The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1880-12-30
TO BE CONTINUED.
IN. Y. Tribune.l
Destitute Immigrants.


this city report the arrival at Castle
Garden of numbers of Immigrants
from Europe who are absolutely with.
out means of support, and have nc
relatives to depend upon in this coun-
try, and no prospect of obtaining EN-.
ployment These poor people are de-
posted upon our shores by the for.
eign steamship companies without
money enough in their pockets to pay
for meal of victuals. They become
necessarily objects Of public charity
the moment they set foot upon our
soil. If they are able-bodied, indus
trious unmarried men or women the
Castle Garden officials are not long
burdened by them, but in the cases Of
families dependent upon a single
bread-winner the difficulty of dispos-
ing of them is very great. Often the
head Of the family knows no trade
and is fitted for no employment save
that of a common laborer. Arriving
in the winter season, when there is no
demand for farm-work and when such
outdoor work as the building of roads
and railroads, the erection Of buildings
and the clearing of land comes to a
standstill, such persons find the mar
ket for unskilled labor fully stocked,
and their trouble is increased in most
cases by their ignorance of the Ian
guage of the country. They remain
for days and sometimes weeks upon
the hands of the emigration authori-
ties, and when got rid Of they too
often begin life in the New World by
begging in the city streets.
Why should not the Government
take steps to prevent the Importation
of such paupers? Even the most
stubborn advocates of the weak gov
ernment theory will hardly claim that
we are bound to keep poorhouse for
the whole world. They will admit
that there is power enough in the
Federal machinery to prevent foreign
ships from landing diseased cattle at
our ports, and parity of reasoning
will convince them that the same
power properly extends to the exclu-
sion of human beings who must
either beg, steal, or starve as soon as
they are set ashore A practicable
method of exercising this power with
out keeping out any emigrants who
give promise of becoming self-sus-
tanning citizens ought not to be diff
cult to discover Consul Byers, in his
recent letter to the Tribune, suggested
a consular inspection at the foreign
ports where the emigrants embark,
and requirement that the steamship
companies shall land no emigrants in
this country not furnished with cer-
tifcates that they have passed such
examination and nave the means to
support themselves here, or reasona-
BILE prospect of speedily earning
livelihood. Such a plan might be op-
pressive to few worthy persons de-
string to emigrate, but it must be
borne in mind that the absence of all
restrictions is oppressive to equally
worthy persons in our own country,
who have to pay taxes to support
asylums, poorhouses and jails filled
with the refuse of European society.
Our charity should begin at home.
We are under no moral obligation to
the support of the people
whom the mOnarchial systems and
standing armies of Europe have I'M
poveriShed or brutalized.
It may be objected that it would be
to draw dividing line be-
tween the emigrants likely to form ii
valuable addition to the population of
the United States and those likely to
become public burdens or public pests.
If the benefit Of a doubt were given
to the intending emigrant, the diff
Guilty need not be very great. 1t might |
fairly be taken for granted that Grip
pied and diseased persons with no rel
atives or friends in this country are
proper subjects for exclusion, and
that families that propose to embark
without a dollar to pay for days |
food when they arrive, and with no
prospect Of employment should also
be detained. A little money might
be taken as an evidence of foresight,
thrift and capacity for self-support,
but an absolutely moneyless condi-
ton should at least be prima facia
evidence of unftness. A man who
invests every cent he has in the world
in steerage tickets for himself and
family to New York and purposes to
land in a New World without know
ing the language and without the
certainty of days subsistence or the
promise of a days work, is not likely
to be of much benefit to society here.
Such persons are gathered up by the
hundred in the villages of Germany,
Poland and Hungary by the agents of
the steamship companies, who are
eager to earn fee for selling passage
tickets, and who make the poor crea-
lures believe that America is the land
of promise, where money is to be
picked up in the streets. They are
landed at Castle Garden in condition
of complete destitution, having
nothing but the scanty clothing they
have on their backs and perhaps few
chests of well-worn household gear.
The question of regulating immi-
grafton becomes Of more Importance