems of palliation that have troubled us for so long. Most of these problems, as the chairman said before, are not Jewish problems. The one underlying question NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 253 the question that has been uppermost in all of our thoughts, but on which no specific paper has been presented the question of immigration, is not, as the chairman said before, a Jewish, but it is an American problem, in which the Jews are vitally in- terested. It is a problem that will come before the National Conference of Charities and Correction. At the last session of this great body in Portland, Oregon, the sentiment was almost unanimously one way, and that way the right way the way that we want to see this country go the same way that prevailed in the great immigration conference last December in New York. The question will again come be- fore the Conference of Charities and Corrections. I do not know in what direction the report this time will tend; it may tend in the other direction. It behooves us, not as Jews but as Americans, to engage in the discussion of this problem when- ever and wherever it arises. I assume that we are liberal in our views on the question. Our training, our guiding principles, both as Jews and as Americans, ought to make us liberal. We ought to be the last ones to cry out that the doors should be closed. They were open to us; they were open to our ancestors. We are enjoying those great benefits that might have been de- nied to each one of us if the policy that some are attempting to get Congress to enact had prevailed fifty, sixty, seventy-five or a hundred years ago. Don't let us, of all American citizens, be false to our past false to our guiding principles from any mo tive; particularly don't let us be false from motives of selfish- ness. We have a burden in connection with this immigration problem we have a heavy burden, but we have a greater duty far greater than any burden that' will ever be put upon us. Let us face that duty manfully: let us bear all burdens that may justly be thrown upon us; but let us see to it that the oppressed of all lands, politically, religiously or otherwise, may find peace and rest and the opportunity to found a home in this free country which we claim as our own, and let us not forget that it is not only from their standpoint that we ask this, but that we ask it as Americans from Americans' standpoint. America, rich beyond dreams in re- sources, is as yet but thinly populated. We can support gen- eration upon generation of immigrants if they be rightly di- 254 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH rected and if, when they come here, those upon whom a duty rests to guide them will be true in the performance of that duty. America needs the immigrant just as much as the immigrant needs America. Don't let us try to apologize for the coming of these people, but let us stand forth manfully and say we want the immigrants in this country. There is a place for them. The country needs them, and therefore let them be ever welcome 4 . We cannot enforce our ideas in this respect unless we partici- pate in the National Conference of Charities. That great or- ganization holds its opening session to-morrow night; those ses- sions last a week. Many of them, entirely apart from the im- migration question, are of the greatest interest to us, for most of our questions are not Jewish they belong to all. We ought not to separate; we ought to engage fully with the others in all affairs that are common to us all. We ought to engage in the work; we ought to participate in the study and in the discus- sions. The matter of joining the Conference is very simple ; the only fee is two dollars and a half, unless you want to become supporting members at ten dollars a year. For that you have all the privileges of the Conference and receive a bound volume of the proceedings. It is worth your while and you will be do- ing a good work in addition. Let me say again what I said in the opening address, that for those of you who want to keep abreast of the times in the progress of the philanthropic movements of the world, there is one indispensable magazine a magazine that comes to me every Monday, and which I endeavor, before I do anything else, to read through from beginning to end, and I as- sure you no document comes into my hands (and I receive a great many of all kinds) that is so highly interesting, so ex- tremely instructive as "Charities and The Commons," into which our "Jewish Charity" has been merged. It costs only $2 a year; they need larger subscriptions. Do not fail to sub- scribe for yourselves, and do not fail when you go to your homes to influence your friends to become subscribers, both