Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
c Springer 2007
DOI: 10.1007/s10835-007-9041-8
In the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries, both through their
plans and actions, Jews began to demonstrate a growing inclination to
return to the land. Among the more notable ventures were colonization in
South Russia in the early nineteenth century, Baron Maurice de Hirsch_s
Jewish colonization enterprise in Argentina, which began in the late
nineteenth century, and the Zionist movement in the Land of Israel.1
An original form of philanthropy was developing in France during
the Baron_s time. New philanthropists, who chose to do more than give
to charity, secretly or publicly, viewed their beneficiaries as proteges,
from whom they could demand moral conduct and economic productivity. Financial support now aimed at rehabilitating recipients and put
them on the Bright track^ toward their regeneration sociale. The new
philanthropists considered their potential proteges to be flawed
individuals in need of correction, and they saw patronage justifying
involvement in the moral conduct of their proteges.2
No doubt, it was in this spirit that Baron Maurice de Hirsch chose to
aid his fellow Jews living under oppressive regimes. He would see them
transformed into farmers in countries to which they would immigrate,
where the law and a high level of religious tolerance would ensure them
a dignified existence under good economic conditions. Thus in 1891 the
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its lands.5 It also regarded the process of forming a bond between the
settler and his land as a lengthy one. Settlers were not allowed to pay
off their debts prior to the date their contracts specified, nor was land
was not to be fully owned until the settler and his family were firmly
rooted on it. Settlers who sought to redeem their land prior to the
fixed contractual date often found themselves involved in litigation.6
Demand for self-reliant labor was also part of other settlement
enterprises in Argentina, not only Jewish ones, and it was written into
contracts signed by settlers living in a colony established by the General
and statesman Justo Jose de Urquiza in the province of Entre Rios, as
well as in other privately initiated colonies in the province of Santa Fe.7
Initially the concept of self-reliant labor was equated with manual
labor. The JCA attributed great significance to physical labor, as was
illustrated in 1897 when it refused to assist settlers of the Clara colony
in the purchase of harvesters for reaping alfalfa. The JCA feared the
settlers would not properly care for the equipment, but it also argued
that Bsettlers should become used to doing manual labor without the
need for sophisticated machinery and with the help of their own family
members, in order for them to become true farmers.^ Accordingly, the
JCA refused to provide loans or backing for purchase of agricultural
equipment in the initial years of Argentine colonization. The Association had also demanded that settlers clear giant trees off their land
without outside help, which would also provide firewood and get them
accustomed to intense physical labor.8
The JCA had objected to animal husbandry as a distinct branch of
farming, permitting the settlers to raise only animals necessary for
farm work or for the family_s domestic needs (poultry and a few dairy
cows). The JCA supported its argument by invoking budgetary
considerations, since breeding livestock was very expensive (necessitating the purchase of cows and bulls, fencing in fields, cultivating
pastures, and providing an adequate supply of good water). However,
the real rationale was ideological: breeding livestock was not
considered real farming. In addition, JCA administrators worried that
the settlers would abandon agriculture for livestock, and from there,
the path back to commerce was a short one. Some of the settlers
thought the same. Mordechai (Marcos) Alpersohn, settler, playwright,
and author, commented on keeping large herds in Mauricio Colony:
BThe colonists have forgotten their great aspiration, their sacred goal
of restoring agriculture among the Jewish People and demonstrating
to our enemies that we are not only merchants and traders but are
excellent farmers...^ A similar view had already been expressed in
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345
would not fail the JCA, as he was not a Yeshiva student and his sons
also were not of the Bdreamy kind.^ Others wished to prove to the world
that Jews were not freeloaders, but perfectly capable of farming. Some
applicants emphasized an intention to quit their Bvirtual livelihoods^
and their hope to make farming their lifework.13
Others, influenced by Count Leo N. Tolstoy, were attracted to the
simplicity of farming and the idea that man should live only from the
fruits of his own labor. This paper will note two such individuals. Miguel
