The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-03-05
JEWS AS FARMERS
Twelve Years of Their Pro- gress in the United
 StatnS
The Report of the Jewish Agricultural and Indus
 trial Aid Society


 Jewish Agricultural and Industrial Aid Society has just made its appearance
 and it contains some very interesting information regarding the work of that Society, and in general concern ing the Jewish farming contingent /. throughout the United States. The
 prevailing idea that the immigrant,
 and particularly the Jew, hugs the Atlantic seaboard. is an erroneous one. The report shows that Jewish farm CTS are found in ev | State of the Union. While no c.ual census has been attempted, the Society keeps in
 touch as far as possible with the Jew ! lsh farmers throughout the country and has come into contact with all most 4,000 Jewish families, estimated to comprise about 2O,G00 souls depend- ing upon the farm for a living. This number by no means represents the total Jewish farming population, and the number is constantly on the in crease,
 The Jewish Agricultural and Indus
 trial Aid Society encourages Jewish immigrants to take up farming and helps them with loans upon easy terms and at low rates of interest, as we'll as by advice and the dissemination of agricultural knowledge. Up to 1900 this work was done by the Baron de Hlrsch Fund, but the operations be-
 came so extensive that in that year a separate organization was fou1ded.
 The work has grown by leaps and bounds; During the first year of the Soclety's ex stence 39 loans were grant
 ed aggregating SIPS. In 1911 the So- ! ciety granted 334 loans aggregating $256, ,0O0. In all, the Society in the
 twelve years of it's existence made g. IFS loans to Jewish farmers aggre- gating over a million and a quarter l1or @A fk O& A@ bot these advances are loans only nomin- ally, never intended to be repaid. Tn the twelve years of the Society's op- erations $2S3.544. that is, 26 per cent. of the total loaned, has been received as repayments on the principal, while l $85,214 was paid in interest. In the last year alone, the borrowers from 1 the society paid ssS,5sS for principal and interest. Although the security ] is of necessity substandard from an in- vestor's standpoint, slnce the Socie. 1 ty only helps where an applicant can- not help himself through the ordinary channels the entire loss sustained In
 tho twelve years was but 3 per cent. Of i the amount loaned. The report lays 1 particular stress upon the size of these | repayments, as they are of two-fold 1 importance. In the first place, they | of the farmers, and, secondly, the SO- ciety's working capital is increased to the extent of these repayments and 1 larger number of farmers can thus be | helped
 The report shows that the movement | of the Jewish immigrants to farms is a spontaneous one and that no pro- paganda is necessary. While S34 l loans were granted, 1,509 applicat ons | were received. In fact, the Society considers it just as much its duty to discourage those whom it deems phys l ino1 1Jx- fo1I ,voGt l farming as to encourage those who possess the requisite qualifications. Nor $ the material recruited from the failures in other walks of life, be- i cause no applicant Is assisted who does | not possess some capital of his own l to stake in the venture.
 | The Society in the past year estao.. l'shed three Cooperative Credit En- I ions--two in Connecticut and one in New York, thus providing syst en Of personal credit whereby short-term 1 loans in moderate amounts for pro- easy terms. These Credit Unions are
 managed comparatively by their own
 members. They commenced opera i tons on May 1st, and at the end of tte ] fiscal year on September 30th, period of five months. had made 66 loans az gregating $4,460, of which 26 Fer cent. had been repaid The net profits for
 the five months were 914 per cent. of 1 the capital. To give these Unions
 s.art the Society loaned them at 2 per cent 8 for every dollar raised by
 them through the sale of shares to i their members. The success of these Credit Unions in the short period of | their existence has been such that the | Society feels encouraged to establish more of them this year, and 1t hopes in 1 time to have a Credit Union in every Jewish farming community in this country.
 The national character of the Society l is shown by the fact that applications i come from every State of the Union, and that the 2,17S loans made In the 1 twelve years of its existence were granted to 1850 farmers in 27 states besides Canada The work has grown 1 to such proportions that it has been | found necessary to establish an agency ! in the Middle West, with headquarters in Chicago to look after the interests O. l the Society in that country and to | further develop and extend its opera | ticns there.
 Far more interesting than the purely financial aspect of the Society's work 1 is that part of the report which treats 1 of it's educational activities Within the last few years and before the
 'uplift'' work among farmers and the improvement of the conditions O coun- 1 try life became a fad, the Society entered upon an extensive program of educational and ''uplift" work among the Jewish farmers of this
 country. It issues a monthly agri- cultural paper, 'The Jewish Far mer," which is the only agricultural
 r,agazi-e in the world published 'n
 the viddish 'nguage. This rape ats
 of timely agricultural Hjects. and s
 editorial staff consists of agricultural
 exper+s. It is widely read, it's sub
 scrihers being scattered not only i throughout the GJpi+ed States but in
 fourteen foreign countries. The paper 1 is also found in libraries and read ing rooms, both here and abroad. | Another feature of the Socie'y's ed irrational campaign is the itinerant in- ! struction, which was inaugurated at
 the same time as "The Jewish Far
 mer' SO as to supplement the spread- i ing of general knowledge by lrd'vid
 ual irs'ruction The instructors are the Editor and Associate Editors of '"The Jewish Farm er," and their work consists of lectures, sometimes illus
 t-ated by stereonticon views. personal | visits to the farmers and organizing
 them into associations for Self-hep and 1 S cal Intercourse.
 A third phase of the Society's agr1- cultural activity is the granting Of | free short course scholarships in the agricultural colleges to sons and
 daughters of Jewish farmers. The object of these scholarships is to give l the children of Jewish farmers an idea of the possibilities of agriculture and
 to prepare them for greater usefulness
 ve<~<y