The Galveston Movement was a program operated between
1907 and 1914 to divert Jews fleeing Russia and eastern Europe away form
crowded East Coast cities. Ten thousand Jewish immigrants passed through
Galveston, Texas during this era, approximately one-third the number who
migrated to Palestine during the same period. New York financier and
philanthropist Jacob Schiff was the driving force behind the effort, which
Schiff supported with nearly $500,000 of his personal funds. B'nai Israel's
Rabbi Henry Cohen was the humanitarian face of the movement, meeting ships at
the Galveston docks and helping guide the immigrants through the cumbersome
arrival and distribution process.1
Read about the Galveston Movement below in two articles that
appeared in Houston's "The Jewish Herald," and learn about the movement and
read the words about the movement as written by Rabbi Henry Cohen.
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DATELINE: November 12, 1908. The Jewish Herald, Houston, Texas.
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The Galveston
Movement.
Movement to Divert Jewish
Immigration from New York is Interesting. |
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The so-called Galveston movement to divert Jewish immigration from New
York to the gulf port has attracted wide attention. The doubt has been as
to the feasibility of the plan. "Wood not the newcomers," it has been
asked, "be dissatisfied in the West and drift back to the Eastern
settlements of their own nationality?" The plan has been effective for a
short time that sufficient data to answer the question positively have not
yet accumulated. Still the experience of one of the most important
distribution centers for the Galveston movement is instructive. Of
approximately 1,000 immigrants who landed in Galveston in the six months
following the establishing of the Jewish Immigrants Information Bureau,
July 1, 1907, about 10 per cent, were sent to Kansas City, where they came
under the care of the United Jewish Charities and of Jacob Billikopf,
superintendent.
An individual record of each of these hundred persons has been kept by
him. It was rarely necessary to furnish board longer than a week at an
individual cost of between five and six dollars Within that time positions
were almost invariably found. The period covered includes the months of
financial depression which made employment uncertain. Mr. Billikopf found
375 jobs for his hundred charges. In most instances positions were lost
through no fault of the employees. Rarely have more than half a dozen men
been out of work at one time, for the West has not been so seriously
affected by the financial depressions as the East.
All sorts of occupations are represented among the immigrants. There
are tailors, shoemakers, bricklayers, tinners, blacksmiths, butchers,
bookkeepers, locksmiths, woodworkers. Wherever possible the men have been
provided with work at their own occupations. In many cases, however, this
has proved impossible and hey have taken whatever offered. At present the
tailors are making the highest wages. In some instances their pay has gone
to $17 and $18 and even $20 a week. Of the eighty-eight persons listed as
at work May 1, forty-eight were receiving wages under $10 a week, with
$5.50 as the minimum. Thirty-six were getting between $10 and $15, and
four were making $15 or more, the maximum being $20.
The record kept at the office of the United Jewish Charities in Kansas
City makes interesting reading. There is W. B., for instance, soapmaker,
who arrived July 1, 1907. He is working in a packing house for $9 a week.
Since his arrival he has saved $175 and has sent for his family in Russia.
N. P., a tailor who is making $16 a week, has saved $100 and expects to
send for his family. I. Z., a laborer in a junk yard at $9 a week, has
sent more than $100 to Russia. M. G., who arrived August 6, out of his
salary of $10.50 a week as a sash and door maker, has saved $100 and has
sent for his oldest daughter from Russia. M. B., an iron worker, on $12 a
week saved $110, and now has taken a small farm.
So it goes down the list, with only two discouraging entries--one man
who was implicated in a theft and left town, and another who is listed as
an undesirable citizen, working only occasionally. But fourteen of the
immigrants, working for the most part at meager wages, are credited with
having saved $1,265 since their arrival in Kansas City.
The movement has not yet attracted the serious attention of the unions,
possibly because it is not on an extensive scale. In one instance it was
found possible to place a cornice worker in a union shop with the
acquiescence of the union's business agent. It was pointed out to him that
the newcomer would probably become sufficiently proficient within a few
weeks to earn the union scale. As soon as he should reach that point the
man promised to take out a card. The agent took the position that it was
better to encourage such a man to enter the union than to force him into
the ranks of the non-union forces. Therefore he consented that he should
work in the shop on probation. Before the expiration of the period
allotted the immigrant was able to join the union. Apparently the
immigrants diverted to the West through Galveston are not going to drift
eastward. At least that is the Kansas City experience. Only half a dozen
of those who have come to Kansas City have left town, and while the
movement has not been of sufficient duration for a test, there seems no
reason to suppose that the new arrivals will not be satisfied with the
opportunities offered in the West. As it is, they are rapidly being
transformed into Americans. The great social service of the organized
Jewish charities in this transformation process is self-evident. If these
Russian Jews, ignorant of the language and with their low standard of
living, were plumped down into the West--into Kansas City, for
instance--with no one to look after them, they would starve for a few days
and then would drift into the ranks of unskilled labor, with the chances
against their ever rising. With the aid of the Charity Organization
Society they are able to start above the poverty level. So they have a
chance to look about with a view to improving their condition. First they
see the need of learning English. This is provided for by the night
schools of the Jewish organization--which ought to be supplanted by public
night schools. And then they begin to look for a better job. A capmaker,
who in Russia had made only a few dollars a month, when he could get work
was started in Kansas City at $10 a week, which soon was raised to $12.
