The Passport Question.-A movement was begun early in the year by a number of leading Jewish organizations to induce President Taft and Congress to take steps toward abrogating the treaty of 1832 between Russia and the United States, unless Russia accepts American passports granted to American citizens of the Jewish faith. Resolutions were promptly introduced into both houses of Congress, with the general concurrence of all parties and sections. In many of the state legislatures similar resolutions were adopted. The press in general favored the attitude taken. It is a significant proof of the popular interest created that protests against Russian intolerance were made by numerous religious bodies in conference assembled, among others Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, Congregationalists, Episcopalians, Latter Day Saints, and Friends, and by fraternal organizations, including the Odd Fellows and Masons. Jennings Bryan headed the committee, which included a long list of U. S. senators, governors, congressmen, mayors. On Oct. 30 the clerical conference of the N. Y. Federation of Churches held a mass meeting of protest, in which Protestants, Catholics and Jews were represented. On Oct. 22, at a public conference in Philadelphia, Senator Penrose promised to take up the matter on his return to the Senate, "to remove the reproach to American traditions which has marked Russia's discrimination" against the Jews. The agitation resulted in December in the abrogation by President Taft of the Russian treaty of 1832, details of which are given in other parts of the YEAR BooK (see IV, American History, and V, International Relations.) Jews in Agriculture.-Under the auspices of the founders of the Jewish Farm School at Doylestown, Pa., the first steps of a movement were taken to settle a number of families in Utah on a favorable soil, 8,000 During the summer the Evening acres of land having been selected Mail of New York City printed a for that purpose. According to the series of articles dealing with the Report of the Jewish Agricultural passport evil in Russia. Such was Society for 1911, Jews now occupy their effect that in October a strong 2,984 farms, with over 30,000 percommittee of non-Jewish public men sons engaged in agriculture throughwas organized, to voice the general out the country. The two schoolsindignation. Under its auspices that at Woodbine, N. J., under ausmeetings were held throughout the pices of the Baron de Hirsch Fund, country. Gov. Dix, Mayor Gaynor, and Dr. Krauskopf's at Doylestown, Speaker Cham Mark and William Pa., graduate annually capable agri culturists, etc. Jewish farmers have formed for two years a federation of their own, numbering 860 members and 36 societies, scattered in all parts of the country. Free scholarships for sons and daughters of Jewish farmers continue to be granted by the Jewish Agricultural Society in various state agricultural colleges for their short winter courses. On Oct 9 a "Hebrew Farmers' Colonization Society" was organized in Chicago, which intends to take 450 Jewish families from that city to Wyoming in its famous Wheatland district. Each family will be advanced $1,000 in cash by a number of men, at whose head is Julius Rosenwald. Each family is to settle on 160 acres of land, making a total of 72,000 acres eventually to be occupied. The farmers will be given 10 or 15 years to pay back the money advanced, but without interest. Private Frank Bloom.-A sharp reprimand was administered by President Taft to Col. Garrard, commandant at Fort Myer, Va., in the spring, for his comments on the application of Private Frank Bloom to be admitted to examination as officer. The colonel did not favor the applicant on the ground that as a Jew and the son of a tailor at the army post, he did not possess the social standing to justify his admission into the officers' circle. The President criticised Col. Garrard severely and ordered Bloom to appear in due. course for examination as Second Lieutenant, which he successfully withstood in September. Almost simultaneously with his action in this incident, the President, in an address delivered in a Washington synagogue, arraigned the clubs which blackball cultured and prominent Americans of the Jewish faith. (See also IV, The President in 1911.) Elections and Appointments to Public Office.-Among the newly elected senators in the various states were: A. Abraham and B. Selling, of Oregon; J. A. Asher, of Nevada; J. A. Ettelson, of Illinois; J. Fisher, of West Virginia; H. W. Pollock, of New York; H. Rosenhaupt, of Washington; S. W. Sohns and C. Wolf, of Pennsylvania; E. Trautman, of Indiana, and E. I. Wolfe, of California. Edward Lazansky was elected Secretary of State for New York, and Isidor Rayner was reëlected to the U. S. Senate. Judge Julian W. Mack was appointed judge of the new federal Court of Commerce. Maurice Simmons, of New York, was elected Commander-in-Chief of the United Spanish War Veterans at the eighth annual encampment held at Oklahoma City in August. Samuel Kalisch, of Newark, Ñ. J., was appointed a justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court. Jewish Colonization.