Friedrich Kapp

“ One of the greatest sources of the nation's income in wealth and population has been the vast emigration from Europe, and it should therefore be protected by appropriate national legislation. Every principle of public policy, looking to the welfare of the country, as well as every sentiment of humanity, demands this at the hands of Congress.
Under the present system, the emigrants are treated more like beasts of burden than like human beings, starved and crowded together in ill-ventilated, ill-fitted, ill-supplied, and ill-manned vessels. ”

“ French rule, which, with its great captains, brave warriors, and indefatigable priests, tried to seize upon and fetter a continent, is a memory of the past; but New England, the growth of which—to use the eloquent language of Francis Parkman—was the result of the aggregate efforts of a busy multitude, each in his narrow circle toiling for himself, to gather competence and wealth—New England influences the destinies of a whole continent, and is one of the civilizing factors of the world. ”

“ There being, at first, no organization, no staff, no available resources, it may be imagined why the mortality rose to a prodigious rate, and how at one time as many as 150 bodies, most of them in a half-naked state, would be piled up in the dead-house, awaiting such sepulture as a huge pit could afford. Poor creatures would crawl out of the sheds, and, being too exhausted to return, would be found lying in the open air, not a few of them rigid in death. ”

“ Whatever we may do, we cannot absolutely protect the immigrant against the practices of sharpers as long as we cannot obstruct the sources from which credulity and ignorance flow. We can take some precautionary measures, we can point out the right way, but it is just as impossible entirely to cure the evil as it is to put an end to human depravity in general. The Commissioners cannot be expected to accomplish an impossibility. In New York, a special detective would have to be assigned to each immigrant, in order to render him absolutely secure against all attempts to swindle him. ”

“ The transfer to the National Government of the control of the immigrant would lead to quarrels, heart-burnings, and jealousies among the States, as the controlling officers would certainly be required to use their power to influence the current of immigration. The effect would undoubtedly be to so increase the cost of supporting the immigrant, as either to quadruple the present tax, and then make it virtually a prohibitory one, or to impose the burden on the national treasury, and thus make the immigrant the nation's pauper. ”

“ Some, from adventitious circumstances, will fall below the cost of production; some will rise above it. Many fine horses, which cost no more to raise than poor ones, are worth far more to the country, because the demand for them is greater, while many poor ones sink below their cost, because the demand is unreasonably small. So with human beings, if we look at them purely as instruments of production. An idiot costs as much, perhaps more, to raise as a lad of ordinary intelligence; but he is of no capital value. ”

“ A glance even at a single quarantine—that of Grosse Isle, in the St. Lawrence, about thirty miles below Quebec—while affording a faint idea of the horrors crowded into a few months, may enable the reader to understand with what alarm the advent of the Irish was regarded by the well-to-do colonists of British America; and how the natural terror they inspired, through the terrible disease brought with them across the ocean, deepened the prejudice against them, notwithstanding that their sufferings and misery appealed to the best sympathies of the human heart. ”

“ In our opinion, it is of great importance for the interest of humanity, in which both Europe and this country are concerned, and as a matter of political economy, that the transportation of emigrants across the Atlantic to this port should be confined to steam-vessels, as they not only convey the passengers more comfortably and land them in better health, but, in consequence of the regularity and rapidity of the passage, save an immense amount of labor for their own benefit and that of this country. ”

“ Again, it was from no whim of the immigrant that he avoided Slavery a bar to immigrationthe Southern States while they were cursed with slavery; for a land can have no civil liberty in which freedom of labor and the dignity wherewith respectable employment is invested do not exist. In natural advantages the North-west is much inferior to the northern States of the South. ”

“ The Constitution does not distinguish between different grades of aliens. We cannot enquire whether their persons were paupers or not. The Act of Congress of 1819 keeps carefully within Federal jurisdiction. It says nothing about the landing of passengers, nor about their health or condition, which it would have done had it meant to vindicate a right to landing anybody. This act of Massachusetts only exacts security against pauperism. We cannot admit emancipated slaves. This act of New York is a quarantine law, and no more. The provisions for making it self-supporting are legitimate incidents. ”

“ The care of the immigrant, after he lands, is purely a police regulation, in which the people of the State where he lands are so exclusively interested as to have, beyond a doubt, the best right to provide for him. The harbor of the city of New York, while of national importance, is still of State concern, and so it is with foreign immigration. ”

