Crossing the Sea part 2

Calling at Queenstown (Cobh)

Next morning at four o'clock we called at Queenstown, where we took aboard the mails and some seventy more steerage passengers. The newcomers were principally fresh-looking Irish girls, who, in spite of the early hour, began to dance reels and to sing to the accompaniment of an accordion. This waked up the other musicians aboard, and before long we had a flute, a tin whistle, and the accordion in full swing. Each instrument had a separate audience, who jigged, sang, or listened, according to the will of the performer. All Sunday we were in smooth water, running under the lee of the Irish coast. The day being fine and warm, the steerage swarmed on deck in full force. Men, women, and children all crowded about the after hatch, some playing cards, some dancing, and some already making love; but for the most part they lay about the deck, sleeping and basking in the sun. About nine in the evening, having passed Fast-net, we encountered the Atlantic swell and its consequences. For the next two days the weather smacked of the stormy Isles of Britain. A keen northwester and a gray, lumpish sea, which broke continually over the starboard rail, drove us shivering to leeward, where the few of us who were blessed with good sea legs and stomachs passed the time spinning yarns and burning unlimited tobacco. Although the weather could not in any sense be called rough, yet at the first pitch the bulk of the steerage went under, and there remained.

The Meals in Steerage

At eight o'clock each morning we were served with oatmeal, coffee, soft bread, and

 butter. Every other morning Irish stew was added. For dinner we received excellent

 soup, one kind of meat or fish, with potatoes and bread. Twice we had steamed

pudding. For supper we contented ourselves with bread and butter and tea. I must say

that the tea was remind-ful of chopped corn-brooms, and that the coffee was an

 unadulterated abomination; but the remainder of the food was plain, wholesome

fare, clean  and of good quality. The great drawback was the way in which, to quote

one of my friends, it was  slung at you.The best of soup loses something of its flavour

 when ladled out of something that looks alarmingly like a slop-bucket, and no meat is

improved by being cut into junks and piled in a kid.» But then, what would you?

What kind of transportation, withboard and lodging thrown in, can one expect for-less

 than one cent per mile? At nine each evening the night-watchman made his rounds,

 and sent all the females below. Poor man! I did not envy him his occupation. No sooner

did he appear on one side of the deck than his charges would scurry round to the other

 side; and if by stratagem he cornered them, they would break and fly in all directions,

 taunting him the while. Itinvariably took him an hour to accomplish his task, and

sometimes longer.

Getting Vaccinated

On Tuesday, our fourth day out, came the much-dreaded vaccination muster. Many and

 loud were the objections raised to the enactment of this law, and when No. 1 steerage

lined up with bared arms for the doctor's inspection, a more sullen lot of men I never saw

. Those who had no marks, or whose marks were not sufficiently distinct, were

 vaccinated again. One man, an Irishman, made a stir by refusing to be operated upon,

and insisting that the scar of a knife stab was a vaccination mark. When told that he

 could not enter America as he was, he submitted to the process.

No sooner has the seasickness left them than they growl and snarl over their food like

dogs, scrambling for the choicepieces, and running off to their bunks with them; they

 grow quarrelsome; their talk is lewd and insulting; brute strength is in the ascendant;

and, without shame, both sexes show the animal side of their natures. But most

apparent and obnoxious are the filthy habits into which many of them fall.The sea seems

 utterly to demoralize them. Some of them will remain for days in their berths, where,

 without changing their clothes, they eat, sleep, and are sick with the utmost

impartiality, and without the blessing of soap and water. Hence the steerage as a whole,

 the married quarters » (where there were children) in particular, was ill-smelling and

 otherwise objectionable.

