IMMIGRATION OF JEWS FROM ROUMANIA
The immigration of Roumanian Jews to the United States began as a
small stream at the end of the sixties, and assumed significant
dimensions in the eighties. Two important periods of rising
immigration are clearly distinguishable. The first period attains its
maximum between 1885 and 1889. The second attains its maximum and that
of the entire movement between 1900 and 1904.
In the thirty years between 1881 and 1910, 67,057 immigrants entered
the United States.[72] In the first decade, 6,967 immigrants, or 10.4
per cent of the total, arrived. In the second decade, 12,789
immigrants arrived, or 19.1 per cent of the total. The great majority,
47,301 immigrants, or 70.5 per cent of the total, arrived in the last
decade, more than twice as many as had arrived in the two preceding
decades. The Roumanian Jews thus began to take a significant part in
the Jewish movement only within the last decade.
The annual variations are closely connected with the conditions in
Roumania which have been previously discussed.[73] The rise in 1885 to
803 immigrants, the first number of any consequence, reflects the
measures taken in Roumania to restrict the economic activity of the
Jews, chiefly through the hawkers' law of 1884. The continuation of
the administrative activities against the Jews, the expulsion of many
from the villages, and particularly the beginning in earnest of the
attempt to drive them from industry and commerce, by the law of 1887,
are responsible for the wholesale exodus in that and the following two
years. In these three years more than 7 per cent of the total
Roumanian Jewish immigration entered the country.
After 1889 and for nearly a decade the immigration of Jews from
Roumania subsided, resuming the proportions established before 1887.
Another rise began in 1899. In 1900, the Roumanian Jewish immigration
reached the relatively great number of 6,183, around which point it
stood for the next two years. In 1903, it reached its maximum with an
immigration of 8,562 Jews, one-eighth of the entire Roumanian Jewish
immigration for the thirty years. In the following year the
immigration still held to the high numbers reached before 1903. The
years following 1904 show a fall to less than 4,000, which was
interrupted in 1908, when the immigration rose to 4,455. In 1909, a
sharp fall ensued to 1,390, and in 1910 to 1,701.
The great rise from 1900 to 1904, during which period there came more
than half of the total number of Jewish immigrants from Roumania, was
largely due to the resumption of the government program against the
Jews. The chief form of restriction was the passing of the Artisans'
Law in 1902, preceded by some years of agitation and administrative
activity directed against the Jews, which aimed to make it impossible
for the Jewish artisans to secure work. The feeling that the Jews had
nothing to hope from the government, as much as the actual distress
occasioned, was largely responsible for the unprecedented
immigration.[74]
The Jewish forms so large a part of the Roumanian immigration as to be
practically synonymous with it. As we have before noted, the figures
obtained from the Jewish sources indicate a larger immigration from
1886 to 1898 on the part of the Jews alone than the official figures
give for the entire immigration from Roumania for this period.
Confining our attention to the figures of immigration from 1899 to
1910,[75] we find that, from 1899 to 1910, of the 61,073 immigrants
from Roumania who entered the United States, 54,827, or 89.8 per cent,
were Jews. Thus practically nine-tenths of the immigrants from
Roumania are Jews. In the five years in which the Jewish movement was
at its height, the Jews constituted from 91 per cent to 95.7 per cent
of the Roumanian immigration. The immigration of other peoples from
Roumania is insignificant. The highest number entering in any of the
twelve years amounted to less than 800.
Still more significant is the intensity of immigration of the
Roumanian Jews, especially in view of the negligible number of
immigrants from Roumania other than Jews. The rate of immigration of
the Roumanian Jews is far higher than that even of their Russian
brethren.[76] The average annual immigration of Roumanian Jews, for
the twelve years, from 1899 to 1910, amounted to 4,569, which
represented an average rate of immigration for the Roumanian Jews of
175 per 10,000 of the Jewish population in Roumania. In the five years
of maximum immigration, from 1900 to 1904, the rate was considerably
higher, reaching in 1903 the enormous proportion of 329 immigrants to
every 10,000 Jews in Roumania. The lowest rate during this period,
that of 1900, was only slightly smaller than the maximum rate
approached by the Jewish immigrants from Russia. However, in the three
years which represented the highest point of the rate of immigration
of the Jews from Russia, from 1905 to 1907, the rate of immigration
for the corresponding years in Roumania was considerably smaller.
The Jewish immigration from Roumania is thus a product chiefly of the
last decade. The rise in the first decade and the relatively
tremendous rise in the last decade are a result largely of the
activities of the Roumanian government. The vast majority of the
immigrants from Roumania are Jews, whose rate of immigration is
unprecedented.
FOOTNOTES:
[72] _Cf._ table XVII, p. 166.
[73] _Cf._ table XVIII, p. 167.
[74] In the _Century_ of Nov., 1913, Professor Ross, writing on "The
Old World in the New," remarks (p. 28) that "the emigration of 50,000
Roumanian Jews between January and August, 1900, was brought about by
steamship agents who created great excitement in Roumania by
distributing glowing circulars about America."
It is remarkable that with so large an emigration of Roumanian Jews
during these eight months, ostensibly directed to America, only 6183
Roumanian Jews were recorded as arriving in the United States in 1900,
and only 6,827 in 1901. In the twelve years from 1899 to 1910,
Professor Ross's figure is approached; for the entire period 54,827
Roumanian Jews are officially recorded as entering the United States.
Even of the relatively large immigration of Jews from Roumania in
1900, the cause clearly was not the activity of steamship agents.
Compare the report of the president of the United Hebrew Charities,
keenly alive to the problems presented to the American Jews by the
Jewish immigration:
"The last few months have been noteworthy in the history of the Jewish
race for an outbreak of Anti-Semitism in a far-away country, the
far-reaching effects of which have been keenly felt in this city. I
refer of course, to the persecutions of the Jews in Roumania. A small
group of Jewish philanthropists of this city (under the direction of
the IOOB) has taken up the task of providing for the newcomers." Such
a response is not usually given to immigrants lured to this country by
promises of gain.
_United Hebrew Charities of New York City_, Oct., 1900, p. 19.
[75] _Cf._ table XIX, p. 168.
[76] _Cf._ table XX, p. 168.