The Great Migration - As Seen At the Port of New York (1903)

The article "The Great Migration - Port of New York," published in October 1903, provides an insightful overview of the vast influx of immigrants arriving at Ellis Island. It details the experiences of these newcomers as they navigate the immigration process, highlighting the diversity of their origins, the personal belongings they carried, and the emotional reunions with family members. The narrative underscores the logistical and administrative efforts involved in managing such a significant number of arrivals.

Immigrants Arriving at Ellis Island in 1907. George Grantham Bain Collection. Library of Congress # 97519082. GGA Image ID # 14859ef80d

Upon entering the port of New York, any steamship must first be brought to the quarantine station on Staten Island for inspection. After a permit has been given to pass on, the ocean liner is met by three different Government boats: the United States mail boat, which takes off the European mail; the United States revenue cutter, which brings the customs officer on board to inspect the baggage of the passengers; and the cutter of the United States Immigration Service, with boarding officers of that department.

While the ocean steamer is slowly moving up the river to her dock, the first and second cabin passengers are being inspected. As soon as the pier is reached, all cabin passengers are allowed to land except those who are not citizens of the United States and whom the hoarding officer may want to take along to Ellis Island for further inquiry.

Any steerage passenger who can prove that he is a citizen of the United States and wishes to land directly at the pier may do so with permission from the boarding officer. Still, all other steerage passengers, after their luggage has been examined, are transferred by river boats and barges, as shown in the cut, to the landing place at Ellis Island, which is situated in the upper bay north of the Statue of Liberty and close to the New Jersey coast.

Upon arriving at the landing place, the immigrants are led along the wharf, as seen in the illustration. Carrying their hand baggage, they file up to the first floor of the main building.

Here, they are examined by a physician regarding their physical condition. Those who seem to be in poor health or show signs of sickness are sent to the medical department for further careful inspection. Two specialists in eye diseases then inspect those who have passed the first examination.

The accompanying picture shows how the eyelid is turned upwards to ascertain whether the immigrant is afflicted with trachoma, the common contagious eye disease. If so, he is not allowed to land but is held for deportation.

Physician Examining Eyes of Immigrants at Ellis Island circa 1905. National Archives and Records Administration. GGA Image ID # 218ba284a8

After the immigrants pass by the doctors, they come to the matrons, who question whether the females are married or single and hold those for whom they deem further examination necessary.

The party is now divided into groups of thirty persons, each bearing a tag with a particular letter or number in large print upon his breast. As soon as the members of one group are together, they are marched through a small gangway to the desk of an inspector, who has before him a list of the thirty names and the answers to twenty-two questions which have been recorded and sworn to as correct before a United States Consul at the port of departure.

These questions relate to age, sex, occupation, ability to read and write, nationality and citizenship, last residence, final destination, whether supplied with funds, ticket and by whom the passage was paid, whether in possession of fifty dollars or of how much, whether ever in the country before, names of relatives and friends in America, whether at any time an inmate of prison, almshouse, insane asylum, or charitable institution, whether a polygamist or an anarchist, whether induced from home by any offer of labor in the United States, and questions concerning health, mental and physical, including deformities of body and their nature.

Immigrant at Registration Desk at Ellis Island circa 1910. Library of Congress, LCCN # 97501640. GGA Image ID # 218bac0de7

All these questions are asked again, the answers are compared, and if everything seems satisfactory to the inspector, he may allow the immigrant to land by giving him a card with an "O.K." for New York. If the place of destination has to be reached by railroad, he is given a card with "O.K. for the railroad to the West."

If immigrants state that friends or relatives will meet them at the landing place, they are directed to the detention room. Here, they can only be released by the officer of this department after a thorough examination of both parties.

If an inspector decides that he cannot admit an immigrant on his responsibility, he gives him a card marked with the letters "S. I.," which means that the parties must be held in a separate room for "special inquiry" before a board consisting of three inspectors and one stenographer. The hearing is in secret. No friend, relative, lawyer, missionary, or reporter is permitted to be present or assist the subject while he appears before this board. The immigrant is placed under oath, and his testimony is recorded word for word.

The immigrant's future is entirely contingent on the decision of these three officers. They may decide by a majority to admit, defer, or exclude the immigrant from deportation. In the latter case, the immigrant is informed that they have the right to appeal to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor in Washington to have the decision reversed.