Sajaroff of Krym was brought up in a traditional family of wealthy
merchants, receiving both religious and secular education as a child. The
Bnumerus clausus^ regulations in Russia forced him to Germany, where
he studied agronomy. While in school, Sajaroff worked as a common farm
laborer. He read Tolstoy with a passion and became a disciple, anxious to
take up physical labor, serve the people and leave everyday pleasures
behind for a life on the soil. Sajaroff returned to Russia in 1899 and, with
his wife Olga, another Tolstoyan, began planning their immigration to
Argentina, where he eventually became one of the most noted leaders of
the colonies_ agrarian cooperative. Another follower of Tolstoy, Dr. Noe
Yarcho, settled in a JCA colony in the province of Entre Rios, becoming
a distinguished physician and social activist.14
The enthusiasm shared by those who had joined the JCA_s settlement
enterprise in Argentina is illustrated in literature from that era. In the
book by the writer and journalist Alberto Gerchunoff, Los Gauchos
Judios, he tells of a rabbi from his father_s hometown who made an
appeal to go to Argentina and work the land. Gerchunoff viewed immigration to Argentina as a continuation of the agrarian era described in
the Bible, and regarded Argentina and its religious freedom as the
extension of Zion. Marcos Alpersohn linked the immigrants_ transformation into farmers to their hope for freedom in Argentina: BWe shall
become land laborers, farmers Y emancipated Jews! No more pogroms!...^
Nicolas Rapoport, writer, physician, and public figure, son of one of the
first colonists in Entre Rios province, emphasized the connection
between ancient Zion and the migration to Argentina_s fields, a place
where Bthey sowed the divine seed with biblical devotion.^15
The pampas and the selection of Argentina by the Baron
From the 1880s until the outbreak of World War I, Argentina_s
economy developed on the basis of a vast supply of uncultivated land
and hundreds of thousands of immigrants eager to work it. A railway
system crisscrossed substantial areas, transporting agricultural produce
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YEHUDA LEVIN
347
During the crisis, there was both a nominal and an actual drop in
the price of land. This was followed immediately by a constant rise in
land value, which continued for many decades to come and is
explained by a greater demand than supply, the growth of farming
that enhanced the land_s value, and the development of transportation
infrastructure that made access all the more easy. One outcome of the
1890s crisis was a significant downturn in agricultural colonization
based on farms cultivated privately by immigrants hoping to acquire
the land through their labor. Large estate (latifundia) owners were not
inclined to sell their land, choosing to lease it instead. Tenants would
work the land for about 3 years, sowing grain, agreeing to return it
when it was covered with alfalfa, a perennial used for pasture and
animal feed. The tenants moved from one place to another, making
landowners wealthier, but with no hope of becoming landowners
themselves. Pasture land kept expanding while agricultural plots were
constantly reduced in favor of livestock breeding, thus enabling many
large estate owners to overcome the 1890s crisis. Franz Ku
hn, a German
geographer traveling in Argentina in the early twentieth century,
remarked: BArgentina does not have, aside from exceptional cases, small
farmers rooted in the land and cultivating it. Farming is done by
traveling tenants, always on the move.^ This practice was particularly
noticeable in the traditionally agricultural province of Santa Fe.
Whereas in 1895, tenants had comprised 32% of the province_s
landholders, by 1914 they constituted 68%. By the time JCA started
its operations in Argentina, the Baron_s chosen settlement method was
on the decline.19
Argentina_s reputation as an agricultural country was due largely to
the humid pampas, unfolding like a hand-held fan, in whose handle
rests the capital, Buenos Aires. An area larger than Spain, the pampas
has great diversity with regard to fertility, land formations, precipitation, winds, water supply, pests, and proximity to ports. The lands
agricultural advantages decrease the farther they lie from the capital:
the climate is harsher, the weather more unpredictable, and the
distance from major ports and market cities too great.20
The rising cost of land did not gibe with the Baron de Hirsch_s
expectations or the estimated budget for his colonization enterprise.
JCA attempts to buy more economical state-owned lands failed. Land
was purchased from private owners, meaning usually that the plots
were small, located in remote places, and had to be purchased at
soaring prices. Their fertility was often low. The costs were increased by
the need for land preparation: tillage, drainage, and soil improvement.
