larger than six ordinary rooms, were beds for 195 persons, and 214 women
and children occupied them. The ventilation was merely what was to be
had from the companionway that opened into the alleyway and not on the
deck, the few ports in the ship's sides, and the scanty ventilating
shafts. The beds were double-tiered affairs in blocks of from ten to
twenty, constructed of iron framework, with iron slats in checker
fashion to support the burlap-covered bag of straw, grass, or waste
which served as a mattress. Pillows there were none, only cork jacket
life-preservers stuck under one end of the mattress to give the
elevation of a pillow. One blanket served the purpose of all
bedclothing; it was a mixture of wool, cotton, and jute, predominantly
jute; the length of a man's body and a yard and a half wide. For such
quarters and accommodations the emigrant pays half the sum that would
buy a first-class passage. A comparison of the two classes shows where
the steamship company makes the most money.
[Sidenote: Feeding Like Animals]
"Enrolled in the blanket each person found a fork, spoon, pint tin cup,
and a flaring six-inch-wide, two-inch-deep pan out of which to eat. The
passengers were instructed to form groups of six and choose a
mess-manager, who was supposed to take the big pan and bucket, get the
dinner and drinkables, and distribute the portions to his group. After
the meal, some member was supposed to collect the tin utensils and wash
them ready for next time. But the crowd in the wash-room was so great
that about one third of the people chose to rinse off the things with a
dash of drinking water, others never washed their cups and pans. Yet the
emigrant pays half the first-cabin rate for fighting for his food,
serving it himself, and washing his own dishes. The food was in its
quality good, but the manner in which it was messed into one heap in the
big pan was nothing short of nauseating. After the first meal the
emigrants began throwing the refuse on the deck instead of over the side
or into the scuppers. The result can be imagined. It was an extremely
hot night, and the air in the crowded compartment was so foul I could
not sleep. The men and boys about me lay for the most part like logs,
hats, coats, and shoes off, and no more, sleeping the sleep of the
tired.
[Sidenote: Remedy Proposed]
"My wife said the babies in her compartment were crying in relays of
six, the women had scattered bits of macaroni, meat, and potatoes all
over the beds and on the floor, and added dishwater as a final
discomfort. Two thirds of the emigrants were as clean as circumstances
would permit, but the other third kept all in a reign of uncleanliness.
The worst could not be put into print. The remedy for the whole matter
is to pack fewer people in the same ship's space, and a regular service
at tables. The big emigrant-carriers should be forced to give up a part
of their enormous profits in order that sanitary conditions at least may
prevail."
[Sidenote: Laws Rigidly Enforced]
[Sidenote: Steerage Reforms Needed]
This certainly is not an unreasonable demand, and proper laws with
regard to the steerage rigidly enforced would tend to discourage
immigration, instead of the reverse, since the rates would doubtless be
raised as the numbers were lowered. Cruel treatment of the helpless
aliens by the stewards and ship's officers should be stopped. Mr
Brandenburg's description, which by no means tells the whole story of
steerage horrors, should serve to institute reform through the creation
of a public sentiment that will demand it. There is no other way to
reach such conditions; and here is where the young people can exert
their influence powerfully for good. Money greed should not be allowed
to make the steerage a disgrace to Christian civilization and an offense
to common decency. Of course it is difficult to detect what goes on in
the hold of a great steamship, and when immigrants make complaint they
frequently suffer for it. It is possible, however, to provide government
inspectors, and inspectors who will inspect and remain proof against
bribes. The one essential is a sufficiently strong and insistent public
opinion.
_III. Putting up the Bars_
[Sidenote: Protection for the Country]
The need of some regulation and restriction of immigration was felt
early in our national life. The fathers of the Republic did not agree
about the matter, and in this their descendants have been like them.