for what they are going to get out of it and for the good that the in- creased subscription is going to do the general cause. I am told the number of May 19 is going to be a special number on this, our Conference of Jewish Charities; for this reason alone it de- NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 255 serves your support; it deserves it, however, for much greater and weightier reasons. And now before putting the last resolution with which only the delegates from outside Philadelphia have to do, permit me to express my deep personal obligations to the Jews of Philadel- phia for their extreme kindness and their generous hospitality. Let me assure them that I voice but the sentiments of all when I say that this Conference has been most delightful ; that we have enjoyed ourselves immensely in Philadelphia. We go away from here with pleasure and with profit; our sojourn has been in every way a most delightful one. The last resolution is: "Resolved, That the thanks of this Conference be and the same are hereby tendered to the local committees, the citizens of Philadelphia, and the officers of the Jewish institutions, for their united efforts and warm hospitality have made our stay among them a source of great pleasure. ' ' In using the word "institutions" there are, of course, included the Synagogue, the Club, and the other institutions that offered us the use of their rooms. I call for a rising vote of the non-residents of Philadelphia in favor of this resolution. The resolution is unanimously adopted. MR. MARTIN MARKS : Mr. Chairman : I feel that it would be unjust to you and to the officers who have presided and who have conducted the affairs of tins' organization the last two years more especially to you if there was not some expres- sion from the members of appreciation of your excellent ser- vices. It has been my pleasure to have watched your career, and I am glad that the people of the United States the Jews of the United States have become better acquainted with you, and that you have become a national character among the Jews. I say this because I feel it and mean it, and those who know me know I never make any remarks unless I do mean them. I feel it is right and proper that we should give our expression here of thanks to you by rising vote for the excellent manner in which 256 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH you have presided over this Conference and for the services that you have done in a judicial manner. Vote carried unanimously. THE PRESIDENT: The chairman expresses his gratitude to the members of the Conference for this additional honor conferred upon him, and now, unless there is some further business to come before the Conference, this Conference is hereby adjourned with- out day. NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 257 APPENDIX A. REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON MEMBERSHIP. To the President and fellow members of the National Conference of Jewish Charities in the United States assembled: Your special Committee on Membership, appointed by the president during the past year, has endeavored to make a thor- ough canvass of the entire country. The replies to the first circular, with an enclosed printed envelope addressed to the chairman, were very meager. It was found necessary to repeat the sending out of circulars, and in the majority of the cases a personal communication was also sent asking for the courtesy of some reply. The answers showed such a painful lack of knowl- edge as to the intents and purposes of this organization that a large correspondence had to be kept up to explain in detail why the National Conference is an exceedingly important organiza- tion. The printed reports of our last Conference were sent with our later correspondence and proved very effective literature. As a result we take great pleasure in reporting twenty-five new members : National Council of Jewish Women. Altoona, Pa United Hebrew Charities. Bloomington, 111 Jewish Ladies' Aid Society. Chicago, 111 Associated Jewish Charities. Colorado Springs, Colo Hebrew Benevolent Society. Cumberland, Md Beer Chayim Congregation. Dayton, Ohio Dayton Provident Union. El Paso, Texas Mt. Sinai Congregation. Fort Wayne, Ind Hebrew Relief Union. C4alveston, Texas Hebrew Benevolent Society. Ithaca, N. Y J. Rothschild. Hot Springs, Ark Hot Springs Relief Society. Lincoln, Neb Jewish Ladies' Aid Society. Memphis, Tenn Hebrew Ladies' Relief Assn. Niagara Falls, N. Y Ladies' Hebrew Ben. Society. Norfolk, Va Ladies' Hebrew Ben. Society. Phoenix, Ariz S. Oberf elder. 