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YEHUDA LEVIN
The settlers had to pay inflated annual fees to the JCA and produced
crops of inferior quality, which cut heavily into profits and made
payment for the land much more difficult. Indeed, some of the plots had
been abandoned by previous settlers, not necessarily Jewish, who gave
up farming after years of fruitless struggle.21
Farming tactics and land dimensions
Baron de Hirsch determined that land given to settlers would serve for
growing crops, particularly wheat, flax and other grains. The method
was to be the same extensive farming that was common in the colonized
areas in Argentina. Initially there was no need for fertilizers, and
settlers paid no regard to crop rotation. In order to provide for the
settler_s family, a bit of land was also allocated for a vegetable garden
and as pasture for dairy cows. Some land was also provided for a
community pasture, where working animals were kept.22
The benefits of applying fertilizers were already recognized as
Bgiving back to the land that which yield took away^ as phrased by
Paul Cauwes, then a professor at the law faculty in Paris. He called a
farming system that disregarded this principle Bvampire^ agriculture,
because it rendered the soil barren and turned it into wasteland. The
choice between extensive or intensive farming, according to Professor
Cauwes, is dependent on capital, land characteristics, the market, and
its proximity to the fields. He stressed that intensive farming requires
fertilizers, including chemical ones. The Baron_s decision appears to
have been the consequence of wanting to accustom settlers to hard
labor, the development of extensive farming in Argentina, and his desire
to save on fertilizer-related expenses.23
Settlers were aware of the difference between Argentina_s extensive
agriculture and the European custom. Noe Cociovitch articulated the
difference: BThe Lithuanian farmer produces for his own consumption,
if he has extra, he sells... here the opposite is true, the farmer produces
wheat, flax, and perhaps something else to sell in the market, and then
he buys the things he needs for himself, as they do in the city.^ Their
diet also underwent change, as Argentina_s inexpensive beef took the
place of Russia_s herring. MoNse Guesneroff, a graduate of the Mikveh
Israel agricultural school near Jaffa in Eretz Israel, who had settled in
Clara in 1897, wrote to Joseph Niego, the school_s headmaster: BOur
plots are like factories that produce wheat and flax,^ adding that
advanced machinery manufactured in America and sold by eighteen
companies in Buenos Aires, made it possible to till and sow hundreds of
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351
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YEHUDA LEVIN
353
increase between 1905 and 1914 was a result of Jewish laborers remaining
in the colonies, a practice the JCA encouraged. The Association would
select Jewish laborers who had Bproved their value and their positive
qualities^ during their years of work, and it facilitated their colonization
as long as land and funding were available.34
Subleasing
The farmerYsettler working the land in order eventually to own it was
disappearing in Argentina, and land-leasing was on the increase, which
threatened the ideal of the self-reliant farmer. In 1910, for example, the
JCA found itself confronting settlers in Mauricio who had failed to
fulfill the self-reliant farming requirement. The Association demanded
that the settlers withdraw from their leasing agreements and threatened to drive them off the land for breach of contract. A feeling of
diminishing hope prevailed, fueled by the colony_s frail communal
structure. It was further exacerbated by the grave financial crisis that
followed an outbreak of anthrax, resulting in the death of thousands of
heads of cattle. Social unrest was also generated during a visit by Leon
Chasanowich, a leader of the Poalei Zion movement, who urged the
settlers to unite and confront the JCA with their complaints.35
In 1912, word got out that 25 settlers of the Baron Hirsch colony
were not cultivating their own land. Three of them were, in fact, living
abroad, their lands being farmed by tenants who were also responsible
for paying the JCA_s annual fees. The JCA confiscated the plots, based
on the court_s ruling on the settlers_ original contract, which prohibited
land leasing. A warning was issued to the others, ordering them to leave
the land that they leased immediately after the harvest.36 The problem
did not go away. It surfaced anew in Mauricio, in 1914. Leasing was
becoming widespread. Isaac Starkmeth said it was practiced by 94 of
the colony_s 248 residents, and, in response, the JCA said it was ready
to remove anyone refusing to cancel subleasing contracts. The threat
was eventually made good37 Y and with settler support. Miguel Sajaroff
described the JCA_s battle against settlers_ leasing their lands as Ba
healthy act.^38
The hope of building a multi-generational agrarian society
The JCA was also bent on instilling a love of the land and its
cultivation among the colonists_ offspring, encouraging successive
generations to maintain the family farm after their parents_ death.
