Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-30

Straus. give immigrants bound for Ameri-
about 20 per cent more room than
Quired even by the British law.
Each adult immigrant will be assured
12j or 40 cubic feet according to whether
he Is on the upper or lower Steerage decks
Those on the upper must have at least
eighteen square feet of deck surface and
those below at least twenty, and there
must be seven feet from deck to ceiling, so
to speak On the lower steerage decks less
than seven feet from floor to ceiling may be
allowed If there Is thirty square feet of
floor space per passenger. The same extra
allowance must be made also If light and
air are admitted to the steerage through
apertures averaging less than three square
feet to every 100 square feet of deck sur
face. Sailing vessels must allow at least
40 cubic feet per immigrant and will be
forbidden to carry passengers in any be
en-decks' or in any space having less
than six feet from floor to ceiling. That
vessel owners may have ample time in
which to makes these alterations, this wise
reform will not go into effect until January
l, 1909. when all ships bringing immigrants
or other steerage passengers to our ports
will have to comply or pay so fine for
each passenger not given the required space
and fresh air.
Were Treated Like Beasts.
This will be most benefcent reform. 1t
is only one of many in the interest of the
Immigrant which have been made in the last
fifty years. Early in the last century immi-
grants bound for our shores were treated
worse than beasts and were less cared for
than slaves. The thousands who died from
neglect and ill-treatment en- voyage were
thrown into the ocean with little ceremony.
IF crosses and tombstones could be erected
on the water. as on the western deserts,
the routes Of the immigrant vessels from
Europe to America would long since have
assumed the appearance OF crowded ceme-
teries." says a writer discussing those de-
plorable times. In the suburbs of Montreal
a SIR wit he fnCN hat 10 aaoa
cred to the memory of 5000 emigrants,
who died Of ships fever In one year-1S47'-
Is sad commentary upon the sanitary
conditions of ocean traffic between the old
and new worlds as late as sixty years ago.
Consumptives to Be Barred.
Another reform is the barring out OF con-
sumptives-of all persons afflicted with tu-
berculosis." The White Plague is thus spe-
officially mentioned for the first time In an
immigration law. The fact that this grim
disease Is claiming about 10000 of our
population per year. which is more than the
annual mortality average of both armies
in the civil war, sufficed to move the
trainers Of the new law to this reform.
Science has lately pointed to the fact that
consumption is particularly prevalent in
this country among forelgn-born inhabi-
tants who have settled in localities differing
In climate from those to which they have
become habituated at home.
Imbeciles, feeble minded persons and per-
defective mentally and physically
that their ability to make a living Is af-
fected. have also been added to the list of
forbidden guests. During last year in par
ticular there was noted by the examining
surgeons of the immigration service an in
-eased number of weak minded or imbe-
Gle alientS. whose cases not so
marked to justify the diagnosis of idiocy
or insanity required by the old law, but who
throw doubt on their ability to support
themselves.
1t would seem as though the cream of the
old worlds peasantry are now nearly skim
med Off Lately there has been a slgnif-
cant increase of persons who under the old
law have had to be passed by the fmmigra-
ton surgeons, but who have been marked
poor physique" This marking has i'm
piled that the subject has been understood
poorly developed. has feeble heart ac-
ton. arteries below the standard size, ETC.
In other words. one of the surgeons ex-
plains. that he has been physically degen-
crate.
Bar to All Degenerates.
1t Is to keep these degenerates out that
the law gives the examiners far greater
scope than ever before for refusing en-
trance. The degenerate himself Is not only
unlikely to become desirable citizen but
1t Is very likely that he will transmit his
undesirable qualities to his Offspring By