The Jewish Colonization Association
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Objects.
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Society founded by Baron de Hirsch Sept., 1891, and incorporated at London
under the Companies' Acts of 1862-90, with a capital of £2,000,000,
divided into 20,000 non-dividend-drawing shares of £100 each; Baron de
Hirsch subscribed for 19,993 shares; and Lord Rothschild, Sir Julian
Goldsmid, E. Cassel, F. D. Mocatta, and Benjamin S. Cohen of London, and
S. H. Goldschmidt and Solomon Reinach of Paris for one share each. Before
his death Baron de Hirsch divided his shares among the following
corporations: the synagogue of Brussels and the Jewish communities of
Berlin and Frankfort-on-the-Main, 3,600 shares each; the Anglo-Jewish
Association of London and the Alliance Israélite Universelle of Paris,
4,595 shares each. The purpose of the association is stated in article 3
of its charter as follows: "To assist and promote the emigration of
Jews from any parts of Europe or Asia, and principally from countries in
which they may for the time being be subjected to any special taxes or
political or other disabilities, to any other parts of the world, and to
form and establish colonies in various parts of North and South America
and other countries for agricultural, commercial, and other
purposes." "To establish and maintain or contribute to the
establishment and maintenance in any part of the world of educational and
training institutions, model farms, loan-banks, industries, factories, and
any other institutions or associations which in the judgment of the
council may be calculated to fit Jews for emigration and assist their
settlement in various parts of the world, except in Europe, with power to
contribute to the funds of any association or society already existing or
hereafter formed and having objects which in the opinion of the council
may assist or promote the carrying out of the objects of the
association."
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Originally, the association was to be governed by an administrative
council of six members, but this provision was modified by the general
assembly of 1896. The administrative council now numbers eleven members:
five are appointed directly, one each by the five corporations each
holding, approximately, one-fifth of the capital; the other six are
elected for a period of five years by a vote of the general assembly of
the stockholders, convened once a year. Baron de Hirsch was really the
sole director of the association; only after his death, April, 1896, did
the council of administration enter upon its duties.
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History.
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After the death of his only son, Lucien, Baron de Hirsch conceived the
idea of creating a number of foundations for the purpose of raising the
moral and material status of the Jews of eastern Europe; one of these was
destined for the Russian Jews. Statutes were drawn up and submitted to the
Russian government, which was at first favorably disposed; but it soon
changed its attitude, and Baron de Hirsch decided to devote the money to
philanthropic work outside Europe for the benefit of the oppressed
European Jews.
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Argentine Colonies.
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It was at this time (1889) that Dr. W. Löwenthal, on his return from a
trip to Argentina, suggested to Baron de Hirsch the idea of founding a
colony in that country. On Aug. 20, 1890, a conference was held in Paris
at the residence of Baron de Hirsch, those present including Isidore Loeb,
Michel Erlanger, Dr. W. Löwenthal, C. E. Cullen, Colonel Vanvinkeroy, and
Dr. E. Schwarzfeld. C. E. Cullen, Dr. Löwenthal, and Colonel Vanvinkeroy
were appointed as a commission to visit that country; six months later
they submitted a favorable report, and Dr. Löwenthal was sent to the
Argentine Republic as director, with full powers to make the necessary
preparations for the future Jewish colonists. He was allowed a year's
time; but he had hardly landed at Buenos Ayres when the persecutions in
Russia forced masses of Jews to leave that country (May, 1891). Then, at
the instance of Jewish relief committees, Baron de Hirsch decided to send
a certain number of families to the Argentine Republic at once. But the
land acquired in the provinces of Santa Fé (the Moïseville colony) and
Buenos Ayres (the Mauricio colony) was insufficient for all the
immigrants. Many of them gave up agricultural life, and a change of
management became necessary (Dec., 1891). The new provisional director, A.
Roth, had acquired land in the province of Entre Rios (the colony Clara),
where the overflow from the Mauricio and Moïseville colonies was sent;
but neither Roth nor his successor, Colonel Goldsmid, appointed in 1892,
could overcome the numerous difficulties, especially as the large and
costly staff did not understand the manners and customs of the immigrants;
and the temporary relief which had necessarily been given to the colonists
had demoralized many families.
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Process of Selection.