258 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH Pine Bluff, Ark Portsmouth, Ohio Braddock, Pa Reading, Pa Waco, Texas Youngstown, Ohio Chicago, 111 Philadelphia, Pa The following cities still and may join : Stockton, Cal. Jacksonvile, Fla. Augusta, Ga. Columbus, Ga. Springfield, Mass. Worcester, Mass. Grand Rapids, Mich. Kalamazoo, Mich. Correspondence was also without any results : ALABAMA. Demopolis. Eufaula. Selma. ARIZONA. Solomonville. Temple. Tucson. ARKANSAS. Helena. COLORADO. Leadville. Pueblo. CONNECTICUT. Hartford. FLORIDA. Pensacola. Tallahassee. Tampa. . . . .Hebrew Relief Association. Ladies' Aid Society. . . . . Braddock Lodge, 516, I.O.B.B. . . . .Ladies' Hebrew Aid Society. . . . .Hebrew Benevolent Society. . . . .Youngstown Hebrew Char. Sec. Bureau of Personal Service. . . . .Jewish Hospital. have the question under advisement Meridian, Miss. Elmira, N. Y. Akron, Ohio. Washington, Pa. Sumter, South Carolina. Ogden, Utah. Winnipeg, Manitoba. had with the following organizations GEORGIA. Albany. Athens. Macon. ILLINOIS. Quincy. Rock Island. Springfield. INDIANA. Goshen. South Bend. Wabash. IOWA. Davenport. Sioux City. KENTUCKY. Paducah. NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 259 LOUISIANA. Alexandria. Lafayette. Baton Rouge. Lake Charles. Morgan City. Shreveport. MARYLAND. Hagerstown. MASSACHUSETTS. Fall River. Lawrence. Lynn. Pittsfield. MISSISSIPPI. Canton. Jackson. Port Gibson. MICHIGAN. Battle Creek. Hancock. Jackson. Lansing. Muskegon. Traverse City. MINNESOTA. Duluth. MONTANA. Helena. NEBRASKA. Omaha. NEW JERSEY. New Brunswick. NEW HAMPSHIRE. Manchester. NEW MEXICO. Las Vegas. NEW YORK. Brooklyn. Glovers ville. Poughkeepsie. Schenectady. Troy. Utica. Yonkers. NORTH DAKOTA. Fargo. Grand Forks. OHIO. Sandusky. OKLAHOMA. Oklahoma City. PENNSYLVANIA. Beaver Falls. Connellsville. Easton. Erie. Greensburg. Johnstown. McKeesport. Meadville. Pottsville. Titusville. Uniontown. Williamsport. York. RHODE ISLAND. Providence. Newport. SOUTH CAROLINA. Columbia. Orangeburg. SOUTH DAKOTA. Deadwood. 260 PROCEEDINGS OP THE FOURTH TEXAS. WISCONSIN. Marshall. Appleton. Texarkana. Eau Claire. VIRGINIA. Green Bay. Petersburg. LaCrosse. WEST VIRGINIA. Merrill. Charleston. Racine. Hnntington. Waukesha. Wausau. We can best summarize our correspondence with the following recommendations : 1. The Committee on Membership should be made a per- manent one and the work should be kept up aggressively, for the larger our membership the more power we have for effective work and all will gain by the interchange of views and ideas. Our country is growing, the number of immigrants is increasing, and all communities must be enlisted to aid in problems that are no longer local. 2. There should be a Committee on Propaganda, whose pur- . pose should be educational, not conflicting with the Committee on Membership. There is such a lack of knowledge in many of our cities on the modern methods of charity work that one is almost tempted to suggest that tracts on charity questions by specialists ought to be printed and distributed broadcast throughout the land. If this committee could arrange so that the smaller cities could have the aid and advice of the experienced workers in the larger cities neighboring to them, it would do much to bring about results which many of our smaller communities are anxious to secure. There is a large field for this committee. 3. A much larger number of our reports should be printed and sent to all the cities where there are Jewish charity organiza- tions of any kind, whether they are members of the Conference or not. 4. The recommendation made by our president that the con- stituent societies of federated organizations should be members, even where the federated society is now a member, but the dues NATIONAL CONFERENCE OP JEWISH CHARITIES. 261 of these members be not as large as the present regular fees ; in this way we have the co-operation and interest of the individual organizations as well as the federated societies. In conclusion we wish to thank all who have aided us in our work either by personal attention or otherwise. Kespectfully submitted, BERNARD GINSBURG, Chairman. BORIS BOGEN. I. L. LEUCHT. 