“ The Federal Government has no power to maintain paupers, foreign or domestic, or to levy taxes for that purpose.
A law of Congress, regulating commerce, is paramount to any State law purporting or pretending to do the same.
A State law pretending to subserve a legitimate object of State legislation, but in fact aiming at and effecting a disturbance of commercial regulations made by Congress, is unconstitutional and void.
A State cannot impose a tax on passengers coming into its ports from the ports of other States. ”

“ Foreign immigration, which, before the late war, almost exclusively settled in the free North, will henceforth pour into the South as well. The United States, by the successful termination of the war against rebellion, have indeed increased the attraction of this country for the immigrant, and there is not the least reason to doubt that the great Republic will in the future become more than ever the favorite land of the immigrant. ”

“ Under the most favorable circumstances it is impossible to maintain perfect purity of atmosphere between decks, even when ports are open, and every device is adopted to secure the greatest amount of ventilation. But a crowded emigrant sailing-ship of twenty years since, with fever on board!—the crew sullen or brutal from very desperation, or paralyzed with terror of the plague—the miserable passengers unable to help themselves, or afford the least relief to each other; one-fourth, or one-third, or one-half of the entire number in different stages of the disease; many dying, some dead ”

“ When a young man or a girl had an opportunity to get married, they had to pay their master five or six pounds for each year they had still to serve. Yet a steerage passage never cost more than ten pounds. Run-away servants had to serve one week for each day, one month for each week, and six months for each month of absence. If the master did not want to keep his servant, he could sell him for the unexpired time of his term of servitude. It was a daily occurrence that whole families were separated for ever. In short, the whole system was utterly vicious and little better than slavery. ”

“ To replace such a system by the clumsy machinery of a central board, or by a single Commissioner, stationed at an inland city, remote from the chief objective points of foreign immigration, with an unwieldy multitude of subordinates scattered over the land, whose irresponsibility would inevitably increase in the direct ratio of their distance from the seat of authority, would be worse than unreasonable. ”

“ No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection laws; and the net produce of all duties and imposts laid by any State on imports or exports shall be for the use of the treasury of the United States. No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of tonnage. ”

“ The power to levy taxes, duties, imposts, and excises is not general, but is restricted to such as are laid for the payment of the debts or common defence or general welfare of the United States.
The general welfare of the United States does not include the protection of the tax-payers of New York from exorbitant poor taxes. See 9 Wheaton, 199, 206, cited by Woodbury, J., in Smith vs. Turner, 7 Howard, 550. Now, if Congress is without power to effect an end necessary for the public safety and comfort, it cannot be pretended that that power is taken from the States. ”

“ The poor peasant of the inland village who seeks to be an independent land-owner across the ocean, and the noble patriot who valiantly but unsuccessfully fought for human rights; the mechanic and the scholar; the rich and the destitute; the reckless swindler and the honest man—all represent but so many figures. ”

“ As to the two latter provisions, we would state that the efforts which have been made by legislation at Washington and at Albany to protect the lives and health of emigrant passengers from the rapacity of ship-owners have been attended with but a very limited share of success. The regulation to which the owners of ships are required to conform are, with some exceptions, precisely those called for by the exigency of the case, as is best proved by the fact that the accidents and disasters which continue to happen are almost always trace able to the disregard of some of these provisions ”

“ Causes of Emigration FROM the remotest ages down to the present day, from the first Phoenician and Greek colonies down to the settlement of the North Pacific coast, two principal causes have always induced emigration and led to the establishment of new states and empires, viz., political or religious oppression and persecution, and social evils, such as want of prosperity or insecurity, lack of employment, famine, and high prices of living in general. In modern times, either of these causes has proved powerful enough to produce emigration on a large scale from certain countries. ”

“ New York being the great commercial emporium of the Union, passengers from every country in Europe have been induced to regard it as the point to which they should direct their courses. Hence the huge structures furnished by the enterprise of that great metropolis for the transportation of passengers have been crowded to excess, and, as a necessary consequence, the causes of disease have existed on board of those vessels to a greater extent than on any other. ”

“ Reasons: high wages, cheap land, social and political freedomHowever equal such inducements to emigrants as fertility of soil, salubrity of climate, security of property, and facility of communication may be in different countries, the emigrant prefers the country where labor is best remunerated, where land is cheap, where government does not interfere with him, where no class privileges exist, and where, from the day of his landing, he stands on a footing of absolute equality with the natives. ”