Washington questioned the advisability of letting any more immigrants
come, except those belonging to certain skilled trades that were needed
to develop the new country. Madison favored a policy of liberality and
inducement, so that population might increase more rapidly. Jefferson,
on the other hand, wished "there were an ocean of fire between this
country and Europe, so that it might be impossible for any more
immigrants to come hither." We can only conjecture what his thoughts
would be if he were to return and study present conditions. Franklin,
certainly one of the wisest and most far-seeing of the earlier
statesmen, feared that immigration would tend to destroy the homogeneity
essential to a democracy with ideals. Equally great and good men in our
history have taken one or the other side of this question, from the
extreme of open gates to that of prohibition, while the people generally
have gone on about their business with the comfortable feeling that
matters come out pretty well if they are not too much interfered with.
[Sidenote: First State Law in 1824]
While statesmen were theorizing and differing, conditions made the need
of some actual regulations and restrictions felt as early as 1824,
although the total immigration of that year was only 7,912, or less than
that of a single day at present. The first law resulted from abuse of
free admission. It was found that some foreign governments were shipping
their paupers, diseased persons, and criminals to America as the easiest
and most economical way to get rid of them. This it undoubtedly was for
them; but the people of New York did not see where the ease and economy
came in on their side of the ledger, and in self-defense, therefore, the
state passed the first law, with intent to shut out undesirables.[21]
This state legislation was the genesis of national enactment. The
history of federal laws concerning aliens is covered compactly by Mr.
Hall, and those interested in the details of this important phase of the
subject are referred to his book.[22] A comprehensive table, by means of
which all the significant legislation can be seen at a glance, will be
found in Appendix B.
[Sidenote: Government Control]
In 1882 there came a tremendous wave of immigration, with effects upon
the labor market that largely induced the passage in that year of the
first general immigration law. The Federal Government now assumed entire
control of the ports of entry, as it was manifestly essential to have a
national policy and supervision. Since 1862, when the Chinese coolies
were excluded, under popular pressure, Congress has passed eight Acts of
more or less importance, culminating in the Act of 1903,[23] which is
said by Mr. Whelpley, who has collected all the immigration laws of all
countries, and is therefore competent to judge, to be "up to the
present time the most far-reaching measure of its kind in force in any
country; and the principles underlying it must serve as the foundation
for all immigration restriction." Under this law we have practically
unrestricted immigration, with the important exceptions that the Chinese
laborers are not admitted, and that persons suffering from obvious
contagious diseases, insane persons, known anarchists and criminals, and
a certain small percentage likely to become public charges are debarred.
The law does not fix a property, income, or educational qualification,
does not insist upon a knowledge of a trade, nor impose a tax. In other
words, we have at present a more or less effective police regulation of
immigration, but we are not pursuing a policy of restriction or
limitation.
[Sidenote: Un-American Discrimination]
As to the Chinese, we have made an exception, and one that fails to
commend itself to many. Grant that there is much to be said in favor of
the proper restriction of Chinese immigration, especially on the ground
that the immigrants would come only to earn money and return home, not
to become Americans; that there can be no race assimilation between
Chinese and Americans; and that such bird-of-passage cheap male labor is
a detriment to the best interests of the country. All the force in these
arguments applies equally to a large proportion of the immigration from
southeastern Europe which is admitted. The laws should be uniform. The
right to shut out the Chinese coolies is not questioned; but if these be
debarred, why not debar the illiterate and unskilled laboring class that
comes from Ireland, Italy, and Austria-Hungary? The Chinese certainly
can fill a place in our industries which the other races do not fill
equally well. Their presence in the kitchen would tend to alleviate
domestic conditions that are responsible in large measure for the
breaking up of American home life. It is a ludicrous error to suppose
that all the Chinese who come to America are laundrymen at home. Let
Mrs. S. L. Baldwin, a returned missionary who labored in China for
eighteen years and knows the people she pleads for, bear her witness:
[Sidenote: A Missionary's Plea for the Chinese]
"The Chinese are exactly the same class as the immigrants from other
lands. The needy poor, with few exceptions, must ever be the immigrant
class. Those who come to us across the Pacific are largely from the
respectable farming class, who fall into laundry work, shoemaking, etc.,
because these branches of industry are chiefly open to them. I have no
fear of the Chinese immigrants suffering in comparison with those who
come across the Atlantic. It is not the Chinaman who is too lazy to
work, and goes to the almshouse or jail. It is not he who reels through
our streets, defies our Sabbath laws, deluges our country with beer,
and opposes all work for temperance and the salvation of our sons from
the liquor curse. It is not the man from across the Pacific who commits
the fearful crimes, and who is longing to put his hand to our political
wheel and rule the United States. There are no healthier immigrants
coming to this country. It is with difficulty, and only under pressure
of necessity they are induced to leave China, so that the bugbear of
millions of coolies overrunning America is absurd."