While detained at the landing place, immigrants are fed at the expense of the steamship company, as illustrated in the accompanying cut. Those who are admitted to proceed to their places of destination secure their railroad tickets in the railroad department at the landing place and must remain in the waiting room, as seen in the picture. At five o'clock in the afternoon, all the railroad passengers are transferred by riverboat to several railroad stations, and from there, they are forwarded by special immigrant trains to the far West.

Immigrants Being Served a Free Meal at Ellis Island, 1910. Courtesy of the New York Public Library. GGA Image ID # 218bc7ae0b

Efficient as the immigration service is at this port, it is to be regretted that two steamship companies, one English and one French line, make it a rule to land their passengers on our shores upon the Lord's Day. It is certainly a disgrace to our country that the Government assists them by having the department in full operation for the convenience of these steamship companies.

Significantly, a respectful protest has been recently lodged by the missionaries at the port to the Commissioner General of Immigration at Washington. This protest, which covers five crucial points, serves as a strong backing for our cause.

1. It is our firm expectation that immigrants landing in America will integrate as law-abiding residents and citizens. Therefore, it is disheartening for them to find a United States Government department in full operation on Sunday upon their arrival, setting a negative precedent.
2. The officers employed on Ellis Island undertake very strenuous work during the week. Their dedication and hard work make them deserving of a day of rest, which is currently being compromised.
3. Important as immigration may be to the United States, it certainly is not so important and pressing that we should misuse the Sabbath day to land foreigners.
4. Steamship companies having no steamers due in New York on Sunday will not suffer even if occasionally a steamer may be delayed. In contrast, those companies that make it a rule to land immigrants on Lord's Day have no right to compel our Government to operate the landing station on Sunday for their private convenience. If the Ellis Island station would not take off immigrants on Sunday, the steamship lines would soon change their sailing day as other companies have, for the simple reason that they wish to avoid paying higher wages to longshoremen on Sunday.
5. And finally, landing on Sunday is no benefit to immigrants. The city banks are closed; mail and telegraph service is not operated as on weekdays; no connection can be made with river boats for eastern points, and the railroads run only a few trains,

This remonstrance was kindly received, and the Commissioners promised to attempt to close on Sunday when only a small number of immigrants were expected to land. Closing the landing place entirely on Lord's Day is regarded as difficult, if not impossible.

Yonder is a vessel steaming through the Narrows, its steerage decks black with the rampant and chaotic masses who have come to share our country and liberty. They are all on deck now, dressed in holiday attire, crowding to the rail for a first glimpse of the vast structures in the distance, which someone tells them is New York. The word passes rapidly that the journey is over, that the promised land is reached.

"The Steerage" a 1907 Photogravure by Alfred Stieglitz taken on board the Kaiser Wilhelm II. Camera Work No 36, October 1911. GGA Image ID # 147a072566

The men throw overboard their old coats, shirts, and shoes; the women smooth out and straighten their gorgeous orange, purple, and green shawls and dresses, for the old and worn, must be cast aside—everything must be clean and bright for this entrance into a new world.

The anticipation is palpable. Giovanni nudges Theresa, points excitedly and makes room for her at the rail. They lift up little Pietro and Guiseppe, for they must see too; then all four look at each other and laugh; papa pats Guiseppe on the head, and mama hugs little Pietro.

They are all prepared for the journey ahead. The hand luggage is brought out for each a share, from grandpa with his grape sticks and can of precious wine from the home vineyard, to tiny Pietro hugging a fat feather pillow in his chubby little arms. All are ready to start for "Little Italy" or the street of the Mulberry.

But the steamer has stopped, and why is the anchor being lowered? They crowd around and scream at that semi-god-like individual, their countryman who has been to America before. He points to the yellow flag on the mast. At the same time, almost at the exact moment, there is a great commotion on the deck, and they are pushed and shoved into line to be marched single file past the quarantine doctors. It is an unlucky ship with any contagious or infectious disease! When the anchor is hoisted, a mighty shout of thanksgiving rises from two thousand throats, a chorus of relief and shared experience.

They spot the Statue of Liberty; next, the little children are lifted for a glimpse, the women wave their hands, and the men doff their hats and shout. The band on a German liner struck up " Old Hundred" as Liberty was being passed; it sent a thrill of ardent patriotism through the hearts of those Americans who listened, thought of the words of praise, and were proud to belong to a country that had glorious opportunities and blessings for all who desired and deserved them. The immigrants, despite the uncertainty, show resilience and a determination to make the most of their new beginning.