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YEHUDA LEVIN
Toward this end, the JCA added several hours of agricultural studies to
the curriculum of the elementary schools it had established in the
settlements. In 1897, the Association_s administrators in Paris said:
BThe settlers_ children will become true farmers, passing up [careers in]
finance in order to dedicate their lives to working the land.^ For reasons
beyond the scope of this essay, the effort failed, and children learned
more about farming by working alongside their parents than they did in
school. In addition, in 1910 the JCA was advised that it was impossible
to determine the legal heirs to the land from the settlers_ contracts;
inheritance law stipulated that at the death of the landowner, the land
be divided among all his children, including those who left their parents
hearth, even if they had never taken part in maintaining the farm.39
The JCA_s hope of building a multi-generational agrarian society
encountered numerous difficulties. One of them was its own refusal, on
occasion, to provide land for settlers_ children, based on the reasoning
that children must work with their parents and eventually inherit the
land. However, various agricultural crises left the Association no choice
but to allow settlers to spread their annual payments over a longer
period of time. This meant that a settler might receive a deed to the land
only after 20 or 30 years, so that acquiring full ownership might take a
lifetime. Nor was there any guarantee that children, who were not bound
by contract to the JCA, would choose to remain on the farm.40
Conclusion
The return to farming possessed alluring powers, holding the promise to
heal the ills of Jewish society by means of Bproductivization^ and a
return to the glorious biblical past. That a respectable and wealthy Jew
chose to lead this enterprise provided the ideal with a dimension of
reality that, in turn, fired many an imagination. Nevertheless, despite
the inherent romanticism and passion, farming the pampas proved to
be truly a challenge. Colonization was carried out mainly by entire
families, fathers, mothers, and children. Large families, sometimes in
pairs, would dwell in small, single story houses. When a second
generation of settlers started its own family, the family house would
become even more crowded. And, in the event, the single farm could not
support all its inhabitants, making providing for the family a struggle.
The issue of self-sufficient labor links most of the topics discussed in
this essay. The JCA selected settlers whose family structure was taken
as a kind of guarantee that hired help would not be needed., and it
allocated land according to what it saw as the family_s ability to
355
cultivate and harvest. The lengthy period that was needed to acquire full
ownership of the land was part of the JCA_s goal of fashioning a new Jew
who lived off the land. Prior to becoming full owners, settlers had to
prove that their families had become rooted on the land and true farmers.
Toward this goal, the Association initially objected to the use of
machinery, viewed animal husbandry as a non-agrarian occupation akin
to commerce, and recommended the creation of self-sustaining farms.
However, these hopes proved incompatible with the realities of both
time and place. The JCA_s ideals clashed with contemporary trends in
Argentina: toward urbanization and away from the country, the
increasing frequency of large farms that depended on hired workers,
and the growing practice of leasing land to tenants. Argentinean
agriculture was also increasingly based on capitalist development and
the free traffic of commodities and salaried and tenant labor, which
made of the self-sustaining private family farm a holdover from earlier
times and lead to numerous failures even during the initial years of
colonization. The Association had to resort to a great deal of pragmatic
ingenuity to bridge the gaps. This included increasing the size of the
plots allocated, providing the option, and a proper budget, to initiate
animal husbandry, introducing crop rotation, and consenting to salaried
employees, although the JCA approved of this last practice only as
supplemental to the settler_s own labor and when it corresponded with
the Association_s interests.
The JCA viewed Jewish immigrants who had been living in
Argentina for several years as good candidates for colonization, even
though for the most part, these immigrants were really members of a
constantly changing army for hire. Immigrants would either settle or
leave, and there were always others willing to take their place. In
consenting to salaried employees, the JCA thus benefited from a system
that provided a way to screen applicants, those selected sometimes
settling on land abandoned by predecessors who had left for an urban
life. Moreover, while permitting salaried laborers, the JCA continued to
forbid leasing and took action against all who attempted it. For all that,
the number of Jewish immigrants constantly increased, and by JCA
standards, there were many more eligible applicants than there was
either available land or budget.
