The New York herald., 1850-08-06

| age passengers returning 10 this country. dsao-
pointed WIN Their prospects, and quite sick oI
| America One captain informed me that during
| The present season, he took out as steeripe sts.
$" gers, sturdy English yeoman, with his wife and
eight chl'dren and large quantity of boxes aud
paceHsges, ana lh!t he met him week after he
detection, dete rmined to return TO England by the
tirst packet. He had looked at a few farms within
| circuit OF htty miles OF New York, but neither
approved of the farming the land, the country the
people, the weather, the food, the drink nor any,
| Thing he had seen, felt, heard since he had
| stepped out of the packet He had not even un-
| packed his luggage, and returned to England, with
his wife and eight children, after less than ten
days sojourn in America, sadder, but scarcely
wiser man.
As soon a party of emigrants arrive in Liver
pool, they are 6eset by tribe of people, both male
and female, who are known by the name of g man
catchers and " runners" The business of these
people Is, in common parlance, 10 g fleece the
emigrant, and to draw from his pocket, by fair
means or by foul, as much of his cash he caa be
Lersuaded, inveigled, or buled into parting with
The first division of the catching fraternity are
those who trade in commissions on the passage
money, and call themselves the runners or agents
OF passeDger-brokers The business of the pas
senger. broker is legitimate and necessary one
and many OF the firms above alluded to as
receiving such numerous remittances of small sums
rom Anne eIica are among the number Under the
Passenger Act of the 18th and 18th Victoria cap g.
the licenses of all the passenger brokers expired on
the lst of February 1850, subject to renewal after
their being approved of by the government emf
grafton agent, and to their entering into bonds with
Two suretles, to the amount of f200 for the due
uhment of all the requirements of the act of Par
lament relating to the comfort and security of emf
grants. The passenger-brokers at Liverpool, in
common with the unwary ane unsuspectng emf
grants, have suffered greatly from ths mapractices
Of the runners who pretend to be their agents
These man-catchers procure whatever sums they
can from emigrants as passage money-perhaps G5
or GO, or even more-and pay as little as they can
TO The passenger-broker, whose business they thus
assume often as liple as e3 or e3 5s In addition
to these large and knavsh profits, they demand
and they have been often known to claim and en-
forcehis commission, altho' their whole concern in
he matter may have been to watch the number of
misrants going into or coming out of the brokers'
ofhce, and to put in claim for having brought or
caught them 1t is obviously the interest of the
brokers well of the emgrants that this system
ofpunder should be stopped; and the active and in
telllgen government agent for emigration at Liver
pool without whose approval no license can be OBJ
tained has done his best TO exrpate this particular
class of man. catchers. Before the renewal of their
licenses in February, he made it imperative that the
passenger-brokers should sign declaration to the
effect that they would not give any fee, commission,
or reward whatever, directly or indirectly, to any
person or persons for procuring passengers in
Liverpool for ships sailing to America. Such,
nevertheless, is the competition among the
passenger brokers, even of the highest respect
ability, that it is in vain to expect that the
system OF paying commission for procuring pas
sengers can be entirely stopped. If commission
be not paid as per centage to the old race of man.
catchers, II will be paid in salaries, or by some
other means, to the accredited " runners of each
establishment, so that the system, somewhat modi-
ned and improved, will still continue. To form an
idea of the sums paid in any one year, 1919, for
instance, as commission to the catchers in the
sole item OF passage money, we have but to take
the total seerage emigration Of that year, and null
uply 1t by E3 l0s.-ihe average amount of passage
money-and calculate what per centage of ~
per cent would amount TO. The total steerage
emigration Of lSa9 was LAG l62 souls, which, at
G3 los. head, would amount TO E5l1 ,567 A per
centsge of u per cent. on this sum would amount
TO no less than ELS ,367 los or, taking the COM
mission at the low average Of per cent to c3O 69f
which is generally stated to be about the sum ac-
tually paid 10 this particular class Of people on the
average OF the last three years by the passenger
brokers of Liverpool.
But these are not the only class of the man.
catching fraternity, nor do they confne their opera
tons to an exhorbitant profit upon passage money
The man-catchers keep lodging houses for emf
grants-wyetched cellars and rooms, destitute of
comfort and convenience, in which they cram them
as thickly as the places can hold. The extra pro-
hts they draw from this source cannot be inferior
IN amornt to their previously mentioned gains, and
the cherished boards Of the poor pay a large per
centsge to their unscrupulous rapacity. In addi-
articles composing the outfit of emgrants, such as
bedding, clothes, food, cooking utensils, and the
nick-knacks Of all kinds which they can persuade
them to purchase. Some of the storekeepers in
this line Of business pay their " runners" man
catchers" as much as ten per cent commission on
the purchases effected by the emgrants, from
which the reader may form some estimate Of the
enormous punder that must be drained from the
poor ignorant people. As every emigrant must
provide his own bedding, the sale Of mattrasses,
blankets and ccunerPsnes enters largely into this
catchers" who are principally ln shmen themselves,
and know both the strength and weakness of the
Irish character, fssten upon their countrymen--
many of whom, poor and miserable as they look,
have sovereigns securely stitched amid the patches
Of their tattered garments-and persuade them
into the purchase Of various articles, both
useful and useless. Among these may be men,
toned clothes of all kinds-shirts, trowsers,
wsistcoats, shawls, pettcoats, south-westers,
caps, boots, and shoes, slippers, cooking utensils,
cans for the daily allowance Of water, and tins
10 hold their meal, rice, and sugar. Proyi-
sions-such bacon, herrings, salt beef and other
articles not found them on board-and luxuries, in
which whiskey and tobacco are generally included,
come next on the list, aftsr reiterated assurances
| from the man-catchers that no emigrant will be
! taken on board without them These being pro-
| vded-and an lrsbman being easily squeezable,
| when friend and countrym is the man
catcher" who has him in hand, and when he fears
| that his passsge-money will be lost for non-com-
| pance with the regulations-his attention is next
directed to such articles pocket-mirors, razors,
bowls knives pistols, telescopes, &c. The siran-
| Ger in Liverpool, who takes q walk in the imme-
dste vicinity Of the Waterloo Dock, whence the
greater number Of emigrant vessels take their de-
psrture, will see profuse display Of the various
articles upon which the ''man-catcher" makes his
| gains-afucles generally OF the most inferior
qualities, and sold al the most extravagant and III
diculous prices. The "man. catching" business in
all its departments has been reduced to regular
system, and no London sharper can be more sharp
| than the Liverpool runners. Perhaps the most
complicated and Ingenious trick Is the following
When steam-vesssl laden, with emigrants leaves
an lrish port for Liverpool, one Of the Liverpool
fraternity, dressed up as raw 1rshmsn, with the
usual long-tailed, ragged, and patched grey frieze
coat, the battered and nsI1ess hat, the dirty un-
buttoned knee. breeches, the black stockings, the
shillelah, ard the short pipe, takes his passage
among them, and pretendst to be an emigrant. Be
fore the vessel arrives at Liverpool he manages to
make acquaintance with the greater portion Of
them, learns the parish they come from, and the
names ofthe relatives whom they have left behind,
cipal people Of their neighborhood. He also ascer-
tsins the names Of the friends in America whom
they are going to join. He tells them ofthe rogue
ry Of Liverpool, and warns them against thieves