New-York tribune., 1911-03-12
The Alien Newcomers Forced by Legaized Pool to Fol-
Z low Fixed Routes Suffer Many Hardships in
First Travel This Continent.

totween the knees Of others without
change OF cars. After e wearyng Ellis
Island day. sleepless night and day In
an ovcrcrowded train they walt out the
second night as best they can, many OF
them on their feet.
The fast trains make :he run from New
York 10 81. Louis I'm twenty-four hours.
The cheaper trains Of the slower roads
take twenty-nine. Practically all OF them
cover the distance in 4 night and two
DAYS. These immigrants. however. reach
ohio city thirty hours out from New York
and seventeen hours from their destination
The discomfort. the ind ,cency Of that
station are not things TO no described in
detail But there are other things The
immigrant is used 10 slesplcssness and bad
smells. but when a man even an immi-
grant. does not sleep he has 10 eat. And
there Is little enough TO be had for eating
Some Of them bought food al Ellis Island.
But that was day before yesterday. and
few had any idea Of how long the journey
was 10 be No matter how much food YOU
have in your basket when YOU have guard
ed II against a group Of fretful children for
two days YOU are likely 10 have very
little left
There is 4 little lunch counter al Ohio
CITY. It's prices are set forth N terms
that are ,w to the immigrant, but plain
enough TO show him that a family meal
rreans disaster 10 his pocket book. II cos-s
a quarter TO nbble: a filing for a hungry
hoy comes 10 dollar more. Meanwhile.
hour by hour. the air grows worse; the
children grow hungrier; the sleepers grow
more restless.
The wait at Ohio city is. in the exact
figures Of the railroad time tables, from
2.2i In the morning 10 7:53, or FIVE hours
and a half Then, IL the train happens 10
be on time. the immigrants board the cars
Of the Toledo St Louis & Western and
start on the last leg of their Journey. TIE
train makes every stop between OHIO
CITY and ST. Louis. and arrives just twelve
hours after IL started-if II happens 10 he
on time. The immigrants paw N' 10 FOR
their passage The fare on the regular
twenty-nine- hour trains is 2l %. The i1i-
migrant saves $3.50, which would Just
abou, buy him a bel and square meal at
the Ohio Ci.y hotel. md leave him with
net loss Of one DAY on the journey.
lust what the dscomiorts and the suffer
Ing or that journey have cost newcome
Americans il is hard 10 say. IL is fact
that from three 20 five thousand immi-
grants travel every year from New York
ia 81 louis and points beyond over ex-
actlv this route. Every one OF them is
nut off at Ohio City Al 2:2l. or as near
IN that time as the railroad finds II con-
venient 20 do so; every one OF them has
tho 0ve-hour wait n he statiol there, and
overv one Of them covers the twenty-ninc-
hour tourney I'm forty-seven hours.
What IT meant in one case was told In
tho letter that sn old German cobbier
urote from q little Missouri town 10 an
Immigrant society in New YORK. HIS son
bad lust died at home in Wcstphalia. and
80 on crp1an son. fifteen years old. The
Ia man sent for his grandson. meaning
90 move 10 St. Louis and send him TO the
! - school there. The boy arrived IN
,toh fayer. and died in day or two from
a,,roonia The old man believed he had
as,,qht his death sleeping on the floor at
go Ci.v. Now. almost a year later, the
IA .,,an's daughter and son-in-law were
.,,o ,o him. He begged the agency 10
IN t1n, % they could come any other
| way.
t,ou, lavnen will have attached much i'm
rort.nce 10 the news OF n few days ago
| r.. 81. delaware, Lackawanna & Western
- ,,t,bdravn from the Immigrant pool
u-u,s island. Few Of them have ever
a. a" =, such pool. Few would have
- ,hat the immigrant travel from
-, vo-k 10 St Louis amounted 10 several
.,.o,,.ard persons a year But the Lscka-
.s actIon has far greater meaning