The Jewish outlook., 1905-10-06
The Jews Of the United States
To the Editor of the Sun:


London Jewish Chronicle makes the curl
GUS statement that the Jews of New York
City have combined wealth of over $780,
100000 and that the trade in the hands Of
Jewish middlemen and manufacturers annu-
ally equals an amount approximately the
same' but he prudently adds that he docs
not vouch for the figures and has no idea
whence they were gathered
The recent sending of bombs to Messrs.
Wasserman Schff and Guggenheim and,
more yet, the publication of an anti-Sem-
itic and anti-putocratic letter of menace
which had been, months ago, addressed to
Philip COwen editor of the American He
brew by trio of probably Russian anarch-
lists of Jewish descent, and the bringing OF
Commissioner McAdoo into connection with
these criminal attempts, made closer study
of the true financial situation of the Jews
of this country highly desirable, not only
from a merely politicoeconomica standpoint
but also with regard to the immigration
problem and, in a wider sense, as an i'm
portant element for the eventual solution OF
the Jewish question in general.
There about 100000 Jews-i. e.,
$4,000 Jewish families-in the United States
in 1880. If Car Alexander II. had not been
blown up, with the evident cOnnivance OF
the reactiOnary party, the 18th OF March or
the year following, but had been allowed to
grant his people genuine constitution and
real liberty. his Jewish subjects would have
remained in their fatherland, securing their
own and contributing to the Muzhiks pros
perity, and the 100000 Jews of 1880, by
natural increase, augmented by another So
900 or 10000. would to-day have formed the
bulk of the Jewish population of the United
States. At this juncture, and to confirm the
above surmise, it may be proper to state
that between 1921 and 1870 only 1850 Jew
ish immigrants from the Russian pale itself
and from NNSsian Poland came to this cOun-
try, while the grand total of 7751S1 Jewish
immigrants to the states actually counted,
from 1881 to 1908, more than 100000 were
Russians, since. according to the report OF
the United Hebrew Charities of New York,
40G657 of them landed at Castle Garden and
Ellis Island alone between 1884 and October,
1903 In the same period 15S,GOO Jews hail
ing from the poverty stricken province of
Galicia, $4,000 Roumanians and 15.4G9 Ger
mans arrived at the port of New York, while
England furnished only quota of 2.273;
Turkey palestine inCluded), 1884; Holland
524 Sweden, $50; France. 1854; Denmark,
1926.
What is now the probable accumulated
wealth of the native 100000 Jews and of the
additional 100000 newcomers? To give
even approximate figures were ridiculous
attempt. But this much can, on general
principles. be admitted: A Jewish family,
living minimum of twenty-five years in a
prosperous and free country like ours, either
goes to the wall or mounts the economic
ladder, at length reaching the "well-todo
stage. We can further reasonably suppose
that about ten per cent. of the Russians,
fifteen per cent. of the Austrians and twenty
five per cent. of the Germans and British
took the same light during the last twenty
five years. that there may be $4,000 indi-
vduals, or about $4,000 well-to-dO Jewish
families in the United States, the other 225
900 having yet to struggle for the earning of
their daily bread