The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1916-07-22

women have been given instruction In sewing and
provided with material TO make clothes for them
selves and children. A school has been temporarily
opened to teach the children, and the New York
city public library authorities have donated n num-
Der of books printed in German and other foreign
languages for the use of those who have a desire
to read.
The men and women are permitted to mingle
more freely in the various detention wards, and as
a result of these innovations the feeling which
prevails among those who have been long detained
Mt the station is more cheerful than it was during
the first few months of the war. Attempts to es-
cape, which were frequent ut one time, have come
to an end.
ELLIS island is the greatest portal in the world"
said Doctor Howe. "There never has been any por-
tai like it for human beings. In normal times near
ly Il million persons enter the country through it
each year. They come largely from countries
where the government means only militarism and
taxes; they come to escape the feudal landlord,
from industrial and social conditions which have
become intolerable. They come with hopes of a
fresh life, of a fresh chance, of opportunities for
themselves and their children. They carry with
them the visions of America which have been in
delibly printed upon their minds from the letters
which have gone back to Europe from friends and
relatives already in this country.
"And the immigration laws of America have, in
effect, if not in so many words, said that America
welcomed those who did not fall within the eXclud-
ed classes, those afflicted by disease or who are
likely to become a charge upon the community. IL
held out an invitation to the strong and able
bodied to come and share in the making of a new
nation, free from abuses and expressions of the old
world.
And of those who come over 90 per cent are
admitted. The rest are rejected because they fall
within the inhibited classes. And II seemed to me
when | became commissioner of immigration that
the first contact of the alien with America should
be one that would impress upon his mind the thing
for which America stands that the treatment they
should receive, the experiences they should pass
through and the contact they had with officials
wearing the uniform of the United States should
be those of kindness, assistance and courtesy. They
come for the most part with fear In their hearts
they fear government rather than love it, And
their instinct is to expect something very like what
they received at home.
First impressions are lasting, and 1t has been
our effort at Ellis island to make these impressions
as democratic as possible, and to aid in as many
ways as we could in protecting the immigrant and
assisting him to his final destination. For the i'm
migrant is imposed on he is exploited. To prevent
this as much as possible offices have been opened
in New York city, one at the Barge office, at South
Ferry, and the other at 240 East Seventy-ninth
street, to which the immigrant can go and procure
aid, assistance and advice about matters that con
Germ him. Through these offices he is directed tC
schools and to the naturalization offices. The Off
ces cooperate with the police department and with
all the many agencies in New York which have
been created to aid the immigrant. At these offices
there are employment agencies which find worl
for men and women, and which aim to distribute
them to farming positions to relieve the congestion
in the cities.
similar protection has been accorded the alieT
in transit to the West, in securing the best trans
portatiOn facilities and otherwise relieving the i'm
migrant from the dangers which beset him Will,
reaching his ultimate destination.
WAR conditions brought probably 500 men
women and children to Ellis Island who for som,
reason or other had to go back to their native land
they were not admissible to the country. Each o
these cases has been Investigated personally, theil
friends and relatives have been looked up. and IL
the great majority of cases they have been nd
mitted on bond to some person willing to be re
hundreds, from whom periodic reports are requires
as to how they are getting along. Only in very rar
cases have they failed to make good. In man.
instances they have risen rapidly and are now earn
ing very substantial salaries.
similar efforts are being made to promote edu
c~ational advantages for the adult immigrant-t
encourage night schools. For the last year tn
names of all children of school age have bee
copied and sent to the superintendent Of educa
ton all over the country, in order that they Nigh
Immediately place children in school upon their al
rival at their destination. BY these means the gov
eminent comes in immediate contact with the sec
Ond generation of immigrants and begins its as
sanitation process as soon as they reach thi
country"