Maurice de Hirsch 4 - The Argentine Colonies

Baron de Hirsch was a great believer in the regeneration of the Russian Jews through industrial pursuits, and especially through agriculture, from which occupations they had been barred in Russia. With this object in view he caused careful inquiries and investigations to be made in countries that offered suitable lands for agricultural development. He sent agents to make investigations in various parts of America—in Brazil, Mexico, Canada, and Argentina. Through the agency of Dr. Löwenthal, who was chiefly entrusted with these inquiries, he came to the conclusion that Argentina, in the first instance, presented conditions most favorable for the commencement of the plan of colonization. Large tracts of land were purchased in Buenos Ayres, Sante Fé, and Entre-Rios. The Russian government, which had rejected the baron's offer for the amelioration of the condition of the Jews in the empire, cooperated with him in the organization of a system of emigration. A central committee, selected by the baron, was formed in St. Petersburg, at the head of which were Barons Horace and David Günzburg, together with S. Poliakoff, M. Sack, Passower, and Raffalovich, the latter three being distinguished members of the St. Petersburg bar. The baron also formed a governing body in Argentina; and the personal direction of the colonies was entrusted to Col. Albert Goldsmid, who obtained temporary leave of absence from the English War Office for the purpose.

The gigantic plan of colonization thus initiated met with the usual percentage of failure and success attending such enterprises. Baron de Hirsch continued to give his personal attention to every detail of this great work, and organized a regular business staff, which attended him wherever he was residing, in Paris or in London. The first floor of his residence was converted into a business bureau, where he regularly spent the morning hours receiving reports and dictating his correspondence.

The large number of Russian Jews who emigrated to the United States attracted his benevolent interest; and in 1891 he caused to be organized under the laws of the state of New York the Baron de Hirsch Fund, with a capital of $2,500,000, which was afterward increased

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* Historia: Argentina, Baron Maurice de Hirsch