Page:Immigration and the Commissioners of Emigration of the state of New York.djvu/57

Rh condition of nations, of social and political short-comings and disturbances. The poor peasant of the inland village who seeks to be an independent land-owner across the ocean, and the noble patriot who valiantly but unsuccessfully fought for human rights; the mechanic and the scholar; the rich and the destitute; the reckless swindler and the honest man—all represent but so many figures. They are looked upon as mere quantities added to the total wealth and strength of the land. And all this, although, as a whole, they emigrate with an intelligent and firm purpose to take up anew the battle of life, and to fight it through valiantly and honorably. Although the most lucrative article of import, emigrants were treated with the least possible care, with the utmost disregard of decency and humanity. With rare exceptions, they were robbed and plundered, from the day of their departure to the moment of their arrival in their new homes, by almost every one with whom they came in contact. They received less consideration on the voyage than even trees in course of transplantation. They were treated worse than beasts, and less cared for than slaves, who, whatever their condition may be in other respects, represent more or less capital, and, as valuable chattels, are sure to receive protection and assistance in case of danger or sickness. There seemed to be a secret league, a tacit conspiracy, on the part of all concerned in dealing with emigrants, to fleece and pluck them without mercy, and pass them from hand to hand as long as anything could be made out of them. The poor foreigners were virtually helpless against any sort of imposition and fraud. The thousands who died, or were killed, on the voyage, were thrown into the ocean with as little ceremony as old sacks or broken tools. If crosses and tomb stones could be erected, on the water as on the Western deserts, where they indicate the resting-places of white men killed by savages or by the elements, the whole route of the emigrant vessel from Europe to America would long since have assumed the appearance of crowded cemeteries. And, what is still worse, the sufferings of the emigrants seem destined to last for ever. The experience of one does not help the other, for the emigrants, after their arrival in America, disperse into all parts of the great continent. They seldom bring charges or make complaints, being