The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-10-07
HOW THE PRESIDENT MADE
 ELLIS AND HUMAN AND
 PROVIDED FOR THE ALIEN
Alexander Kenta Tells Story of Regeneration of Gate way to America, So That It No Longer Is Thing of Terror for the Liberty Seeking European.
(By Alexander Konta.)

| ter year a million persons rom al | over Europe enter America through this portal. The majority of the fif- the United States have had some ex. perience there.
 And what is their memory of ii? Ii | you ask them they will say it was g place to be dreaded-to be feared That is the reputation it had borne ir | the minds of Americans up to two years ago.
 When President Wilson appointed | the present Commissioner of Immigra. | ton at Ellis Island, Dr. Frederic c Howe, he said to him: You are the porter at the gates of the new world You are a glorified concierge. You have to lock the door on some of those
 who come because Congress has or. dered you to do so. But only few
 are so rejected. The great majority
 enter. They become good citizens We all came from immigrant stock al
 some time. Those who came two cen
 turies ago were probably just as poor
 as those who come to-day.
 "The Ellis Island station has not borne a reputation for kindness. There is much suffering there. Many have to be detained. some have to be sent back. You will have women and chil-
 dren to care for. They cannot speak
 our language. They are often poor.
 They have sold all that they possess
 to get to our country. This is their
 one big hope. It is the one thing
 they have looked forward to all their
 lives. They have sacrificed for it.
 Their friends have sacrificed for it.
 Try and make Ellis Island a real gate
 way to this great republic. Try to make it stand out as pleasant mem
 ory to the million people who enter
 each year. Try to give a good i'm pression of the United States by kind ness, helVfulness, and thoughtfulness for the immigrants who enter to-day are the fathers and mothers of the citizens of tomorrow. They them selves may be citizens in a few years. You are the official porter of the Ma ton. That portal should no longer be like prison, make it like home" "
 Have you seen the new Ellis Island You would not recognize it as you en- ter from the bay, past the Statue of Liberty which stands close beside it. The first thing that greets your eye is a great playground out on the lawn with hundreds of men, women and children resting there. There are tents to keep off the sun and rain. There are swings and sand piles for the children. When the new com- missioner first proposed this it was met with protest. He was told that it had taken years to get the grass to grow there and the children would wear it down. Commissioner Aowe replied that he was more concerned about live children than he was about dead grass.
 For the European War had convert ed Ellis Island into great detention camp with six or eight hundred men, women and children who for some reason or other could not enter the country and were being held there waiting for the war to end. They had nothing to do. They sat day after day on the hard benches provided for them and thought of their homes and their friends. The first day they went to the lawn they rolled upon it. They played with it. The tears rolled down their cheeks. The appe- tites of the children got better. Life became DTlSHIcT. 1HS WHolc ASiduu changed.
 If you go into the big dining room where they examine the immigrants before they are admitted to the coun- try you find the same change. It used to be like prison. There were high gratings on either side, so high that a man could not see over them. They have all been taken down. Round about the walls there are rows of pot ted plants and flowers. The place looks like a garden. From the gall leries above American flags float. while round about the walls there are fine pictures of the Presidents of the United States.
 Possibly if you meat noon you would hear music. You would won- der what the piano was doing in an immigrant station. You would open your eyes wider if you happened to be there on Sunday and saw thousands of people attending a concert given by the Hungarians, the Germans, the Scotch, the Poles, the Bohemians or the Italians. For every Sunday some one of the big foreign societies of New York or New Jersey gives concert with it's own talent. On one occa- sion the Hungarians hireh steamer, and brought it to the Island loaded with toys, fruit, food and other things for the immigrants detained there.
 And if you happened in during one of the week nights you would see these same people who are detained at the island because of sickness, or some other reason attending motion pie ture show.
 Commissioner Howe is carrying out the wish of President Wilson to make Ellis Island more like a home than a prison.
 Then if you were to go up stairs where the people spend the day you would find the same kind of changes. There are hundreds of people here all the time. Sometimes the number runs into the thousands. And those detained have nothing to do. Many of them are very poor.
 A school was started for the little children. They began to learn Eng fish and all about America. That rested their mothers. It kept the children quiet also. But the moth CTS had no work to do while waiting. So the Commissioner secured cloth for clothes and women to teach the other women how to cut out clothes for themselves and their children. They made many beautiful things. Some sold them to people who came to the island. They wanted a place to read and the Commissioner opened up reading room and a place where the iY, hn Ia md