The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-03-31
FROM GHETTO TO WHEAT FIELD.
Work Beng Done at Chicago by Jewish
 Agriculturists Aid Society.


 Work Beng Done at Chicago by Jewish
 Agriculturists' Aid Society.
 From the crowded and dirty tene-
 ments of the Chicago Ghetto to the
 wind swept spaces of the prairies of the two Dakotas is long jump, yet every
 year many families of destitute Jews
 are enabled to make it by the help of the Jewish, Agriculturists' Aid society
 of America. an old but comparatively little known association of national
 scope, with headquarters in Chicago.
 The work of few organizations working
 for social betterment is more interest
 ing. It is distinctly not charitable organization, for which reason the re-
 suits of it's work are the more likely to
 be permanent and helpful in large
 way. It's purpose is to help poor and
 ambitious Jews to help themselves, and
 it's operations are conducted on a pure
 ly business basis. Instead of making
 paupers, by giving indiscriminate char | ity, it transforms poverty-stricken
 Ghetto dwellers into independent farm
 CTS, able and ready to pay fair rate of
 interest for the money loaned them | In the popular mind the Jew is re-
 garded as possessing talents commer- | cial rather than agricultural, but the | work of the Chicago society is sufficient l proof that under the proper auspices he is at least able to hold his own with the average farmer. During the year | 1901, for instance, the society helped
 twenty eight families, including in all
 one hundred and seventeen persons, to Io, oI oapI in the Ghetto and begin farming. Eleven of these families have already pur-
 chased six hundred and forty acres of land, twelve families have filed claim
 on a homestead of one hundred and
 sixty acres of land each, and the re- maining five families have in the aggre- gate three hundred and thirty acres un- der lease. In order to enable these twentyreight families to go to farming the society has loaned them, in the ag gregate, ninety-eight hundred dollars. The money loaned to each family is se- cured by a mortgage on the property, real or chattel, of the borrower. Every
 loan bears interest at the rate of four per cent a year. and the terms of re- payment are arranged to suit individual cases; as rule from four to twelve years are given to the borrower to re- pay his indebtedness to the society.
 The money advanced by individuals to the society for the purpose of loaning to it's embryo farmers Is repaid to these generous friends with a. guaranteed in- terest of three per cent. year, which makes it practically an investment and puts the society in the position of being able to solicit the loan of funds without posing as a beggar. Nor is the society obliged to depend only upon promises. Its record in the past is better than that of many so-called investment com- panies, which are in the market solely | for the purpose of making money, Thus, of the loans made to it's farmers | during the first six months of 1901, to- tai of more than fifteen per cent. have | already been repaid And of the loans | mads to destitute Jewish families of farmers three and four years ago more | than sixty-two per cent. has already | been repaid. The money loaned and | not yet returned to the society is se cured by liens on property valued at from three to five times the amounts of | the several indebtednesses,
 If further proof were needed that the l society is doing a magnificent work it | is furnished by the report showing the | present condition of eighty-nine of the | families which it has assisted. These eighty-nine families are not selected | from the lot because they make a fa- showing, but because they are all from whom complete and satisfac- tory report was obtained in time for publication.
 The report shows that these eighty nine families are now working 10,617 acres of land. They own over three hundred horses and five hundred head of morned cattle. In the aggregate they have bought and paid for more l than fifteen thousand dollars worth of wagins. farming implements and tools, Twenty-two of the eighty-nine farmers own their farms, buildings and fittings free of debt or incumbrance of any kind. The aggregate indebtedness of the remaining siXty-seven farmers to forty thousand dollars in 'ound numbers. Of the $35,525 loaned oy the society to these farmers, all but | 'ourteen thousand dollars has been paid back and the remainder is protect ed by ample security.
 The Jewish Agriculturists' Aid Socie- y of America sets an example in an other way which is worthy of imitation | 1y other so-called charitable associa- ions. 1t costs hardly anything to run t. Its work demonstrates the fact that T order to raise unfortunate men and ] women from practical helplessness to a of independence it is not ne- essary to spend lot of money in pay ng salaries and expenses The actual of managing this society, | which is comparatively small indeed, is ,aid by the Associated Jewish Chari- ies of Chicago. It is also remarkable n that it's beneficiaries are almost without exception entirely support ng within few years after they have 'een taken out of the tenements of the ihetto
 The Jewish Agriculturists' Aid Socie- y of America was organized in Chica- o nearly fourteen years ago. Since its