The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-03-08

I
 and Industrial Aid Society. | (Exciusive Service Charities and the | Commons Press Bureau.) g
 A convention of Jewish farmers, one
 or the most unique among New York s | varied conventions, met in that city
 recently. Its significance is far great CT than the mere statement of the fact
 would seem to indicate. It shows. for
 one thing, that the number of Jewish
 farmers in this country is sufficiently
 large to make such a convention pos
 sible; it shows that the Jews have made enough progress to view things broadly and to recognize the existence of community of interest whether engaged in dairying in old New Eng | land or in wheat raising in the distant West The most important result ac- complished by the convention was the formation of the Federation of Jewish Farmers of America
 For a clear understanding of the | forces at work that led up to this con-
 vention it will be necessary to digress somewhat and to touch briefly upon what may be termed the mile-stones in the history of the agricultural move mentl or the Jew in this country. The first movement of this character of any consequence. took place in 1882 and | resulted in the founding of the so- | called South Jersey Colonies-A1liance, l Rosenhayn, and Carmel. The first of these was started under the auspices
 
 | of New York Csince passed out of eX- l isteJ eel when the Jewish immigration received it's impetus from the wave of i lawlessness and persecution that swept | over the Russian Empire in the wake | of the Russo Turkish war.
 In 1890 that we'll known philanthro- pist, the late Baron Maurice de H1rsch, recognizing the importance of the early grant and his adaptation to his new en- Nii1onment, placed certain funds in trust with some of the most prominent Jews in this country, and the Baron de Hirsch Fund was incorporated to ad- minister them. This new organization assumed the leadership of the argi- cultural movement and one of it's first acts was the founding of Woodlbine, probably the beSt known Jewish set tlement in this country. Three years later the De Hirsch Agricultural School 1 was established in that colony.
 The agricultural work, however, as- stunned such importance that in order to bring it to a higher state of eff
 ciency it was thought advisable to en- trust it to separate organization
 The Jewish Agricultural and Industrial Aid Society was therefore Incorporated in 19O0 the Baron de Hirsch Fund | turning over all agricultural matters
 except the school to the newly organ
 ized society and. in conjunction with the Jewish Colonization Association | settled upon it an annual income for the carrying on of its work
 Since the organization of this society
 the number of Jewish farmers has in creased by rapid strides. While we
 have no means of telling their exact
 number we have come in touch with | over 2,400 families in thirty-Six States of the Union, comprising according to most conser vative estimates over 12,GO0 souls. I have no hesitation in saying that these figures do not represent fifty Fer cent. of the actual number Of Jews engaged in farming in the United | IC- -<1Ts4 n$1yT
 fty the Jewish Agricultural and Indus trial Aid Society has granted 1,2l0
 loans aggresatir $64s. 921.5 to LEI farmers in twenty-four States.
 Besides the financial assistance which it renders. a great deal of the work of the society is of an educational na- ture, or to use a now popular term,
 ''up-lift work" Affected as he is by all the ills that the general farming population in our country is heir to, the Jewish farmer is in addition con fronted by problems peculiarly his own. Poorly equipped as to farming knowl- except through costly experience. The agricultural press, the government publications, and the farmerSt 1nst1- tutes are, owing to his ignorance of English, of little benefit to hipn. TO remove these handicaps. the. society started The Jewish Farmer, an agri- cultural monthly in Yfd0fsh; establish ed agricultural scholarships for the
 
 itinerant agricultural instructor to visit the farmers periodically and lec- ture to them on agricultural topics However, one Of the most important ed by the Jewish Agricultural and In- dustrial Aid Society last year is the encouragement of the farmers in the various communities to organize for the common good-Something on which President Roosevelt has laid the great est stress. Two or three Of the oldest and more progressive communities have organizations already more or less active. Others made the attempts to organize which proved abortive for the want of a. guiding hand. The stimulus given by The Jewish Farmer and the itinerant agricultural 1nstruc- tor was just what was needed, and in the space of a. few months about twen- ty new aSsociat tionS were formed. While these associations are primarily agr1- cultural, aiming at the improvement or agricultural and material conditions
 they also readily enter into the social educa tional, and religious lives or thelr members, thus being a potent factor in making life on the farm more hv- able.
 With some twenty fairly well d1- rected associations similar in their aims and ambitions. and with The Jewish Farmer as an instrument TOT the interchange of views between them
 the desire for personal contact and closer relationship was quite natural and the convention in New 1orK was the outcome. New York was chosen because of it's central location and be- cause most of the Jewish farmers were originally New Workers which gave them an opportunity to visit thelr old
 haunts. and, I suspect, to exut over what they had escaped. It was held in that clearing house of the Jewish immigrant-the Educational Alliance. The convention attracted widespread attention and the press throughout the country hailed it as an "eDoch in the history of Israeli" and as "of almost international interest" The delegates, too, have provoked general admiration. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle in an edi- torial had this to say:
 .'h the spirit of the men on the farms is reflected in the enthusiasm of these delee-ates there is no dilettanteiSm,