Industrial Removal Office

In 1901, following anti-Semitic decrees by the Romanian government, a large wave of Romanian Jews fled to New York. The Rumanian Committee was quickly formed in New York to distribute the immigrants to other towns where they might find employment. B'nai B'rith lodges in these towns and cities assisted the refugees upon their arrival. The Romanian Committee rapidly evolved into the Industrial Removal Office, which took over the work on a much larger scale and opened its availability to any unemployed Jewish immigrant, regardless of their origin.

The Industrial Removal Office was formally created as part of the Jewish Agricultural Society at the Society's January 24, 1901 Executive Committee meeting. The Society rented a store at 34 Stanton Street in New York and named it "The Industrial Removal Office." The office was later transferred to 174 Second Avenue. The process of procuring work for immigrants was done through traveling agents, who also obtained the cooperation of local Jewish organizations. Local committees, organized primarily by B'nai B'rith, obtained orders for workers and assisted the immigrants on their arrival. The New York bureau noted requests received from the traveling agents and local committees and matched up opportunities from their applicant lists. In the first year of the Industrial Removal Office's existence, nearly 2000 individuals were sent to 250 places throughout the United States.

The philosophy behind the IRO was to assimilate the immigrants into American Society, both economically and culturally. As David Bressler, IRO general manager for sixteen years, noted, the goal was to allow immigrants to find "their own salvation." Local committees were told to regard the arriving immigrant as a newcomer filling a definite place within the community, not as a charity case. The immigrant's work should be carefully chosen to fully use his abilities and closely correspond to his earning powers. Lastly, care should be made to make the immigrant comfortable in his new community. The IRO believed that individuals or families settling in their new lives would serve as magnets for immigrating relatives and friends.

The types of occupations and trades immigrants were placed in varied widely. The records list a total of 390 variations including: carpenters, shoemakers, butchers, blacksmiths, farmers, locksmiths, clerks, machinists, paperhangers, tanners, furriers, harness makers, printers, watchmakers, weavers, and wood carvers. A major success of the IRO was to encourage diverse occupations beyond those in the needletrades.

With the financial panic in 1907 and the ensuing industrial depression, the demand for labor decreased sharply. The IRO counteracted this crisis by sending traveling agents farther away from New York and by increasing its publicity. The result was a broader range of distribution that included the Southern, Rocky Mountain, and Pacific States. This year also marked an administrative autonomy from the auspices of the Jewish Agricultural Society. In 1909, the ongoing industrial depression produced the lowest distribution figures since 1902. Many IRO city offices suspended their operations. David Bressler organized offices in Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle, Spokane, and other agricultural centers that were not as affected by the depression. Two major distribution centers, Philadelphia and Boston, ceased their operations in 1911 and 1914, respectively.

With the onset of World War I, distributing IRO offices had so shrunk that only 3,500 immigrants were placed out of a total of 12,000 applicants. IRO's income also decreased and to maintain morale a bulletin "Distribution" began to be published in July 1914. The IRO preserved its core organization throughout the war. In 1921, with deepened US immigration restrictions, the IRO attempted to place immigrants in Mexico . The project was soon discontinued. IRO formally dissolved in 1922. From 1901 to 1922, the IRO distributed approximately 79,000 individuals throughout the United States and Canada . From 1901 to 1913, IRO distributions represented close to 6 or 7 per cent of the US total immigration figures.

References

Glazier, Jack. Dispersing the Ghetto: The Relocation of Jewish Immigrants Across America. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1998.

Joseph, Samuel. History of the Baron de Hirsch Fund: the Americanization of the Jewish Immigrant. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1935.