Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-03-12
Hebrew Shelter and Immi-
grant Aid Society of Ameri-
ca Doing Good Work.
S3,750,0OO FUND RAISED
FOR EUROPE'S SUFFERERS
War Trampled People of Russia,
Galicia, Poland and Palestine
Being Cared For.

How news of lost relatives and
friends in the warning countries. such
as Poland. Austria and Russia, is be-
ing obtained for Jewish people in this
country. and how the American Jews
are sending money to feed and clothe
sufferers of their faith, to build schools
and rehabilitate the war-swept coun-
try is told in an article written ex-
clusively for the Survey press service.
The article is by Ruth Pickering.
The Survey is an organization whose
purpose is to investigate the facts of
living and working conditions and to
suggest methods of social advance.
The article shows that the Jews of
this country already have contributed
$3.50, 900 for the relief of sufferers in
Russia. Galicia, Poland and Palestine.
The article follows:
Seek Cham. the dark one. my broth
err. ] saw him last in the village of
Novaia.
Learn for me of Mendel, my son. the
man who limps. Ask the people in the
town of Kalach. in the south of Russia.
They will know what has become of
him
Thousands Daily Seek News.
lips. thousands of East Side Jews are
daily climbing six flights of stairs at
u Delaney street. New York city, for
in their first hurry to get word of
those whom they had lost they broke
the elevator.
In small auditorium and few ex-
ira rooms at this address the Hebrew
Shelter and Immigrant Aid Society of
America is telling the Jews of this
country what has become of their
friends and relatives abroad. The I'M
'iertaking was begun last fall, when
Isadore Hershfield went abroad to or
. ganize in Rotterdam a center of COM
munication between American Jews
and their suffering relatives in Poland,
Russia and Austria.
In December the first list sent back
by Mr.. Hershfield, containing a thou
sand names of persons who had been
asked for or who were inquiring for
the help of some friend here, was read
at a meeting overlooking the rooms of
the bureau by hundreds. The next day
200 or 300 who had been forced to wait
on the sidewalks the night before were
given news of their loved ones. and by
o'clock the bureau had filed 1880
fresh requests for information. Peri
odic public meetings have since been
held to give out news received from
abroad.
Mr.. HershfieId having organized his
to Berlin, and is now in Poland. From
there he expects to go into Russia.
Seldom Have Family Names.
Most of those who are lost live in
the small towns, where Jews seldom
have a family name. In the large
he
they have adopted family names, often
by governmental request. All the cards
of the applicants for information ask
for the nickname. and when the appli-
cant has given this and the correct
name the last known European ad-
dress of the one he seeks. and the
names of those still in Russia who
might know of him, he is handed a
card with number on it and is asked
not to come back until he receives a
postal from the bureau
When news finally comes-perhaps
that his father is alive with his sister
in the little village of Zamoste. in
southern Poland, but that she has con-
sumption. contracted from pestilence
in the wake of war and he is without
money to help her. or perhaps that his
brother is a prisoner in an Austrian
camp or that his mother had died
because she has no money Tor 1000
then the applicant is sent for and 1t is
some ones task to tell him what word
has been received.
The news is almost always tragic.
That intense family feeling so char
acteristic of the Jews becomes more
than ever clear As the heart broken
father or mother or son or daughter
turns away from the desk and returns
in day or two. asking how 800 or
SIS can be safely sent abroad.
These small amounts of money for
relief are supplemented by money
raised in energetic campaigns carried
on throughout this country to send TO
the 5000 900 Jews reported starving in
the warning countries. and 3d. 900
has up to date been collected and sent
10 Jews in Russia. Galicia. Poland and
Palestine by the Jewish relief commit
tee. Their first mass MEETING in Car
negie Hall. New York city. brought in
100000 in pledges and actual contri-
buttons. Since then rallies all over
the United States have raised the
amount to where it now stands.
Series of Tag Days Planned.
Under the joint committee on Jewish
relief. OF which Felix warburg is
chairman. are two other committees
one the central committee working for
funds among the synagogues. and the
other, the peoples relief committee.
The latter branch co-operates with the
trade unions and solicits from bust
ness people. The woman's auxiliary
of this committee. with Mrs. Philip
Lewisohn as chairman, has planned a
series OF tag days 70 gather money
To keep alive the 100000 Jews in
the twenty Russian provinces under
the care of the Jewish Colonization So
ciety in Petrograd. IL is estimated that
$50. 900 rubies per month is needed
While the money is being used pri
rnarily to buy bread. il is being spent
also. il is declared. to rebuild schools.
In these schools children will be
clothed and fed, and distracted as far
possible from the misery in which
they are growing up. Where armies