Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-11-14

the United States from Londonderry. in
the north. and Queenstown. In the south.
and indirectly from Glasgow and Liver
pool. The third-class passage to America
from any part of Ireland via any of these
ports is f6 or little less than so: and
during he winter season: when travel falls
off. it is often reduced to $3.50.
And it may be said that every young
man and young woman In Ireland emf
CRATES who is able to raise this sum and
the $40 extra which the immigration in
Spectors require new arrivals to show as
evidence that they are not paupers. The
young people will not stay at home IT
they can get money enough to pay their
steamship fare. Nearly every family in
Ireland has relatives I'm the United States.
There Is scarcely human being on the
island who has not some friend or &C
quaintance. and q very large part OF pas
sage money collected by the transporta-
ton companies is sent in postal orders.
drafts or in steamship tickets from this
side of the water. Notwithstanding the
acts of Congress which prohibit assisted
immigration"
Young People Want to Come.
During the summer we did not meet a
single young man or woman who did not
express the intention. or at least the hope.
Of being able to emigrate. The obstacle
which keeps them back Is temporary. and
is either their dependent parents or the
lack Of money to pay the steamship fare.
The most influential emigration agents
are the sons and daughters OF Ireland In
this country who 60 back every year in
large numbers to visit their old homes.
and see their parents and friends. The
difference in their appearance. in dress
and hopefulness that two or three years
make is astonishing.
We had more than three hundred re-
turning immigrants landing with US at
Queenstown, and in all respects they were
the best dressed and the best looking peo
pie we saw in Ireland last summer. 1t
was one OF these return immigrants,
handsome young woman, servant IN
New York family. who called my atten-
ton to Father Kel!ey's pamphlet which
quoted. and particularly the passage In
which he describes the fate of such per-
sons as herself. This Is what he said.
and she commented upon 1t with indigna-
ton:
What Father Kelley Says.
1.-The Irish girl in America today COM
petes with the Chinese coolie in domestic
service, says the pamphlet. and how hard
that is we can see from its effects upon
them when they return to their homes.
Girls go to New York full OF the fresh
bloom of health, with such compilations
as only the soft air of Ireland can give
and keep, and In three years, as slaves
In the eXhausting work of American
households, they are reduced to a state
of dried-up, emaciated. wornout human
ity, which one would never believe could
occur in the interval even If they were
kept in an oven. We see some Of those
shriveled specimens. wrecks of their for
mer selves. come back to us to See the
old place before they die, and the sight
is indeed enough to discourage their sis
tiers from counting such fate. One
should hope and trust that there was
higher destiny: before the Irish girl than
to compete with q Chinaman in the
slavish service Of an American house
hold
will not quote any farther from
cept to refer to some even more extraor-
binary statements. He says that the
wages of employment in Ireland are
nearly equal to those Of America. He
the United States to protect the workers;
that the factories run from dawn on
Monday to darkness on Saturday night.
week after week, with no holidays. no
Saturday half-days. no respite. no rest"
He says. There are no means Of educa-
ton in America, and the tendency of the
Irish emigrant is to dissipation; that
whisky is killing them off," that hun
dreds die every year of sunstroke or
heat apoplexy, while in winter there are
blizzar ds during which numberless deaths
occur
every Irish-American newspaper con-
tains advertisements Of missing friends
who are as lost to their relatives as If
they never existed. They have been muir
.dered. drugged and spirited away. If
young and comely. and they have gone
beyond all means of discovery" 1.-The
joys of family life do not exist in America
in the same degree as at home. for the
climate is so trying that infant mortality
is high and children die like flies in the
winter"
But the Irish Still Emigrate.
Notwithstanding these terrible stories.
the immigration from Ireland continues as
rapid as before. and the amount Of money
sent from this country by immigrants TO
their families and friends at home is
enormous During the fiscal year ending
June 80, 1908. the number of money or