Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, December 31, 1911, EDITORIAL, Page 5, Image 16
TIIK OMAHA SUNDAY HKK: DIXKMmiU 31. 1011. 5 v. .Build hi you must but set a skyscraper foundation in 19 By T. Toby Jacob: Have CHEER you business weakling. Take HEART you diminutive dealer. Build BRAVELY in 1912, even though your LAST year's efforts lay as pitifully broken as house of cards." feet busy in 1912." Then again, say to yourself, "Im all right, my goods ar all right, I buy righfl and I sell right and I tote fair with my customers, but I didn't 'HOLLER enough LAST yearl" R small r r j I i i ) w v c. I!' V Perhaps you didn't have enough HARDENING in your BUSINESS FOUNDATION last year; more than likely your DETERMINATION RIVETS COOLED before they clinched CUSTOMERS to your COUNTERS; it's even likely that your BUILDING TOOLS were not as KEEN as those of your COMPETI TOR. Better lay a NEW foundation in 1912; start TODAY; commence with a ONE story business if you must, but secure it with an UNDERPINNING that will STAND MORE stories as fast as you GROW and GROW ING will be 0002 in 1912. j ' THIS is a SKYSCRAPER AGE, Brother; he who crawls at a snail's wiggle pace is TROD underfoot; the dart-ahead-fellow with the aviator flutter gets the CHEERS of the populace. . There is NO such thing as standing still in business; you've got to take a LARGER or a SMALLER store THIS year; your sales must SWELL or SHRINK; your brain must LAG or THINK. You cannot enlarge your store SIDEWISE, for there's already another hustler on either SIDE of you; you cannot go BACKWARD, for if you do you'll strike an alley; there is only ONE growth open to you and that is UPWARD and ONWARD with MORE business and MORE customers. ' -. .. . ... . "1912" will prove a MERCANTILE MARVEL; the PAST year's failures have whizzed by like a tank station past a flyer '3 window and SAFE SIGNALS show a clear business track for another year. . Failures, Survivals, Fair Success and PHENOMENAL GROWTHS will be as PLENTIFUL as EVER during the next twelvemonth, but "Dame Fortune "will have NAUGHT to do with their SHAPING; the sheer height of .your commercial structure will depend upon the plumb line of push; if you build on brittle you are broke; the skyward climb is easier if you plant your resolve at BED ROCK. Make a BUNCH of resolutions today and KEEP them; say to yourself, "I'll keep my eyes open and my Uncle Sam Receiving New Citizens at Ellis Island (Copyright, 1911, by Frank CI. Carpenter.) EW YORK CITY. This is the Nl story of an Immigrant. I Not of a real Slmonpure lm I mlu-ranf V. , , ... 1 ln MWfc v. IIIJWI. III 111.- migrant clothes. 1 came to New York with a ni Mr. Nagel, secretary of com-inerc-o and labor, to Mr. Williams, tho commissioner of immigration it Ellis Island. The letter requested that I be shown all the processes and given all information as to how the fo:-eigner breads into this country. Uncle Sam is adopting- Into our n.-Ulonal family more than. 1,000,000 new brothers and' sisters each year. Me keeps rushing them In at the rate of 2.000 or 3,000 a day, or of more than 100 an hour from midnight to mid night, all the year through. Jow do these people get in? Who- are they?" What are they? Where do they come from? Where do they go? Can we dest them? Or will they he like a lump of sour dough on Uncle Sam's stomach, poisoning our national family? The Eiprrlrnrr of One Immigrant, I shall answer the last question first, and that by my experience as an . im mfgrant. The first chapter of It Is imagi nary. You must suppose me a peasant In Home little town in southeastern Europe. M,y wages are less than 25. cents a day, and the chief part of my dirt is brown bread and water. One morning a smooth, '.veil dressed man comes and offers mw all sorts of inducements to f,o acrots the ocean. He paints the Vii.icd States as a conntry where Bold dollars can be pinked up In the street;, utid finally persuades me lo pay enough out of my savings to buy a rteamshlp ticket to New York. Tlie ticket Is for the steerage and it costs tu Armed with It I go to l-'iume, which is my nearest port and, after being examined and fumigated, am hurried with I'.OpO others Into the. hold of a steamer. It Is the steamship company that causes my going. My passage helps to pay its i :c'dcnd.s, and that Is the reason their stint lias called upon me. They get the worth of theli money. I pay them one third or one-half as much ai a first cabin j.a$!.erger, but I sleep In a bunk, away i O'n below decks In a room with huri cYeda of others. I cat my "meals out of t r pots and pans, and I have a luxurious listing place, between rains, on the bare floor where sea-slck men, woncn nnd ih