The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-05-22
Elaborate Memorial Services
Yesterday at B'nai Birth
Hall.
a TRIBUTE TO PHILANTHROPY
Addresses by E. ]. Wolfe, Edmond
Tauszky and Father Yorke Music
and Prayer.

An event long to be remembered with
pride by residents of San Francisco is the
memorial services held last night at B'nai
Birth Hall under the auspices of District
Grand Lodge No. 4, l. o. B. B., in honor of
the late lamented philantropist, Baron
Maurice de Hirsch.
The hall was filed to the doors with a
vast crowd of ladies and gentlemen, Jews
and GentIles, gathered together in peace
and amity and anxious to do homage to
the memory of the illustrious dead, whose
reputation for charity is as wide as the
boundaries of civilization.
AT the rear OF the stage upon black
background, bordered with white, was dis
played a life-size portrait of Baron de
Hirsch. fitungly inscribed. In front and
under this portrait sat the president and
the orators. At the front and IN the CEN
ter of the stage was the speakers stand
covered with ferns and roses, while along
each side of it and at convenient distances
stood pots of lilies and palms. The front
OF the galleries was tastefully draped in
black and white bunting.
After an opening hymn, Lord, Let Me
Know My Term of Days" by the choir,
comprised of Miss Daisy Cohn, soprano,
y.
tenor, ]. c. Hugh es, basso, and E. J.
Stark, barytone, President Edward I.
Wolfe formally opened the exercises.
I'VE are met here tonight" he said, "to
give honor TO whom honor is due. Jews
and Gentiles, we are all prepared to sing
the praises of the most magnificent char
acter of the age-Baron Maurice de Hirsch.
His life and character are typical of the
principles of the [. o. B. B., under whose
auspices this memorial is appropriately
held.
Though sectarian, our purpose is to up
lift humanity and inculcate IN our people
the principles OF honor and patriotism.
Our mission is to dry the tears of widows
and orphans, for we believe in the faith
erhood of God and the brotherhood of
man. Baron ide Hirsch was true to his
faith in life and death. Let US then, with
speech and song, give praise to his deeds,
which are not written in the shifting sands
of time, but will endure forever and in
spire man to nobIer and higher thoughts
and actions"
The Rev. DR.. Nieto prayed that the men,
ton, by the speakers, of the many good
deeds OF Baron de Hirsch might be taken
as an example by all who heard them. He
was followed by the principal orator OF the
evening, Edmund Tauszky.
While this busy world goes on in its
humirum way" said Mr.. Tauszky, ian
event occurs which touches all humanity.
and we pause in our daily vocations
calmly to contemplate it. So it is in
the death of Baron de Hirsch, whom we
have assembled here to honor. We may
now recall his many benefactions to man
kind, his lofty aims and his almost unpar-
alleled generosity, He was in every sense
of the word one of the chosen of God and
citizen of the world. The confines of his
native Bavaria offered too limited a field
for his capabilities and opportunities His
travels took him into many lands, which
he visited, not to survey the sumptuous-
ness of temples, not to make accurate
measurements of the remains of ancient
grandeur, nor to form a scale of the curl
osity of modern art; not to collect medals
or co!late manuscripts, but to dive into
the depth OF dungeons, to plunge into the
infection of hospitals, to survey the homes
OF sorrow and pain, to take the gauge and
dimensions of misery, depression and con-
tempt, to remember the forgotten, to at
tend the neglected, to visit the forsaken
and to compare and collate the distresses
of all men. His plan was as full of genius
as it was of humanity. 1t was voyage of
discovery-a circumnavigation of charity
and already the benefit of his Ia Dor is felt
more or less in every country.
His fabulous fortune was amassed
mainly by his pluck and perseverance, but
his was not soul TO be content with the
mere possession and selfish use of illimit
bic wealth, which he looked upon as sa-
cred trust to be employed by him in the
betterment of mankind, and no other man
ever devoted so large share of his posses
sions to the good of the world.
Baron de Hirsch knew the Injustice
under which the people of our race suffered
in Russia and other countries and he did
all in his power to alleviate their con-
dition. He at one time offered the Russian
Government $4,000, 900 for public instruc-
ton, upon the sole condition that in the
use OF the fund no distinction should be
made as 10 race or religion. He trans
ported an entire community of Jews
in Russia across Europe to the western
hemisphere. He purchased land for thou
sands in the Argentine Republic and
founded colonies there spending in this
enterprise alone from $40, 600 to $685.
OVOrOOO- he eSlaDuSneu training SCHOOLS,
and many institutions In Egypt, Turkey
and Asia Minor bear his name as their
benefactor. In New York City he created
fund OF some s., 500 900 in aid of Russian
refugees.
While the chief concern of Baron de
Hirsch was for our race his philanthropy
was not bounded by racial or religious
lines. In him the Jew of all countries
loses friend and benefactor and the civil
lied world mourns with him."
Father p. c. Yorke. in the course of an |
address, said: Baron de |
Hirsch had a heart and he loved his fell |
low men. He was the friend alike |
of Jew and Gentle, yet he never |
lacked the backbone TO stand up for the |
people of his own blood. The Jews and |
the Irish have both been prosecuted for
their race and their faith, but after having |
gone through great tribulations they have |
come out pure and unscathed OF the
three virtues, faith, hope and charity, il
has been truly said that the greatest is
charity"
Addresses were also delivered by the Rev.