Jewish Immigration to the United States from 1881 to 1910 / Studies in History, Economics and Public Law, Vol. LIX, No. 4, 1914

CHAPTER IIToC

Immigration of Jews from Eastern Europe

In the thirty years between 1881 and 1910, 1,562,800 Jews entered the United States. An examination of Tables VI and VII reveals the fact that the great majority of the immigrants came from Russia, Austria-Hungary and Roumania. Of the total number, Russia contributed 1,119,059 immigrants, or 71.6 percent; Austria-Hungary 281,150 immigrants, or 17.9 per cent, and Roumania 67,057 immigrants, or 4.3 per cent. Together these three countries contributed 93.8 per cent of the total for the thirty years. The great majority of the Jewish immigrants from the United Kingdom and British North America are not English or Canadian Jews but transmigrants or transient East-European Jews, to whom England and Canada were a halfway house from the countries of Eastern Europe to the United States.[60] If we included these immigrants, the Jewish immigration from these three countries of Eastern Europe would be considerably above 95 per cent. The Jewish immigration of the last third of a century is thus practically wholly from Eastern Europe.

Summarizing the results for the three decades,[61] we find that the Jewish immigrants from Russia maintained a fairly constant proportion to the total Jewish immigration, contributing 135,003, in the decade between 1881 and 1890 or 69.9 per cent of the total for the decade, 279,811 or 71.1 per cent in the decade between 1891 and 1900, and 704,245, or 72.1 per cent, in the decade between 1901 and 1910.

Roumanian Jewish immigration was relatively smaller in the earlier decades, numbering 6,967 in the first, 12,789 in the second decade, comprising 3.2 per cent and 3.6 per cent, respectively, of the total, and in the last decade, numbering 47,301 and constituting 4.8 per cent of the total immigration of the decade.

The Jewish immigration from Austria-Hungary bore a proportion to the total higher in the first two decades, contributing 44,619 immigrants in the first decade and 83,720 immigrants in the second decade, or 23.1 per cent and 21.3 per cent, respectively, of the total, and 152,810 immigrants, or 15.7 per cent, in the last decade.

The Jewish immigrants from the United Kingdom and British North America, which, in the first two decades constituting less than one per cent of the total of each decade, were included in the rubric "all others", rose in the last decade to 42,589, constituting 4.4 per cent, and to 9,701, constituting one per cent, of the total of this decade.

An examination of the yearly contributions made by the Jews of the principal countries[62] shows that the immigrants from Russia formed the majority of the immigrants for each year of the entire period, and as a rule, did not deviate far from the general proportion established for the thirty years. The greatest increases occurred during the years of maximum Jewish immigration, in 1882, 1891, 1892 and 1906, when the Russian Jewish immigrants constituted four-fifths or more of the total for the year.

The immigrants from Roumania showed higher percentages than their average in 1887 and in 1888, and a remarkable increase of their contribution from 1900 to 1903, in which years they constituted more than a tenth of the total number of immigrants.

The immigrants from Austria-Hungary formed, on the average, less than one-fifth of the total, but varied considerably in their proportions. In general, they maintained a rate higher than their average during the earlier years of their movement. In the later years they showed a relative decline, especially during the last decade, owing to the greater relative increase of the Jewish immigration from Russia and Roumania, though their absolute numbers increased greatly during this period. Their highest ratios of contribution were made from 1883 to 1886 and from 1896 to 1900, the latter period marking their maximum relative contributions.

The influence of the Russian Jewish immigration is thus paramount. It dominates and controls the entire movement, owing to its great preponderance of numbers. To a closer consideration of its movement we shall now turn.

FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER IIIToC

Immigration of Jews from Russia

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

An examination of the figures of the Russian Jewish immigration for the thirty years[63] reveals that it is a movement of steady growth. The Russian Jewish immigration falls practically into two periods; the first culminating in 1892, the second culminating in 1906. Considering it by decades,[64] we find that the movement is one of geometrical progression. In the first decade, from 1881 to 1890, 135,003 Russian Jews entered the country, 12.1 per cent of the total Russian Jewish immigrants. Between 1891 and 1900, 279,811 Russian Jews entered, constituting 25.0 per cent of the total. In the last decade, from 1901 to 1910, there entered 704,245 Russian Jews, or 62.9 per cent of the total.

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

In this year Russian Jewish immigration began its upward course. Another high point was reached in 1887 with 23,103 immigrants, when the educational restrictions and the expulsions that followed a strict application of the May Laws indicated a renewal of the policy of the Russian government.