cr.n, my fe! o-v-passei geir, He sprawl i.tj around. Afttr fifteen daye of fairly jjjOil sall 1: g I l.avu passed out tf the Meulter lanoai:, have crossed the Atlantic and have steamed by the great Statue of lib erty to the docks of New York. Thare the cabin passengers have been landed, and I have been shoved w.th the rest of my fallows Into a barge and carried to tlM little archipelago. comtlatliig of three lit of land surrounded by water called Kills island. The islands are cjvered with buildings which seem to float on the har bor. They are Joined by bridges, and our lai'e floats right up to the doors. Xuinlter liil (irois "F." In the meantime the uuo of us have been aorted and herded in groups. This vas done on the steamer and each waa n'ven a card showing his group and his l umber. 1 am No. 25, group "P." This is printed ou a white card which is pinned in' in y breast, the officers "having cau tioned me to keep it in sight. I have also I, ad to sign a long paper of answers to all sorts of questions. I have given my full name and my age, have stated whether I was a man or a woman, waa married or single and whether I could read or write. 1 had to give my na tionality, race and last residence. I liaU t state where I was going, and whether my passage waa paid by myself or any other person. coriKiratlon, society munic ipality or government. I had to tell what money I had or whether It waa as much a 130, and if t waa going to Join friends en this side. 1 gave answers to the ques tions whether I had been In prison, or tl.s poor house, or In an Insane asylum, ted also whether I was mentally or y 2' ' , V,il ' I . , . ... .' .. iXAarspaaum r . Ahmi'' -l 'v.V physically deficient, deformed or crippled, and if yes, for how long and what made me so. This paper and my signature. 1 was fated to mset with later on. I had also passed the quarantine doc tors at Sandy Hook, where they looked me over to aee if I had any contagious diseases and had failed to find upon ms 1 any sign of cholera, smellpo. yellow i fever or plague. After all this I ha1 ex- ' pected to go right througu Ellis lilanrt I and to at once land on ths golden streets of Slew York. How mistaken I was. 1 I was just at the beginning Instead of at the end of the process of bresking through I ncla Sam's doors. The thirty of group "F, most of us carrying our baggage, were taken across the dock into a hallway and rushed single file up a long pair of stairs. At the top of these we passed Into a room where a dogen men In. uniform stood. W then walked across lnt n alley shut off by railings so that only on could go ahead at a time. Tl men In uniform were the doctors of the. maiiue hohpilal i-ervkc The fiit man who liiHppcted me uus on tho outlook for uny kIhuh of deformity or contaKious diHeuse. lie looked at my legs to ee if ! they were the pame lenijth ami sound, he grabbed at my collar to Fee if 1 had the goitre, and with his eyes examined i me from my crown to my toe for signs of tuberrulosi:;. 1 hud noticed that he hud I put a chalk mark on the Kli'l ahead of me and was relieved when he let ms go by. TrslliiBY the Immigrant's Kyrs. A. little further on I came to a gate where another doctor was standing. 1 ' could feel his eyes go through me is approached, nnd then I felt him go through my eyes. He had a little wooden stick not blgKer than a toothpick, and much like the orange stick you use In nail cleaning. He, grabbed my right eye lid and bent it bark so that he could see ths whole hall of the eve. He' then took the left eyelid and did the same. He was looking for contagious trachoma or ophthalmia, and had It teen thei he I O aWBBHBBBBBBBBBBBBBSr'mAaBSaBBBBBBBSaaBBBBBBBBBBBBirta. would, have taken me out of the ruults ami mado the steamship compiinc rsrry me buck whence I i-aiue. This 'a done with eery inimlgiuiit. and the immigra tion doctors look at L'.OUO.MJO eyes lu this way every year. I My eyes were all light, however, and 1 j was shoved ulong with those who could I be panned, as far as their health was con ! cernecl. Jt waa far different with others, ; hut of them I shall speak farther on. ! should say at leat A por cent were held hack for special inquiry, each receiving; a l!)ell.,w card hearing their name and the retsons why they were held. j I'assing: the Inspectors. i My next experience, was In the regls i try hall. Thin Is a great room covering j about half an acre and filled with a network of alleys Inclosed by Iron pipe fences. Kacb . of the alleys Is devoted to one group of Immigrants, and the groups are labeled A, U, C, D, E, ate. That's it! You've been SHY on HOLLER.' VOICE means VICTORY In commercialism; mix QUITE a little ADVERTISING in the