Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-10-17
Commissioner Howe Brings
Smiles to Faces of
Alien Mothers,
GIVES THEM RECREATION:
THEIR CHILDREN PLAY
Band Concerts, Newspapers, Good
Food and Beds Ameliorate Condi-
tons of Those Detained.

Teaching America to give smiling
encouraging welcome to impression
able mothers and children from the
old world who seek new homes here is
the work undertaken by the new COM
missioner of immigration at the por,
of New York. He is instituting a
'humanizing" greeting. one that brings
a healthy glow to their faces; one that
shows them this is a land where they
should be happy; one that starts them
right in the educa tional system of the
country.
How he has brought the mothers out
of their dungeon-like cells of deten-
tion on Ellis Island to breathe in
MIGRATING sea breezes on park benches.
while their children play about happily
under the care of trained playground
worker. and how he has instituted
other reforms, is told by Mary L.
Chamberlain, writing exclusively LOT
the Survey. 1t is the purpose OF the
Survey to find out and interpret tne
facts of working and living coho.-
lions, and to promote intelligent Ell
forts for social advance
Miss Chamberlains article shows now
the mothers are learning useful occu-
pations during their period OF waluns,
under competent teachers, how faml-
lies are allowed to intermingie and en-
tertainment is furnished that time
may not drag.
Waiting for a Decision.
when Mrs. Pankhurst was waylald
at Ellis Island last october she spoke
apprec;atively of the immigration de-
Dot in general. and of the courtesy OF
it's officers in particular, but she limited
at it's similarity to certain prisons she
had known" Miss Chamberlain says.
Gould some of the other detained
women become articulate they might
tell a story of monotonous days spent
in a bleak room while they waited
many with babies at their breasts.
without reading matter, without sew
ing materials for themselves or toys
for their children, without recreation
or outdoor exercise of any kind, until
their cases were settled.
Frederic c. Howe, the new commits
sioner of immig grafton at the port OF
New York, has set out to change some
of the old tradition at Ellis Island and
to make of it a comfortable waiting
place for those newcomers whose start
In America must be safeguarded by
certain precautionary measures. AL
ready he has introduced a new spirit
at the island. Clerks. attendants and
matronS tell the visitor that the COM
missioner is 'humaniZing' the place.
The 'humanizing began with a sin
gle bench on the lawn. For weeks
Commissioner Howe says he worked to
transplant that bench from a laby-
rinth of benches packed away in a
storeroom to the plot of grass outside.
Then followed other benches and the
transplanting of the inmates from the
cherries detention hall to those
benches.
Mothers Smile at Last.
"At first some of the old women wept,
says Commissioner Howe, when the
bare walls of the detention room were
transformed into a changing picture
of curious ships, blue water and a
misty new world across the harbor.
But they ceased to weep when they
saw the children, hitherto penned up
all day, jumping and shouting and
growing rosy from play in the crisp
outdoors.
Commissioner Howe found a teacher
to direct the playground. and along
with the teacher went every kind of
ball and jump ropes. Games are played
by sort of sign language in this
medley of tOw-headed Swedes, brown
Italian children. Mexicans. 1rish-all
natlonallties. But they manage to
throw balls, to tag one another and
even to squabble together in healthy
ANA AROUND the sues Oh
the play quadrangle sit the mothers
with the ittlest babies enjoying the
sport
Inside the building the humanizing
is also going on. Formerly the hus-
bands were shut up in one room, wives
In another. Now a door is being broken
through wall and there will be ad-
Joining rooms where men and women
may mingle. Cheap sewing materials
may now be purchased by the women,
foreign newspapers with lots of funny
pictures are distributed. and there are
toys for the children. Out on the big
piazza oswingS have been placed and
more games introduced. The other day
f1ve young men: and girls were having
hearty game of -puss-in- the corner
sunday afternoons there is a band
concert OF national airs and familiar
songs. In the near future Mr.. Howe
hopes to add folk dancing to the music
of photograph.
Schools for Immigrants.
by arrangement with the board of
education. the commissioner has com
pleted plans for q school for detained
children and classes for adults The
board will supply teachers, and at Ellis
Island. therefore, on the very threshold
of the country. these immigrant chill
dren will begin their American educa-
ton.
Very little change has been made
by Commissioner Howe in sleeping and
boarding accommodations at the island
The food. he thinks, is good, but he
has stationed inspectors in the dining
hall to take any complaints about it.
The hunks are not bad. he says, and
new provision has just been completed
for over 1000 immigrants In fact the
comm issioner regards the regimen of
the plant at Ellis Island as pretty well
managed-it's the fact human beings
are inside il, not digits in an annual
report. which he believes has been for
gotten.
commissioner Howe has two advan-
tages over previous comm issoners at
Ellis Island. In the first place the
great falling off of immigration since
war began has given him time for ex-
periments and small group with
which to experiment All former com
miSsioAers have been so buried under
the administrative detail of dealing
with million Immigrants a year that
they had no imagination for additional
work. Only 10000 arrived during Sep
TENDER, as compared with 100000 for
the corresponding month year ago
and where ordinarily there are 2.00(
persons temporarily resident on Ellis
Island there are bat 200 today.
"In the second place. Commissions:
Howe from his post director of the
PEOPLES Institute of New York city
helped bring play and color into the