262 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH APPENDIX B. REPORT CONCERNING SUFFERING JEWS IN SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE AND FIRE. Philadelphia, May 6th, 1906. In response to appeals for aid, received from representatives of the Jewish community of San Francisco, to assist in the im- mediate relief of destitution caused by the earthquake and fire in that city and to provide means for the rehabilitation of indi- viduals and families who had lost all their means of livelihood through the calamity, a meeting was called by President Julian W. Mack, of the National Conference of Jewish Charities at th>3 Hotel Bellevue-Stratford, Philadelphia, on Sunday morning. May 6th, 1906. There were present a large number of persons prominently connected with the charitable organizations of the leading cities of the country, and after a full discussion it was resolved that Dr. Lee K. Frankel of the United Hebrew Charities of New York City, and Dr. J. L. Magnes, Rabbi-elect of Temple Eananu-El of New York, be appointed a Committee of the National Conference of Jewish Charities to proceed to San Francisco to investigate the conditions existing there, and after such investigation to report to the President of the National Conference of Jewish Charities concerning the advisability of issuing a general appeal to the Jews of the United States for the relief of the Jewish community of San Francisco. The Committee at once went to San Francisco and after full investigation submitted the follow- ing report : REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE TO INQUIRE INTO THE CONDITION OF THE JEWISH SUFFERERS FROM THE SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE. Mr. Nathan Bijur, President National Conference of Jewish Charities. SIR : The undersigned beg to present herewith their report as the Committee appointed by the Executive Committee of the National Conference of Jewish Charities on May 6th, 1906, to ascertain the requirements of the Jewish community of San Francisco, as a result of the earthquake which visited that city on April 18th, 1906. This Committee was appointed under the following resolu- tion adopted by the Executive Committee on the above mentioned date: NATIONAL CONFERENCE OP JEWISH CHARITIES. 263 "RESOLVED, That the Executive Committee of the National Conference of Jewish Charities be authorized to ascertain the requirements of the Jewish community of San Francisco, both as to its general future needs and as to the work of re-construction and support of institutions, and when ascertained, that the National Conference of Jewish Charities submit the facts to rep- resentatives of the entire Jewish community for the purpose of raising the necessary funds, should funds be required." In pursuance of this resolution, we left New York on Mon- day, May 7th, 1906, arriving in Oakland on Friday, May lltli,. 1906. On the same evening, we had an interview with the Rev. Dr. Jacob Voorsanger of San Francisco. Among other things, Dr. Voorsanger expressed his opinion that the officers of the official Jewish Relief Committee of San Francisco had as yet been unable to gather any statistical information regarding the damage which had been incurred by the Jewish community of that city or of the number of families that had been rendered homeless. Dr. Voorsanger was, however, of the opinion that there were at least 10,000 homeless Jews in San Francisco and that a relief fund of at least $30,000 to $40.000 would have to be raised from the Jews of the United States. On Saturday morning, May 12th, in company with Dr. Ed- ward T. Devine of the National Red Cross, and Dr. Voorsanger. we visited the various camps in San Franscisco. At the Camp at Bay and Van Ness Avenue, there were no Jews. At Camp No. 2 in Harrison Square we found 5 families of Jews. In the Camp at San Bruno Road, approximately 600 Jews were being fed. At the Camp in Golden Gate Park.Miss Nettie Pawson, the manager, estimated that she had approximately 400 Jews in charge. In- spection on our part of the various tents and shacks in these camps confirmed these figures. In the afternoon we had a conference with the Executive Committee of the Jewish Relief Committee, composed of repre- sentatives of the Jewish Board of Relief, the Independent Order B 'nai Brith, and others. At this meeting, we reported that one of us (Dr. Frankel) had interviewed Dr. Edward T. Devine, the Special Representative of the National Red Cross, and had ob- tained from him a statement to the effect that in his opinion the Finance Committee of the Relief and Red Cross Funds would ultimately deem it necessary to appropriate a considerable por- tion of the Relief and Red Cross Funds for rc-habilitation pur- poses, along non-sectarian lines, and that therefore there would probably be no need for a special Jewish Fund for purposes of re- habilitation. We informed the Committee that from the in- spection of the camps which Are had made we were of the opinion 264 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH that there was no need of a special fund for the immediate relief of Jewish sufferers. This was conceded by the Executive Com- mittee. The question of support for communal institutions was next considered. It was held by the members of the Committee that the Orphan Asylum, the Old Folks' Home and Mt. Zion Hospital required no outside support. The various relief societies, com- prised in the Hebrew Board of Relief, had expended in the last year about $40,000. The Committee was of the opinion : 1. That the annual income would be reduced 75 per cent. 2. That the amount needed for the coming year for relief purposes would be at least double. 