Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1920-11-11
ALIENS CHOKE
ELLIS ISLAND
Millions From Italy Alone Are Re-
ported to Have Booked Pas.
sage for United States.
POOR COME FROM MANY LANDS
ForsaIe Their. Own Soil for the Dream
Of Amerlca-Hordes That Returned
to Homeland After War Are
FIocklne Back.

congested Europe Is piping its worn
and motley peasantry to the United
States. Not q record of ancient-Ha-
tons Is In existence which can tell a
tale Of such flow Sf humanity.
From Italy Is heard the report that
no less than 1000, 600 have booked pas
sage for the dreamland,
Wherever a liner docks in Europe
sweaty peasants, hurdened with
striped and shapeless baggage, wind
their way into the steerage.
In every nation the poor are forsak-
Ing the reality Of their own soil for
the dram Of AmerIca-fHe, gtldep
America,
When the war was over there was q
scampeting for passports and flock
Ing back to the homeland Of immi-
grants OF pre-war days, Polish, Italian.
Czecho- Slovak, Irish and British-all.
hungering for breath Of mother soil,
departed.
But 1t Is not what once 1t was-over
there. And they are coming back, dis
enchanted. These form goOdly part
OF the steerage population.
Block Ellis IsIano.
The tide Of Immigrants has swelled
week by week, until last week the
brusque but kindly gates by WHICH all
aspirants for entrance must pass
clogged and choked.
Five giant liners attempted 20 un-
load their human cargOes on the ls'
land at once. The dIkes were down. az
II were. and Ellis island was janIned.
So an embargo was imposed For AZ
hours no bright-eyed immigrant climbed
down on the island from steerage
gnngway.
Those that had landed were packed
into the narrow sleeping quarters The
island Is a tight little island In any
event. and the quarters were never
meant to accommodate thousands.
A curious body might t'p:tGf Into the
quarters at night. THY are sleeping
tight against one another. legs flung
out and twisted one over the other In
an indecipherable tangle.
Gawky boys. gay kerchiefs numbering
their necks. lean against posts and
walls. and try to sleep. Strange. but
Quarters Are squaiid.
The washing facilities Of ships steer
ages are not ample and IN cramped FL
lis island they nrn also lacking.
The stencil of Storage and curl.
Gus hOrsy smell clings to the men apd
women. II Is the smell that heralds
the approach of immigrants. o smell by
which they may be recognized.
In the wOmen's quarters gayety OF
coloring might strike the eye were II
rot for the squalor and the discomfort.
One might stop and admire the broad
red shawl draping the shoulders OF
Castilinn beauty. and perhaps. pity her
with her raven headdress sqnashed
against bundle Of luggage, upon
which her head IL resting as she
sleeps.
Little children, too. might attract the
eye.
A story is told Of a family Of three.
coming from Cracow. and prevented
from leaving by the Illness q the six
year-old child. The child wns born Up
a concentration camp where the par
ents bad heen kept by the Austrians.
MIX Unknown to Baby.
"He mas never known the taste Of
milk. never known sugar.n m0anfh the
mother.
He was a war baby, IN all the pa
thatic meaning Of the word. Last week
the child died.
The family is released. they are free
to do as they wish IN the United
States. but the parents feel that they
walk into the new lnpd at the expense
OF their child.
Cases of equal pathOs constantly
crop up and are passed over as part OF
the days work by the officials on the
island.
Congestion Abated.
Commissioner Wallis said that the
choke at the gate Is relieved and the
snn-hurped sons and daughters of old
Europe are streaming through
In little while the commissioner
expects his staff to be augmented by
about 200. He also expects the erec-
ton of new building the length OF
the island. The accommodations are at
present not hig enough by half. he
says.
There was q concert for the immi-
grants on the island one day. Drowsy
men and women heard songs sung In
their own tongues.
Louis r. Post assistant secretary Of
labor, waved an American flag and
pleaded that the aliens be regarded as
visitors, as honored guests.
In the back of the crowd hundred
stowaways clustered. They have the
sympathy Of all. but they must submit,
to the rigor of the law, which re-
quires that no passportless person may
land.