Aliens or Americans? Part 5

[Sidenote: Protection for the Immigrant]

There is a law against overcrowding on shipboard, going back as far as 1819, but overcrowding has gone on ever since.[19] There seems to be no doubt that even on the best steamships of the best lines there is ready disregard of the law when it interferes with the profits to be made out of the steerage. Strong evidence to this effect is given by Mr.

Brandenburg. Here is a condensed leaf from his own experience which shows how much regard is paid to the comfort and health of the steerage pa.s.sengers:[20]

[Sidenote: Steerage Horrors]

"In a compartment from nine to ten feet high and having a s.p.a.ce no 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, gra.s.s, 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-cla.s.s pa.s.sage. A comparison of the two cla.s.ses 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 pa.s.sengers 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 circ.u.mstances 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 s.p.a.ce, 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 inst.i.tute 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 h.o.m.ogeneity 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 pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.sage in that year of the first general immigration law. The Federal Government now a.s.sumed 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 pa.s.sed 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 a.s.similation between Chinese and Americans; and that such bird-of-pa.s.sage 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 cla.s.s 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 cla.s.s as the immigrants from other lands. The needy poor, with few exceptions, must ever be the immigrant cla.s.s. Those who come to us across the Pacific are largely from the respectable farming cla.s.s, 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 a.s.sent 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 cla.s.s--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 cla.s.ses 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 pa.s.sing 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 pa.s.sed 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 princ.i.p.al cla.s.ses 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: a.s.sisted 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 pa.s.sengers destined for the United States."[27]