“ Thus, the cost of the bringing up and education of a man constitutes a specific value, which benefits that country which the adult individual makes the field of his physical and intellectual exertions. This value is represented by the outlay which is necessary to produce an ordinary laborer. An immigrant, therefore, is worth just as much to this country as it costs to produce a native-born laborer of the same average ability. ”

“ It seems to me that those who wish to put an end to this beneficent work estimate the value of the immigrant by dollars and cents instead of by his productive power, and forget entirely that what the West wants is healthy men, capable of assisting actively in the development of her resources. ”

“ Aware that their reception and continuance in the Almshouse depends on suppressing the fact of being chargeable to any particular passenger broker, they manufacture facts to secure better fare and treatment. Indeed, it is not improbable, though no direct evidence exists before the Committee, that they have co-operated with the pauper in the practice of these frauds. It is unquestionably true that thousands are annually relieved from the city treasury, which are properly chargeable to the bondsmen. ”

“ For these reasons, a law should be passed, authorizing the Mayor or Recorder to require the payment of a commutation fee of one dollar for each passenger, or bonds at his election. The law might be rendered still more advantageous by requiring that each surety to any bond taken under the act duly make oath at the time of becoming surety that he is a householder, resident in the city of New York, intending to reside there permanently, and worth the sum or sums in which he is bound, over and above all his debts, and over and above all liabilities, whether by bond or suretyship, or otherwise. ”

“ The first fraud practised upon the emigrant is this: the moment a vessel arrives it is boarded by runners, whose first object appears to be to get emigrants to their respective public-houses. Once there, they are considered sure prey. These runners represent the interests of all the various taverns and forwarding lines. Each party bringing with them their bullies to fight off their opponents, the emigrants become bewildered. As there is frequent bloodshed upon such occasions, the strongest party carry off the emigrants. ”

“ Employers must provide for and take care of the transportation for their employees to the respective places of destination. If means sufficient to cover travelling expenses are remitted to this office, with the request to send hired help to the applicant, we shall see to it that the employee is properly started on his voyage. The expenses and risk of transportation to distant places will be greatly reduced, if employers residing in the country, and desiring emigrant help, would club together, and appoint one of their number employing and forwarding agent for all the members of the club. ”

“ The clamorers finding themselves unable to prove the Emigrant Landing Depot at Castle Garden a nuisance, endangering the health and prosperity of the city, and equally unable to make their usual iniquitous profits out of the emigrants protected by its walls, have resorted to a means which threatens in a measure to paralyze the beneficial action of this institution, by circumventing its protective operation. ”

“ An emigrant population contains a very small percentage of helpless and incapable individuals. Apart from the law which prohibits the landing of cripples, blind, deaf, and aged persons, it is self-evident that only the strong, the most courageous and enterprising natives of a country emigrate to a foreign land. The unequal representation of the several ages and sexes among emigrants is due to this fact. Out of the whole immigration to the United States from 1819 to 1860, more than 22 per cent. ”

“ A farmer s boy, whose brain has worked intensely as he broke the sod, though costing no more in education than a dull clodhopper in the next house, finds himself at fifteen worth double the other in his market value, solely because the demand for his labor is greater. The wages or salary of men in the professions is not measured solely by the cost of their education, but by the price which their services will bring in the market ”

“ The same trifling sum which the immigrant pays to secure himself against the danger of possible sickness or destitution for five years after his arrival, and which is, as it were, the insignificant premium on a policy of health insurance for that time, supports the establishment which takes care of him without burden to the people of the State. ”

“ Ever since immigration has attained greater proportions, legal questions have grown out of the financial interests connected with it, which have turned on the point whether a single State has or has not the right to tax the immigrant on his arrival for sanitary purposes and for his protection. ”

“ During the whole of the last century, the immigration of from eighty to one hundred families, in a body, was an event of great and general interest. The ships, which arrived at intervals, seldom had more than a hundred or one hundred and fifty passengers on board. New York had only a secondary importance, and attracted fewer immigrants than Pennsylvania, because they were better treated in the Quaker State. For this reason, Philadelphia had regular communications with Holland and England, and, as an immigrant port, ranked far above New York. ”

“ The English Colonial Government did little or nothing for the encouragement of European immigration to New York. The first and only attempt it ever made at settling emigrants was carried out in 1709 and 1710, when, out of about 15,000 Protestant Swabians and Palatines, it sent at its own expense about 3,000 to New York. These poor people, as stated above, were driven from their homes by war, famine, and religious persecution, and now threw themselves in endless numbers upon the sympathies of England. ”