That was opulence, and he lived with the joy of a millionaire until he
made a discovery. Then he went to Mr. Billikopf with a grievance.
"What's the matter?" inquired the superintendent. "Are you getting on all
right?" "Yes," was the reply, "only I have heard that Cohen, who isn't
any better capmaker than I, is getting $18. When she I be getting $18?"
That discontent was the evidence of the Russian capmaker's
Americanization. And that is one of the fruits of the Galveston movement.
-- H. J. Haskell, in Kansas City Star.
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DATELINE: February 5, 1909. The Jewish Herald, Houston, Texas.
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The
Galveston Immigration Movement
BY RABBI HENRY
COHEN |
To dignify the question of Jewish immigration
by the term problem is incorrect, for this country could,
without the least violence to itself, assimilate the world's
Jewish population and then have room for three times that
number, exclusive of the regular quota of other foreign
settlers. With all the recent immigration consequent upon the
brutal persecution in Russia and Roumania, together with the
native-born children of the voluntary immigrants of normal
times, the United States of America has no more than 1,500,000
Jewish residents. The Galveston movement, then, is not the
outcome of a problem, but a question of expediency brought
about by special conditions. To divert Jewish immigration from
the Northern ports, notably New York, where there are about
800,000 Israelites, an interested committee bent its
endeavors; and of the gulf ports, as points of entry, chose
Galveston. Contiguous to and to direct railroad communication
with the large country west of the Mississippi, scarcely
touched by the newer immigrants--this Texas port offered
excellent advantages for a point of distribution. The general
scarcity of labor in the South and West under normal
conditions would be counteracted if a steady flow of the
able-bodied could be maintained, and to this end the Jewish
artisan and laborer, fortified by industry and abstemiousness,
and well-disciplined by salutary religious laws and customs
could contribute in measure with the Teuton and the Slav, as
well as with the scions of the Latin races, he would make
excellent citizenship--with no possible chance of his
returning to his mother country--step-mother country,
rather--when he had accumulated a little money. So be it.
In the spring of 1907 the Jewish immigrants'
information bureau was opened in Galveston to supply that
machinery which would advise intelligently the already
carefully selected alien how to work at his own trade or
profession--or at general labor necessary for his livelihood--thereby
serving two purposes: his own maintenance and the crying need
of American industries. The present was all-important--the
future would take care of itself. For just as soon as a man
would save sufficient from the work of his hands to bring his
family or his friends to his side, he would do so, and this
committee knew by experience. A thousand immigrants the first
of the year meant 5,000 a few years later. The un-uttered
prophecy has been verified, for although our first group of
immigrants arrived on July 1, 1907, and subsequent groups at
three weeks' interval, family, relatives and friends have
already joined the pioneers; the traveling expenses having
been paid by the latter. The Galveston movement bids fair to
remain a success as long as the powers that be think its
continuance a necessity; and apart from such financial crisis
with its consequent depression, as now obtains, there is no
reason to believe but that its work will be uniformly
appreciated.
The modus operandi of the bureau is
interesting, but there is scarcely need to dwell upon the work
in detail. The medical examination by the port marine surgeon,
the interrogation by the immigration inspectors and the
examination of baggage by the custom house officers is
followed by the removal of the immigrants and their baggage in
large wagons from the docks to the bureau headquarters--about
half a mile. Then the distribution of mail long looked for by
the aliens, the refreshing bath and the wholesome and generous
meal; the facilities for writing home and for reading Yiddish
papers published since the passengers' embarkation; the
questioning of the individuals and the filling out of the
consignee's record by the office management; the selection of
localities according to the requisitions of the interior
agents, and the purchasing of railroad tickets; and then,
supper; the apportionment of food sufficient to last each
immigrant for the whole up-country journey and a little
longer; then the baggage wagons for the neighboring depot, and
the departure from the bureau of those who are to leave on the
night trains; the checking of baggage o destinations, and the
leave-taking from one another after a month's constant
companionship--often pathetic; the comfortable placing of the
travelers in the railroad caches by the bureau's employees,
then telegrams to the interior committees notifying them of
the departure of their allotment, so that the latter should be
met at the station; the retiring of the remainder to bed (what
a change from the steerage bunks!) to leave on the morrow or
thereafter, according to circumstances--all this and more must
be seen to be realized.
