The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-05-22
OF IMMIGRATION
INSPECTOR CLAUDE BHOWNH
 VISITING MONTGOMERY
Eorroer AIabamian Who Is n Govern ,.,a,,t Agent at Ellis Island stops
 Here En Route to Texus.

"rba immigration question. saln c,o,,ae prowne. United States immi- ay,t insnector. who Is on leave in tnls citv while en route from the Ellls lsl- and New York Immigration station to DeI Rio. Texas, ''is one of the great est importance to the whole country
 Now is the busy time In the iinInl- grafton service, particWarly al NsM Work and at the other great ports TOT nri1 May and June are the months when the greatest number or imIhI- grants come to this country. and dur- ing these months from S0,OOO to lOu,- O00 immigrants pass through Ellis lsl- and New York. alone.
 .4rhe Italians hold the record for the largest number of immigrants by very large per cent; next come the va rious races from Austria Hungary sucb as the Poles, the Slovaks, the Idthuanians, etc, then come the lrlsh and SO on through the list or mum erous European races. some or tnese immigrants are very desirable. while others are just the opposite. However, if is not in my province to judge In arv way upon this matter, but only to see that the various acts or Con gress governing lmmlsratioh properly enforced.
 "The Ellis Island Immigration Sta ton is beyond a doubt the most thor oughly equipped and most efhclently conducted place of the kind in the world. and to visit 1t, which Is a right cheerfully accorded to all citizens, ana go through all the different divisions Is, one might say, liberal eaucauoh in itself. if thoroughly studied.
 "sorne of the New York papers. in ma rticular a certain well known Ger American publication. have criti- | oIsed and are still very unjustly criti- | cising the administration of immigra- | tion affairs at New York city, and while that same administration needs no defense from these unwarranted at , tacks. I would like to tell you of a few facts about the station at Ellis Island. and about the immigration ser vice in general. Hon. William Williams. the present | Commissioner of Immigration at the mort of New York, is an able lawyer 1 and a man of the most ample means. | Tn times past there was more or less corruption and politics ,in the adminis- tration at that port. at least so it has heon stated to me by substantial and reputable citizens of New York, though ,rsonally I have no knowledge of the
 ate of affairs there at that time, as
 vyaE not stationed there. Now I un- derstand that Mir. Williams was the Presidents classmate at Harvard, and is his personal friend; that 1t was at the sacrifice of many of his personal interests. and only at the urgent re- ouest of the President, that Mir. Will liams accepted the appointment as commissioner for the purpose of giv- ing the most thorough and unprejudic- cd administration at Ellis Island. That MT. williams has done this last no im- partial person who is acquainted with the true condition of affairs will deny. From my own personal knowledge, of- 6cials and the force at Ellis Island seem to have adopted and do most certainly vigorously apply the well known motto, Equal rights to all, and special privileges to none
 ''The present Commissioner General of the Bureau of Immigration is Hon y1 A. Sargent, who is known through ,nt the country as the former chief of the Brotherhood of Locomotive En- gineers, which is probably the most thoroughly organized and powerful or ganization of the kind In the world This appointment as commissioner