One evening several members of steerage No. 1 and I were grouped about the foremast

, talking upon the all absorbing subject, America. The conversation drifted into an

 argument on the equality of man, and this, in turn, led to a discussion as o the rights of

 the saloon passengers. If we ain't got no right to go into their quarters,» said one of the

 men, « wot right 'ave they to come into ours? It 'u'd be all right if they be'aved

theirselves; but they don't, blast 'em! Anybody 'd think as 'ow we was a lot of bloomin'

 lepers, to see the way they carries on— a-'oldin"and kerchiefs to their noses, an'

a-droring their silk petticoats close to 'em,an' tiptoein' an' titterin'. ( Ho, George,) says

 the big woman with diamonds in 'er ears, as come down yesterday;

 ( the pore, bloomin' creechahs; but wot makes 'em smell so? ) Just as loud as that,

mind you. S"elp me, I could 'a' tore 'er to pieces!»As I happened to witness the incident

so graphically described by the cockney, I could not help feeling that his anger was righteous.

Registry Department, Ellis Island This is where immigrants passed through on their way to

gaining  entrance to the United States. The inspections took place in the Registry Room

 (or Great Hall), where doctors would briefly scan every immigrant for obvious physical

deformities or diseases.

Closing in on Land - The New World

Early Thursday morning, a buzz of excitement ran round the decks when it was known that the long narrow cloud that lay close upon the northern horizon was the smoke of a rival steamship. The prospects of the race made food for talk during the day. Would she get in first, or had we time to pass her? The matter was not settled until the following morning at six o'clock, when our competitor was abeam. Then we slowly passed her. At eight she was on the quarter, and two hours later she was lost in the fog-bank astern. But now all thoughts are shoreward bent. The sailors say we shall reach New York in the evening, and the burning question of the steerage is, « Shall we get ashore to-night ?»Trunks are already being packed, friendships broken off, and much-creased clothing being put on. By two o'clock a nervous excitability holds us all ; for the smell of the land is in our nostrils, the water has taken a greenish cast, and Sandy Hook is in sight.From this on, an eager crowd hangs over the bulwarks, gazing with curious eyes at the beginnings of the new country.

Disembarking from the Steamer

An hour after sundown our steamer was made fast alongside her pier in the North River. The saloon and secondcabin passengers proceeded to stream down the gangway at once; but we, being immigrants, were roped well back, and carefully guarded. For the steamship company is responsible to the government for every immigrant it brings. If any escape before being turned over to the proper authorities at Ellis Island, the company is liable to a heavy fine. Not being well up in the immigration laws, however, the whole four hundred of us crowded to the dock side of the vessel, and waited impatiently to be loosed. After an hour or so it was announced that none but those who could show

citizen's papers would be allowed to land.

At this a howl of disappointment went up from the land-hungry crowd. Threats, oaths, and wailings were heard on every side. It was an outrage, some said, to be brought alongside the wharf, and then imprisoned like thieves. If the cabin folks got ashore, why could not we? There were two niggers in the second cabin, and they got ashore. Were niggers better than white people?

Taking the Barge to Ellis Island for Processing

We put in one more hot, uncomfortable night aboard, praying for morning; but when it came, a steamer leaving port blocked the way, and we could not leave the vessel until eleven o'clock. For two hours after this we were baked on the pier while our baggage was being overhauled by the custom-house officers. Then, each in his group, we were packed aboard a barge, and towed down to Ellis Island. In the steerage of any vessel one can get only a partial knowledge of the class which immigrates to this country. At Ellis Island, however, one can see it all. The same Saturday that we landed there, I was told that more than two thousand had passed through, eight hundred of them Italians. At Ellis Island, after being reinspected by the doctor, required to show what money we possessed, and being closely questioned in regard to our past, present, and future

lives, we were finally discharged, and landed at the Battery about five o'clock. It will thus be seen that the Immigrant of to-day undergoes three examinations: first, at his home when he applies for passage; second, on board the vessel before departure; and third, upon his arrival in the country. The last is of necessity the strictest. Any immigrant found to be insane,a pauper, entering contrary to the alien contract labour