The local manager of the bureau, or general
agent as he is officially designated, was Morris D. Waldman
formerly the assistant manager of the industrial removal
office of New York, and now the superintendent of the United
Hebrew Charities of the same city. He came to Galveston with
all the ripe experience of his metropolitan tasks, and very
soon his fingers touched the pulse of labor conditions from
the gulf ports to Seattle, carefully responding to the
industrial heartbeat of that vast territory. Holding well in
hand the helpful agencies of various towns, he with his office
staff was able to distribute the newcomers to the best
advantage for all concerned. Mr. Waldman left Galveston in
March for his new field of labor; and while his successor is
not yet in charge--for stated reasons this summer the
emigration is unusually light--the work is receiving the
attention of L. Greenberg of the office staff, aided by the
local committee. From exact information--for there is constant
communication between the bureau in Galveston and all
agencies--the failures have been but a small proportion, and
this is all the more remarkable in the light of the following
statistical table of arrivals:
(Jewish immigration direct to Galveston before
this date was inconsiderable.)
Steamer. |
Date. |
No. arrivals. |
Cassel |
Jul. 1 |
60 |
Frankfurt |
Jul. 14 |
26 |
Hanover |
Aug. 6 |
70 |
Chemnitz |
Aug. 24 |
89 |
Frankfurt |
Sept. 14 |
80 |
Koein |
Oct. 5 |
77 |
Chemnitz |
Oct. 26 |
9 |
Frankfurt |
Nov. 18 |
184 |
Hanover |
Dec. 7 |
102 |
Chemnitz |
Dec. 30 |
161 |
Frankfurt |
Jan. 20 |
20 |
Hanover |
Feb. 9 |
1 |
Koein |
Mar. 9 |
12 |
Frankfurt |
Mar. 31 |
12 |
Rhein |
Apr. |
5 |
Frankfurt |
May 24 |
26 |
In accordance with the laws of the United
States, there are, for good and sufficient reasons, occasional
deportations---and the work of the inspector of immigration at
this port E. B. Holman, and the United States marine surgeon
in charge. Dr. A. Corput, is to be highly commended. Where the
American people are not affected--either by risk of contagion
or by the enforced support of public wards by reason of
disease or indigence caused by poor physique or senility--the
immigrant, under proper restrictions has been given the
benefit of the doubt. The above representatives of the United
States government have always endeavored to fulfill their
duties in the spirit of the law as well as in the letter.
The Jewish deportations from the date of
establishment of the bureau are here recorded:
Steamer. |
Date. |
Cause. |
Hanover |
Aug. 6 |
3, Trachoma |
Frankfurt |
Sept. 14 |
1, Poor physique |
Koein |
Oct. 5 |
3, Tuberculosis |
Koein |
Oct. 5 |
1, Poor physique |
Frankfurt |
Nov. 18 |
2, Poor physique |
Hanover |
Dec. 7 |
1, Trachoma |
Chemnitz |
Dec. 30 |
1, Trachoma |
Total cases |
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12 |
(None deported in 1908 till date.)
The local and general newspaper comments on
the establishment of the Jewish immigrants' information bureau
in Galveston were unanimously appreciative, editorially and as
news--the Galveston daily publications vying with one another
in their enthusiasm. The Galveston News of July 2, speaking of
the arrival of the North German Lloyd steamer Cassel, the day
before, bringing sixty Jewish immigrants, described fully the
workings of the bureau, from its culinary arrangements and
conveniences for lodging, bathing, etc., to the detailed
distribution of the immigrants as observed by an intelligent
reporter, laying stress on Jewish citizenship and highly
commending the mayor, H. A. Landes, for his visit to the
bureau headquarters and his warm welcome to the aliens. The
scene was well worth recording! After a few well chosen words
of welcome, wherein he took occasion to descant upon the
privileges of American citizenship--interpreted in Yiddish by
an interested bystander, the mayor shook hands with all
present--to the extreme surprise and evident gratification of
the immigrants. Upon the spur of the moment a young fellow,
whose hand was still tingling from the hearty greeting,
stepped forward and in halting, though grammatical English
thanking the mayor for his courtesy. "In our country, Russia,"
he said, "the scene could not be possible! The majors of our
cities would take absolutely no notice of us, or of any people
of our station. You have welcomed us, Mr. Mayor, and we are
grateful. There may be a time when the American people will
need us, and then we will serve them with pure blood!" The
same interested bystander interpreted these few words to the
other immigrants and their acquiescence was proven by a
resounding hurrah!
The intelligence of the large majority of the
aliens is marked. One has but to observe the general vivacity
at the first meal at table after the usual twenty-five days
form Bremen to appreciate this. Quick to understand their
minds run in the groves of intelligent thought. At the first
opportunity they ask for newspapers--Yiddish, German or
Russian; and then follows another question--as to the
possibility of procuring a Yiddish-English or a
Russian-English dictionary! A request came to me from the
detention hospital where a few of the immigrants were awaiting
further examination--would I kindly send them a game of chess?
Verbum Sapienti Sat! This country need have no fear of this
class of alien and if all signs fail not, the brawn and sinew,
and for that matter the brain of the United States will be
mightily strengthened by those Jews that pass through its
Galveston portals!
Detailed distribution of immigrants arriving
at the port of Galveston under the auspices of the Jewish
immigrants' information bureau from July 1, 1907, till May 25,
1908:
Number of people distributed.......934
Number of men............................729
Number of women.........................73
Number of children......................133
Number of wives joining husbands....8
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1 - From Wikipedia. |
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