Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-03-07
Strangers at the Gate.


and the improbability of a middle-aSed
man earning enough in this capacity
To bring his family here. On the other
hand, an eighteen year-oid SWede VINO
gave her occupation as domestic and
expected sister to meet her At me
dock, was admitted, although she had
but a dollar and siXty-five cents.
There was an aWkWardiy dressed
irish girl whose sister has been IN
this country four years next spring,
sir shes foinc place on Common
wealth avenue. sir. and she'll get Gie
good place as soon as | land. rms
girl was the type of the Irish immigrant
a few gave their occupation as seam
stresses, but the ma jority We're seek
ing household service. All the irish
gave their destination Is Boston or one
of the nearby cities.
Among the Swedes, nine out OF ten
o. the women We're domeStics. Douhd
for the homes Of cousins or SISTERS OF
friends in Norwood, Boston or
Gloucester. The men among the
/ Swedes claimed tn be farm hands ana
were bound for Minnesota or farther
west There were Firms, some bound
I for the uuarries near Quincy, some lor
the Finnish farming communities IN
+ Minnesota There were NorWegianS
with through tickets to the lumber
camps of Northern Wisconsin; and one
iollv-looking. round little Dane who
was a naturaliZed American citizen
ana liked to tell it. He had been on a
visit to his old home in Copenhagen.
4 little group of Scots said in their
forma! way that they had embraced
the faith Of the Latter Day Saints"
and We're bound for ogden. Utah. The
Mormon church is a large asency in
inducing foreigners to come to Amer
lea. In every Protestant country in
Europe there are missionaries preach
ing the doctrine Of Joseph Smith and
Brigham Young. Their purpose is not
10 establish branches of the mother
church: they do not care to build
isolated chapels in distant countries;
their enGe2VOr is to make proSelyteS
and bring them to Utah. despatch
from Vienna a few weeks ago said that
two Mormon missionaries We're at
tackles by a mob in an Austrian vii
lage. ducked in pond and severely
beaten. AZ a result. the Austrian
Minister of the Interior has forbidden
further attempts at Mormon prose
lyting. Twenty years ago when
polygamy was a confessed and recog-
nzed part of the Mormon faith. he
United States government made 4 pro
test to the governments Of Europe
which resulted in Il cessation of Nor
mon PROSECUTING. But when polygamy
oStensibly ceased tand continued only
in secret our government cea sed to i'll
terfere, and Mormon missionaries are
making great Roadway among the
peasants of the remote rural districts
of Europe. In the steeraSe and second
cabin Of every incoming liner is 4
group Of ncw-m2de Mormuns. with
through tickets to Ogden, i'm charge Of
one or two missionaries. one may
suspect That their passages have been
paid by the church, ana that they are
virtually under contract to work on the
farms OF Mormons: but those who
make a business Of traffic learn how
to eVade the laws.
The immigration officials include mer
who can speak several Of he Eurupean
languages, but the endless confusion
OF dialects makes an Interpreter q
necessity in many cases. The delight
OF the immigrant At hearing his naive
language is apparent. The anxious
look disappears from his countenance.
He assumes that his fellow country
man is a friend.
Had Mr. Cleveland, then President.
signed Senator Lodges bill for tho de-
porting OF immigrants unable to read
and write, it would have made little
difference to the commonwealth
cargo, or indeed to the great ma iority
OF the immigrants who come by the
Boston gate. The northern races have
schools and attend them--it is the
southern races, Italians especially, who
would be kept out by an illiteracy test
Ol 10000 English, only 12S We're Hitter
ate; OF 5000 ScandinavianS only 50;
OF 5000 Firms, only e. ON this trip of
the Commonwealth a scant half-doZen
acknowledged their inability to read
OF write.
While the Immigrant Commissioners
are making their minute biographical
inquiries the port physician and the
matron are making a physical exami-
nation. Their purpose is to detect a
conta giouS disease or an iniirmitv
which may sooner or later prevent the
immigrant from earning his living and
make nm charge on the hospitals or
:auper institutions of America.
Blue tickets are given to the i'm
migrants who have seemed wholesome
to the Doctors sight ana touch md
have passed the Immigrant commits
Sloners examination successfully.
These blue tickets mean that the bear
ers are deemed fit to become American
citlZenS; they may leave the ship and
so their several ways, with this BRO
vision, that those who expect to meet
a relative or friend at the dock and
these are perhaps fifty per cent of The
Whole) must wait until the friend an
pears.
About a fourth of the whole number
nave incurred the suspicion of the
doctor or of the inspectors These get
Whlte tickets instead of blue, and
We're detained for special investigate zion
by the board of inquiry" When the
inspectors had finished their work in
dlVidually, four of them met and or
sanzed the board. one Of the four
was Il StenoSrapher. who took down
the testimony verbatim.
one Of the detained men, Il Swede
was called and sworn. His story was
simple enough. An Old neighbor had
gone to Wyoming several years ago.
had proapered and now owned farm