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Colonel Goldsmid was succeeded March, 1893, by Maxim Kogan, and the latter
by Samuel Hirsch and David Cazès; the undesirable elements were
eliminated, and the monthly relief was cut off. The council now decided to
select colonists in Russia only from such families as desired to be sent
to Argentina. Ten groups, of fifty families each, were accordingly
designated in the province of Bessarabia; some of their members went ahead
to examine the new country and prepare for the remainder: these families
constituted several groups in the Clara colony. At the same time another
group of forty families was selected in the government of Grodno, and was
established at Moïseville, which had been reduced to fifty families in
1893 through the elimination of the undesirable elements. The colonists
were subjected to many trials, losing all their crops through locusts,
heavy rains, drought, and their own inexperience. Hence Baron de Hirsch
decided not to send out any more colonists until those already in the
country were on a firm footing.
Share Certificate of the Jewish Colonial Trust
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Through the death of Baron de Hirsch the Jewish Colonization Association
came into possession of a fund amounting to £6,000,000 ($30,000,000). The
council then decided to extend the work; colonies were successively
founded in North America, the island of Cyprus, Asia Minor, Palestine,
Russia, Rumania, and Galicia, the Jewish Colonization Association also
aiding the Alliance Israélite Universelle and other institutions whose
aims were the same as its own. By an agreement with Baron Edmond de
Rothschild the Jewish Colonization Association, since 1899, has also
assumed the management of the colonies founded by him in Palestine. The
history of the colonies will be found in
Jew-Encyc.
i. 241, s.v.
Agricultural Colonies in the Argentine Republic
; the latest statistics are here added:
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North America.
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In the United States the ICA assists the Baron de Hirsch Fund principally
in aiding the agricultural school at Woodbine, N. J., and the trade-school
at, New York, N. Y. It has been instrumental in consolidating the colonies
of Alliance, Carmel, and Rosenhayn, and has aided individual farmers in
various parts of the country. It has founded, in conjunction with the
Baron de Hirsch Fund, the Jewish Agricultural and Industrial Aid Society,
whose object is to aid Jewish farmers and subvention the Removal Committee
created by this society. Since 1892 the ICA has contributed to the
founding of the Hirsch colony near Assa, Northwest Territories; it has
aided the Baron de Hirsch Institute of Montreal in building and
maintaining a school for the children of Jewish immigrants; and it
contributes to a fund for the aid of immigrants settling in Canada. Since
1901 the Jewish Colonization Association has contributed to the foundation
of a new colony near Qu'Appelle, Assiniboia, N. W. Ter., on land granted
by the Canadian government to families of Rumanian Jews.
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Asia Minor and Palestine.
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In Brazil the association has acquired 3½ square miles of territory in
the province of Rio Grande do Sul, where it proposes to start a colony.
Since 1897 it has contributed to the foundation of a colony (33 persons)
in Cyprus—Margo Tchiflik, near Nicosia, which it at present owns. The
places of the former Russian colonists have been taken almost wholly by
former pupils of the agricultural school of Jaffa |
| In 1899 it acquired, near Smyrna, a tract of land covering 2,587
hectares, naming it" Or Yehudah." An agricultural school was
founded there in Nov., 1900, which has now about fifty pupils. Six Jewish
farmers are also established there, and seventy-six additional persons
take part in the agricultural labors. Aside from the old colonies of Baron
Edmond de Rothschild, of which it has assumed the management, the Jewish
Colonization Association has contributed to the consolidation of the
colonies Wadi el-Ḥanin, Rehoboth, Katra (Gadara), Hederah, and
Mishmar ha-Yarden, and in the district of Tiberias it has exploited an
agricultural tract, known as "Sajara," which is cultivated
exclusively by Jewish laborers. Several of these laborers have also been
established as petty farmers. In order to increase the number of merchants
and artisans in Jerusalem the association has established the following: a
silk-and woolen-mill for purposes of instruction, employing about one
hundred persons; a knitting machine establishment, furnishing machines to
poor families, which pay in monthly instalments; a dyeing establishment,
the complement of the weaving-mill; a working men's quarter, in which
artisans, laborers, and small traders may purchase small houses for a
moderate sum; a bank that loans money on security, with moderate interest,
to artisans, laborers, manufacturers, and small shopkeepers; schools for
teaching girls to make lace and also nets for the hair.
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Galicia and Russia.
