In addition to these local federations, the various societies throughout the United States have joined together to form a national body known as the National Conference of Jewish Charities. At present it comprises the chari table organizations of 85 cities. Annual con ferences are held. The published reports of these meetings indicate conclusively the wis dom and the necessity of founding such a national organization. The rules governing the transportation of dependents which have been in force in the National Conference of Jewish Charities since its inception were adopted, with alterations and additions, at a meeting of the National Conference of Chari ties and Corrections at the meeting held in Atlanta in May 1903. The official organ of the National Conference of Jewish Charities is a monthly publication, Jewish Charities.
Some idea of the extent to which the Jewish charities have been developed in the United States may be gathered from the following: In practically every city and town there are benev olent societies which look after the interests of the poor in their midst. Jewish orphan asy lums are established in the cities of Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, Cincin nati, Cleveland, Newark, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Rochester and San Francisco and Erie, Pa. In New York there are three institutions and in Philadelphia there are two. New York has a dozen Jewish hospitals and such cities as Philadelphia, Balti more, Chicago, Cincinnati, Denver, New Or leans and San Francisco, and even smaller cities, each have one or more. Homes for aged and infirm are found in most of the large cities. Similarly, educational movements along philan thropic lines are developing throughout the country. These include organizations such as the Hebrew Educational Society of Brooklyn, The Hebrew Education Society of Philadelphia, The Jewish Training School and Hebrew Insti tute of Chicago, the Hebrew Free and Indus trial School of Saint Louis, the Hebrew Indus trial School of Boston, the Clara de Hirsch Home for Working Girls, the Hebrew Techni cal School for Girls, the Hebrew Technical In stitute and the Baron de Hirsch Trade School, the last four being situated in New York. The Maxwell Street Settlement of Chicago and the Neighborhood House in Saint Paul are under Jewish auspices. Most of the large cities have Jewish settlements. In New York the Educational Alliance, the largest institution of its kind in the United States, has within the past few years developed a settlement with resi dent workers. Along educational lines, the
Jewish Chautauqua Society, a national organ ization, has conducted a summer school in philanthropy in connection with its summer as sembly held in Atlantic City, N. J. At these sessions, important communal problems of in terest to Jewish workers in philanthropy have been considered.
Other national organizations of importance are the Jewish Agriculturists' Aid Society, the Baron de Hirsch Fund and the Jewish Agricultural and Industrial Aid Society. The first named, with headquarters in Chicago, is engaged in placing farmers throughout the Northwest, particularly in Dakota. The work of this society, wl.ile not on an extended scale, has nevertheless given results and has demon strated the fact that it is possible to take resi dents of congested centres, remove them to country districts and make farmers of them. The Baron de Hirsch Fund was established under a foundation of the late Baron de Hirsch, the deed of trust being incorporated in March 1890. Its activities at present are di rected to the conduct of the Baron de Hirsch Trade School in New York city and the Agri cultural Colony at Woodbine, N. J., where the Fund has an Agricultural and Industrial School. The Fund likewise gives moneys to co-operating societies in various cities for the purpose of granting tools and teaching trades to recently arrived immigrants. The Jewish Agricultural and Industrial Aid Society is an o shoot of the Baron de Hirsch Fund, receiv ing money from the latter society and from the Jewish Colonization Association, which was created under a de Hirsch endowment. Its purpose is to find agricultural and industrial positions for Jewish immigrants. Under the care of this organization are the various colo nies in South Jersey, aside from Woodbine, and the organization has made farm loans IO farmers in various parts of the United States, particularly in Connecticut.
The number of philanthropic organizations has grown so large and their problems so com plex that the National Conference of Jewish Charities has established a field bureau to study them and give advice to local committees. In New York a Bureau of Philanthropic Research has been created, under the auspices of the Council of Jewish Communal Institutions, to study local philanthropic needs and resources. These bureaus together with the Bureau of Statistics of the Jewish Committee have re cently been amalgamated with headquarters in New York.