New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-04-22
WARDS ISLAND.

scrcs Of light, warm lOamy, generally good land, OF
which ZIG belong to the Emigration establish nent 40
being devoted 20 the buildings ard grounds, and che
residue devoted 20 cutivati All is yet young here,
snd ach remains TO be completed but the location If
ords r. srkabe facilities or such establishment,
which ore being steadily improved.
We shall nor fall INTO the beaten track of visitors
to public institutions ard certify that everything on
tie Island is managed to perfection Such certificates
deceive none while they nauseate many. We feel
cobfdent that the right principle has been bit upon ia
organizing The dcpartnent-namely that OF committing
its guidance TO intelligent, independent. phlanhropic
citizens selected without regard to party elevated BY
character and competence above the suspicion Of
wishing 10 AXE money ou of the public and serving
without compensation of any sort We believe the
mode of selecting this Commission is decidedly prefer
able, for tucb trust to that whereby the Governors
Of the Al KS House are nov chosen And, while We
believe the present interior management. of Wards
Isard is emrenty effective AMI upright, trust the
cay is to come when all the loading posts will be filed
as The Con mission is by persons serving for the
love If God aud man rather than the need of bread
ard pay-serviDg because they know not where they
might do good than here aud seeking no material
recompepse. No person is in the highest sense quail
fed for the direction even of hospitalw ward who
would rather be hotpg corn or peddug patent medi-
cipes if he could thus obtain larger pay
Some of the Enigr-nt buildings are old Affairs, be-
longing state Fittings others are poor
wooden concerns, put up in haste when the work OF
providing Systematically for destitute Foreigners was
first undertaken. Those lately built upon system and
with celebration are substantial and commoiiou,.
The new Female Hospital is probably the best All
seem defcient-copsideripg the number of human
beings they are Desired to contain--n Ventilation,
other than that obtained by lowering the Windows
resource scarcely available in cold or wet weather
and ore certain 70 be nulifed, when most essential
BY the ignorance ond deprsved instincts Of those for
whose benefit il was cODtrved We do not know
that the Wards Island buildings remarkably def
,ient 10 ventilation on the contrary, we think they
are rather better than the average in this respects
they maS average square inch of ventatng surface
where there is need of square foot bnt this mster
vi be better understood in the good time comog.
Wards Island is little city of itself like its ,ousin
Blackweps It's fuctua'iDg populston--we speak of
course only OF that portion of it under the control of
the Commissioners of Emgration-is no between
twepytbree and twenty four hundred, being lessened
as the weather grows mlder and increased by the sp
prOsch or the presence of winter. Each emgrant who
has been landed at our City within five years. and had
bis Communication paid out of his passsgemoney by the
shippers is entitled TO living here in case he is dis
sbled by sickness decrepitude or otherwise from earn
i1g it elsewhere. The establishment is supported by
a comnutationtax of 81 each levied upon every for
eigner passepger landed at this port, whereby he is
entitled to share in its advantages in case Of need
We believe that up to his time the communication has
proved inadequate the Commission being now conslde
rably in debt though the cost OF building and provid-
ing may well account for that. The Insane Emigrants
are not retained here but boarded and cared for at
the Insane Hospital on Blsckwelrs Island, under the
charge of the Ten Governors, who charge the Emf
grant Commission s21 per week each for supporting
them.
Many of the benefcaries here ouly because they
landed among ignorant penniless and friendIess,
krew not were to 20 what to do and were advised
10 throw them selves on the Commissioners for subsst
euce until better times should come around-and
did 80. Others were never taught ythiDg bus gen.
tility in their native land and found that poor
source in this barbarian country however il may have
served them at home Some we're driven here by
drunkenness and other vicious indalgepces; many
by the drunkenness Of husbands and fathers. Very
naDy of course driven here by disease or physical
disability some are mothers borne down by the care
Of young children many are driven here BY tae
( knowledge that they are soon to become mothers
/ Over six hundred children born here annually
nearly two per day-very few Of whom will know
| their fathere The sum of ignorance, filth vice aud
Stpraviiy copgregsted on these forty is very
large though many whom Misfortune mpels hi.her
vir'uous and deserving. And while az abundance Of
pla d. wholesome food is Systematically served out TO
all AID good, clean beds provided for them in rooms
which if badly ventilated yet better than they
ever tept in before that many live better Wards
Island than they did elsewhere yet the aggregate
Of suffering here from despair disease and the results
of past trarsgressiCn, is indeed appalling. We may
add that the best Medical talent of our City is
ployed in the Hospitals with experienced and faithful
attendants and nurses that few of tie inmates prob
ably, were ever before so skillfuy treated for their
various naadies
We would gladly fuse among our country read
ers better knowledge of the fact that the Commits
sionerr Of Emigration have st all times men. women
and children under their charge, for whom they are
anxious to procure places with responsible and benevo
lent farmers or mechanics. These not generally
Of the best class of workers, though many Of them
viii be found faithful and efficient. Among them il
nspy mother with young child, who would gladly
work faithfully ard sifolly in good family where
sbe would not be separ sted from her child Boys and
girl Of various sges also infants whose mothers have
cied are always ProcUrasle some Ofshem the chlrel
| -. 80. =