Jewish farmers thus had to struggle under harsh conditions in a new
environment, while they were bound by a system of settlement ill suited
to local reality. Indeed, after a period of adapting to the area_s climate,
as well as to life on the farm, settlers found themselves with no choice
but to engage in extensive farming and cultivate areas far larger than
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YEHUDA LEVIN
the initially allocated plots. The same went for the use of hired hands,
when family resources failed at harvest time. The settlers hoped
eventually to own the land, as their contracts with the JCA guaranteed,
but the stipulations the Association made often had no bearing on
either the time or place. Nonetheless, a Jewish population was
established in the colonies, which linked its fate to the pampas and
gained its livelihood from agricultural work. Jewish farmers struggled
constantly against everyday hardships, they made the desert bloom,
and they enhanced the value of their land. Today, after a decades-long
process, several hundred families of Jewish farmers remain scattered in
what once was a network of Jewish colonies in Argentina. These villages
and towns still retain their original Jewish names. But most of those
living in these former JCA colonies are, in fact, non-Jews.
Notes
1. Theodore Norman An Outstretched Arm, (London, 1985), 1Y3, 13, 308Y309, n. 10.
For a study of the JCA_s Colonization in Argentina until 1914, see Haim Avni
Argentina: Ha_aretz ha_yeuda (Jerusalem, 1973); Levin Y. BFrom Crisis to Growth:
Jewish Colonization in Argentina Established by the Jewish Colonization Association (J.C.A.), 1896Y1914^ (Ph.D. Dissertation, Tel Aviv University, 1998); J.
Oettinger, BDie j
udische Kolonisation in Argentinien,^ Tropenpflanzer (Organ des
Kolonial Wirtschaftlichen Komitees) 12 (1916), 640Y662.
2. Lee Shai Weissbach, BThe Nature of Philanthropy in Nineteenth Y Century France
and the Mentalite of the Jewish Elite,^ Jewish History 8 (1994), 191Y204.
3. Avni, Argentina, 56Y69; Baron de Hirsch, BMy Views on Philanthropy,^ North
American Review, 416, July 1891; Levin, From Crisis, 457Y458.
4. Eugenio Lapine, Rapport sur la Colonisation Israelite, 8/1898, JCA Archive
[henceforth JCAA], File 312, held at the Central Archives for the History of the
Jewish People in Jerusalem [henceforth CAHJP]; Norman, An Outstretched Arm,
2Y3; Avni, Argentina, 273Y276; For a study of the physiocrats, see Joseph Rambaud
Histoire des doctrines economiques, (Lyon, 1899), 83Y125.
5. Morton D. Winsberg Colonia Baron Hirsch, a Jewish Agricultural Colony in
Argentina, (Gainesville, Florida, 1963), 31Y32; Norman, An, 75; Mark Jefferson
Peopling the Argentine Pampa, (New York/London, 1971), 155Y156; Louis Oungre,
Notre Colonisation dans la Republique Argentine, JCAA, Rapport d_inspection,
12.10.1928, CAHJP.
6. Levin, BFrom Crisis,^ 444Y450; Norman, An Outstretched Arm, 84Y85.
7. Roberto Schopflocher Historia de la colonizacion agricola en Argentina, (Buenos
Aires, 1955), 40Y41; Gaston Gori Inmigracion y colonizacion en la Argentina,
(Buenos Aires, 1964), 75Y76.
8. David Cazes to JCA, 24.9.1897, JCAA, File 328, CAHJP; Sigismund Sonnenfeld,
Theodor Adler to JCA, 20.10.1897, JCAA, File 363, CAHJP; Cazes to
JCA, 15.2.1897, Rapport; JCAA, File 329, CAHJP; Cazes to JCA, 8.12.1899,
Rapport, JCAA, File 332, CAHJP.
357
358
YEHUDA LEVIN
21. Winsberg, BJewish,^ 287; Levin, BFrom Crisis,^ 27Y28, 31, 118Y119; 130Y131, 480;
Liebermann, Tierra, 95, 96; JCA, Rapport pour l_annee 1902, 14; Beatriz Bosch
Historia de EntreRios, 1520Y1969 (Buenos Aires, 1978), 266,275.
22. K
uhn, Geografia, 169; Avni, Argentina, 224Y229; Levin, BFrom Crisis,^ 174, 179,
182Y184.
