back and emptied its contents upon the stage also.... One man sent a dol-
lar bill, with a note saying that he had with him only $1.05, and needed the
5 cents for carfare home.” “Never,” the newspaper concluded, “was such a
scene witnessed in Carnegie Hall.”^64
Aside from intergroup rivalries and duplicatory efforts, a host of prob-
lems surfaced that were endemic to the very nature of wartime relief. To
begin with, did Jews as well as non-Jews know the facts of the situation?
While misrepresentation and exaggeration colored the charges of atrocities
by the opposing belligerents, Schiff grumbled that the public knew all about
atrocities in Belgium but nothing about the worse misery in Poland. Con-
tacts with foreign officials and with European Jewish organizations and in-
dividuals supplied the AJC with facts, but the Jewish public, privy only to
scanty information, needed additional data to feel a sense of urgency. Fur-
thermore, what kind of relief was needed, money alone or foodstuffs and
medical supplies as well? How could contributions be most safely transmit-
ted and distributed in order to reach the intended beneficiaries? Would re-
lief be tainted by partisan or Zionist considerations and thereby increase
atrocities by either side? Were American Jews able to support domestic
causes like charities and the Baron de Hirsch Fund, as well as general Amer-
ican relief drives, if they assumed additional burdens? For the first time even
Schiff claimed that he personally was strapped for funds, the result, he ex-
plained, of higher taxes, lower income, and additional wartime demands.^65
The difficulties notwithstanding, the stewards launched mammoth re-
lief drives, climaxed by campaigns of $5 million in 1916 and $10 million in
- An outstanding success, the 1917 campaign was pitched primarily to
the wealthy. The Guggenheims refused Schiff’s personal pleas for a large
contribution, but Julius Rosenwald of Sears, Roebuck promised to match
every $1 million gift with $100,000. Communities were tapped, too. A tac-
tic put forth by Schiff and adopted by the campaign called for asking each
community to contribute twice as much as it could afford.^66
Schiff’s active participation, primarily through the AJRC, testified once
again to his sense of responsibility and personal drive. At a vigorous pace
that belied his age, he spent countless hours on all facets of the relief prob-
lem. In personal letters and at meetings in various cities he cajoled and
badgered his affluent fellow Jews to contribute generously. “We are jus-
tified in expecting from all whom God has so richly blessed, to give again
and again—and not sparingly!” he wrote to one acquaintance. No man, he
asserted, could justifiably seek to increase his personal fortune during the
war. Indeed, he saw no reason why three million American Jews, especially
the wealthy ones, could not raise $30 million. Although he complained of
Jewish apathy—lashing out in particular at the Jews on the Pacific Coast—
and of the inadequacy of the funds raised, he simultaneously warned do-
nors not to forget the needy at home.
212 Jacob H. Schiff