Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-12-19

No cabin passenger ever sailed through
the NarrOws and beheld the Statue OF
Liberty without feeling a thrill at the
sight. II 1t were not the thrill Of patriotic
devotion to his native or adopted land 1t
must be a thrill Of pleasure at being safe
ly across and with a chance to set foot
on solid ground so soon again. But. II
the sight Of the goddess stirs the cabin.
what must 1t mean to the steerage? To
the steerage q new world is dawning and
q week or more of an earthly purgatory
ending.
DR.. Steiner. the eminent immigration
authority who has carried his gospel of
kindness into many a steeEage. himself
acknowledges that often he has tried. to
overcome the deep despair Of the steerage
by reminding its people that, though it
seems like hell, there is a heaven be-
yond. He says that it is not easy to
travel in the steerage; not because there
Is not room enough. or air enough, or
food enough. although that is all true;
but because 1t is hard to believe down
there. that the God Of Israel is not dead.
To the immigrant Ellis Island is an
ordeal. The man at the gate is a big
giant who can speed him through or
slant. A thousand lies. some useful. some
useless and some unnecessary. are pre-
pared in the hope that they will help in
the navigation Of the tortuous channel Of
admission to America.
X *
Passing quarantine and the customs
officials as the ship comes up the bay, 1t
Is warped into its
lowed AWAY dock, and when the
to Ellis Island. la. last cabin PASSENGER ger
steerage people are put into barges and
towed away to Ellis Island, where final
judgment awaits them Their tickets are
fastened in their caps or pinned to their
and their bills of lading are in
their hands. When they enter they are
lined up in long rows, with two doctors
for each row. They must walk down
narrow lane made by rows Of piping, w N
an interval Of twenty feet between them.
AS they approach the doctors begin to
size up each immigrant. First they sur
vey him as a whole. If the general i'm
preston Is favorable they cast their eyes at
his feet. to see if they are all right. Then
come his legs, his body, his hands, his arms
immigrant has been walking the twenty
feet the doctors have asked and answered
in their own mind several hundred ques-
lions. If the immigrant reveals any in
timation of any disease. if he has any
deformity, even down to crooked finger,
the fact Is noticed.
If he is so evidently a healthy per-
son that the examination reveals no rea-
son why he should be held he is passed
on. But if there is the least suspicion
in the minds of the doctors that there is
anything at all wrong with him a chalk
mark is placed upon the lapel Of his coat.
After passing the surgeons who examine
their health tickets and their bodies, the
immigrants next encounter the one who
examines their eyes. With towels and
antiseptic solutions by him, the surgeon
rolls the eyelids Of the immigrants back
on a round stick resembling a pencil he
is looking for trachoma. Those discovered
to have 1t are sent away for deportation.
The line moves on past the female in
spector looking for prostitutes and then
past the inspectors who ask the twenty
two questions required by law. Here is
where the lies are told. Most of the imE-i-
grants have been coached as to what an
swers to give. Here is an old woman
who says she has three sons in America
when she has but one. The more she
talks the worse she entangles herself
Here Is a Russian Jewish girl who has run
away to escape persecution. She claims
relative. in New York at an address
found not to exist. She is straightway in
trouble.