-The Annual Report of the Jewish Colonization Society (Baron de Hirsch's foundation) shows its remarkable activity during the past year. It maintains two settlements in Canada, covering an area of 95,259 acres and a population of 3,020. Tobacco growing is one of the industries. In the United States, 30,000 persons occupy the settlements it has organized. It has extended its operation to Anatolia, in addition to fostering work in Palestine. In Brazil it maintains a small colony. In Russia, Roumania, and lands where there is constant oppression, its work is largely educational and charitable. In Russia 50 elementary schools, with 8,471 pupils, have been assisted, besides 18 schools in Odessa alone, and 30 in Roumania. In Galicia it supports 23 loan societies and an agricultural school with fifty pupils. Emigration. The question of emigration receives careful study. In Russia the Society maintains 499 bureaus of information, combined under 19 district committees. From the St. Petersburg head office a bimonthly periodical gives information to intending emigrants. Classes in English have been established, and manuals and dictionaries in English and Spanish distributed. Out of the 80,000 Jews who left Russia in 1910, 46,000 consulted the organization. Zionism. The tenth Zionist Congress at Basle in August was attended by about 400 delegates, including a few from America. Its results were the removal of the bureau from Cologne to Berlin, and the appointment of a commission, instead of a president, to administer the affairs of the organization. Its published manifesto indicates that while it will not wholly abandon political aspirations, it will extend its present activities in Palestine, propagate cultural work, foster further Hebrew study, and devote special attention to present financial agencies, such as the Bank, National Fund, various colonization schemes, and other institutions. Palestine. In the course of the past twenty years, much activity has prevailed in Palestine, largely due to the Zionist movement. A bank has been founded in Jaffa, farms and olive and orange plantations cultivated, and an agricultural experimental station established at Haifa, where a Hebrew technical school is being built, as well as a national library, a museum and a bacteriological and hygienical research bureau. Recent Consular Reports are not so reassuring as to the general progress in Palestine. The commerce of Jaffa shows a decline for the year, and the agricultural outlook is less satisfactory. The manufacture of soap was the only factor that made advance. New Synagogues and Institutions. -During the communal year, Sept., 1910, to Sept., 1911, new synagogues have been erected in the following cities: recently arrived immigrants and to train their young men and women in useful occupations. The Order of B'nai B'rith, which is organizing an orphan asylum in Pennsylvania, has resolved to build a hospital at Hot Springs, Ark., in memory of Leo N. Levi, its former president. It will be the first hospital of its kind for rheumatism and blood diseases. As Communal Progress.-The efforts made by the American Jewish Committee to organize regular communities in the various larger cities appear to succeed, and tend particularly to range the recently arrived emigrants under effective control. a result, better facilities for worship and education follow, particularly in the latter field. In New York City, with its vast Jewish population, numbering in all the Boroughs fully a million, probably a million and a quarter, the new "community," or "Kehillah," is striving to develop the school system with special reference to more thorough study of Hebrew, Dr. Benderley being in charge. A large amount has been subscribed to promote the new movement, which aims at an educational revival. In Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago, St. Louis, similar energy is being displayed in the organization. The New York Kehillah has established a Board of Rabbis to adjudicate on religious and ritualistic questions, and an effort has been made to regulate the granting of divorces without regard to the law of the land. Jewish Chautauqua held for the first time a Western Assembly in San Francisco. At a meeting of Grand Lodge No. 4 of the B'nai B'rith Order (March 2), a resolution was adopted excluding from membership Jews who join Christian Science churches. President Taft addressed a meeting at the Washington Temple, May 16, for the purpose of planning a memorial monument to Haym Salomon, a financier of the Revolution. The Sunday-Closing Laws.-Attempts to regulate more strictly Sundayclosing laws have aroused opposition, and in some states Jews who keep their stores closed on Saturdays are allowed to keep open on Sunday. Cases to test the constitutionality of the law have followed. As a rule, Other Countries.-In France, Prof. the action is individual; the Jews Lippman has been elected vice-presias a class are not inclined to disturb dent of the French Academy of Scienexisting conditions, and in some cases tists, and Gen. Valabrègue appointed doubtless suffer an economic loss by Commander of the Third Army the observance of their Sabbath day. Corps. In Italy Mayor Ernesto NaGreat Britain. The anti-Jewish than's address at Rome on the forriots in Wales contemporary with tieth anniversary of the Kingdom the miners' strike were an unpleas- gave rise to protests from the Pope ant evidence of the persistence of and Catholic organizations throughantipathy, however promptly sup- out the world. Roumania continues pressed. The new British Parlia- the policy of restriction, forcing the ment contained a large number of Jews out of the country. In AusJewish members. Sir Rufus Isaacs tria, the death of Mayor Lueger of was appointed Attorney General. Vienna preceded the decline of the Russia. In Russia, the assassina-anti-Semitic movement which he tion of M. Stolypin by a baptized championed for some years. The new Jew gave rise to no fresh pogroms regime in Turkey is distinctly favorat Kiev, where 30,000 Cossacks were able to the Jews, although unfriendly ordered to maintain order. Few to any new Jewish state in Palesriots, if any, have occurred during tine. Many are now government ofthe year, despite constant expulsions ficials. The