Schiff left the mechanics of administration principally to his son-in-law,
Felix Warburg, but his own hands-on style was apparent throughout. His
numerous papers relating to the relief drives illustrate his role as a fund-
raiser and major donor (his personal contributions by July 1917 amounted
to over half a million dollars), a judge of relief priorities, and an overseer
and conciliator of a wide distribution network. He hosted countless meet-
ings at his home, he organized canvassing teams, and he was in constant
communication with Jacob Billikopf, a communal worker who adminis-
tered the relief campaigns. During the war the campaigns were joined with
those of the Jewish Welfare Board, a body serving Jews in the armed ser-
vices. In the case of the Jewish Welfare Board, Schiff defended Jewish sep-
aratism, arguing that inaction would draw the contempt of both Gentiles
and the Jewish servicemen.^67
While Schiff enlisted the interest of the Rockefeller Foundation in the
matter of Polish relief, the AJC prepared and widely circulated detailed re-
ports of the war sufferers in a book entitled Jews in the Eastern War Zone. In
a more unusual move, the organization received the State Department’s
clearance to petition the pope, Benedict XV. The AJC begged the pontiff
to use his influence with the Catholic clergy in Poland to help end persecu-
tion, particularly the Polish economic boycott of the Jews. The pope de-
clined to address the matter, but he wrote a strong consoling answer, sub-
sequently published, avowing his personal aversion to anti-Semitism.^68
The stewards alone were unable to meet the relief needs. Since wealthy
Jews failed to respond adequately, the established leaders were forced to
turn fund-raising into mass appeals. Meetings in the larger cities, reinforced
by Wilson’s designation of a day for relief contributions and popularized in
the press, augmented donations. So did the gift of one day’s pay from the
rank and file of the major Jewish labor unions. But turning to the masses
provided critics like the Zionists with another entering wedge for demand-
ing a share in communal governance. Just as the campaign of the National
Committee for Relief of Sufferers by Russian Massacres (NCRSRM) in
1905 had given rise to ideas of a democratic defense organization, so did
wartime relief feed the opposition to elitist leadership.^69
The Zionists proved unequal competitors on matters of relief. They had
neither the stewards’ experience in lobbying with officials nor, more signif-
icant, equal access to sizable funds. To be sure, they cooperated with the
stewards on sending a relief ship to Palestine (a scheme whose practicality
Schiff doubted), but in that episode both parties worked separately to ob-
tain necessary aid from the State Department. Recognizing the inadequacy
of their independent attempts at fund-raising, the Zionists joined the ste-
wards in 1915 in the JDC, but mutual suspicion and hostility persisted.
Since the Zionists particularly disliked the stewards’ reliance on the Hilfs-
verein, an organization that seemed to them more German and anti-Zionist
The World at War 213