If the ship is docked after two o'clock in the afternoon, the impatient new arrivals have a tedious wait, for they will not be transferred to Ellis Island on the huge barges until the following day. Where the "Harvest Home" and her sister barges drop their burdens on the Island, we like to watch, wonder, laugh, and sorrow.

It is a long and varied procession that passes the gangplank through the covered passageway into the Immigration Building. The Scotch mother, along with her nine boy "bairns," all of whom she intends shall be Presbyterian ministers, she proudly announces. The immigrants, filled with wonder and curiosity, embark on their new adventure in America.

Immigrant Landing Stage at Ellis Island. Tender Brings New Immigrants to Ellis Island for Processing. nd circa 1910s. Detroit Publishing Company # 0500726. Library of Congress # 2016796928. GGA Image ID # 14824f206a

Behind her walks a mild-eyed Slovenian woman carrying an enormous sheet-wrapped pack on her back, a baby tied on in front, a heavy bag in one hand, and several children clinging to her skirts. Her lord and master follow in her wake, twirling his cane!

The next is "Yiddishers "—an old patriarch, bent now, and the long curls over his ears are gray, yet he wears the proverbial Hebrew frock coat and silk hat with splendid dignity. He and Rachel are coming to the kinder who has written that America is next best to the New Jerusalem, and they are carrying in their arms their most cherished possessions, brass candlesticks and a Russian samovar.

This Magyar woman with fourteen boys and girls clustering around her is not a charitable institution; they are all hers, everyone, and they are to wait for the husband and father who is to claim them. The little black-eyed Italian girl clad in a green dress and scarlet bodice, shuffling along with a small rocking chair in both hands, where does she belong?

She places the precious piece of furniture on the ground, seats herself in it, and refuses to budge. With superb nonchalance, she sits until her Sicilian mother shrieks and rushes upon her lost darling, soundly boxing her ears. Here are several little Italian lads with masses of dark, curly hair, laughing brown eyes, and the chubby cheeks of cherubs.

So they disembark, little Dutch maidens, Hindu fakirs, Syrians, Sicilians, Finnish, Bohemian, in the most homogeneous mass the world has ever seen. Still, the Statue of Liberty looks down upon them all; the doors of public schools are open to their children, and we need to have no great fear.

The long lines enter the Administration Building, pass up the stairs and down a narrow passageway hemmed in by wire railings where stand two physicians, one to snatch off the caps of the astonished foreigners to look for favus, the other to roll back the eyelids in search of traces of trachoma. Those found wanting must await further examination in the "goat pen" while the sheep proceed to the next ordeal with clue meekness and wondering humility.

Here, perched on a high stool, is a fierce-looking St. Peter, red-faced with responsibility. What a task to "size up" five hundred of all tongues and races in a single day!

He sifts out the strong and industrious, leaving for the "S. L" Board, the ex-convict, pauper, contract laborer, and bandit, for the United States has no room for the "L. P. C." (liable to become a public charge) or the diseased, and in 1902 refused a landing to 4,974 hapless individuals.

The steamship companies, which were so unfortunate as to bring these physical and moral wrecks, must deport them at their own expense.

Undesirable Emigrants Held at Ellis Island to be Sent Back to Their Home Country by the Steamship Company that Brought Them. 1902 Halftone reproduction of photograph in Quarantine sketches, a pamphlet published as advertising by the Maltine Co. [2] Library of Congress # 93512789. GGA Image ID # 148476c613

There are twelve of these inspectors, and they have sorted out as many as 7,000 aliens in a day, shouting, pointing, and chattering half the dialects of the civilized world. There is a tradition on the Island that still causes the old inspectors to look shamefaced. It was a sturdy chap with an odd little hat and a sun-browned face.

They talked to him in Armenian, Finnish, Bohemian, Polish, and Portuguese. He stood impassive and silent. They sent for more interpreters and tried Croatian and Dalmatian. Ruthenian. At last, he said: For the love of heaven, do none of you here speak English?"

"Wie viel geld?" calls the inspector. "Only thirty marks, Gretchen? It won't do. But he will meet you, der Bräutigam?" "O. K." she is, and soon, there is another wedding to add to the records of Ellis Island marriages. The afternoon express carries a happy lover and his radiant Frau to the farm out West.

This stalwart Swede, with his rosy-cheeked lads and lasses and a wallet of good money—any question about him? Indeed, no—the inspector sighs, wishes there were more like him, and shouts to the next victim, "Quanto Moneta?" Forty Lire? Not enough is the verdict. "Si, si," cries Tony. He has a promise of work—such good work! And he draws forth the telltale papers that cause him to be hustled off to the "excluded" room.