[Sidenote: Call for Fair Play]
Workers in the Chinese missions and Sunday-schools in this country will
assent to Mrs. Baldwin's words. And Americans will appreciate her sense
of the ludicrous when an Irish washerwoman in San Francisco, indignant
that a Chinese servant had been brought to America by the missionary,
said to her, "We have a right here and they haven't." As for the
Chinese, the time will come when the injustice of discriminating against
a single nation will be recognized and the wrong be righted. There are
no more stable converts to Christianity, no more generous givers and
zealous missionaries, than the Chinese converts. Let us have American
fair play, about which President Roosevelt says so much, in our
treatment of them. Recent developments prove that the United States is
unwilling to imperil the relations of friendship which have existed with
China.
_IV. Excluding the Unfit_
[Sidenote: Intelligence of Inspectors]
[Sidenote: Trickeries Attempted]
At Ellis Island one may see what is aptly termed "the tragedy of the
excluded."[24] The enforcement of the laws comes into operation at the
ports of entry. Practically everything depends upon the intelligence and
faithfulness of the inspectors, who are charged with grave
responsibility. Immigrant and country are equally at their mercy.
Necessarily a large margin must be left to their judgment when it comes
to the question, Will the applicant now before me probably become a
public charge--that is, fall into the pauper or criminal class--or is he
of the right stuff to make a respectable and desirable American citizen?
In cases of plain insanity or idiocy or disease the decision is easy;
but when it comes to the moral and economic sphere an expert opinion is
required. Then, the inspectors have to be constantly on the lookout for
deception and fraud. Immigrants who belong to the excluded classes have
been carefully coached by agents interested in getting them through the
examination. Diseased eyes have been doctored up for the occasion; lame
persons have been trained to avoid the fatal limp during that walk
between the two surgeons. Lies have been put into innocent mouths and
the beginnings of falsehood into the heart. Mr. Adams gives this
instance showing how the mind of the inspector works. The line is
passing steadily, ceaselessly. A flashily dressed French girl has plenty
of money but unsatisfactory references and destination, and back she is
turned.
[Sidenote: Discretion]
[Sidenote: Picking the Winning Man]
"Next comes a bookkeeper, so he says. His father gave him money and he
was coming here to make his fortune. The inspector is not satisfied and
he is turned over to the 'S. I.' Board. But his papers, money, and
statements are clear and he is admitted; they give him the benefit of
the doubt as they always do. But next in line comes a well built stocky
Pole, with nothing in the world but a carpet bag, a few bundles, and a
small showing of money. Ambition is written all over his face and he is
admitted. 'Now,' says the recorder, pausing for a moment, 'see the
difference between these two gents. The first duffer will look around
for a job, spend time and money to get something to suit him, and keep
his job for a short time; then he will give it up, run through his
money, borrow from his friends, and then give them all the cold hand. He
won't wear well, and his dad knew it when he sent him over, but he was
glad to get rid of him. So lots of them are. Now look at the difference
between him and that Pole. He knows nothing but work. Look at his eyes,
mild but good. He has been brought up next to mother earth; turn him
loose from the train when he reaches his destination and he will dig.
He won't hang around looking for a job, but he will till the soil and
before you or I know it he will have crops and that is what he will live
on. He comes from a hard country, is tough, and when you and I are going
around shivering in an overcoat, he will be going around in his shirt
sleeves. That is the stuff we want here, not the first kind, with flabby
hands and sapped vitality.' Sure enough the bookkeeper did not wear
well, and falling into the hands of the police, some months later, he
was deported under the three-year limitation law, and the country was
better for it."
