The Denver Jewish news., 1920-11-17
Concluding Proceedings
of Ninth Convention
(Contiaued from Page %

lhnSuaSe, vas luQeeu pleiisuiaphS
| one.
"Frc:l May 1, 1917. to May 1; 1929.
3,O63 persons were assisted and fol-
low up by the department. From
NJ, .ch 1, 1920 and endiag with Sep,
/ .nber 1, 1920. the number Of new, ar
.lvals for whom the department Fer,
formed some service, either at Ellis
Island or thru the Council Sections,
was 55SG. 1t is interesting TO note
also that during. the. same period OF
six months in 1910 the number of per-
SONS so cared for, was 1872 as compar-
ed with 1856 in, 1920. 1t will he re.
lnembered that during this entire
Tricnnial period and until last month
(Octoberl the Visitation committee at
Ellis Island continued to consist, OF,
only seven members aad our rcpresen-
tatiye was called upon (nnd ever ready
and willing) to- assist non-Jewish i'm
migrants as well as our own people.
During the six months period in 1919
March, to September when there
was little Jewish, immigration ut the
port of New York, our Department
cared for 104 non-Jewish persons. Dur
ing this. same period in 1920 there
were 339 nOn-Jewish Immigrants t.
whom we rendered some sort of social
service. The figures for the month Of
suly are almost unbelievable for they
show an increase in our work from
II immigrants assisted or visited in
July 1919 to 1,53S during July 1920.
We are frequently asked by visitors
and other interested persons: Just
what do you do at Ellis 1sland?' Our
invariable reaction is to shrug our
shoulders helplessly and reply: What
don't we do?"
AS / have just stated, one neve:
Knows how the friendly welcome will
he extended; not infrequently it con-
sists in handing mother Il piece of
laundry soap wl,erewith to wash the
/ b,lby's shirt or stockings baggage
being inaccessible-and the mother dc.
tanned for longer period than was
anticipated. Or the sympathetic word
6r greeting is given in the hospital
tn II mother who is watching by her
dying child's bedside: the Child hay
ing contracted meningitis as an after
math to measles which she had had
in Europe just before sailing. And Il
relative of the mother will call the
representative to one side and whisper
that the husband who had sent for the
woman had died recently ard the wo-
ma. does not know it rs yet, and what
shall we do about it?
Locating relatives and friends of
newly arrived Immigrant girls and
women has been Il very important and
| increasingly frequent task on the part
of the Department of Immigrant Aid.
As many as four members Of our stair
have been sent out of the office ut
one time to look up relatives. This, Is
due to the fact that many of these
immigrants have addresses which are
several years old. One case in par
ticular is exceedingly interesting, as
it illustrates in measure how our
department functions under such con-
ditions.
A girl arrived from Antwerp who
had lost her papers and could not re-
member her fathers address. Some
kind persons in Antwerp upon hearing
her story had given her one of our
circulars. and the Inspector at the
i III. tn, IN
| only address the girl could recall was
| that of countryman in Chicago. Thru
| the Chairman of Immigrant Aid of
| that Section, we obtained an Akron.
Ohio. address of brother. of the girl,
| We wired Akron. but in the mean.
time the girl recalled that her father
lived in Boston and gave us the name
Of street which our Boston rep
rcsentatives were able to translate in
| to the correct one. and few, days
after the girl had been placed by US
| in the Hannah Lavanburg Home, her
brother who had moved from Akron,
came down from Boston and took her
home.
This is but one of many incidents CT
| like nature. in which we are called
upon to use every resource. both of the
Department at Headquarters and our
Sections. to efficiently assist the i'm
migrant upon her arrival in the 'leN!
land. At this moment there is at Ellis
Island young woman with her chii'
Grcn whose husband we We're able ta
locate. in Old Mexico by advertising
in the Jewish newspapers thercTthr
only address we had to start with be
ing Santiago. We c;lhled Cuba am'
Mexico and wired California before