23. Paul Cauwes Cours d_economie politique (Paris, 1893), 433Y5, 446.
24. Noe Cociovitch Genesis de Moises Ville, (Buenos Aires, 1987) 107Y108; Moise
Guesneroff to Joseph Niego, 6.4.1897, Agricultural School BMikve Israel^ Collection
[henceforth MI] ,file J41/219, The Central Zionist Archives, Jerusalem [henceforth
CZA]; Ezequiel Gallo La pampa gringa Y La colonizacion agricola en Santa Fe
(1870Y1895) (Buenos Aires, 1984), 359.
25. Avni, Argentina, 96; Lapine, BRapport sur la reorganisation de la Colonia
Mauricio,^ 9/1896, JCAA, File 327, CAHJP; Lapine to JCA, 10.5.1901, Aviso
221, JCAA, File 221, CAHJP; Eugene Tisserand, BRapport Lapine et reponse,^
7.12.1901, microfilm HM135 [copies of the original held in IWO Archive in Buenos
Aires and inspected by the author in CAHJP]; Sonnenfeld, Adler to JCA,
4.12.1896, JCAA, File 363, CAHJP; Jules Huret En Argentine, de Buenos Aires
au Gran Chaco, (Paris, 1911), 410Y411.
26. JCA, Rapport pour l_annee 1908, 26, 49; Rapport pour l_annee 1909, 48Y49; Rapport
pour l_annee 1910, 1; Guesneroff to Niego, 6.4.1897, MI, file J41/219, (CZA).
27. La Mutua Agricola, Sociedad anonima de la Colonia Moisesville, Estatutos
aprovados por el Excelentisimo Gobierno de la Provincia de SantaFe por decreto
fecha 22 de Marzo y 9 de Noviembre [de] 1909, (Buenos Aires, 1909), 3; Primera
Sociedad Agricola fundada por los colonos de la Jewish Colonization Association el
12 de agosto de 1900, Primera memoria correspondiente al ejercicio de los dos
primeros an~os, Basavilbaso Y EntreRios (Buenos Aires, 1902), 11; Sociedad
Agricola Israelita fundada por los colonos de la Jewish Colonization Association el
12 de agosto de 1900, Reglamento (Parana, 1906), 3Y4.
28. Samuel Hirsch, Cazes to JCA, 13.1.1899, IWO, microfilm HM134, CAHJP; Cazes
to JCA, 27.3.1903, IWO, microfilm HM135, CAHJP; Cazes to JCA, 23.5.1907,
IWO, microfilm HM135, CAHJP; Rapport pour l_annee 1907, 62Y63; Rapport pour
l_annee 1907, 39, 101Y102; Garfunkel, Narro mi vida, 340Y348.
29. Cazes (BA) to JCA (P), 27.3.1903, Rapport; IWO, microfilm HM135, CAHJP.
30. Levin, BFrom Crisis,^ 131Y139; Yehuda Levin, BCuatro egresados de Mikveh-Israel
en Colonia Clara Y Argentina (1896Y1899),^ Judaica Latinoamericana III (1997),
35Y44; Yehuda Levin, BFrom Tunisia to Argentina Y The Origins of the
Agricultural School in Djedeida and the Settlement of a Group of its Graduates
in Mauricio,^ Pe_amin 101Y102 (Autumn 2004 Y Winter 2005), 39Y62.
31. Scobie, Revolution, 79; Veneziani to JCA, 14.1.1909, JCAA, file Exterior 9,
CAHJP.
32. Levin, BFrom Crisis,^ 186Y193.
33. Sonnenfeld, Emile Meyerson to JCA, 22.11.1903, JCAA, File 29d, CAHJP; Nandor
Sonnenfeld to JCA, 15.9.1910, IWO, microfilm HM136, CAHJP; Simon Weill to
JCA, 21.6.1914, JCAA, File 427, CAHJP; Isaac Starkmeth to JCA, 20.2.1915,
JCAA, File 428, CAHJP; Moss, Veneziani to JCA, 23.11.1911, JCAA, file Exterior
11, CAHJP; JCA, Seances du Conseil d_Administration Proces-verbaux, 18.9.1911,
16.
34. Rapport pour l_annee 1900, 14, 21; Rapport pour l_annee 1901, 8; Rapport pour
l_annee 1905, 22; Rapport pour l_annee 1909, 38Y39.
359