Show A A I 1 CAI t ah ifal I 1 r tab WAA oil A ghe government is doiny doina 17 1 much to help held alrose defame 7 at the ellis island station durmo mo conflict commis commissioner lioner howes hons efforts beacina fruit 1 4 ESTER Com cammish COMMIS mISH ll SS wa me when 1 you tink dr frederick C sowe A J coin missioner commissioner of immigration was greeted to la this iii mariner ariner at least a k dozen times while sti showing oving a visitor th through rough the detention ward nt at ellis island the commissioner listened patiently first to one and then another giving each a kindly answer says a writer in the new york herald among those who addressed 11 him were an elderly italian woman who talked with a gesture expressive of the hopelessness with which she regarded regarded regard Fd her case it a young french woman petite and earnest looking who when asked if she could cook answered tres blen NN and a young russian jew who d during a previous stay in this country served in sing sing and Is a member of the welfare league they all want to get away said mr air howe we are doing everything possible to make it more comfortable sn homelike around here we have re moved many restrictions i which heretofore existed 0 on the theory that the m more ore freedom they have the more orderly they tire are inclined to conduct themselves but with all this there Is bound to i be a feeling J among thoe who are detained for one reason or a another n 0 ther against their will that they are imprisoned ar in later years however some of them I 1 am sure whether they are admitted to the coun country or are sent back to their native land will look back on their stay pt at ellis island as an incident in their lives that was not altogether unpleasant most of the aliens now detained on the island have been there the since european war broke out in all there theme were some COO germans hungarians Hung arians poles russians and others being detained when doctor howe first took up his duties as commissioner of immigration the majority of whom had been ordered deported because of the violation of the immigration statutes they were men wo women and children pen peasants for the most part from small email towns and villages of europe before the order of deportation could be carried out the steamship companies which had brought most of these over were forced to 0 their vessels froan service on account of the wa war r and consequently those to whom admission to the country had been denied were forced to re thain maln on ellis island some of them have since been admitted n to the country either conditionally or unconditionally condition nily the problem of making life a little more pleasant for those who re remain main Js one which doctor howe has tried in a practical sol solve ve he has come to k know now most of th tho u unfortunate persons under ills his jurisdiction personally and when he visits tile the aeten tion ward which lie he frequently does there are always many guest questions lons to answer and heartaches to soothe late one afternoon last october doctor howe while going around the station on one of these tours of investigation noticed a middle aged woman of neat motherly appearance with two pretty little girls cuddling up to her sitting in the detention room As the hour was late and he thought they were visitors doctor howe inquired what they were waiting for and if lie he could do anything for them the woman explained that she was british aind with ith her children lidd had been ordered deported they had arrived from great britain about a month before hut but had no friends in this country and no money and therefore had not been allowed to enter the healthy appearance of the two children their pretty faces and their evident good breeding won avon over the commissioner on the spot and he Imi immediately nedi interested himself in their case the womans comans name was mrs idita horner ll orner und and her story was this when the war broke out she was waa living with her family which besides her husband consisted of 0 two sons and three daughters on a dairy farm some miles out of capetown south africa the country about them was rugged and wild anti and the girls despite their young years were forced to walk many alles mlles every day to attend school the sons who were older helped to work the farm th the husband and the two boys bos along with most of the able bodied men in that section enlisted in iii the british army soon after war was declare and were sent to the front they took part to in the fighting in belgium and northern france ap e son was killed kille dand and the fattier father seriously woun wounded dea all trace of the other ion eon had been lost sirs mrs horner was unable to work the farm by herself so s she he raised what money she could rind and went to england with her three daughters una fifteen years virl ten years old and rita nine years olti they had not been in england long when mrs horner decked to come to america cn hearing mrs Hor hornets horners ners story doctor rowe communicated with the authorities nt ht washington lie HP explained that these people were all strong and healthy that the th children were beautiful arid there was no danger of them becoming a public lic charge furthermore lie announced his willing w lulng nets nei to be responsible for them rind a few days after the machinery lind had been set in motion word crime back from washington that mrs horner and her children would be released in liis itis custody Menn meantime time the family had made friends with nearly everybody on the island the watchman end and guards petted the children and kave gave them many little presents the attendants did all they could to make them comfortable despite these attentions the children sometimes would net act as tf if lonesome noticing this doctor howe one day asked the reason we tire are not lonely Jor tor people but lonely tor for animals they answered in south africa one of their principal pastimes had been to trek through the woods with their dogs the homers remained at ellis eills island for several weeks after they had been admitted to the country then doctor howe took them up to a summer home he has in the woods in westchester county there they have lived nil winter NN Inter enjoying life in the open country especially when snow was on ta the ground and the deer tracks could be followed through the woods the two younger girls possess a knowledge of woodcraft which doctor howe inowe says Is really amazing and they have bave no fear of getting lost in the woods they walk valk for miles in whichever direction their fancy lakes takes them always find and ing their way back home by trie same sort of instinct as that by which an indian Is guided the ile interest shown hy by doctor howe in this particular casenas case was in keep keeping trig with his general policy of so administering the affairs of eills island that those thoe alio come to this country from other lands with the Intention of making a new home for themselves selves swill will be treated ath