The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1874-05-28
SEEKING NEW HOMES.
Something About the Thousands OF
Emigranfs who are Landing ut Gas
tie GRrden-Who They Are ana
where they are Going.

Emigrants who are Landing at Gas
tie Garden-whO They Are, and
where they are Going.
There are lively times in Castle Garden,
for May is the month which one-titth
OF those who seek homes in the Western
continent choose for taking the journey.
| The steamship companies have to increase
! their accommodations, and the officials at
the Garden have their hands full 10 take
care of the travellers. Hundreds OF the
latter lounge around the buildings ana me
galleries waiting for their friends, or
money, or for their baggage, before they
push on to fresh scenes in the West
Every arriving ship brings new load.
The officials tiv around like candidates ON
election dav. Errand boys shoot out OF
the door, ike champagne corkS, and the
thronp of foreigners in q strange land
jabber with each other. or gaze bewiidered
at the busy scene. Everything SHOWS
life, but there is little confusion.
Every immigrant that arrives IN NeW
York harbOr has 10 pass through Nasue
GaEien. AT Quarantine the steamship y
thoroughly inspected for infectious ui-
eases, and when she drops anchor OF the
battery the steerage passengers are loaded
on tugs or barges and landed at the Car
den wharf, From this wharf they are
driven like so many sheep through a mar
row enclosure, where physician inspects
each as hep passes. The sick are sorted out
and sent to the temporary hospital. IL
they are bad cases they are hurried away
TO the regular hospital. Care is also taken
of the old and infirm, for. strange as 1t
may seem to the uninitiated, lmmi-
grants so and often so years old are
among the passengers by every steamship.
Thence the newcomers are marched past
a squad of questiOners and interpreters
who note their nativity, age. place from
which they emigrated, Destination occu-
patton, financial condition, and host OF
other questions which help to fill the
tables In the Commissioners annual re-
ports. Then they are turned loose IN the
rOtunda, there 10 wait until their baggage
has been hOiSted out of the steamships
hold and landed at the Garden. Without
going outside they can here purchase
tickets to any part of the Union and have
their baggage checked, exchange their for
eign money for greenbackS, telegraph To
their friends that they have arrived, pur-
chase food or cook their own, write letters
or 90 to prayer meetings. They are per
mitted to remain in the Garden forty-elght
hours. At the end of that time they must
make special explanation to the Superlll-
tendent or go their way. They are per-
mlJIeu 10 uepiII dS SOOli 'bo tiASJ h''N 49,
entered on the books.
The scene in the rOtunda when several
hundred are waiting is peculiar. There
are so many thoughtful men, so many
hopeful women, old persons. and little
babies. All have sought America rs the
seventh heaven of everything mundane,
and when America is reached the reaction
seems almost painful. Families stand
aside i'm groups, every member ciInginE 20
some article OfhOusehold value. The men
smoke their pipes. The children cry, anu
the women try to hush them. Suddenly
some friend who started several years Dc
fore them elbows his way into the group.
and then what a change! BOiSterOuS talk
and laughter follow. One OF the most Gu
rious of the scenes is to see the men exam
inc the fractional currency which is given
them for their hard European coin. They
evidently don't like its looks.
Last week the ocean steamers brOughE
over 7,723 immigrants. SO far this month
more than $1,000 have arrived. The num-
Der in April was Is, 1872. These figures are
much less than for the corresponding
month last year, and the total decrease
from Jan. is about 10000. Nor are this
wears prospects increasing. The steam
shin companies agents say that not Tor
several years have they ut this season sold
so few prepaid passage tickets. The Olll-
cialS at Castle Garden attribute the de
crease wholly to the effects of the panic
and the unsettled condition of business.
One-half of the immigrants who landed
here last year have been sent for by their
friends who had already tasted the sweets OF
American life. Since the crash last fall,
however, times have been hard for labor
ers. and many who intended to send for
yised them to wait another year. Then,
too, exaggerated rumOrs have spread
among the labOrers of the Old World asto
our financial condition. We have been
represented as on the verge Of dissolution.
Agents i'm the interest of the home Gov
ments have persuaded the people that
there are no longer any chances in Amerl-
ca. and have put their shoulders to the
wheel to stop the stampede to the United
States. As an offset, however, the steam
ship companies have, many of them. low
cred the rates. Emi@rants can purchase a
steerage passage from Liverpool to New
York for Sl5.
The personnel of the immigrants of to-
dav is far superior to that Of him who
landed ten years ago. Ihenlt was the all
venturer, with his worldly goods in
bundle on his back. and but shilling or
Now, in the majority of cases, the new
corners arrive by families-husbaud strong
and well developed, wife healthy and
brown with European outdoor labor, and
half dozen tough children. Instead Of
bundle they bring several well filled chests,
and in his pockets is enough cash to give
them fair start. Before the adventurer
wandered in the streets looking for his
chance; to-day the immigrant has deS-
tinatiOn, knows where his friends are, and
what he is to do.
Germans. Swedes, NOrwegians, and Irish
form five-Sixths of those who are immi-
grating this year. The number of Swedes
and NOrwegianS are increasing every year,
and they have proved valuable acquisition
They push for the West and Northwest
In fact, nine-tenths of last years immi-
grants started West within twenty-tOur
hours after arriving. The others scattered
in Eastern cities. Those who have landed
this week represent almost every NATIONAL
itv. from the rugged inhabitants of North
ern Europe to the easy-gOing son Of the
balmy Mediterranean cOast.-Rel0 York
C,y,, Man Is