Mr. Chairman. I did not intend to speak. but I believe that nothing better can be done than to take care of and prepare proper facilities for the immigrants coming to our shores. If it will prove of benefit and convenient to exchange this piece of property or sell it and get a better location for the accommodation in Baltimore for those who come to our country making a home here. we should authorize it. Therefore I shall favor this measure. I have been listening here this afternoon to the discussion about immigration. I may not know as much about immigration as some of my friends. Members of Congress on this floor. but I have seen the time when I was a boy in Chicago. when improper care was given to the immigrants who came there. There was not the attention given to their comfort. nor were they given the necessary consideration. They had to care for themselves as best they could in the old Illinois & Michigan Central Station at the foot of Lake Street. As a boy I became interested and often went to assist the immigrants and act as interpreter for them. I knew something of the Scandinavian and German languages. and my efforts were amply rewarded by the deep gratitude of these people who did not understand our language and did not know which way to turn in this world so new to them. My people were seven weeks coming across the water in an old sailing vessel. that was in 1849.
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immigrants immigration