Daily American organ. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1856, 1855-02-26
NUMBER 81.
Immigration and Crime. .l.-

and the continued efforts of the church TO spread
| the Gospel far and near. Those who keep tho
daily run Of events as chronicled in the newspG-
pers cannot but be shocked at the fearful enumc-
ration of felonies in every part Of our lasd but
the readers of local journals can have no definite
| conception of the number of cases Of crime, etc.
which it Is the portion Of an editors experience to
see detailed in the various exchange newspapers
which come under his examination.
The notice of these alarming phases of our social
life, naturally suggests an inquiry into the cause
/ which produces them. Intemperance though ac-
countant for much is not the parent of all crime;
destitution does not beget such variety Of of
fences; and ignorance cannot be charged as the
author of many of the acts which are daily perpe-
trated. Where then, are we TO look for the in
citing causes that swell the figures of criminal
| statutes?
| We shall answer this question by asserting our
conviction that crime is an epidemic, spreading it's
malaria with as much certainty and deadly effect,
as does the most malignant type of contagious
physical disease. The presence of crime or its in
centives, the neighborhood of criminal popula-
ton, the frequency of felonious acts, whether pun
ished or not all constitute active agencies for the
| spread of social corruption. First, probably,
among the causes which destroy nations and States,
| and greatest Of the evils which threaten our ma
tive land, is the ioWering Of the general standard
| Of popular virtue, by whatever means In some
| communities this event has been produced by the
gradual decline Of the moral standard, through the
1 influence of tyranny, which has reduced the body
of the people to scrve thoughts, and base actions,
making Of them hypocritos, and dishonest men, in
a national point OF view. An example of this is
familiar In the Greek nation, which, subjected dur
ing ages to Moslem despotism, has experienced
declension of its ancient intelligence into low
ming, and of its valor into trcachery The Irisl,
nation likewise is an illustration; in whose COM
ponents we find all tho vices engendered by habit
OF forced submission to arbitrary power, Joined with
concealed hatred of its exactions. Again, popular
degencrdcy may be brought about by physical
| causes such as the subjugaton of brave and yr-
| tuous nation by luxurious barbarians, who, over
running the conquered, corrupt them by their ex-
| ample. This was the case with the Medes and
| Persians. And, once more, popular virtue may
suffer from the introduction into virtuous com
| munity of elements which are calculated to make
it familiar with the appearance of vice. This last
effect is the sure offspring Of an unchecked system
| Of foreign immigration.
clear lake, fed by a pure, but small mountain
stream, cannot preserve its transparency and purity
in times Of heavy rains for even its fount may be-
come swollen and turgd through the action of dis
turbed elements How, then can such lake le
expected to remain untainted if thousand streams
from rank morasses, and the contents of thousand
common sewers are allowed to discharge their cor
ruptng waters into its bosom? Will its local pu-
ity disnfect and cleanse its tributaries, or will
they not rather deile its clearness forever, and
change its whole original nature? 1t is easy to
pour dirty water into cean but which loses and
which gains by the union, is the question for us to
ask 2
The great Gulf Stream, and the vast mouths of
the oronoco, and Amazon rivers muddy the At
lantic for hundreds of miles, after they minge with
its briny waters. What If these turbid waters
were discharged into one of our inland lakes?
Would not that lake become cauldron of uncean
whrlpoolsY And thus il Is with promiscuous emf
grafton, pouring into our communities; for we are
not, like the vast Atlantic, capable of decompo-
sing and cleansing the streams which rush into our
midst but, rather Ike an inland lake. must receive
theu with all their impurities until haply they poi
son our whole national system.
Thus 1t Is with immigration, as mt present con-
Quoted, and there Is but one way to avert fom
our nation the consequences threatened by the in.
production Of foreign corruption into its bosom.
The standard Of american social Virtue has fallen,
and is constantly falling, through the opo.-son of
influences connested with immigration. Not po
litically gre we NOV speaking, nor with reference
10 the position of our foreign population as voters
but solely in their relation with one another aud
with Americans as members of the body social and
moral.
In the first place, the mass of immigrants from
Europe arrive here penniless. Driven by the
pressure of poverty at home, to make spasmodic
effort for the betterng of their condition, they
scrape together, through personal exertion or the
pense Of q passage to America including the actual
necessities of life during the voyage. They cannot
as general thing, make provision for aught beyond
the bare exigencies of the trip; consequently
they become subjected to exposure, hardship, fam
inc, and sickness and when these do not terminate
in pestience and death at sea, the poor victims
are cast upon our shores, worn out with suffer
ngs and dcprivations, and wholly destitute of any
means whatever whercwith to begin life in
strange land.
What Is known Of their immediate fate is reveal
ed partly by the reports Of our s-Commisson-
ers, and pauper hospitals. What is not made pub
-lic is the secret system Of intimidation and cruelty
which renders yet more abject those unhappy
wretches who come under the tender merces OF
emigration commissioners, and escape from them,
to be sold to railroad contractors, dcported to
mining districts Other data may be Cleaned by
those who would examine the pestbrecdDg lodg-
ing houses that fleece the emigrant of the last
ragged scrap of clothing in payment for few
weeks bcggarly fare. And other phases still, of
immigration, may be viewed in the crowded ten
ant-houses and shanties where newly arrived ship
loads are quartered upon already domiciled "cou-
SINS to share their bit and sup till such time
as luck may turn up, or the entire colony go to
the poor-house, or be carried off with smallpox
or fever.
Such, in a suggestive general view, is the condi-
ton of the great bulk of foreigners daily landed at
ing himself in their situation, in strange land,
might attempt to do, we know not he might con-
qucr circumstances, or he might succomb beneath
them. But these poor strangers-thesc immigrants
have none Of the American element in them,
whatever il be they destitute, dspirted, sick,
| ignorant, abject. They must have immediate food,
garb, shelter-and not only Immediate but perma-
nent, means Of obtaining them.
But private charity doles its pittsncc, public
charity It's degrading support and labor badly
paid, fills up between. The male emigant digs
while he can dig-the female nurses her squad
offspring, and ekes out scant existence at the
wasl-tub The sturdy young man, perhaps, may
be able to start off, vigorous legs, to seek en-
ployment in the interior; the young woman may
find work as domestic if she be Of more than or
dirary intelligence, and talk 50 as to be under
stood. But the men of families, or the feeble
widows with three or four children, are forced to
remain in the locality Of their landingplace, be.