The Gateway to America: Immigration at Ellis Island in 1906
📌 Explore the processes, challenges, and accommodations involved in the U.S. immigration system at Ellis Island in 1906. Learn about the medical inspections, logistical hurdles, and the role of Ellis Island in handling over a million immigrants per year.
The Gateway to America for European Immigrants – 1906
Overview and Relevance to Immigration Studies 🌎📚
The Gateway to America for European Immigrants (1906) offers a detailed look at the process and challenges of handling the massive influx of immigrants arriving at Ellis Island, New York, in the early 20th century. The article explores the immigration system, the physical and health inspections immigrants underwent, and the logistical challenges of processing millions of immigrants annually.
This account is especially relevant for teachers, students, genealogists, historians, and anyone studying the history of immigration to the U.S., as it highlights the humanitarian and organizational aspects of the immigration process that shaped American society.
Ellis Island Immigrant Station -- One of the Small Barges in the Foreground. Commercial America, July 1906. GGA Image ID # 14f3d6a3a6
Working of a Receiving Station in which Five Thousand Immigrants may be Examined In a Single Day
By P. T. Cherington
One of the most noteworthy features of the industrial system in the United States is the question of labor supply. The efficiency of American labor has been the subject of endless discussion among industrial affairs students.
A good deal has been said about national characteristics, and an attempt has been made to discover what might be called "an American type of workingman," but the American workingman has no well-defined national characteristics as yet.
In a country so young as this, where a relatively small percentage of the population can return for more than two generations without encountering alien ancestors, it is early to begin talking of a national type, either among working men or other classes.
The fact remains that the entire labor question in this country is still very intimately connected with immigration. It is the importance of this question and its close relation to American industrial life that gives such interest to the work of the Bureau of Immigration of the Department of Commerce and Labor and to the methods that that Bureau uses in attempting to exercise a reasonable amount of control over the stream of population that is constantly pouring into this country from abroad.
During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1905, the total number of immigrants admitted into the United States was 1,059,755. Of these, 33,256 were aliens in transit, and the remaining 1,026,499 were permanent additions to the country's population.
Of course, most of these came from Europe, and the total from European countries during the year was 974,273. Of the European countries, Austria-Hungary sent 275,693; Italy, including Sicily and Sardinia, 221,479; Russia, 184,897; and the United Kingdom 134,631.
Of those coming from non-European countries, 23,925 came from Asia (nearly half from Japan), 16,641 from the West Indies, and the remainder, in smaller numbers, from other parts of the world.
About four-fifths of the total number of immigrants received in the United States every year enter through the port of New York, which gives the Immigrant Receiving Station at Ellis Island unusual importance in the country's immigration system.
During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1905, 821,169 aliens entered the country through the port of New York, and during the fiscal year just ended, approximately 880,000. Of the number entering in 1905, 98,000 were examined on shipboard, being first cabin passengers.
This left approximately 722,000, or, to be accurate, 722,741 aliens who passed through the receiving station at Ellis Island. Of this number, 715,663 were admitted, and 7,078 were deported.
These, together with 102 deported cabin passengers, made the total number of deportations 7,180. Aside from these aliens who were handled at Ellis Island, they were also examined by the receiving station 126,296 steamship passengers who presented unquestionable proof of citizenship.
In addition to the simple process of examining this large number of aliens to eliminate those who would make undesirable citizens, there is an enormous amount of miscellaneous work to be done at the New York station.
For various reasons, large numbers of each day's arrivals are detained at Ellis Island for longer or shorter periods. All who are deported must be detained for one to two weeks pending the sailing of the next vessel of the line that brought them over.
Other immigrants must be provided for until relatives or friends can be communicated with, and others must be taken care of until arrangements can be made for sending them to their destination.
All these demands require decent and comfortable accommodations for a large and variable collection of people. When they are kept at the station, these people must be fed, sheltered, and furnished with beds, baths, etc., and their friends must be communicated with.
During the last fiscal year, the station sent out some 30,000 telegrams, of which as many were received in reply, and 10,000 or more letters were received and delivered.
Immigrants Walking from the Barge Landing to the Main Building at the Ellis Island Immigrant Station. Commercial America, July 1906. GGA Image ID # 14f42a4a6e
Moreover, some oversight must be exercised to prevent the money of ignorant aliens from falling into the hands of dishonest persons, and this has necessitated the building up of what practically amounts to a banking system.
During the past year, no less than 16,555 remittances aggregating $260,891.85 were received for detained aliens or persons expected to arrive. They were carefully kept until they were delivered to the proper person.
The main building of the present receiving station at Ellis Island is a relatively new structure that was put up some three or four years ago to replace the previous building, which had been destroyed by fire.
The new station is a very handsome affair of brick with stone trimmings. While it was built to meet the station's requirements for many years to come, it has already been necessary to plan for large extensions, which, it is hoped, will be added in the next two or three years.
