, 1920-12-02

their steerage passengers, and on the island it is
not unusual for as many us 5000 immigrants to
be detained for the night in sleeping quarters de.
signed for the accommodation of half as many.
Floors, benches and chairs are filed with the
overflow from the dormitories, and hundreds
sleep on their feet.
The melting pot is boiling over, and the con-
gestion will Increase with each passing month.
Steamship men say their accommodations are
booked for a full year ahead. Poles and Italians
especially are coming In swarms, and 1t is certain
that as soon as the way is clear for them, Ger
mans will enter America in vast numbers.
That the problem of assimilation may be a
little less difficult to solve, despite its magnitude,
Is Indicated by the fact that so many of the
younger generation are now on the manifests of
the incoming vessels, writes John Walker Harring-
ton in the New York Herald. The death of so
many fathers In the war has caused hundreds
of thousands of families on the other side to try
a hazard of new fortunes in the Land of Promise.
Many widows, some of them with two or three
children, are reaching the country by means of
money sent to them by friends and relatives.
To the children the New World comes with q
rush of experiences. To them, until they are
passed upon, 1t seems one Of green sward and of
blue sea, of changing skies and of passing ships.
Under other regimes the detained immigrants
were kept penned like dumb driven cattle, and to
them the United States meant for many hours
wire cages and dark walls. 1t is all different
now, for the present commissioner of immigra.
ton, Frederick A. Wallis, has set a new precedent
by using the acres of unused grass plots on Ellis
island as a recreation place for the Immigrants.
The children are in their element there. The
place rings with happy laughter and echoes the
fall of romping feet. Alert, healthy and strong
are these Americans to be, and some of them, too,
are more than aliens.
Young Are In a Majority.
"Je suis American" said Petit Jean. the other
day.
He had come with his brother, a maker of bead
haze 10 gaa NuhaN tho nattr apf hoH In gtOra
At six he has the vision of his adopted land. His
father, a cavalryman. was killed in the war and
as his mother had no other ties except those on the
western shore of the Atlantic they had come hlth-
er to bring up Jean as a citizen of this republic.
3 At an impressionable age, the children, who are
temporarily detained on the island, our largest
entrepot for the new citizenry, are learning
through concerts and addresses, and through
music, many valuable lessons of life. A very
large number of them are at school age or II little
less, and they are coming here at = time when
they are best fitted to absorb the traditions and
the history Of the country to which fate has
brought them.
The disruption of families caused by deaths in
the war abroad has at the same time brought to
this country immigrants who are mainly younger
than the average, as far as may be observed OFT
hand. A detailed study of statistics along this
line has not been made. hut the general impress
sion is given. after seeing shipload after ship.
load Of the future Americans, that there Is n pre-.
pOnueThIce not uhIy W young WOinen, especlulN
of young mothers, in the newly arrived Of the
gentler sex, but that the men who are landing
here In quest OF fortune are more youthful and
more alert in appearance than the Immigrants OF
previous years. Rarely one sees the bent and de-
creplt who have come over with sons and daugh.
tiers to begin their lives anew I'm the changed
world.
More Permanent Glass Arrives.
The presence of so many families, although
often bereft OF fathers, indicates a more perma.
nent class than usual. There are not so many
unattached male NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Austrlnns
ana the llke-who In former years sought the
United States only TO avail themselves Of high
wages and TO return with their savings to their
original environment. Up to the first OF July
there had arrived NJ American ports 2i7.025 men
and boys, and 1S2,376 women and children. which
r. somewhnt In excess on tho feminine side. In
january the two genders were about equnlly
divided and I'm the succeeding months the males
gradually increased In numbers
or this grand total. 10000. II is noted that
j73.133 are set down ms having no occupation. this
classification including women and children. The
hopes Of those who nre looking for cooks and