Here is a strapping, fair-haired youth with a smiling face and a brawny arm. The inspector passes hurriedly over the questions, "Have you ever been in prison? Almshouse? Insane asylum? Are you an anarchist?"

There's no need to ask him these. Has he money? He looks downcast, for he can show only fifteen dollars, but passed be is: his face and his arms are his fortunes, for at Ellis Island, it is the lord ensemble and the latent possibilities which save or damn. Has he money is the first question. If not, can he be far more critical? Can he work?

What a perfect Nestor must the inspector be who decides these questions for four or five hundred per diem! Does he never make mistakes? Alas, too often. There were 465 of them last year, 465 of whom were convicted worthy and landed but had to be returned from wherever they came before living a year in the land of plenty.

Think of the tragedy of the return—no home, no friends, no hope! But Ellis Island officials cannot pause in their busy lives to think of the tragedies, for if they did, too many would succumb to chronic melancholia.

There are three apartments in the Purgatory of the world here, for the men are labeled "excluded" and "temporarily detained." Both classes of women occupy the third. When he enters here, his departure will be for a journey backward or onward.

The stolid Dutch girl with her stupid stare—has she money or friends? No. She has come to her Hans, but the telegrams fail to bring him, and she must return across the water to bury her love dream.

See this cheerful little old lady. She has a cookie for the wee boy, shows the restless young girl how to knit, and holds the baby for a tired mother. No one understands a word she says, but she makes everyone feel more comfortable and contented. She is waiting, she tells you, for her son. He lives in Hoboken. The street, the number? No, she can't tell you these, but they will find him. He lives in Hoboken.

Her good man died, there was no one left, so she came to her boy. But no son comes to claim her, and a steamer carries a heartsick little lady back to the public relief of Germany.

This sweet-faced young woman—insane? No, can it be? The baby was born and died on the passage over. A heartbroken husband hears that Uncle Sam will not receive the insane and that his Yetta cannot stay.

We take but a peep into the men's excluded room for a momentary gaze at the depressing assembly of poor, helpless, and criminal, but fortunately, it is only a wee small percent that these rooms receive. The vast majority pass the Scylla and Charybdis of the medical examiner and inspector safely.

Kissing Gates of America- New Immigrants After Discharge from Ellis Island, 1902. Library of Congress, LCCN # 99403909. GGA Image ID # 218cdc5d37

Most of the journey is over; they must be labeled and ticketed by the Pennsylvania Railroad, Erie Railroad, New York Central Railroad, and Fall River Boat and taken on the barges to the railway terminals. Their Lares and Penates surround them in the form of household goods. Such queer baggage it is!

One family is proud to possess a sewing machine and an immense upholstered rocking chair, which has been its burden for thousands of miles. The next family has naught to boast of but two feather pillows, which the materfamilias treasures as the apple of her eye. This man hugs an enormous brass trumpet; his neighbor has a violin, while far off in the crowd, we spy a Scotch Highlander with his precious bagpipes.

Those who remain in New York City, and there are far too many, are carried to the Barge Office on the Ellis Island ferry boat. Before they board it, in the long screened hallway are the happy meetings of the friends and relatives who have come to claim their own.

The proud Italian father declares he would never have known his ragazzi—how they have grown! The old, forlorn-looking Jewess is being embraced and wept over by her finely dressed daughters from East Broadway.

Most of them have someone to greet them, but those who have not are corralled by the Immigrant Protective Societies of the various nations and taken to a good, safe Home in the big city, where they will stay until they have got their bearings. The Society for the Protection of Italian Immigrants has been doing particularly helpful work in this area.

Germans 40,000, British 69,000, Scandinavians 78,000, Russians 136,000, Austrians 206,000, Italians 230,000, plus Magyars, Polish, Lithuanians, Croatians, Dalmatians, Finnish, Bohemians, Greeks, Syrians, and so on in an endless stream numbering 857,000 aliens who have entered United States ports during the year ending June 1903.

Has a man witnessed such a spectacular and far-reaching migration that this is the record for a single year?

We pick up our morning papers and read:

" Immigrants due to arrive in New York during the next ten days"

Busy Day at Ellis Island where Ferry Boats stack up with Immigrants Waiting to be Admitted, 1905. Courtesy of the New York Public Library. GGA Image ID # 218d18f876

On the red letter day in April 1903, 10,236 aliens arrived in New York, and two steamers of the Hamburg-American line brought 2,731 and 2,854 steerage on a single trip.

