Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1906-06-29

IRz
IMMIGRANTS AT GALVESTON.
Busy Scene After Arrival of European
Steamer.)
Outstanding of the country's needs.
immigration through the port of Gal.
weston, IL present plans are carried out,
means not so much an immigration
for the dollars and cents there may be
in it for the transportation companies
as it does the rapid development of
tary to the gulf ports. To the home
colonization is now to be added the
foreign colonization.
In this undertaking the government
Is lending a willing hand, and the
three agencies combined should result
in accomplishment worthy Of good
cause.
It was the government, in fact, that
first directed the attention of the rail-
roads and of the steamship company
to the possibilities that lie in the port
of Galveston in the way of home build
ing In the Southwest. Yearly the
hordes which seek entry to the United
States through the port of New York
are increasing, so that the problem of
hauling them becomes continually
more difficult of solution. Further
more thousands of those who come in
by the way of New York never get be-
yond the confines of that and other
large cities, congesting these popula-
lions with a class which is undesir-
able.
More than a year ago the govern
ment limited to the railroads and to the
steamship people that 1t would be
good idea to try to divert large por-
| ton of the immigration through one
Of the southwestern ports. Galveston,
as being nearest the source of land
supply, was selected, and the railroads
and the steamship line joined hands
| in the undertaking.
| The first movement Of immigrants
through Galveston really began in 1904
when but 800 were brought in. Prior
to that the North German Lloyd. al
though having line between Europe
and Galveston, had not made any Ell
fort in the immigration line. BY the
beginning of 1905 the bureau had go'
to work. in earnest and the result wal
3,400 immigrants
Immigrants coming through thi'
port are distributed all over the West
but statistics show that fully so pc
cent of them remain in Texas and pre-
sumably make that state their perma
nent home. Many of them go to Col
orado and California, and not fey
l ~ hi
cities like st. Louis. Upon an aver
age. 33 1-3 per cent are untickete
when they reached these shores an
between 80 and 40 per cent are wha
are termed homeseekers. That is t
say, they have come over here withou
a definite destintion but with the e,
press purpose of finding perrnaner
homes In the agricultural district
Present facilities for landing imm
grants through Galveston are total
inadequate and fully $4,000 will hay
to be spent in this direction. Althoug
r. 8. Sargent chief of the immigratio
department, has recommended and
trying to direct immigration throug
Galveston, the government is n,
ready to spend all the money necessaI
to provide adequate facilities. II
, steamship company is unwilling
n make the appropriation, and the ra
Q roads do not feel that they should
called upon to do it all.
), The city of Galveston is not d.spos'
!. to assume all the burden, and so +
% the time being immigrants have to
:. herded into inadequate pens, whe
. they are compelled to spend hours al
70 even day or two without the sligl
d est accommodations. e. B. Holma
4 chief inspector of the port. stated th
"a the hardships suffered on this aecou
were often great, but that he felt c,
: tain the government. the steamsh
= company. the railroads and the CT
e. would soon get together and eonstrr
new immigration docks. At Present