Page:Immigration and the Commissioners of Emigration of the state of New York.djvu/233

Rh of the State, in April, 1855, compelling all vessels bringing emigrant passengers to this port to land them at one wharf, to be designated by the Commissioners of Emigration, and imposing a heavy fine for any deviation from the rule thus established.

The object of this law is to break up the system of barter and sale of passengers which prevailed to a large extent, by rendering it impossible for captains of vessels to sell their cargo of passengers to one or other gang of passenger brokers, known as runners, who were employed at an enormous expense by hotel-keepers, forwarding agents, and railroad and steamboat companies, for the purpose of securing to them respectively the largest possible share of the profits to be made out of the unsuspecting immigrant.

Under this law, the memorialists selected and designated as the only landing place for emigrants the wharf adjoining the extensive old fort situated at the Battery, on the southern part of the city, and known as Castle Garden, and fitted up the fort itself as an "Emigrant Landing Depot" affording ample accommodations for landing and forwarding several thousand emigrants in a day, and for the safe-keeping of their baggage until forwarded. They surrounded the whole ground with a high and strong fence, shutting out effectually the class of persons whose depredations against the property of emigrants had, for years, been a source of a great deal of misery among emigrants landing in New York.

They also induced the directors of the principal railroad and steamboat lines to the West to organize at Castle Garden a central and joint ticket office for the sale—at the regular published prices—of passage tickets for emigrants to their several places of destination in the interior, and to place such office, and the entire business of forwarding persons or property, under their own immediate supervision.

Under this arrangement the passenger is landed with his baggage, as security for which checks are issued acknowledging responsibility for its safety. He finds in Castle Garden a vast hall, well ventilated and comfortably warmed, when the season requires it, in which he can rest and refresh himself; large bath-rooms, whose use is free of charge; frugal meals at cost price; responsible and disinterested officials, speaking his own language, to give him advice as to the best mode of travelling, or the easiest and quickest way of finding employment; he can there buy his ticket for the line of travel by railroad or steamboat which he may choose, and have his baggage labelled and numbered, receiving therefore a receipted check which calls for the baggage therein described at the place of destination, and he is finally transported with his baggage by water, free of charge, to the starting place of the line he has chosen. He is thus entirely guarded against the necessity of going into the streets of the city, and of exposing himself to the dangerous snares which the runner has in readiness for him, as soon as he comes in contact with him. Even the collection of his bills of exchange on merchants in the city may, if he choses, be done for him through the cashier's office, and the money is then paid over to him under the supervision of one of the Commissioners of Emigration. He can thus proceed to his Western destination without being exposed to the least danger of loss from imposition.