Page:Immigration and the Commissioners of Emigration of the state of New York.djvu/188

160 account. For, whenever the poor immigrant is fleeced by rogues, his judgment is impaired, his energy is diminished, and in general that moral elasticity lost which he needs more than ever to start well in a strange land; and thus a heavy injury is inflicted on his adopted country, which, instead of self-relying, independent men, receives individuals who are broken in spirit, and, at least for a time, useless, who are burdensome to themselves and to others. From this point of view, every one who has the interest of his fellow-being and of his country at heart, has the strongest interest in having the immigrant efficiently protected, and in cooperating with those who are officially called upon to provide for this protection.

If the same people who engage our attention on their landing here crossed our path in their native country while in their old accustomed track of life, the task would be comparatively easy, for in that case they would much more readily understand their interest and advantage; they would not be confused by a hundred new impressions; and the majority of them would distinguish the honest man from the scoundrel. Upon emigrating, however, the masses enter into entirely new relations, into a new world; two-thirds of them do not know the language of the country, and all receive in one single hour more new notions and ideas than formerly in years. Thus, they find themselves without proper guidance, and fall the easier into the hands of impudent impostors, perhaps for the very reason that they have been warned against them. This sudden transition from one country into another, this change of old homelike surroundings, with new conditions of life, all of which, strange and some offensive to the immigrants, often stuns them temporarily, and creates a general bewilderment, which even makes an intelligent man appear awkward and stupid.

Whatever we may do, we cannot absolutely protect the immigrant against the practices of sharpers as long as we cannot obstruct the sources from which credulity and ignorance flow. We can take some precautionary measures, we can point out the right way, but it is just as impossible entirely to cure the evil as it is to put an end to human depravity in general. The Commissioners cannot be expected to accomplish an impossibility. In New York, a special detective would have to be assigned to each immigrant,