As is usual in such cases, no warnings or denials could correct the estimate formed by the popular imagination of the possibilities of the undertaking. Baron _de_ Hirsch himself was supposed to have said or written that he was going to transmigrate five million Jews from Russia in twenty years; and this statement, which was published in an official Russian paper, though in the unofficial part of it, gained currency at once, and remained in the minds of the people as a kind of programme. And, though the immediate excitement abated, and gave way to disappointment among those who had looked forward to a new gigantic exodus, it was evident that the chances of a partial solution of the Jewish problem were immensely greater than they had ever been before. Baron _de_ Hirsch caused careful inquiries and investigations to be made in countries which offered suitable land for agricultural development. It may be observed that, though the wording of the statutes contemplates commercial colonies and the encouragement of artisans, and speaks of “any parts of the world,” in reality Hirsch had never thought of commercial colonies nor of artisans nor of small groups scattered all over the world, since first he started dealing with the Jewish problem in Russia. Commercial colonies for Jews are as unnecessary as they are impossible, because Jews engaged in commerce need not and would not congregate in colonies; and as to the industrial education and encouragement of artisans, it is true that Hirsch was interested in useful work of this kind, but this was at an earlier period, and belongs to the kind of philanthropic activity which he carried on, particularly in the East, through the “Alliance,” _etc._ As to Russia, anybody who had any conversation with him, or read his articles¹ on the subject, or was in touch with his advisers at that period, will testify that what Hirsch had decided to initiate was a great undertaking for the persecuted Jewish people. Since he had received, much to his surprise, the reply that he would not be allowed to work in Russia, he had systematically declined to undertake anything there except the support of emigration. Petitions poured into his office at Paris, rue d’Elysée 2, from innumerable Jewish societies and communities in Russia, but he refused to pay any attention to all these schemes for the encouragement of artisans and industries. He was devoted to the idea of concentrating masses of Russian Jews elsewhere, and of making them agriculturists. Since 1887 he had practically decided to make the Jewish people the principal heirs of his fortune, in order to enable them radically to change their status. ¹ _North American Review_, July, 1891: _Forum_, August, 1891.