The main feature of the building is a large central receiving hall. This room extends through two floors. On the lower floor, the room is divided up utilizing railings and gratings into compartments or alleyways, each with rows of benches.
The room's second floor consists of a wide gallery from which large sleeping rooms open for the immigrants' use. These sleeping rooms are provided with berths consisting of woven wire mattresses suspended in iron frameworks in tiers of two or three.
The sleeping rooms are built and equipped for easy cleansing and convenience in ventilation and sanitation. The floors are cement and can be readily flooded or thoroughly cleaned without injury.
At one end of the large receiving hall is a room for immigrants who are detained for detailed physical examination and a suite of rooms for the Board of Special Inquiry.
At the other end of the receiving hall is a corresponding wing, which is divided into rooms for handling immigrants who have passed the examination and are either temporarily detained or ready to be sent to different parts of the country.
The main feature of this wing of the building is its large waiting rooms, which look very much like those of railway stations.
There are also smaller waiting rooms where passengers who are about to depart for their destinations are grouped and kept ready, and there are a number of smaller rooms for banking purposes, railway ticket supply, and paying remittances to the immigrants who have been received for them.
A separate wing serves as the executive center of the institution, with offices for the principal officials. Adjoining the main waiting room is a long, low shed that is used as an eating hall for immigrants.
When a Teasel carrying immigrants reaches New York harbor and has passed the preliminary inspection and the inspection of the quarantine officials, the immigrants are taken off on barges belonging to the Immigration Service. These barges are brought to Ellis Island and tied up at a convenient landing stage beside the station.
On landing, the immigrants are passed at once to rooms on the lower floor of the building, where they are grouped for convenience in examination. When the examining officials are ready, the immigrants start lining the wide stairways into the main receiving hall.
Near the head of the stairs stands the first of the medical inspectors, whose duty is to examine each immigrant's condition of his head and scalp and for any general deformity.
Immigrants Getting Railroad Tickets at Ellis Island. Commerical America, July 1906. GGA Image ID # 14f43ff8eb
The immigrant subsequently passes to the second inspector, who examines him for any deformity of hands or feet and any evidence of scrofulous or tuberculous scars on the neck. At the end of the inspectors' alley, the third inspector examines for any contagious or evident difficulty with the eyes.
If the immigrant is unfortunate enough to fail these three inspectors or if he arouses suspicions about any of them, he is turned to the room at the end of the alley, where he must wait for a detailed examination. Should he pass the inspectors, he is turned to one of the narrow alleys lined with benches, where he awaits further examination.
The immigrants in these alleys are grouped according to numbered tickets, which correspond to the immigrant's number on the ship's manifest. When the immigrants enter the vessel in Europe, they are classed into groups of 30, and separate manifests, or lists, are made out for each group.
These manifests must give the name, sex, age, and general description of each immigrant, together with his nationality, his point of departure, and his destination. They must also show something of his general character, including questions such as whether he is a polygamist or anarchist and whether he has ever been in any almshouse, insane asylum, or other charitable institution.
It must also show the approximate amount of money he has. It indicates whether he is in a position to make a living after he reaches the country.
After being assigned to the proper alley, the immigrant is brought before an inspector, who puts him through an examination designed to verify the information on the ship's manifest.
After this examination, he is passed to the proper waiting room, to which he goes by way of two or three other inspectors who give him an examination covering different features.
Those immigrants who expect to go directly to New York City and remain there are sent to a special waiting room, from where they are taken to New York on the Immigration Bureau ferry, "Ellis Island," and landed at the famous barge office at Battery Park.
Those who are to be detained are put into the permanent waiting room, where they are afterward cared for according to their needs. Ample accommodations are made for recreation, and the children's playrooms form an interesting feature of the station's equipment.
The eating room, which adjoins the main waiting room, is a large hall with plain tables and benches. Three meals a day are served to all the immigrants who are detained. These meals consist of plain and substantial food designed to give the greatest amount of nourishment at the least practicable expense.
The cost of maintaining this department is covered by the fines collected from the steamship companies for every undesirable immigrant imported and the head tax of $2.00, which is collected from the steamship company for every immigrant imported.
It is the object of the officials at the station to see to it that no immigrant leaves the Island until he has either some definite destination, some friend who can take care of him and knows that he is properly initiated into the mysteries of his new home, or that he is guaranteed some protection from the host of scoundrels who are ready to separate the unsophisticated alien from the remnant of his savings.
Immigrants Pass Through the Barge Office Gate. Commercial America, July 1906. GGA Image ID # 14f45b928e
Those who fail the physical examination are given a more thorough inspection. If they are only temporarily ill, they are sent to the hospital at one end of the grounds and cared for until they can leave.
If their physical defects make it impossible to receive them under the law, they are isolated and kept until they can be returned by the first steamer of the line that brought them over.
Those detained for special reasons, such as political beliefs or moral undesirability, are passed upon by a special Board of Inquiry. If they fail to satisfy this Board that they are desirable immigrants, they are* deported in a manner entirely similar to that pursued by those who fail to pass the physical examination.