During the last half-century (late 1800s), eighteen million (approximately) of the peoples beyond the seas have been received and adopted to ourselves, while more and yet more come, and there is no end in sight.

The Volkwanderung of the sons of Noah, the Hebrews, Goths, Vandals, Huns, and Tartars, of all the tribes and nations whose epoch-making migratory adventures have furnished an inexhaustible theme to minstrel, bard, and dramatist for centuries, are mere excursion parties compared with this marvelous pouring of the nations of the world into the land that stands for kindliness, with protection and freedom for all.

The history of these early migrations is a tale of tremendous social upheavals accompanied by long years of bloodshed, cruel misery, and suffering. How different our nineteenth and twentieth-century flight of nations! Vast hordes, nearly a million in a single year, bear down upon us. Still, the United States moves serenely on, undisturbed and not at all awed by the thought that she is absorbing more than the natural increase of southern Italians and Slovaks; more than half the natural increase of Russian Jews, Austrian, Polish, Croatians, and Slovenians.

Every State in the union receives its share. New York leads with 203,824 in 1902, Pennsylvania next with 139,096, Massachusetts 50,939, and so on down the list to Mississippi and North Carolina, which offer attractions to only seventy-seven and seventy immigrants, respectively.

'Tis a vexing problem: shall we or shall we not keep our doors open to the crowds of the other half who are coming in ever-increasing numbers? The statesman shakes his head and murmurs that it is quality, not quantity, that we want now. The type of immigrant has changed; it is no longer the Swede, Dane, German, British—the Baltic race—but the Italian, Austrian, and Russian who are coming to us, 572,000 out of the 857,000 in 1903.

1882 out of the 788,000, 632,000 were Scandinavians, Germans, and British. It is the scum of the earth we are getting now, says someone. To be sure, foreign-born people fill our city almshouses, workhouses, and prisons. Seventy-seven percent of the almshouse inmates are foreign-born, but 657 are Irish and German, this same Baltic stock we so lament, leaving only 12 percent of the total to the Italians, Jews, and all other races, and observe that this is the first, not the second generation.

If you take the Hoi Polloi from a land of tyranny, where the masses are enslaved people in everything but name, and place these same people in a country that spells opportunity, values a man for his manhood, and gives his children a chance the parents never had, what will be the result? The public school teachers in New York City tell us what happens.

• Brightest pupils: Russian Jews.
• Most excellent in drawing, modeling, and music: Italians,
• Most ambitious and industrious: Hebrews and Italians.

The fathers are just a little behind. A night school in the Italian quarter has an average attendance of 575 boys and men from fourteen to fifty who have been in America anywhere from two days to fifteen years. This man has been wielding a pick all day while his neighbor cleaned the city's streets. Here, they come four evenings a week from 7:30 to 9:30 for the knowledge of English, which is an open sesame to all that is good in life.

Eighty of these schools cost the city $500,000 a year, but 20,000 scholars are being taught our language, customs, and form of government.

Environment counts quite as much. Heredity is the sum total of a man, and these people inherit nothing that they or we need to be ashamed of. Educate them, bring them into contact with the better class of Americans through the mission and the social settlement, and who needs fear for the future of our country?

Epilogue

Welcoming the Immigrant

Measuring the interest of our readers by our interest, we feel assured they will welcome the opening article of the current number, describing the entrance of the immigrant at the nation's chief port. Eyewitnesses draw the picture. Mr. Sommerlatte, as Harbor missionary of the Reformed Church for several years, may be trusted to know what he writes.

Miss Batchelder has enjoyed an exceptional experience as the United States Inspector of Immigration, and her bird' s-eye view includes many touches that a man would never see. Together, they have given the reader of THE HOME MISSIONARY a photograph of profound significance.

The immigrant, as he lands in America, is a picturesque personage. Speech, dress, and manners are those of the Old World. If we follow him only a few months from the landing, we should detect the beginnings of a great change. Dress and manners are the first things to be sloughed off. Broken English is the next development. More slowly, the mind of this foreign-born American yields to its new surroundings.

The atmosphere of independence into which he has been transplanted begins to re-create his ambitions. He has a farm with tools and crops; his children are in our public schools. Election day comes, and he votes. For the first time in his life, he is a citizen, a free man, one of eighty million self-governed and self-governing people. He feels the change in every fiber of his being, as those born to the manor can never feel it, for they have never had it to feel.