as much kindness and consideration as the enforcement t of the exclusion laws permits the enforcement of hese laws Is bound to cause many hardships and ills disappointments appoIntments but ellis ellia island Is no longer a place to lie he dr dreaded ended it Is cl clean pan wholesome and comfortable the walls of the re itry room where flie he incoming aliens receive recelle their first impressions of america are no longer bare and forbidding they have ben been draped with Amerl american amerlean can flags and hung with p portraits of the presidents and pictures of important events gnawer in amer laty history palms and other growing plants lieve ija been placed around the lie room photographs illustrative of the natural beauties and resources or of america Amerl ca pro procured curea from the various government departments part ments at washington have been placed in the detention room arid around the corridors every sunday afternoon a concert Is given in thi the registry room the music being behig furnished by souie home one of the tha organizations of foreign born persons in and about yew new york city which have volunteered to furnish such entertainment A moving picture outfit lin also been provided hy by another group of interested persons person s and receptions are given overy thursday night these entertainments have duno done much to brighten the lives of those wh who have been detained on the inland for months last summer to relieve the situation playgrounds were vere opened on the island and mothers mothie und and cl children were permitted to play on the lawns 1 tile I I 1 lie first llast day all they v were released from the station they thy rolled upon the llie earth tind wept with joy from rom contact with the green anden gruss grass during the winter handball rind other indoor gumes games have been provided chesses is sea in gymnastics have been organized for the roen men the women have been given instruction tn in sewing tind and provided with material to make clothes for themselves selves sand and children A school has been temporarily opened to leach the children and the new york city public library authorities have donated a number of books printed in german and other foreign languages for the use of those who have a desire to read the men and women are permitted to mingle more freely in the various detention wards und as a result of these innovations the feeling which prevails among those who have been long detained at the station Is more che cheerful eFful than it was during the first few months of the war attempts to escape which were frequent at one time have come coma to an end kills bills island Is the greatest portal in the world said doctor howe there never has been any portal like it for human beings in normal times nearly a million persons enter the country through it each year they come largely from countries where the government means only militarism and taxes they come to escape the feudal land landlord lord from industrial and social conditions which have become intolerable they come with hopes of a fresh life of a fresh chance of opportunities for themselves and their children they carry with them the visions of america which have been indelibly printed upon their minds from the letters which have gone back to europe from froh frienda and relatives already in this country 1 and the immigration laws of america have in effect it if not in so many words said that america welcomed those who did not fall within the excluded e d classes those afflicted by disease or who are likely 1 to become a charge upon the comman community ity it held out an invitation to the strong and able bodied to come and share in the making of a new nation free from froin abuses and oppressions oppress ions of the old world and of those who come over 98 per cent are admitted the rest are rejected because they fall within the inhibited classes and it seemed to rue me when I 1 became commissioner of immigration that the first contact of the alien with america should be one that would impress upon his mind the thing for which america stands that the treatment they should receive the experiences they should pass through and the contact they had with offic officials lAIS wearing the uniform of the united states should be those of kindness assistance and courtesy they come for the most part with fear in their hi hearts arts they fear government rather than love it and aad their instinct inston 1 ct Is to expect something very like what they received at home first impressions are lasting and it has been our effort at ellis island to make these impressions as democratic ns as possible find to aid in as many ways ns as we could in protect protecting irig the immigrant and assisting him to his final destination for trie immigrant Is imposed lm pose 3 he Is exploited to prevent this as much as possible offices have been opened in new york city one at the barge office at south ferry and the other tit at east seventy ninth street to which the immigrant can go and procure aid assistance istance rind and advice about matters that concern him through these offices he Is directed to schools and to the naturalization of offices flees the etli ces co onerato with the police department and with nil all the many agencies in new york which have been created to nid the immigrant at these chese offices there are employment agencies which find work for men and women und and which alm aim to distribute them to forming farming postil positions ons to relieve the congestion in the cities Sl nillar protection has been accorded the allen in transit to the west in securing the best transportation por tation facilities and otherwise relieving the immigrant from the dangers which beset him while ren reaching ching lits his ultimate destination war conditions brought probably men women and children to eills bills island ho for some reason arother or other had to go buck back to their native they were not admissible to the country ench each of these cases has haa been investigated personally their friends and relatives have been looked up und and tn in the groat great majority of cases they hove have been admitted on bond to some person Vill willing ling to be re for thern them positions have been found for hundreds from whom periodic reports tire lire required as 89 to how they are getting niong along only in very rare mra cases have they failed to make good in duany instances they have risen rapidly and are now earn Ing very substantial salaries similar efforts tire being made to promote edu cat catlon lonal ul advantages for the adult immigrant to i encourage night schools for the last year the names of nil ill children of school have bem been copied end sent to tho the superintendents of aduca allover all nil over the country in order that they might im place children in school upon ulion their ar hilvid destination by these means the government ernin entropies in immediate contact with the see sec ina of immigrants and begins its us as 4 ill us as soon fig as alicy rench ihla country vOlI |