New York, December 31st, 1906

SUBJECT:
Immigration from Russia

Hon. Frank P. Sargent,

Commissioner General of Immigration,
Washington D.C.

Sir: -
I was directed by you to proceed to Europe to study the subject of immigration
to the United States, the special territory assigned to me being Russia. I did this in the
light of instructions contained xxxxxxx Department Letter No. 50,724 July 18th, 1906,
and the personal instructions you conveyed to me.
I mailed from the United States on the steamship Kaiserin Auguste Victoria on
August 17th 1906, stopping over at Plymouth to get some information in London.
While there I went to Southampton and Liverpool, then proceeded to Paris and, via
Cherbourg, to Hamburg on the Steam ship Pennsylvania. I visited Bremen, Berlin and
Konigsberg, proceeding thence to Russia via Eydtkuhnen, after going to Bayoren,
Memel, Tilsit and Insterburg. Excepting St. Petersburg, Libau and Riga, my travels in
Russia were limited to what is known as the Pale of Jewish Settlement and even there I
was unable, for lack of time, to go further east than 31 degrees longitude, which would
be a line run from St. Petersburg, through Kief to Odessa. This includes about one-half
of territory in the fifteen (15) governments comprising the Pale of Jewish Settlement,
aside of Poland.
I had planned, besides stopping in each of the governments of the Pale, to visit
the Jewish agriculturalists of Kherson and Ecaterinaslaw, and the German
agriculturalists of Saratov, whence many are now coming to the United States, and
also those section of Russia outside of the Pale Settlement, as Moscow, Smolensk, and
the Pskov governments, where many Jews have been permitted to locate. But as soon
as I got into Russia I found I would have to modify my plans considerably. For one
thing, the deliberation that marks the life of the people in that country, in decided
contrast to the rush and bustle of the German and English speaking peoples stood as a
bar to rapid work. To-

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