Now, at this point comes the crisis of the immigrant's new life. Two ways open at his feet. Will he join the army of sordid grubbers, finding in his new heritage nothing more than acres of arable land, valuable crops, and markets ready to turn the toil of his hands into silver and gold?

Shall his development culminate and cease with such material rewards? Or, shall he find following him, as they followed the early New England emigrant, the church, the missionary, and all kindred agencies of Christian civilization?

Nothing but these saved the early pioneers from selfish, vulgar, and godless materialism. They injected the higher ideals of worship, righteousness, and civic virtue into the enterprise of settlement. Those entering the blood of the first immigrants made them the great nation-builders of history.

Such agencies have not lost their power and were never in demand as they are today, when, by thousands and tens of thousands, these strangers from the Old World, who are, in fact, the raw material of future citizens, are pouring into the wide stretches of the West and crowding the already congested cities of the East.

Home missions finished their work when they created the same environment for the later immigrants. This environment saved the early settlers from barbarism and made them the architects of a great nation.

Sommerlatte, Rev. Paul, "The Great Migration As Seen At the Port of New York: Part First," in The Home Missionary, Volume LXXVII, No. 7, October 1903, pp. 229-235

Rev. Paul Sommerlatte is from the Harbor Missionary of the Reformed Church at Ellis Island.

Batchelder, Margaret Gold, "The Great Migration As Seen at the Port of New York: Part Second," in the Home Missionary, Volume LXXVII, No. 7, October 1903, pp. 235-246

Margaret Gold Batchelder is formerly U.S. Immigration Inspector at the Port of New York.

Conclusion

The article reflects on the monumental scale of immigration to the United States during the early 20th century, emphasizing the transformative impact on American society. It describes the meticulous organization required to handle the influx, including health inspections, financial assessments, and the provision of temporary housing. Despite the challenges, Ellis Island served as a beacon of hope for many, offering a gateway to new opportunities. The article also touches on the growing public discourse around the quality and quantity of immigrants, mirroring concerns that continue to resonate in immigration debates today.

Key Points

• 🌍 Global Origins: Immigrants came from a variety of countries, including Italy, Austria, Russia, and more, each bringing unique cultural elements.

• 📋 Processing and Inspections: The article describes the comprehensive procedures for processing immigrants, including health checks and financial assessments.

• 🧳 Diverse Belongings: Immigrants arrived with a wide range of possessions, from practical items like sewing machines to cherished personal belongings.

• 💸 Economic Considerations: The financial status of immigrants varied, with many bringing limited funds, which impacted their initial experiences in America.

• 🚢 Transportation and Logistics: The logistics of handling the arrival of thousands of immigrants daily were complex, involving ferries, customs inspections, and housing arrangements.

• 🤝 Support Systems: Various immigrant protective societies played a crucial role in assisting newcomers, providing essential services and support.

• 🧩 Challenges and Concerns: The article highlights public concerns about the changing demographics and the perceived quality of immigrants.

• 💼 Employment and Settlement: Securing employment and integrating into American society were significant challenges for many immigrants.

• 🏠 Temporary Housing: Facilities were available to house immigrants temporarily, especially those needing further inspection or awaiting transport to other locations.

• 📈 Historical Context: The article situates the massive immigration wave within the broader historical and economic context, noting its impact on both the immigrants and American society.

Summary

1. Diverse Arrivals: The article details the varied backgrounds of the immigrants, highlighting the cultural richness they brought to the United States.

2. Rigorous Inspections: Immigrants underwent thorough checks, including health examinations and financial assessments, as part of the entry process.

3. Varied Belongings: The items immigrants brought with them reflected their diverse cultures and personal stories.

4. Economic Impact: The article discusses the financial situations of immigrants and their initial economic contributions to American society.

5. Complex Logistics: Managing the arrival and processing of thousands of immigrants daily required extensive logistical planning.

6. Support Networks: Immigrant protective societies provided vital assistance, helping newcomers navigate the challenges of their new environment.

7. Public Discourse: The article reflects on the growing public concern regarding the changing demographic landscape of the United States.

8. Employment Challenges: Many immigrants faced difficulties finding work, which was critical for their integration and survival.

9. Temporary Accommodations: The article notes the arrangements made for immigrants needing temporary shelter during the inspection process.

10. Historical Significance: The narrative places the immigration wave within the broader context of American history, emphasizing its lasting impact.