Page:Immigration and the Commissioners of Emigration of the state of New York.djvu/99

 CHAPTER V.

THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF EMIGRATION OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.

THE extortions and frauds which, in all the forms that rapacity could invent or suggest, had been practised for many years, finally, in 1845 and 1846, assumed such fearful proportions, and became the object of such general abhorrence, that legislation for the protection of emigrants seemed the only possible remedy. The community finally began to understand that it had to suffer in the same if not in a greater proportion than the emigrants them selves, if the latter were not secured from the cupidity of the runners and mercenary attempts of the agents. Thus humanity and sound policy equally indicated the necessity for a thorough change of the old system, and a strong desire manifested itself among all political parties to reform the existing laws.

The problem to be solved was to protect the new-comer, to prevent him from being robbed, to facilitate his passage through the city to the interior, to aid him with good advice, and, in cases of most urgent necessity, to furnish him with a small amount of money; in short, not to treat him as a pauper, with the ultimate view of making him an inmate of the Almshouse, but as an independent citizen, whose future career would become interwoven with the best interests of the country.

There were two adverse interests at work desirous of controlling and regulating all measures relating to the emigrant. The city authorities, and especially the Almshouse Commissioners, endeavored to have concentrated in their own hands the right to provide remedies and suggest reforms. Their sphere of action did not extend beyond the city limits; all they cared for was an increase of their power by resuscitating and amending the existing laws. On the other hand, there were a number of leading and public-spirited citizens, journalists, merchants, influential members of the Chamber of Commerce, and philanthropists, who, being