Jews promptly instiand exactions, against which some tuted criminal proceedings against chambers of commerce are protest-the Damascus newspaper which ing. The policy of restricting both raised the cry of "blood accusation." the commercial and educational de- More attention is being paid to techvelopment of the Jew is actively nical education in Palestine, which continued. is hopeful, although the great povGermany. In Germany the anti-erty that prevails is a depressing feaSemitic movement is less active. In the upper house of the Parliament of Alsace-Lorraine, a representative of the Jewish community is provided for. Prominent industrial leaders, like Albert Ballin, James Simon and Emil Rathenan, have been honored by the Kaiser. The attempt to abolish the Jewish method of slaughtering animals was foiled by a declaration by the president of the German Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals as to its in nocuousness. Holland. About the time when the murder of the Russian Premier Stolypin was expected to arouse fresh persecution of the Jews, which happily did not occur, owing to the government's prompt action, the Dutch Minister of Commerce was opening, on Sept. 18, the new Diamond Exchange in Amsterdam. With but few exceptions, the entire body of diamond merchants, 1,300 in all, are Jews. The Exchange is to be closed on Saturdays and Jewish festivals. This incident illustrates the position of the Jews in Holland and their share in developing trade and commerce. ture. In Australia, the Government announced (June 30) if Jews, Seventh Day Adventists, or adherents of other religions, object to military training on Saturdays, special arrangements will be made to enable them to train on other afternoons or nights of the week. Rabbis in Conference.-At the 22d Annual Convention of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the oldest and largest representative gathering of its kind in America, held at St. Paul, Minn., June 30July 6, apart from special papers on the centenaries of several Jewish scholars, the following papers were presented: "The Basis of Membership in the American Synagogue," "The Problem of Ethical Instruction in the Public School," "The Harvest Service," "Religious School Work for High School Pupils," and "Jewish Apologetics." The conference's prayerbook is now in use in 283 congregations, and has been sold in seventeen years to the number of 115,876 copies. During the year special ef forts were made to eliminate from the boards of American theatres the so-called stage Jew. XXXIV. ART, ARCHEOLOGY, MUSIC, AND DRAMA PAINTING, SCULPTURE, AND HANDICRAFTS FLORENCE N. LEVY The following gives a brief summary of the year's activities among the organizations devoted chiefly to the graphic and plastic arts. The Art Institute of Chicago made important additions to its building, including the construction and opening of the central staircase and the American Federation of Arts.-The addition of a new office building. American Federation of Arts held its Among the most important_accessecond annual convention in Wash- sions were the gifts from Edward ington, D. C., May 16-18, and B. Butler of eighteen paintings by reported 120 chapters (affiliated so- George Inness, and from the Friends cieties), as against 80 in 1910. Dur- of American Art of eighteen oil ing the season of 1910-11, it circu- paintings by various contemporary lated nine exhibitions, which were American artists. shown in 34 cities. Painting. The principal exhibiMuseums.-The American Associa- tions of the year were those held tion of Museums met in Boston May at the National Academy of Design, 23-25. The opening session was Dec. 10, 1910, to Jan. 8, 1911, and held at the Museum of Fine Arts. Mar. 11 to Apr. 16, 1911; and CarThe papers read discussed chiefly the negie Institute, Pittsburg, the only details of museum management. international exhibition, Apr. 27 to The Association, however, numbers June 30, 1911. The Pennsylvania few art museums, the majority of Academy of the Fine Arts, the Cormembers being scientific museums. coran Gallery at Washington, the The only art museum building Art Institute of Chicago, the Buffalo dedicated during the year was the Academy of Fine Arts, the City MuSweat Memorial Museum at Port-seum of St. Louis, the Cincinnati land, Me. New art museum build- Museum and others had the usual ings now in course of construction series of exhibitions. include those at Toledo, New Orleans, and Los Angeles. In Detroit, two blocks of land in the heart of the city were purchased for the erection of a new art museum. In Minneapolis, a fund of over $500,000 for the erection of an art museum was secured through a whirlwind campaign. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is constructing the north wing on the Fifth Avenue side. The total accessions during the year numbered 10,521, of which 59 were paintings and 41 sculptures. The Boston Museum of Fine Arts received as a gift from Mrs. Robert Dawson Evans the building which is to contain the series of picture galleries. Sculpture. The National Sculpture Society sent out a traveling exhibition of small bronzes, and prepared a group of large photographs of important sculpture in the United States, which were circulated as one of the exhibitions of the American Federation of Arts. One of the principal pieces of sculpture of the year was the Pioneer Monument by Frederick MacMonnies, unveiled at Denver, Colo., June 24. Illustrations.-The Society of American Illustrators prepared an exhibition of original drawings which were circulated under the auspices of the American Federation of Arts. Municipal Art.-The first City Planning Exhibition ever given in this country under municipal aus |