The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1872-12-27
rR0rncT1oN 10 1MM1aRANTs.


Special Message OF President Grant
on the Question.
To the Senate and House of Repre-
sentatiUss Of the United States.
In my message to Congress, at
the beginning Of its present session,
alIusion was made to the hardships
and privations inflicted upon poor
Immigrants on shipboard, and upon
arrival on our shores; and sugges-
ton was made favoring national leg
islation for the purpose Of efecting
q radical cure Of the evil.
Promise was made that a special
message on this subject would be
presented during the present ses-
sion should information be received
which would warrant it. 1 now
transmit to the Houses of Congress
all that mas been officially received
since that bearing upon the subject,
and recommend that such legislation
be had as will secure, first, such
room and accommodations on ship
board as are necessary for health
and comfort, and such privacy and
protection SIS not to compel immi-
grants to be the unwilling witnesses
TO so much vice and misery; and sec
ond, legislation to protect them up
on their arrival at our seaports from
the kna7es who are ever ready to de-
spoil them of the little all which they
are able to bling with them. Such
legislation will be in the interests of
humanity, and seems to be fully jus
tifable. The Immigrant is not a
citizen of any state or territory up
on his arrival, but comes here to be-
come a citizen of a great republic,
free to change his residence at will,
to enjoy the blessings Of a protecting
government where all are equal be-
fore the law, and to add to the ma
tional wealth by his industry.
On bis arrival he does not know
States or corporations, but confdes
implicitly in the protecting arms of
the great free country of which he
had heard so much before leaving
his native land 1t is a source of
serious disappointment and discour-
agement 20 those who start with
means sufficient to supl ort them
comfortably until they can choose a
residence and begin employment for
a comfortable support to find them
selves subject to ll-treatment and
every discomfort on their passage
here, and at the end of their journey
seized upon by professed friends,
claiming legal right to take charge
Of them for their protection, who do
not leave them until all their resour-
ces are exhausted, when they are
abandoned in strange land, sur
rounded by strangers, without en-
ployment and ignorant of the means
of securing it. Under the present
system this is the fate of thousands
annually, the exposures on ship
board and the treatment on landing
driving thousands to lives of vice
and shame who, with proper humane
treatment, might become useful and
respectable members of society.
l do not advise national legisla-
tion in affairs that should be regula-
ted by the States, butt see no sub
ject more national in its character
than provision for the safety and
welfare of the thousands who leave
foreign lands to become citizens of
this republic.
When their residence is chosen
they may then look to the laws of
their locality for protection and
guidance.
The mass of immigrants arriving
upon our shores, coming as they do
on vessels under foreign flags, make
treaties with the nations furnishing
these immigrants necessary for their
complete protection. For more than
two years efforts have been made,
on our part, to secure such treaties,
and there is now reasonable ground
to hope for success.
q. S. GRANT.
Executive Mansion, May IA 1872.