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

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

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

Another rise began in 1899. Economic depression, revolutionary terrorism and anti-Jewish propaganda paved the way for a great inpouring of Russian Jews to the United States. The Kishineff massacre of 1903 sent thousands of Jews in veritable flight to the United States, a fact which is reflected in an immigration of 77,544 Russian Jews in 1904, the greatest number up to this year. With the beginning of the Russo-Japanese war, the outbreak of the revolution and, above all, of the Jewish massacres the immigration rose in 1905 to 92,388. In 1906, a year of pogroms, it reached the number of 125,234, the highest in the entire period—and in 1907, 114,932, the second largest immigration. The diminution in the numbers in 1908 reflects largely the relative change for the better that took place in the situation in Russia, with the beginning of parliamentary government, as well as the panic conditions in the United States of the preceding year. How great still was the impulse to leave is shown by the fact that in spite of the panic of 1907, the number of immigrants for 1908 was 71,978. The great rise of the immigration from the United Kingdom during these years was also due to the number of Russian Jews that came to the United States by way of England. In all, during these five years which form an epoch in contemporary Russian Jewish history, there streamed into the United States half a million Russian Jews, constituting more than two-fifths of the total immigration for the entire thirty years.

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

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

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

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

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

Another method of judging the degree of intensity of the Russian Jewish movement is to compare the proportion the number of Jewish immigrants for a period bears to the total Jewish population in Russia—their rate of immigration—with that of the other Russian peoples represented in the immigration to the United States. The rate of immigration of the Jews is by far the highest among the peoples of Russia. From 1899 to 1910 the Jewish immigrants to the United States constituted on the average one out of every 79 of the Jewish population in Russia.[70] The Finnish immigrants constituted one out of every 191 Finns, the Polish immigrants one out of every 200 Poles, and the Russian immigrants proper one out of every 11,552 of the Russian population. The relative position of the Jews is thus strikingly indicated. The rate of immigration truly becomes an index of the economic and social pressure to which the Jews have been subjected for a third of a century. This rate of immigration for the Jews, moreover, shows large fluctuations in the twelve years from 1899 to 1910.[71] Of every 10,000 Jews in Russia there came to this country on the average for the twelve years from 1899 to 1910, 125 Jews. From 1899 to 1903 the annual rate of immigration was much lower than the average. In 1904, with the beginning of the critical years, the annual rate rose to 152, and in 1905, to 181. It reached its climax in 1906, with 246, almost twice as large as the average for the entire period. It fell slightly below this in 1907 with 226. In 1908, there was a great fall to 141, though the rate was still above the average for the period.

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

FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER IVToC

Immigration of Jews from Roumania

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

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

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

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

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

The great rise from 1900 to 1904, during which period there came more than half of the total number of Jewish immigrants from Roumania, was largely due to the resumption of the government program against the Jews. The chief form of restriction was the passing of the Artisans' Law in 1902, preceded by some years of agitation and administrative activity directed against the Jews, which aimed to make it impossible for the Jewish artisans to secure work. The feeling that the Jews had nothing to hope from the government, as much as the actual distress occasioned, was largely responsible for the unprecedented immigration.[74]

The Jewish forms so large a part of the Roumanian immigration as to be practically synonymous with it. As we have before noted, the figures obtained from the Jewish sources indicate a larger immigration from 1886 to 1898 on the part of the Jews alone than the official figures give for the entire immigration from Roumania for this period. Confining our attention to the figures of immigration from 1899 to 1910,[75] we find that, from 1899 to 1910, of the 61,073 immigrants from Roumania who entered the United States, 54,827, or 89.8 per cent, were Jews. Thus practically nine-tenths of the immigrants from Roumania are Jews. In the five years in which the Jewish movement was at its height, the Jews constituted from 91 per cent to 95.7 per cent of the Roumanian immigration. The immigration of other peoples from Roumania is insignificant. The highest number entering in any of the twelve years amounted to less than 800.

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

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

FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER VToC

Immigration of Jews from Austria-Hungary

The immigration of Jews from Austria-Hungary began before the eighties of the last century, becoming at the beginning of the nineties a relatively strong and steady current. Until recently, this immigration was almost exclusively from Galicia.[77]

Summarizing the movement by decades,[78] we find that 44,619 Jews, or 15.9 per cent of the total, came during the decade from 1881 to 1890; 83,720 immigrants, or 29.8 per cent of the total, came during the decade from 1891 to 1900. In the last decade, from 1901 to 1910, there entered 152,811 immigrants, or 54.3 per cent of the total. Thus there is a nearly steady rise of the movement, though it is not as great as that found in the Jewish immigration from Russia.