[Sidenote: Wise Partiality, and Work Praised]
The inspectors are wise in showing partiality to the men who have plenty
of days' work in them, even if they have less money. It is not at all
safe to judge the immigrants as desirable or otherwise according to the
amount of money per capita they bring. It is the head and not the
head-money that should be looked at. Think of the responsibility. More
than 300,000 women passed through the "moral wicket" at Ellis Island
last year. Of course many of bad quality, men and women both, get
through, for inspectors on too meager salaries are not omniscient, but a
good word should be said for these public servants, who in the main are
conscientiously performing a delicate and difficult task.[25] Let us see
some of the results of their work. This will give an idea of the large
numbers who ought never to have been allowed to leave home.
[Sidenote: Record of the Debarred]
The following table shows the principal classes of excluded for the past
fourteen years, with the total debarred for each year, and the
percentage:
THE DEBARRED FOR THE YEARS 1892-1905
Table headings:
Col A: Year
Col B: Immigrants
Col C: Idiots
Col D: Insane persons
Col E: Paupers, or likely to become public charges
Col F: Loathsome or dangerous or contagious diseases
Col G: Convicts
Col H: Assisted Immigrants
Col I: Contract laborers
Col J: Total Debarred
Col K: Percentage of whole
A B C D E F G H I J K
----+---------+--+---+-----+-----+----+----+------+------+------+
1892| 579,663| 4|17 |1,002| 80| 26 | 23 | 932 | 2,164| 0.4
1893| 439,730| 3| 8 | 431| 81| 12 | .. | 518 | 1,053| 0.2
1894| 285,631| 4| 5 | 802| 15| 8 | .. | 553 | 1,389| 0.5
1895| 258,536| 6|.. |1,714| ..| 4 | 1 | 694 | 2,419| 0.9
1896| 343,267| 1|10 |2,010| 2| .. | .. | 776 | 2,799| 0.8
1897| 230,832| 1| 6 |1,277| 1| 1 | 3 | 328 | 1,617| 0.7
1898| 229,299| 1|12 |2,261| 258| 2 | 79 | 417 | 3,030| 1.3
1899| 311,715| 1|19 |2,599| 348| 8 | 82 | 741 | 3,798| 1.2
1900| 448,572| 1|32 |2,974| 393| 4 | 2 | 833 | 4,246| 1.0
1901| 487,918| 6|16 |2,798| 309| 7 | 50 | 327 | 3,516| 0.7
1902| 648,743| 7|27 |3,944| 709| 9 | .. | 275 | 4,974| 0.8
1903| 857,046| 1|23 |5,812|1,773| 51 | 9 |1,086 | 8,769| 1.0
1904| 812,870|16|33 |4,798|1,560| 35 | 38 |1,501 | 7,994| 1.0
1905|1,026,499|38|92 |7,898|2,198| 39 | 19 |1,164 |11,480| 1.2
----+---------+--+---+-----+-----+----+----+------+------+-----+
Total debarred in the fourteen years, 59,248.
[Sidenote: Right of Appeal]
The debarred have the right of appeal, from the Special Inquiry Board
which excludes them, to the Commissioner of the Port, then to the
Commissioner-General, and finally to the Secretary[26] of Commerce and
Labor. The steamship lines that brought them have to pay costs of
detention and deportation, which is one means of making these lines
careful.
[Sidenote: Exclusion by Races]
A second table, which shows the exclusion by races, will repay study. It
is given in Appendix A. It not only shows where the bulk of the excluded
belong, but reveals not a little concerning the character of those
admitted who come from the same races. The intention of the present
Commissioner-General is to enforce the laws strictly, yet in a humane
spirit. Comparing the figures for the two years 1903-1904, he says:
[Sidenote: Increase of Undesirable]
"The most significant feature of this statement is the large increase in
the number of idiots, insane persons, and paupers during 1905, which,
coupled with an increase of twenty-five per cent. in the number of
diseased aliens, justifies the Bureau in directing attention to the
flagrant and wilful disregard by the ocean carriers of the laws for the
regulation of their business of securing alien passengers destined for
the United States."[27]
[Sidenote: Fraud of Transportation Companies]
This brings up a point of vast importance in more ways than one. The
official reports charge wholesale deception, evasion, and fraud upon the
great transportation companies. The fact stands for itself that in 1904
they were fined more than $31,000 under the section of the law imposing
a $100 penalty for bringing a diseased alien whose disease might have
been detected by a competent medical examination at the port of
departure. For many years these companies have in doubtful cases
demanded double passage money, so that they might make a profit both
ways if the alien were rejected. The Italian government has passed an
Act giving an alien right to recover the money illegally retained in
this way, showing the practice, and the government opinion of it.