laws, or for any cause incapable of earning a livelihood, is debarred, and returned to the country from which he came, at the expense of the steamship line that brought him. When I entered upon my role as emigrant, I provided myself with a well-worn suit of clothes, an old hat, and a flannel shirt. I allowed my beard to grow, eschewed collars and cuffs, and made myself up for the part. At first, with a self-consciousness born of such ventures, I feared that my disguise would be seen through; but, alas for my pride! I found in the steerage a valley of humiliation. The ship's company shoved me along the decks and swore at me without prejudice; the saloon and second-cabin passengers who occasionally stepped gingerly and curiously into our quarters looked me squarely in the eyes without a sign of recognition; and the steerage simply opened its dirty arms and took me in without a question. In 1910 another report about the conditions of Steerage Passengers A report on steerage conditions, based on information obtained by special agents of the Immigration Commission travelling as steerage passengers on different transatlantic steamers, was made public today through presentation to the Senate with recommendations for legislation to better conditions. Conditions found on many of these vessels are described as appalling. The general report of the commission contains the reports of Individual agents giving their experiences on board steamships where they posed as steerage passengers. Summing up one such trip, a woman agent of the Immigration Commission, who was herself miserably insulted, said:

" During these twelve days In the steerage I lived In a disorder and in surroundings that offended every sense. Only the fresh breeze from the sea overcame the sickening odours. The vile language of the men, the screams of the women defending themselves, the crying of children, wretched because of their surroundings, and practically every sound that reached the ears Irritated beyond endurance. There was no night before which the eye did not prefer to close. "Everything was dirty, sticky, and disagreeable to the touch. Every impression was offensive. Worse than this was the

general air of immorality. For fifteen hours each day 1 witnessed all around me this Improper, indecent, and forced mingling of men and women who were total strangers, and often did not understand one word of the same language. People cannot live with such surroundings and not be influenced."

The women agents of the commission say that the women's compartments in which they were quartered had but one entrance and exit, so that there could be no good excuse for the constant appearance of the men. It la stated that during the hour preceding the breakfast bell, while the women are rising and dressing. several men usually passed through and returned for no ostensible reason. "If a woman were dressing," says one woman agent, " they always stopped to watch her, and frequently hit and handled her. "One night, when I had retired very early with a severe cold, the chief steerage steward entered our compartment, not noticing me, approached a Polish girl who was apparently the only occupant. She spoke In Polish, saying: ' MY head aches; please go on and let me alone. The girl, weakened by seasickness, defended, herself as best she could, but soon was struggling to get out of the man's arms. Just .then another passenger entered, and he released' her; 'Such was the man who was our highest protector and court of appeal." Describing further how women steerage passengers were compelled to submit to insults the report says of the passage just referred to that not one young woman In the steerage escaped such experiences." No woman with the smallest degree of modesty, and with no other conveniences than a wash-room, used jointly with men, and faucet of cold salt water, can keep clean amid such surroundings for a period of twelve days and more. It was forbidden to bring water for washing purposes into the sleeping compartments nor was there anything in which to bring it. On different occasions some of the women rose early, brought drinking water in their soup palls for washing, but were driven out when detected by a steward. No soap and no towels were supplied." Abuse among immigrant passengers who come to this country through the ports of New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore, have recently been the subject of a "silent" inspection by immigrant officers connected with the department of commerce and labour.: Immigrant Commissioner Daniel J. Keefe, in his next annual report to congress, will have a number of interesting things to say, urging reforms in the service. A few years ago the immigration commission appointed by congress to thoroughly investigate conditions among the immigrants, especially with regard to steerage passengers, disclosed a number of alleged abuses. Women agents were employed, as well as men inspectors, who made trips from Europe in the steerage for the purpose of studying conditions at close range. In part, June report, which is regarded as confidential, will contain convincing proof that the conditions of the steerage quarters of the great trans-Atlantic vessels is as severe an arraignment of conditions as was the first chapter in the history of immigration, affecting the "white slave" traffic. Attempted attacks on immigrant women and girls have not been remedied; unclean and unsanitary conditions in the steerage are as prevalent today as formerly; scant and unpalatable foods are still served, and wanton and repeated insults, mentioned in former inspections by women agents of the immigration commission, continue without abatement.These few evils mentioned in the report of the commission have in no measure been remedied, seemingly in view of the fact that there is at present no law, actively enforced, which makes the steamship companies responsible for the conditions.