ANTI-RUSSIAN SENTIMENT: THE AM OLAM IN ST. LOUIS.

8 IN 1877 AN ESTIMATED 230,000 JEWS WERE LIVING IN THE UNITED STATES. AS THE BIGGEST CITY WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AT THAT TIME, ST. LOUIS WAS ALSO HOME TO ONE OF THE LARGEST JEWISH POPULATIONS IN THE COUNTRY. THEN IN 1888 CAME AN INFLUX OF JEWS, MANY OF THEM FLEEING CZARIST RUSSIA, WHICH BROUGHT THE TOTAL NUMBER OF JEWS IN THE UNITED STATES TO 400,000. IN 1908 AND 1909, 51,556 RUSSIAN JEWS ARRIVED ON US SHORES, AND OVER THE NEXT TWO YEARS, ANOTHER 45,845 RUSSIAN JEWS FOLLOWED. BY THE TIME THE MASS IMMIGRATION ENDED IN 1910, AN ESTIMATED 2 MILLION JEWS WERE LIVING IN THE UNITED STATES. RUSSIAN JEWS CAME TO NEW YORK CITY IN SUCH LARGE NUMBERS THAT IT FRIGHTENED AND OVERWHELMED EXISTING JEWISH COMMUNITIES. JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN THE PORT CITIES OF BALTIMORE, BOSTON, PHILADELPHIA, AND GALVESTON WERE SIMILARLY UNABLE TO COPE. ALTHOUGH ALL JEWISH COMMUNITIES PROVIDED SOCIAL SERVICES TO THEIR CO-RELIGIONISTS, THIS SURGE WAS UNMANAGEABLE, AND THE NEW YORK JEWISH ESTABLISHMENT SENT THE IMMIGRANTS WEST. SOON, THE ST. LOUIS HEBREW AID SOCIETY WAS INUNDATED WITH PEOPLE IN NEED, AND THE ORGANIZATION TOOK A CONTROVERSIAL STANCE TO REFUSE TO HELP THESE NEWLY ARRIVED RUSSIAN JEWISH IMMIGRANTS--THE AM OLAM AMONG THEM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]