Galveston: Ellis Island of the West

CHAPTER 8. 1913: The Rothschilds Withdraw, and a Hernia "Epidemic" Breaks Out

CHAPTER 8 1913: The Rothschilds Withdraw, and a Hernia "Epidemic" Breaks Out From its inception in 1907, the ITO's Emigration Regulation Department, which was in charge of Galveston Movement operations , was supported by a special fund which had been established by its treasurer, Mr. Leopold de Rothschild of London, and his brother Nathaniel, Lord Rothschild. The money from the Rothschild fund, which amounted to £20,000 (almost $100,000), was doled out to the Emigration Regulation Department from time to time whenever requested. I The department sent the bulk of this money, over the years, to Dr. Jochelmann's Jewish Emigration Society, which used it to run its office in Kiev and to pay the salaries of its agents, who were situated throughout the Russian Pale. By the end of 1912, about £16,000 was used up, leaving only enough money for about another year's operations.2 Zangwill approached Leopold de Rothschild about the possibility of a new grant. This was the second time in as many years that Zangwill had tried to convince Mr. de Rothschild to continue sponsorship. It will be recalled that at the end of 1911, Schiff had expressed his dissatisfaction with the ITO's recruitment campaign, but was persuaded by Zangwill to give the ITO another year in which to improve its performance.3 At that time, Leopold de Rothschild had been in favor of giving Jochelmann a year's notice, raising the distinct possibility that the Jewish Territorial Organization would have to cease its Galveston recruitment operations at the end of 1912. Zangwill had assured Mr. de Rothschild that the ITO would 150 1913: THE ROTHSCHILDS WITHDRAW improve its performance during 1912 to Schiff's satisfaction, and he persuaded the London Rothschilds to fulfill, at least, their original pledge of £20,000.4 Now, at the end of 1912, the £20,000 Rothschild fund was one year away from exhaustion. This time, the two Rothschild brothers of London informed Zangwill that they had no intention of issuing a new grant.5 In this refusal they were joined by their French family relation, Baron Edmond de Rothschild, the patron ofJewish settlement in Palestine, whom Zangwill also approached for funds. In addition, Zangwill asked Jochelmann to approach the RussianJewish philanthropist Lev Brodski in Kiev, with a request for 100,000 rubles (a little over £10,000 or $50,000) and with an offer of the presidency of the Russian branch of the ITO's Emigration Regulation Department, as successor of the widely mourned Dr. Mandelstamm , who had passed away during the year. At first, Brodski seemed willing to accept the presidency as well as the obligation to raise the required sum. However, Brodski's private secretary, the Hebrew poet Judah Leib Levin, who was a leading Zionist, persuaded him that the Galveston Movement encouraged assimilation and that, besides, it was so insignificant as to be unworthy of Brodski's efforts.6 Even supporters of the ITO in Russia were, at this time, expressing dissatisfaction with the Galveston Movement, which many had long felt to be an alien cause. For example, a Russian-Jewish monthly which backed Territorialism, and was probably even subsidized by the ITO, carried an editorial severely criticizing the ITO for its participation in the Galveston Movement. The editor wrote that the ITOists had "diverted all their energy into a sideventure , and by changing the ITO into a 'Jewish Emigration Society' they had thrown out the baby with the bath water." He concluded that the Galveston Movement was "not an adornment of the ITO's flag."7 Zangwill saw that the leading Jewish philanthropists of Europe refused to back the Galveston Movement. In desperation, he wrote Schiff a letter asking him if he would consider sponsoring the European end of the Galveston Movement in addition to its American operations.8 This suggestion, however, was unanimously rejected by Schiff's Galveston Committee in New York, for it would be clearly illegal for an American individual or organization to recruit foreign immigrants. Instead, the Galveston Committee decided to open negotiations with the Jewish Colonization Association (ICA) toward having that organization assume control of the Galveston recruitment campaign. For the time being, the Galveston 151 GALVESTON: ELLIS ISLAND OF THE WEST Committee asked the ITO to continue its recruitment activities so that the anticipated transfer of authority could be accomplished without interrupting the flow of immigration. The attempt to bring about a smooth...