Immigration from Russia to the United States
1906 - 1907
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In 1906, the U.S. Government sent immigration inspector Philip Cowen on an undercover mission to the Pale of Settlement in Russia (St. Petersburg, Kief, and Odessa) to discover the cause of increased Jewish immigration from Russia to the United States. His findings revealed appalling and unremitting persecution of Russian Jews.
This is one page from Cowen’s report that includes a table with statistics for Eastern European immigration to the United States based on country and ethnicity.
Additional sections of the report tell of the Russian government’s persecution of Jews. Since 1882, the May Laws forced Jews out of their homes and required them all to live in the Pale of Settlement. Crowded into this small area of Russia, the Jews struggled to find jobs and pay rising rent prices. Cowen uses poignant pictures and narration to tell about difficult living conditions and economic hardship for Jews in Russia.
Most tragic of all are his description of the 637 pogroms—targeted attacks on Jews. Entire Jewish cities were ransacked and destroyed while hundreds of Jews were brutally murdered. Cowen writes of these attacks through the stories of eyewitnesses who survived the pogroms. To escape such persecution, Jews sought to immigrate to America. But by accompanying Jewish immigrants on their journey to escape Russia, Cowen found out that Jewish persecution did not end with their departure. Jews were repeatedly charged double or triple the cost of passports and boat tickets to America.
This is one page from Cowen’s report that includes a table with statistics for Eastern European immigration to the United States based on country and ethnicity.
Additional sections of the report tell of the Russian government’s persecution of Jews. Since 1882, the May Laws forced Jews out of their homes and required them all to live in the Pale of Settlement. Crowded into this small area of Russia, the Jews struggled to find jobs and pay rising rent prices. Cowen uses poignant pictures and narration to tell about difficult living conditions and economic hardship for Jews in Russia.
Most tragic of all are his description of the 637 pogroms—targeted attacks on Jews. Entire Jewish cities were ransacked and destroyed while hundreds of Jews were brutally murdered. Cowen writes of these attacks through the stories of eyewitnesses who survived the pogroms. To escape such persecution, Jews sought to immigrate to America. But by accompanying Jewish immigrants on their journey to escape Russia, Cowen found out that Jewish persecution did not end with their departure. Jews were repeatedly charged double or triple the cost of passports and boat tickets to America.
Transcript
(11)That these pogroms exert a direct and marked influence upon the migration from Russia is shown by this table:-
IMMIGRATION FROM RUSSIA TO THE UNITED STATES. [underlined]
[table with underlined column headers]:
[blank header for first column, has a list of nationalities], 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906
Total; 85,257; 107,347; 156,095; 145,141; 184,897; 215,665
Hebrew; 37,600; 37,846; 47,689; 77,544; 92,388; 125,234
Polish; 21,475; 55,859; 39,548; 52,577; 47,224; 46,204
Finnish; 9,966; 15,854; 18,776; 10,077; 19,671; 13,461
Lithuanian; 8,805; 9,975; 14,420; 12,707; 17,649; 13,697
German; 5,645; 8,542; 10,485; 7,128; 6,722; 10,279
Russian; 655; 1,556; 3,565; 3,907; 3,278; 5,282
At least 85% of this comes from Poland and the Pale of Jewish settlement indicated in red & blue on Map of Russia submitted at Exn. 5. [handwritten] [check mark penciled in right margin]
The genuine Russian element in the immigration from Russia, as will be seen here, may be considered a negligible quantity. Otherwise there is a marked decrease in all for 1904, except the Jewish. The first Kishinef pogrom, April 1905, and the evil influences following therefrom increased the Jewish migration the same year and sent that of 1904 beyond what it has been since the first year following the enforcement of the May Laws. The large increase in the Lithuanian and Polish immigration is undoubtedly due in part to the business conditions following these pogroms. My observation satisfied me that neither bad crops nor the present revolutionary condition of affairs, the activity of steamship agents nor even the strong desire to better one's condition is so forceful an impelling cause of emigration from Russia as the terror that is caused by these pogroms and the ever present fear of their recurrence anywhere.
4. THE POLITICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITION ARISING FROM THE FOREGOING CAUSES, AS WELL AS FROM THE EFFORTS TO CHANGE THE PRESENT FORM OF GOVERNMENT. [underlined]
The crowded condition of the Jews in the Pale of Settlement, because they must live in cities and town, into which they are driven from the surrounding country from time to time, and because they may not move from the places wherein they belong, not even to find work, as has been before stated, causes congestion that leads to severe competition among the working people, not only for work but as well for places to live in.
20 [handwritten, bottom right corner]
This primary source comes from the Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
National Archives Identifier: 602984
Full Citation: Cowen Report - European Investigation Entry No. 9; 1906 - 1907; File No. 51411/056; Subject and Policy Files, 1893 - 1957; Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Record Group 85; National Archives Building, Washington, DC. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/russian-immigration-table, March 20, 2023]Rights: Public Domain, Free of Known Copyright Restrictions. Learn more on our privacy and legal page.