[Sidenote: Artificial Swelling of Passage Fees]
The truth is, the transportation agent has become a figure of
international consequence and concern. The artificial cause behind the
present unprecedented exodus from Europe, according to Whelpley, is the
abnormal activity of the transportation companies in their effort to
secure new and profitable cargo for their ships. In 1900 over
$118,000,000 was invested in trans-atlantic steamship lines, which are
largely owned by foreigners. New lines to the Mediterranean have been
put on with distinct purpose to swell the Italian and Slav immigration.
Rate cutting has at times made it possible for the steerage passenger to
go from Liverpool to New York for as low as $8.75. The average rate is
not high enough to deter anyone who really wants to come. An English
line, in return for establishing a line direct from a Mediterranean
port, has secured from the Hungarian government a guarantee of 30,000
immigrants a year from its territory.
[Sidenote: Solicitation Law Violated]
The law forbids transportation companies or the owners of vessels to
"directly or through agents, either by written, printed, or oral
solicitations, solicit, invite, or encourage the immigration of any
aliens into the United States except by ordinary commercial letters,
circulars, advertisements, or oral representations, stating the sailings
of their vessels and terms and facilities of transportation therein."
That this restrictive provision is persistently evaded is made plain by
the reports of government inspectors sent abroad to investigate. The
annual migration involves more than a hundred millions of dollars, and
where money is to be made law is easily disobeyed.
[Sidenote: The Ubiquitous and Unscrupulous "Runner"]
One of the inspectors says the chief evil in this solicitation business
is the so-called "runner." Here is his description of this mischievous
_genus homo_. "It is he who goes around in eastern and southern Europe
from city to city and village to village telling fairy tales about the
prosperity of many immigrants in America and the opportunities offered
by the United States for aliens. The runner does not know of anyone who
is undesirable; he claims to be all-powerful, that he has
representatives in every port who can 'open the door' of America to
anyone. It is he who induces many a diseased person to attempt the
journey, and it is also he and his associates who do their best to have
the undesirables admitted. The steamship companies, as a rule, do not
deal with these runners directly and disclaim all responsibility for
their nefarious practices. But the official agents of the steamship
companies do pay their runners commissions for every immigrant referred
to them. I have especially studied this problem along the borders of
Germany, Russia, and Austrian Galicia. Here most of the emigrants are
smuggled across the frontiers by these runners and robbed of the greater
part of their cash possessions. When they arrive at the 'control
station' it is remarkable that most emigrants have cards with the
address of a certain steamship ticket agent, and the agent, on the other
hand, has a list of all the individuals who were smuggled across the
frontiers. When I asked one of these representatives how this was done,
he told me that he paid 'good commissions' to the runner on the other
side of the frontier for each case. When steamship companies and their
agents stop paying commissions to runners for emigrants referred to
them, individuals will only by their own initiative attempt to come to
the United States, and most of those considered undesirable will remain
at their native homes."[28]
[Sidenote: Law in Contempt]
Violations of law abound. Smuggling persons is regarded with much the
same moral leniency as smuggling goods. The law forbids importation of
persons under contract to work. In April last two Italian steamships
carried back to Europe more than 1,000 laborers, who had been brought
over in violation of the contract-labor laws. Commissioner Watchorn had
word from his special investigators abroad that the men had been
collected in the Balkan States to work for padrones in this country. So
back went the thousand Slavs; but it was a chance discovery. The men
admitted that the padrones had paid their passage and agreed to furnish
them work. They said the rosiest conditions had been painted before
their eyes, and they believed "big money" was to be made here. The
steamship companies had to bear the expense of taking them back, but the
padrones have not suffered any penalty, and will go on with their
unlawful work.
[Sidenote: How the Laborers are Engaged]