3. That the reserve funds of the various relief societies would be available at once and could be applied for relief pur- poses. In the opinion of Mr. Albert Meyer, the Treasurer, these funds amounted to about $90,000. The Committee was not agreed, in view of the statement and facts presented, whether a general appeal to the Jews of the United States should be made, and finally adjourned, after having adopted the following reso- lutions : "RESOLVED, That this Committee communicate by telegram with the United Hebrew Charities of New York, requesting them to permit Dr. Lee K. Frankel to remain in this city and to assist this Committee in its Avork of reorganization." "FURTHERMORE RESOLVED, That Drs. Frankel and Magnes be requested to procure more definite information than they now possess, as to what disposition will be made of the Relief and Red Cross Funds in the matter of re-habilitation. In order to obtain more information respecting the condition of Jews in the various camps, one of us (Dr. Magnes) visited the various camps in Oakland on Sunday, May 13th, 1906, and from information which he had gathered, was of the opinion that about 200 Jewish families, refugees from south of Market Street. San Francisco, were housed in Oakland and its environs. Tem- porary provision for these was being made by the Relief and Red Cross Funds and by the local Jewish community. The other (Dr. Frankel) in company with Dr. Devine, visited the Camp in San Bruno Park, near the town of San Mateo, and the towns of Santa Clara, Palo Alto, Redwood City and San Jose. In none of these places could any number of Jewish sufferers be found. On Monday, May 14th, we conferred with various members of the Hebrew Board of Relief and other representatives of the community. Mr. Ascheim, Grand Secretary of District No. 4. NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF JEWISH CHARITIES. 265 I. 0. B. B., informed us that $14,000 had been received from various lodges throughout the country, for relief of the members of the Order. In an interview with Dr. M. S. Levy, of the Geary Street Temple, we were informed that his synagogue, which was almost completed, was destroyed by the earthquake with a loss of $60,000. He was of the opinion, as was every one, that the time was not appropriate to ask aid for synagogues destroyed. On the basis of 300 Jewish interments during the year, Dr. Levy estimated the Jewish population of San Francisco to have been 20,000, of whom no less than 5,000 lived south of Market Street, where the more recent immigrants had settled. This estimate was at variance with those usually made, which range up to 35,000 Jews living in the city of San Francisco and up to 12,000 living in the section south of Market Street. In the afternoon we interviewed Mr. P. N. Lilienthal, of the Anglo-California Bank, who was of the opinion that no special fund for the relief and rehabilitation of Jews was needed. Mr. Lilienthal was of the impression that opportunities for em- ployment were as good for Jews as they were for others, and that the general fund would be distributed equitably. Further inspection of the camps in the Protrero Road and other places on Tuesday morning, May 15th, confirmed our origi- nal impression that no special immediate relief fund for Jews was needed. In the afternoon we again met with the Executive Committee of the Jewish Relief Committee, at which one of us (Dr. Frankel) presented a letter from Dr. Devine, the special representative of the National Red Cross, giving the result of a conference which he had had with Mr. James D. Phelan, Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Relief and Red Cross Funds. After this letter was read, it was agreed by the Executive Committee that the problem of the support of the relief societies would be met by using the reserve funds of the various societies, and by increased subscriptions, if necessary, from the wealthier element of the community. Resolutions to this effect were adopted. Finally, we were instructed to telegraph to the Executive Committee of the National Conference of Jewish Charities that after careful consultation and consideration of the situation, the Executive Committee of the Jewish Relief Committee had come to the conclusion that no immediate appeal for funds in behalf of the Jewish sufferers in San Francisco was necessary. Respectfully submitted, LEE K. FRANKEL. J. LEON MAGNES. A 000 064 984 8