The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1920-12-03

their steerage passengers, and on the island 1t Is
not unusual for many as 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-
geston will increase with each passing month
Steamship men say their accommodations are
booked for full year ahead. Poles and italians
especially are coming in swarms, and It Is certain
that soon the way Is clear for them, Ger
mans win enter America In vast numbers.
That the problem Of assimilation may be
little less difficult to solve. despite Its magnitude
10 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
Q 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
70 the children the New World comes with
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. It Is all different
now, for the present commissioner of immgra-
ton Frederick A. Wallis. has set 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 sus American" said Petit Jean the other
day.
He had come with his brother, a maker of bead
bags, to what the new country had in store.
At six he has the vision Of his adopted land. His
father, cavalryman was killed in the and
as his mother had other ties except those on the
western shore of the Atlantic they had come hith-
er to bring up Jean citizen of this republic.
At an impressionable age, the children, who are
temporarily detained on the island, our largest
entrepot for the new citzenry, are learning
through concerts and addresses and through
music, many valuable lessons of life. A very
large number of them at school age a 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 off
hand. A detailed study of statistics along this
line has not been made, but the general impress
sion is given, after seeing shipload after ship.
load Of the future Americans, that there is a pre-
ponderance not only Of young women. especially
Of young mothers, In the newly arrived of the
gentler sex, but that the who are landing
here in quest Of fortune are more youthful and
more alert in appearance than the immigrants o
previous years. Rarely one sees the bent and de
crepit who have come with and daugh
tiers to begin their lives in the changed
world.
More Permanent Class Arrives
The presence Of many families although
often bereft of fathers, indicates more perma
nent class than usual There not so man,
unattached male immigrants Austrian
and the like-who in former years sought TIN
United States only to avail themselves Of higl
wages and to return with their savings to thei
original environment. Up to the first of Jul,
there had arrived at American ports 247,625 mel
and boys, and 1S2,376 women and children. whicl
Is somewhat in excess the feminine side. Il
January the two genders were about equa
divided and in the succeeding months the male
gradually increased In numbers.
OF this grand total 430,0O1, It is noted tha
i73133 are set down as having no occupation, thi
classification including women and children. TIL
homes of those who looking for cooks ant
narlor maids and experts In all lines OF domesti