Perth Amboy evening news., 1905-12-01
THE COMING OF
The HEBREWS
Former President Cleveland at
the Anniversary of the Land
ing Of Jews Here.

NEW YORK, Dec. 1.-The two hun
dred and fiftieth anniversary of the
coming of Jews to America was cele-
DRAFTED by anSimmense mass meeting in
Carnegie hall here. Former President
Grover Cleveland and Governor Frank
Wayland Higgins were chief speakers.
A letter from President Roosevelt was
read. Among other distinguished men
who made addresses were Mayor Nc
Clellan, Bishop Coadiutor David Greer
and the Rev. DR.. II. z. Mendes.
The hall was decorated with Ameri-
can flags. A choir from the Peoples
Choral union and the New York Sym
phony orchestra filled the large plat.
form. The music was under the direc-
ton o. Frank Damrosch. After the
playing of an overture by Mendelssohn
Rabbi Silverman offered a prayer. The
speakers who followed were introduced
by Jacob III. Schiff, the chairman.
Mr.. Cleveland said in part:
"If the people of the United States
glory in their free institutions as the
crown of mans aspiration for self gov
eminent, let them not be unmindful of
the fact that the Jews among us have
in their care and keeping the history
and traditions of an ancient Jewish
commonwealth astonishingly like our
own republic in its democracy and I'M
DERIVING intention. This ancient com
monwealth was ordained of God for
the government of his chosen people,
and we should not close our minds to a
conception of the coincidence in divine
purpose, discoverable in the bestowal
of a similar plan of rule, after thou
sands of years, upon the people of the
United States, who also had their be-
ginning in willing submission to Gods
sovereignty and the assertion Of free
dom in his worship"
President Roosevelt's message was in
part as follows:
Il am forced to make a rule not to
write letters on the occasion of II
celebration. but | make an exception in
this case because the lamentable and
terrible suffering to which so many of
the Jewish people in other lands have
been subjected makes me feel it my
duty as the head Of the American peo-
pie to express my deep sympathy for
them. | feel very strongly that if any
people are oppressed anywhere the
wrong inevitably reacts in the end on
those who Cypress them, for it is an
immutable law in the spiritual world
that 10 II can wrong others and yet
in the end himself escape unhurt.
The celebration of the two hundred
and fiftieth anniversary of the settle
ment of the Jews in the United States
properly emphasizes a series of his
torlcal facts of more thar merely ma
tional significance. Even in our colo
NAL period the Jews participated in
the u%pbuilding of this country. Dur
ing the Revolutionary period they aid
ed the cause of freedom by serving in
the Continental army and by substan-
tial contributions to the empty treas
ury of the republic. During the civil
war thousands served in the armies
and mingled their blood with the soil
for which they fought. | am glad to
be able to say that while the Jews Of
the United States, who number more
than Il million, have remained loyal to
their faith and their race traditions
they have become indissolubly incor-
pOrated in the great army of American
citizenship, prepared to make all sacri-
fees for the country, either in war or
peace, and striving for the perpetuation
of good government and for the main
tenance of the principles embodied in
our constitution .