We know that an extremely severe medical examination is imposed
upon immigrants to the United States, and that entrance into
this country is pitilessly denied to those who seem even merely
puny and sickly. The result of this examination is that the
ocean transportation companies must return to their countries,
at their own cost, rejected immigrants. To avoid this expense,
the companies of the various countries have decided to take all
the precautions necessary for protecting the health of their
passengers. Thus, at Hamburg a company has had great halls built
to shelter emigrants during their stay in the port before their
embarkation; and, the results having been favorably recognized,
they are going to build booths, capable of containing each
120 beds, arranged in accordance with the rules of up-to-date
hygiene, each group of four booths to be provided with a special
booth fitted up as a laundry, with vapor-baths, etc. We know,
on the other hand, that the establishment of sanatoriums for
consumptives had its origin in Germany in similar anxieties on
the part of the insurance companies. Thus it is that the care
of the pocketbook is still the surest motive power of social
progress. (Text.)
(862)