Page:1883 Annual Report of the German Society of the City of New York.djvu/47

Rh to increase in adequate proportion? Are there not, aside from our eleven hundred members, thousands of Germans upon whom an annual fee of $10.00 would entail no sacrifice? Would it be very difficult for our members to gain, from among the circle of their friends, another thousand of new members, and ought not the year in which the German Society celebrates its centennial anniversary, to offer an appropriate occasion of doubling the number of its friends? The cost of administration would not be augmented, the labor of our officials would be but slightly increased, for the first object would be, not to assist a greater number of individuals, but to give more to each one. We are certainly not in favor of creating pensioners for regular assistance, but we wish to be able to assist the really needy so effectually that it will be possible for them, in times of general scarcity of work, to relieve the most pressing wants of their families.

During the past year the successful efforts of Mr. Constantin Schmidt, one of our members, have obtained for us 39 new members, and it would be most gratifying if this praiseworthy example should find frequent imitation, and lead to a successful rivalry in this respect.

Requests to be sent back to Germany, either gratis or at a reduced price, have increased greatly during the past few years, and the mistaken idea seems to prevail among the public that emigrants who have been in this country but a short time, and cannot find employment which suits them, are entitled to a free passage home. This is certainly not the case, and steamship lines are compelled to carry back free of charge only such persons as are crippled, decrepit, or unable to work, and whom they have brought over contrary to law, while neither our Society nor the Emigrant Commission are under any obligation whatever to that effect. If we occasionally give such aid in urgent cases, these are, of course, exceptions, the circumstances of which must be particularly aggravating to justify the large expenditure.

Our applications for return passages at reduced rates for impoverished Germans have always met with obliging consideration on the part of the general agents of the Bremen,