Speech #470053212

It continued with conrsiderable uniformity until 1806. Avery accurate statistician. Samuel Blodgett. in that year states that "from the best records and estimates at present attainable" the immigrants arriving in this country did not average. for the ten years from 1784 to 1794. more than four thotsand per annum. The same authority states that. in 1794. 10.000 persons were estimated to have arrived in the United States from foreign cointries. Dr. Adam Seybert. member of the House of Representatives from Pennsylvania in 1818. assumes that 6.000 persons arrived annually front 1790 to 1810. however. to him as well as to the authorities consuilted this average seemed generous. After 1806 many influences retarded immigration . the war between England and France. between England and the United States. the difficulty in Europe for emigrants to dispose of their property at satisfactory prices after the Napoleonic wars. owingto general impoverishment. even hostile legislation. entered as an obstruction to the progress of immigration. A strikuing instance of the latter is given by the act of the British Parliaent which allowed vessels to carry from Great Britain and Ireland to the United States only one passenger for every five tons. while it allowed vessels to carry to other fbreign countries one passenger for every tw tons. The great famine of 1816 and 1817 entered as an important element into the history of immigration. stimulating it to an unprecedented extent. During 1817. 22.240 persons arrived at the ports of the United States. and thenceforth the influx steadily increased. The insufficient provisions for the wants and necessities of such large numbers of passengers upon the crowded emigrant vessels added many sufferings to the hardships incident to an ocean voyage at the time and there were no laws of the United States either limiting the number of persons which a passenger ship should be entitled to carry. or providing measures for the health or accommodation of passengers. The subject was then brought before Congress flit the first time as meriting immediate attention. and in 1818 a bill "regulating passenger ships and vessels" was read twice and referred. In December of the Ibllowing session it was again brought up by Thomas Newton. of Virginia. who explained its necessity. It was then read a third time and passed by the House. Both Senate and House subsequently amended it before its final passage and approval as the passenger act of March 2. 1819. According to a table in Do Bows Compendium of the United States Census of 1850 the progress of immigration from 1790 to 1820 was as follows: From 1700 to 1800 there wore 50.000 arrivals. From 1800 to 1810 there were 70.000 arrivals. From 1810 to 1820 there were 114.000 arrivals. The following compilation. taken from the annual report of the Chief of the Bureau of Statistics. Treasury Department. for the fiscal year ending June 30. 1861. shows the number of alien passengers and immigrants from 1821 to June 1. 1881: reriod. rod. Year ended September 30- Year ended December 311821 ..... ..................... .127 1840 ......................... 84. 00 1822 ....0..............0...... . 6.911 1841 .......................... 80. 289 18?3 ........................ 0.354 1842 ........................ 104. 05 1824 ... ....................... 7. 912 1025 . _ ................ . -----10.109 January I to September 301826 _/ ....................... 10. 837 1843 .......4................... 52.496 1027 ... 18 875 1828 ........... 27. 382 Year ended September 301820 .......................... 22. 520 1844 .... ................. ---- 78. 015 18 9 ..............-............. 23. 322 1845 .......................... 114. 71 -31 ........................... 22. 633 1846 ....................- .... 154. 416 132 _- - . 53.179 147 .......................... 134. 068 1848 .......................... 226 527 Quarter ended December 31- 1849 .......................... 297. 024 1832 ........................... 7.303 1850 ........................- 310. 004 Year ended December 31- QnarterendedfDecember 311833 ........................... 58. 640 1850 .......................... 59. 976 18343-------------------------15.S046 5 0-------------97 1834 .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 05. 305 1835 ........................... 45. 874 Year ended December 311836 ........................... 70. 242 1851 .......................... 379. 46 1837 ........................... 79. 340 1852 .......................... 371.60/ 1838 ........................... 38. 014 1853 ........- - ............. 368. 645 1839 ........................... 68. 069 1854 ....... .................. 427. 833 -Alien I nimiPeriod. passengers grants ararrived. rived. Year ended December 311855 ...................................................... 200.877........... 18 6 ...................................................... - 200. 0 6 185.857 1857 ...................................................... 250. 882 246.945 1858 ----------------------.----------------------------- 122. 872 119. 501 1859 ...................................................... 121. 075 118.616 1860 ..................................................... 153.418 150. 237 1861 -------------------------------------------------.. 91.822 89.724 1862 ..................................................... 01.826 89.007 1803 ...................................................... 176.214 174.524 1864 ...................................................... 193.416 193.195 1865 ----------------------------------------------------- 248.111 247.453 January 1 to JTune 301866 ...................................................... 167. 757 166. 112 Year ended June 301867 ...................................................... 303. 044 298. 967 1868 ------ --------------------------------------------- 288.088 282.189 1869 ............................................. . 363. 074 352. 768 1870 ........ .......... ................ .......... 402.920 387. 203 1871 ----------------------------------------------------- 342.6009 321.350 1872 .............................................. . 422.978 404.806 1873 ......... .... . ....... ....................... 473.141 459.803 187 4 ................................. *....... ............ 327..949 313.3839 1871-------------------------------------------------- 24324 313.319 1875 .. .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. .. . 244. 032 227. 408 1876 ...................................................... 189.991 169.980 1877 ................-- ......