A LIFE NOBLY LIVED 173 



fidence in themselves and loyalty to the cause he repre- 

 sented, found scope and outlet. 



When it became evident that Woodbine could not per- 

 manently exist as an exclusively agricultural settlement 

 and that, in order to insure its economic stability, it must 

 be reinforced by industrial opportunities, the Trustees 

 of the Fund found Professor Sabsovich ready for the 

 gigantic task of building the community, physically, edu- 

 cationally, socially and politically. 



It is well to remark here, that, although the Baron de 

 Hirsch Fund was the sponsor of Woodbine and stood 

 behind all its initial undertakings, it was the early settlers 

 themselves who, by hard labor and with the tenacity 

 and endurance of the pioneer, have wholeheartedly co- 

 operated in the working out of the problem of their new 

 social unit, and who have proved themselves able to 

 meet the requirements of American life and American 

 concepts. 



In Professor Sabsovich they found their inspiration 

 and his keen and practical insight into human nature and 

 human motives enabled him to awaken the dormant quali- 

 ties in men who, as free individuals and eager to tie 

 themselves permanently to their new home-land, soon 

 evinced their own vitality and discovered in their leader 

 a personality with whom they could readily come to a 

 feeling of unrestrained intimacy. 



The founding of the town of Woodbine and the deci- 

 sion of the Trustees of the Fund to stimulate its growth 

 and development constituted a duty of the hour. It was 

 along the lines of a general course of action necessitated 

 by the conditions that faced American Jewry, when the 

 proportion of immigrants settling in the crowded cities 

 threatened to produce a frame of mind in the American 

 people against unrestricted immigration. 