An interesting aspect of the immigration problem is determining the ability and preparation of immigrants to care for themselves.
Of the total, 13,643 belonged to the professional classes, 180,112 were skilled workers, 600,726 were entered as being followers of what was classed as miscellaneous occupations, including 287,450 laborers, 142,187 farm laborers, and 125,473 servants.
The total number entered for the year having no occupation, including all children under 14 years of age, was 232,018.
One of the most difficult features of the situation is the tendency of immigrants to remain in large cities. Over 65 percent of the total number of immigrants received last year went to the four states of New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Illinois, the greater part of which went to the four cities of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Chicago.
With these cities already seriously overburdened with what has been termed an "indigestible" alien population, while vast areas of the western farming country are in serious need of energetic field hands, it has become a problem that demands all the ingenuity of the Immigration Bureau to devise some satisfactory method of diverting this stream of the population from the points where it must harm, both to the existing population and to itself, and sending it to the regions where the chances of leading clean and profitable lives, with the possibility of development into good citizens, are at least even.
P. T. Cherington, "Ellis Island," in Commercial America, Philadelphia: Philadelphia Commercial Museum, Vol. III, No. 1, July 1906, pp. 12-13.
Key Highlights and Engaging Content ✨
The Role of Ellis Island in Immigration 🏛️🚢
The article emphasizes the importance of Ellis Island as the main point of entry for European immigrants, handling over 80% of all U.S. immigrants at the time. Ellis Island became synonymous with the American immigration experience and remains a symbol of both the challenges and hopes of immigrants.
🖼 Noteworthy Image: "Ellis Island Immigrant Station -- One of the Small Barges in the Foreground". This image provides a rare perspective of the station with small barges transporting immigrants, highlighting the crucial role of transportation in the immigration process.
The Immigration Process at Ellis Island 📝✅
The step-by-step process of how immigrants were examined and categorized is carefully described. The use of manifests containing detailed personal information, including the immigrant's health, occupation, and destination, reveals how officials carefully scrutinized each immigrant before allowing entry.
Immigrants were subjected to a medical examination, where inspectors checked for signs of disease and deformities. The process was rigorous, and those failing medical exams were detained for further investigation or sent back to their port of origin.
🖼 Noteworthy Image: "Immigrants Walking from the Barge Landing to the Main Building at Ellis Island". This image captures the journey of immigrants as they pass from the barges to the main building, symbolizing the transition from arrival to examination—a key moment in the immigrant experience.
Detention and Accommodations at Ellis Island 🏨🍽️
The article describes the facilities at Ellis Island, where immigrants were detained for various reasons. They were provided with shelter, food, and basic healthcare while awaiting further processing or the arrival of their family members. The health and safety of the immigrants were top priorities, with some detained for weeks at a time.
It also discusses the financial transactions involved, noting that large amounts of money were handled to support detained immigrants, ensuring they didn’t fall prey to scams.
🖼 Noteworthy Image: "Immigrants Getting Railroad Tickets at Ellis Island". This image is an insightful representation of the practicalities of immigrant life at Ellis Island, where the logistical process of receiving railroad tickets helped orient newcomers and move them to their final destinations across the U.S.
The Struggles of Immigration Distribution 🇺🇸🗺️
A significant challenge discussed is the distribution of immigrants. Despite the efforts of the U.S. government to send immigrants to areas where they were most needed (such as western farmlands), many immigrants chose to settle in already-overcrowded cities like New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago. This urban congestion made it difficult to ensure the successful assimilation of many immigrants.
The article sheds light on the economic strain these urban areas faced, making it clear that there were opportunities in more rural areas, but immigrants often found themselves drawn to the promise of city life.
Educational and Historical Insights 📘🎓
📌 For Teachers and Students: This article is a valuable resource for teaching immigration history and understanding the systematic processes that allowed the United States to absorb millions of immigrants during a transformative period. The focus on Ellis Island’s role, combined with descriptions of health inspections and deportation procedures, gives students a detailed picture of how immigration was managed.
📌 For Genealogists: The detailed explanation of the information required on immigrant manifests can aid genealogists in tracing ancestors who passed through Ellis Island. The article provides context for how data was collected and recorded, which can help genealogists track their family members’ entry into the U.S.
📌 For Historians: Historians will find this article particularly useful for understanding the historical context of the early 20th-century immigration system. The statistical data on the number of immigrants from various countries, combined with the logistics of managing such large numbers, provides crucial insight into the political and social conditions of the time.
Final Thoughts 🌟
The Gateway to America for European Immigrants (1906) offers an in-depth look at the Ellis Island experience, shedding light on the humanitarian, logistical, and governmental processes that were integral to managing mass immigration. The article is a compelling historical resource, filled with statistical data, personal stories, and images that highlight the challenges faced by both immigrants and U.S. officials during this pivotal period in American history. This article is essential for anyone interested in immigration policy, American history, and the sociopolitical impact of immigration during the early 20th century.
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