- ----------------------------- 65.019 141.857 1878 ..............-.... -----------------------------------57.776 138.469 1879 ........................--- .............. ........ 197. 954 177. 826 1880 ................................................ - 4 4 106 457. 257 1881 .................................. ............. 695.163 669. 431 Year ended December 31. 1811881 .................................................................. 719. 000 Alas! that there should be a dark. deep shadow. too. to this bright picture of the rapid growth. prosperity. and development of our country by immigration . btot human greed and love of gain will stop at nothing. and the rich harvest reaped by those who carried these masses beyond the ocean has. thanks to their avarice and to the want of proper protection to these selfexpatriated people. often yielded a rich harvesttothe fell destroyer. death! True. inostof the crying evils to which the unhappy immigrant was once subjected have been greatly mitigated. if not altogether eradicated. But a great deal more. indeed. than I should wish in the interest of humanity to exist still requires the strong arm of the law to be remedied until the dangers. trials. and hardships of unaccustomed ocean voyages to those intending hereafter to become part of our people shill at least not be made still more unendurable and fall upon them with increased weight by the tortuous impositions and inhuman treatment of those whose wealth is taken from the pockets of their very victims. Shall I picture the miseries and perils which this mighty streaan of immigrants has endured ever since emigration to this New World began V To give only an inadequate idea of losses of human life on board of illprovided. illventilated vessels. it may be stated that out of 98.105 poor Irish emigrants shipped to Canada by their landlords after the great famine of 1846. 5.29:3 died at sea. 8.072 at Grosse Isle and Quebec in quarantine. and 7.000 in and about Montreal. making 20.365. besides those who afterwaxd perished whose numbers will never be ascertained. Thus the Lark. reported at Quebec in 1847 from Sligo. sailed with 440 passengers. of whom 108 died on the passage and 150 were sick. almost all of whom (lied a short time after landing. The Virginius sailed with 496 passengers. of whom 158 died on the passage. 186 were sick. and the remainder landed feeble and tottering wretches. Of the passengers of the ship Ceylon. which sailed from Liverpool in 1847. an eyewitness says the following: After having visited the quarantine establishment. as a member of the -New York Academy of Medicine. for the pmuvese of inquiring into the medical history of the typhus fever. then extensively prevailing and crowding that institution with patients. 1 visited the ship Ceylon. from Liverpool. which had come to anehr a few hours before. with a largo cargo of passengers. A considerable number had died upon the voyage. and one hundred and fifty wern then ill with the fever. and were preparing ior a removal to the hospital. Before any had yet loft the ship we passed through tb steerage. making a more or less minnte exansination of the placeandits occupants. but theindeseribable filth. the emaciated. halltnude fisres. many with the petechial eruption disfigiring their fces. crouching in the bunks. or strewed psr the dcks and cumbering the gangways. broken utensils and dbris of food spsead recklessly about. presented-.a picture of which neither pen nor pencil can convey a full idea. We spoke to some little boys and girls who. whoa asked where were their parents. pointed to the ocean with sobs and tears. nd ried. ")own there!" Some eere jest riding from their berths for the first time since leaving Liverpool. having been suffered to lie there during the whole voyage. wallowing in their own filth. Shocking as this case may seem. it has been frequently surpassed. at least so iar as the numbers of the sufferers were concerned. It is only twelve years ago that the illfated ship Leibnitz. of the notorious Sloman Line. arrived at New York. The boarding officer reports that ie found the ship and the passengers in a most filthy conditios. aud that wheai boarding the Leibnitz he hardly discovered a clean spot on the ladder or on the ropes where he could put his hands and feet. As to the interior of the vessel. lie states that it was not worse than the average of the steerages of other emigrant ships. but the lower steerage. the socalled orlop deck. was a perfect pesthole. calculated to kilT the healthiest man. In this hole it was impossible to see anything at a distance of two or three feet. and upon inquiring how it had been lighted during the voyage. we were told that sonme lanterns had been up there. but that on account of the foulness of the air they could scarcely burn. And in this place about one hundred and twenty passengers were crowded for seventy days. with short provisions and partly rotten. and for a greater part of the voyage in a tropical heat. suffering from the iniasma below. above. and beside them. If a monument could be erected upon the waters to the memory ot each wretched entigrant that suffered and died upon the ocean on account of illtreatnmnt. improper food. foul atmosphere. and all the other causes of the horrible cholera and the wasting shipfever. I assure you that the whole route of the emigrant ship front Europe to America would long since have assumed the appearance of a crowded cemetery. And to these are not even added the thousands who are condeotnsed to languish for months and years until death relieves them fron the stfferings of disease contracted upon the emigrant vessel. whe. instead. their health ought to have been strengthened by the fresh. pure air upon the sea. Happily. many efforts have been successfully made during the past years to lessen the evils so often complained of. and to offer comfort and convenience where heretofore misery awaited the voyager. Competition has wrought many important changes in this respect. and only wise legislation is needed to insure to the immigrant the greatest degree of protection attainable under what will always. at best. be surrounded with disadvantages and hardshipshis transplanting from his native country to the free. glorious soil of America. As such a measure of lrotection. this bill has received the sanction of those charged with the execution of the laws. and deserves the sanction of every humanitarian and wellwisher of our country. Its passage will honor our modern progress. and honor the legislative body that places it upon the statutebook of our country.