El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-12-18
Societies Aid Aliens
Mission Societies Seek to Weed Out
Those Who Encourage
Pitfalls.
by Frederic J. Haslxin

upon arrival. But it frequently hap
pens that these relatives or friends
fail to meet them or to send funds for
the continuation Of their journey. In
such event the letter of the law would
require the immigrants to be depOrted,
since, being penniless, they are likely
to become public charges. But where
there are trustworthy persons or or
San1ZatlOnS who viii undertake to care
for them until they find employment or
are brought into touch with their rela-
tlVes or friends, the immigrants may
be discharged to them after five days
detention. The immigrant, under these
conditions, is given his preference of
being discharged to the agents of the
homes and aid societies or of being
deported. Usually he takes the chance
to be thus discharged.
Europe Aids In Work.
Some Of the societies receive annual
appropriations from various European
governments for their services to the
immi grants from those countries. 9th
ers are supported by people of certain
races for the benefit of immigrants Of
their own nationality. In one year
nearly $4,000 immigrants were dis
charged at Ellis island to homes and aid
societies.
These societies and homes. when
properly conducted, undoubtedly do an
infinite amount Of good Particularly
are they of Unreasonable benefit to the
to America But Investigations have
revealed the fact that many of them
are not properly conducted. and that
the very conditions they seek to REMEDY
are promoted by them. There were
homes and societies which did not
properly safeguard the interests Of the
immigrants because of carelessness in
placing them, and even homes where
an absolutely immoral atmosphere was
encountered.
Give Aid In Many Ways
Missionaries and home and society
agents assist arriving immigrants in
them help them to get into communi-
cation with friends and relatives. trace
lost baggage, escort them to their des-
tinatiOns, send their names and ad-
dresses to those who can look after
them II they are going to other cities,
appear before the boards Of special in
quiry in their behalf, and make their
appeals to the secretary of commerce
and labor in the event it appears that
the decision Of the commissioner ought
to be altered. When they do all these
things in the true missionary spirit
they are rendering an invaluable ser
vice to the immigrant But, unfortu-
netely, some Of them do not.
In spite of the watchfulness of the
immigration authorities some OF these
missionaries disgrace their profession
in many ways. Some have been known
to come to the station drunk some
take money for their services and trans
form themselves into petty attorneys,
while others have been known to take
advantage OF helpless women But. for
the most part, the immi grafton mis-
sionary is upright and worthy.
Some of the homes to which the
missionaries send immigrants are all
that could be desired. The surrounds
fngs are clean and wholesome the
moral atmosphere is excellent, the food
IS good, and the charges are no greater
than the pocketboOk of the immigrant
will allow. Often they charge only
sixty cents a day for board and lodging
and even less when it is by the week.
Some Careless In Placing Help.
Other homes are as careful about the
conditions with which the inmates are
surrounded while they remain there,
but are distinctly careless in the mat
ter of placing the women They would
not Willingly send a girl out to act as
a servant in a disorderly house, and
Yet by failure to investigate requests
for help, frequently they do so. Still
other homes did not hesitate to send
girls TO such places, even after it was
explained to them that such was the
nature of the places. OF A homes in
vestigated half of them did not draw
the line on sending girls as servants
in such homes. The missionaries made
little better showing than the homes
in this regard. TWenty-One were asked
eleven supplied them. Only three re
fused point blank to do so.
Some of the aid societies refer fmmi-
grants to employment agencies. OF
q such agencies that were licensed,
only five failed to furnish servants for
applicants from disorderly houses. .Prae-
tically every unlicensed employment
agency Unhesitatingly furnished such
help.
Immoral Advances Made.
In some of the homes men connected
with their executive stats were guilty
of immoral advances toward the in
veStigatOrs as well as toward other in
mates. The method of the investiga-
to get admitted to the home and to stay
for several days. Then another inves-
tigator would come and apply for a
girl, explaining that she was wanted
as a servant to tend the door in
manicure establishment that was en-
joying police protection, and which was
run in connection with a lodging house
for transients. Then the first investi-
gator would usually be called in and
asked If she wanted the job. She was
usually admonished that if she took 1t
she should Just close her eyes to what
went on. 1t was while the boarding
investigators were staying at the homes
that improper advances were made In
one instance an attempt to commit a
criminal assault upon one of the in
Yestigators was made.
Out of long list of names and ad-
dresses of immigrant women who had
been placed through eleven homes, the
investigators selected 22S for following
up. 1t was found that only 17S Of those
immigrants had gone to the addresses
given. At so addresses given no girls
had ever been sent for or received,
while there were no such addresses in
eight cases. and three were the ad-
dresses of disorderly houses.
Inquiry Improves Condition.
The immigration authorities COM
municated these findings to the immi-
grafton societies and homes, and since
then the most diligent efforts have been
made, both by the immigration author
tiles and by the immigrant homes and
societies, to weed out the unworthy and
to make sure that hereafter proper care
shall be taken that young immigrant
girls that are placed by the organiZa-
tons shall be placed amid wholesome
surroundings.
In justice to the spirit of helpfulness
and philanthropy through which i'm
migrant homes and societies have been
established and are maintained, it is
to be said that the abuses that have
been found have arisen through lax
supervision which has been more the