The annual variations are also not as large as are found in the Russian Jewish movement.[79] The greatest number that came in any year in the first decade was in 1887, when 6,898 immigrants arrived, contributing 2.4 per cent of the total for the year. The highest number that came in the second decade was in 1899, when 11,071 immigrants arrived, contributing 3.9 per cent of the total. From this year there began a great rise which reached its maximum in 1904 with an immigration of 20,211 Jews, constituting 7.2 per cent of the total—the highest point attained in the entire movement.

A comparison of the fluctuations of the Jewish with those of the total Austro-Hungarian immigration shows that the former follows the general movement quite closely, though there are minor differences and the maximum periods of both movements do not coincide.[80]

An examination of the part the Jewish played in the general immigration from Austria-Hungary shows that during the entire period of thirty years there entered into the United States from Austria-Hungary 3,091,692 immigrants, to which the Jews contributed 281,150 immigrants, or 9.1 per cent.[81] That the Jewish movement was relatively stronger in the earlier period than the general movement from Austria-Hungary is indicated by the fact that the Jews participate to a much larger extent in the movement of the first decades than in that of the last. In the first decade, from 1881 to 1890, of the 353,719 immigrants from Austria-Hungary, the Jews were 44,619, or 12.6 per cent of the total for the decade. In the decade from 1891 to 1900, of the 592,707 immigrants they were 83,720, or 14.1 per cent of the total. In the last decade, of 2,145,266 immigrants, they were 158,811, or 7.4 per cent of the entire movement. The Jewish movement is thus seen to be relatively the strongest in the second decade. Its fall in the last decade to almost half the proportion of the preceding decade was due to the tremendous growth in the immigration of the other races from Austria-Hungary. Whereas the general movement nearly quadrupled its numbers in the last decade, the Jewish movement did not quite double its numbers.

The largest part in the movement from Austria-Hungary was taken by the Jews during the earlier years.[82] The highest point was reached in 1886, when the Jews constituted 18.6 per cent of the total movement. In the following year the Jewish immigrants constituted 17.1 per cent. Other years in which the Jews participated strongly were 1895, and from 1897 to 1899. In 1898 the second highest point was reached, the Jews constituting 18.5 per cent of the movement. From 1904 a great fall ensued. The lowest point was reached in 1909, when the Jews constituted only 5 per cent of the total movement.

A clearer idea of the situation would be obtained if the figures for the years and decades could be ascertained for Austria and Hungary separately, as the Jews in each of the divisions of the Dual Monarchy differ considerably in their immigration tendency. Austria and Hungary are distinguished in the immigration statistics only since 1910. Nevertheless, the three years from 1910 to 1912 serve to show that the Jews from Austria immigrate to the United States in much larger numbers than their brethren in Hungary. From 1910 to 1912, out of a total of 36,684 Jewish immigrants from Austria-Hungary, 29,340, or fully four-fifths, came from Austria. The participation of the Austrian Jews in the general movement is also correspondingly larger. From 1910 to 1912, the Jewish immigrants from Austria numbered 29,340 out of a total of 303,776, constituting 9.7 per cent of the total Austrian immigration. For the same period the Jewish immigrants from Hungary numbered only 7,344 out of a total of 292,900, constituting 2.5 per cent of the total. Thus the Jews participate in the movement from Austria practically four times as much as in the movement from Hungary.

The relative position of the Jews among the peoples immigrating from Austria is of interest in this connection. The peoples with which comparison must be maintained are those concentrated in Galicia, the chief source of the Jewish, Polish and Ruthenian immigration.[83] For the seven years between 1899 and 1905, the Jewish immigrants constituted the second largest group. From 1906, they fell into the third position (excepting in 1908), owing to the rapid increase of immigration among the Ruthenians.

The average rate of immigration of the Jews of Austria-Hungary for the twelve-year period from 1899 to 1910, is 74 for every 10,000 Jews in the Empire.[84] The maximum rate was 97, which was reached in the immigration of 1904. In comparison with the Russian and Roumanian Jewish immigrants, those from Austria-Hungary have a far lower rate of immigration. This is true for the average as well as for the single years. However, in the first two years, 1899 and 1900, the rate of immigration was higher among the Jewish immigrants from Austria-Hungary. In comparison with the rate of immigration of the Poles and the Ruthenians, the Jews occupy an intermediate position, having a lower rate than the Poles and a higher rate than the Ruthenians.[85]

The Jewish movement from Austria-Hungary thus shows a fairly steady rise, but neither in its yearly variations nor its rate of immigration does it give evidence of any exceptional characteristics.