IMMIGRATION: Monthly Hardship

Stuffing food leads to congestion in mastication. With twelve minutes for dinner, the man who puts all his dinner into his mouth in the first five minutes is doing himself and the food an injustice. This was the general tenor of comment of Immigration Commissioner Henry H. Curran, of New York, and of P. A. S. Franklin, President of the International Mercantile Marine Co. Their remarks were provoked by the rush to fill August immigrant, quotas of foreign countries in New York.

The rush was bad on July 1, with the opening of the first month’s quota of the immigration year (TiME, July 9). Then 11,000 immigrants arrived on the first day at Ellis Island. The rush was considerably worse on August 1 when about 15,000 immigrants reached Ellis Island.

Under the present immigration law 357,803 immigrants are allowed to enter this country in any year, of which number 71,561 (20%) may come in any one month. In the same way, the maximum monthly quota of each country is 20% of its annual quota. This results in a great rush each year during the months from July to November, inclusive—and especially at the beginning of these months. During July, 57,495 immigrants came to this country, and about half the 41 nations listed filled their maximum monthly quotas. At this rate the annual quota for all nations will be filled in six months—or rather, as will probably happen, a large number of nations will fill their quotas in five months, and the small remainder will goon more slowly, gradually filling their allotments.

The result has been accusation and counteraccusation. Ellis Island, which receives by far the greater share of the immigrants, has accommodations for only 1,700 at a time. When 15,000 arrive in one day the station is “swamped.” Immigration officials accuse the steamship lines of bringing hardships upon the immigrants. In England there are protests about the ” brutality ” of Ellis Island. Senators inveigh. Steamship officials protest that they are doing their best to mollify conditions under the present law.

For some time there has been talk of having immigrants examined abroad, so that they can be admitted without question when they reach this country. Commissioner Curran has publicly urged this solution. Secretary of Labor Davis, who has been abroad investigating this plan, has declared he is doubly sure that it should be adopted.

While selective immigration, beginning before immigrants sail, will solve certain problems—such as the deportation of arrivals for unfitness or because they are in excess of the quotas allowed—it will not materially affect the “rush” question.

P. A. S. Franklin, President of the International Mercantile Marine Co. (including the White Star, Red Star and American Lines), suggested the maximum quota for each month should be 10% instead of 20% of the annual allowance. This would spread the immigration period over ten instead of five months. There would be no more of such conditions as those of July 31, when ten vessels assembled in Gravesend Bay, waiting for the stroke of midnight, and then dashed across the line, so that eight of them arrived within four minutes. In the narrow channel there was imminent danger of collision. In fact the Orizaba and the Argentina came within one foot of collision as the race started. In the darkness a collision of the crowded ships would have spelled catastrophe.