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The loan-banks, founded since 1899, constitute the chief work of the
Jewish Colonization Association in Galicia. There are now six of these in
operation—at Brody, Kolomea, Rzeszow, Stanislawow, Tarnow, and
Zalesczyki; and others are contemplated. Each of these institutions is
managed by a council, in conformity with the Austrian laws. By the end of
1902 these banks had altogether 3,912 shareholders with 7,929 shares of 10
kronen each; the loans range from 25 to 400 kronen, repaid in small
monthly instalments. Since their foundation these banks have loaned
altogether 1,197,554.96 kronen. The industrial work of the association
includes: the operation of knitting-mills, furnishing work for about sixty
working women; the doll-factory at Tarnow, which employs one hundred men
and women, and is intended to introduce the manufacture of dolls among the
Galician Jews; the carpenter-shops at Stanislawow and Tarnow, for
instructing boys in trades. In 1899 the association acquired the estate of
Slobodka Lesna, near Kolomea, where it has established an agricultural
school, with seventy pupils and eight carpenter's apprentices (1903). In
Russia the association subventions agricultural, professional, and primary
schools. It aids the Jewish farmers in the different governments,
contributes to the loan-banks, and has established at Dubrovna a
spinning-mill and a society for providing cheap lodging-houses. It has six
agricultural and horticultural schools, with 210 pupils, at Czestoniew,
Minsk, Moghilef-on-the-Dnieper, Novopoltawka, Orgejew, and Orsha. It
supports twenty trade-schools for boys (1,916 pupils), seven trade-schools
for girls (1,547 pupils), and two mixed schools, these schools being
distributed in twenty-seven different localities. The association trains
young men to assume
positions as directors and instructors in its schools. In the interest of
primary instruction it aids the Ḥebrat Marbeh Haskalah (Society for
the Spread of Enlightenment) of St. Petersburg, which subventions
seventy-five schools having a total roll of more than 5,500 pupils. It
aids Jewish farmers by instructing and encouraging them in employing
improved methods in agriculture and fruit-growing; it plants model
gardens, introduces bee-culture and mutual loan-banks, and distributes
farmers' almanacs and pamphlets on agriculture. This work also extends to
Bessarabia and the colonies of the Northwestern Zone and of Kherson. The
association has furthermore been instrumental in forming cooperative
societies among the Jewish artisans at Akkerman, Bairamtcha, Romanowka,
and Tarutino, and advances funds to the loan-banks founded in the cities
for the purpose of aiding especially artisans and small dealers. The
thirteen banks which thus have received funds are situated in localities
having a total Jewish population of 240,000 persons. The banks have
altogether 7,600 shareholders; the average sum loaned is 40 rubles, and in
1902 more than half a million rubles were loaned. Beginning with 1898 the
association has instituted a statistical inquiry into the Jewish
population of Russia in order the better to study its needs; this census
is now completed, and the results have been published.
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Rumania.
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In order to counteract the disastrous results of the laws of 1893 by which
most of the public schools were closed to Jewish children in Rumania, the
Jewish Colonization Association subventions communities and societies
which have established schools. There are thirty-five such schools:
eighteen primary schools for boys, thirteen for girls, two mixed schools,
and two commercial schools, with a total attendance of 4,953 boys and
2,945 girls. It also supports at Bucharest a school for the preparation of
boys for the professions (130 pupils) and another of the same kind for
girls (96 pupils), and has loaned money to about twenty communities for
building school-houses. Since the end of 1899, when the economic crisis,
added to the restrictive laws, forced the Jews to leave Rumania, the
association has systematically organized emigration. It has a
representative at Bucharest and correspondents in all the centers of
emigration. It has aided about 20,000 persons in leaving Rumania, a number
of whom have been settled as colonists in Argentina and Canada.
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In addition to the work mentioned above, the association has assisted a
large number of Jewish institutions and societies in various countries,
especially such as aid emigrants and provide schools. It has also
contributed large sums for colonization in Asia Minor.
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Organization.
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The council of administration is in charge of the work. After the death of
Baron de Hirsch, S. H. Goldschmidt became president; in Oct., 1896, he was
followed by Narcisse Leven; Franz Philippson is vice-president. The other
members of the first council were: Alfred L. Cohen of London (succeeded by
Leonard Cohen), Chief Rabbi Zadoc Kahn of Paris, Charles Hallgarten of
Frankfort-on-the-Main, Georges Kohn of Paris (succeeded by Paul Errera of
Brussels), Dr. Edmond Lachmann of Berlin, Herbert G. Lousada and Claude G.
Montefiore of London, Julius Plotke of Frankfort-on-the-Main (succeeded by
Dr. Julius Blau), and Solomon Reinach of Paris.
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The council is assisted by the directorate in Paris (three members and a
general secretary), where the work of the association is concentrated. In
Russia there is a central committee of ten members under the presidency of
Baron Horace de Günzburg, it is appointed by the council of
administration and approved by the Russian government. There is a general
directorate at Buenos Ayres, with two directors who are in charge of its
affairs in the Argentine Republic. Similarly, in Palestine the work is in
the hands of a general directorate, under one chief director. The work in
Galicia is in the hands of an agency.
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