At that period Baron _de_ Hirsch, like most other emancipated Jews in Western Europe, believed that a solution of the Jewish problem could be achieved by steps taken in Russia itself. Like the others, he knew very little of the great complexity and peculiar conditions of the problem. So with the assistance of a Commission he devoted much of his time to drawing up a scheme for the improvement of the condition of the Jews in Russia. Bearing in mind the activity of the “Alliance” in the East, he paid due regard to the need for providing Russian Jews with modern education, and his scheme contemplated a fund of 50,000, 000 francs to be used for educational purposes――under his own control. But this was a Utopian idea. Anyone acquainted with the conditions could easily have shown him that this offer would be declined. He was finally and unalterably convinced that the only hope lay in emigration. With the adoption of this view began the third period of his activity, in which he supported emigration in every shape and form. It is difficult to estimate how much he spent for this purpose; but by far the greatest part of the support given by the “Alliance” and other organizations to emigration came from him. Later, however, he realized that this support, useful as it was to individuals, was of no permanent value, and then, entering upon the fourth and most important period of his activity, he became the Baron _de_ Hirsch who will for ever be remembered in Jewish history――the man who endeavoured to solve the Jewish problem not by charities, schools, contributions to the “Alliance” or schemes for the benefit of Russia, but by a single great effort for Jewish Emancipation. CHAPTER XLV. AN ATTEMPT TO SOLVE THE JEWISH PROBLEM The “Jewish Colonization Association” (1891)――Statutes and shareholders――Baron _de_ Hirsch’s letter to the Russian Jews ――His articles in the _Forum_ and the _North American Review_ ――Baroness Clara _de_ Hirsch.