Page:1883 Annual Report of the German Society of the City of New York.djvu/42

Rh of these efforts will shortly appear in a work by Mr. A. Eickhoff, with contributions by other well-known authors, entitled "In the New Home," the appendix to which will contain a detailed history of the German Society, compiled from our Minutes, annual reports, and from historical sources.

We may take it for granted that this very interesting work will be hailed as a welcome contribution to German-American literature, not only in the narrower limits of our Society, but by all Germans on this side of the ocean as well as beyond it.

THE BUREAU OF INFORMATION

forms, as heretofore, the most essential part of our activity, and, with every year, increases in extent and importance. In consequence of the wide distribution of our last annual report and the pamphlet, "Practical Advice for Emigrants," published by us, and the extended and favorable notices given to these publications by the German press, the inquiries from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland have considerably increased. These questions related mainly to the conditions of labor, amount of wages, and settlements in this country; but we also received many requests for information regarding persons who had disappeared, or who had not been heard from for some time. These inquiries occasion much labor and trouble, as they are frequently based upon mere suppositions or hearsay information. In many cases, however, we succeeded in obtaining satisfactory news for the sorrowing relatives. As a matter of course, these investigations can only be made when we have sufficient points of information to work upon. While inquiries, like those which often occur, as, e. g., for "Carl Schultze, from Leipzig, who is said to have emigrated to America in 1853," cannot be responded to favorably, notwithstanding our best intentions.

The correspondence which did not come within the range of the banking business comprised 6236 letters received and 2141 letters sent (compared with 3073 received and 2107 sent in 1882).

The large number of letters received is explained by the