were obstinate men—but after initial differences were ironed out, Zangwill
and Schiff joined forces.^24
Schiff bolstered the European side further by securing the cooperation
of the influential German relief society, the Hilfsverein der Deutschen
Juden, particularly for overseeing the emigrants’ journey through Bremen.
Dr. Paul Nathan, executive secretary of the Hilfsverein, was a trusted con-
fidant on Russian Jewish affairs, and he and the banker worked closely to-
gether. On the American side of the operation, Schiff put together a strong
team by tapping Cyrus Sulzberger, David Bressler, and Morris Waldman,
men seasoned in Jewish communal affairs and removal work. Under their
direction the Galveston movement drew on a network of committees es-
tablished by IRO in immigrant “receiving” communities across the coun-
try, as well as on local B’nai B’rith lodges. In the city of Galveston itself,
where management lay in the hands of the newly created Jewish
Immigrants’ Information Bureau, Rabbi Henry Cohen was an active co-
worker. Schiff prodded his associates, who labored hard and well. Theirs
was the primary responsibility of overall coordination with ITO—that is,
matching pre-fixed jobs with the actual numbers recruited in Europe. At
the hub of the operation sat Schiff, the policy maker and final arbiter.^25
A shipload of sixty immigrants docked in Galveston in July 1907, and
the first signs augured well. The local press sympathetically explained the
workings of the bureau; the mayor warmly welcomed the newcomers. The
immigrants themselves made a favorable impression. Rabbi Cohen, who
found them an intelligent lot, recounted how they requested newspapers,
Yiddish-English or Russian-English dictionaries, and even a chess set. Un-
fortunately, the initial momentum of the first year was lost when a serious
economic depression throughout the United States brought the movement
to a virtual standstill in 1908 –9. Schiff, however, remained confident, and
he spoke highly of an expanding settlement. The Russian, “of splendid
stock,” would strengthen the influence of American Jews. “He not only
makes it possible through his work that we maintain and extend our com-
mercial supremacy, but he also brings his ideals and a religious back-
ground, of which, with our materialistic tendencies, we stand in great
need.” He predicted to Zangwill that even if they two only looked into this
Promised Land from the top of Mount Pisgah (another reference to Moses
who was permitted to see but not enter Palestine), the Galveston move-
ment would have proved a lasting victory.^26
True to form, Schiff immersed himself fully in the details of the move-
ment. He read a stream of reports that covered all steps from recruitment
in Russia to settlement in America. He studied passenger lists as well as
“before and after” photographs of the new arrivals; he knew of individual
hardship cases and helped decide their disposition; he negotiated lower
railroad rates for transportation from Galveston to final destinations. Tales
164 Jacob H. Schiff