concrete that forms the foundation you are setting TODAY. If your name is SIMPSON and you sell SHOES make 'em think of SIMPSON when they THINK of SHOES. Set aside a FIXED sum for ADVERTISING; then spend it REGULARLY; so much per MONTH; just as you spend for gas or wrapping paper or ink or rent. And when you DO advertise FORGET the days of the HANDBILL and HAND BELL. You've a MIL LION MOUTHED COURIER to shout your wares TODAY; you've the POWER of the PRES3 at your beck and call; you've the NEWSPAPER. That wonderful life of the printed page stands ready to be TAPPED any time; if YOU are NOT tapping it it's your OWN fault. But remember, there's NO power, NO voice, to mere white paper. Newspaper space, like a painter's canvas, is worthless until you PUT something ON it. In other words, YOU produce the HUSTLE and the NEWSPAPER will produce the BUSTLE, TELL something in your advertisement; tell FACTS; explain METHODS; picture PROCESSES; state SIZES; popularize your PURPOSE; make EVERY word, sentence or paragraph state a REASON why a READER should seek YOUR store. ' ) And here is some MORE building material for that SKYSCRAPER you crave in 1912; clean MER CHANDISE; snappy STYLES; wonderful WINDOWS; reasonable PRICES, and CLERKS so courteous that they will STRENGTHEN your foundation instead of UPROOTING it. So BUILD Brother BUILD BOLDLY. Mix courage with your concrete; use the LEVEL to make your patrons loyal. If LAST year's structure turned out to be an "AIR CASTLE" change your plans and speci. fications. BUILD SMALL IF YOU MUST, BUT SET A "SKYSCRAPER FOUNDATION" IN 1912. to correspond with the letters borne by those who conic! from the ship. At flit; end of ouch alley Is un Inspector in uniform with a tall desk before him. lie npe.ks a half dozen lanKuttges, unci catet'blneB each Immigrant as ho gom through. He niakc Mm pass all the tests for admission, and if ho belongs to the objected clasHes decides uKulnxt him, marks him L. 1'. ('., or liable to be come a public charge, and puis him on the mad buHt to lJtii ope. There v were two pretty Servian girls In front of me, and tht questions asked them made me think that th officer euspncln! that they mlgt b white slaves." Behind me was a fine looking old woman, with a white handkerchief over her bead. Slio was asked as to her relatives, and whuther they would support her on lauding. 1 moved along with the crowd, ana when I tame to the gate I found that tb luspeclor had the long shwt of answers which I had written out on th steamer. H asked ach question over araln and cross-examined me to see If I - waa telling th truth. .When I told him I had MS he mad me taJt It out and 'count It befor him. I ob served that th two girls In front of me each had eight gold pieces of the denomination of 20 marks. The man talked to them In German.' and the party In front of them was 'addressed In Polish. Indeed, he seemed to . have a whole babel of language at his tongue's end. It took . him about two minutes to finish my examination and after he waa convinced that. I wa honest and not liable to .become a public charge ha gave me a yellow ticket stamped O. K., and as I passed out 1 was at Innt, lit "Xinerlca. . - ' ' ' Hallway Arraatrntrali, - This ticket only waa given ma because I Intended to stay In New York. . Many of the other Immigrants who were parsing through had In addition tickets marked "H," and later on they were bdged with tho names of the railroads by which they were to go to th west or to other parts of the country. ' I followed some of them Into a room which was like a great rail road depot. There was a bank ' at one end for the exchanging of money, with the rates of exchange plainly published over the cashier's window. There woie ufllces where one could buy tickets, and places where the baggage could be chucked direct upon them. There were also, lunch counters selling bags of food for 50 cents or ft and every other convenience to help th Immlgrunt on his way. Tho ' bags woro large, and the food waa good. In deed, I doubt ' whether one "can get as much for the money anywhere else In New Vol I;. This Is all regulated by law. Thu Immigrants bound for other parts of the country arc taken charge of by the railroads and put on the. right cars, Mral Back to F.arope, Ho much for th Immigrant who gets In. I .think there in too many of 'him and that the country would be far better off If two-thirds at least of him and his fam ily were kept out of tho United Htates, but according to the laws he Is a.lmlttted and the future must he settled by con gress. And now ss to the would-be Immigrants Who Hre aent back. They ate brought here at tho rlrk of the steamship compa nies who cuny them, and are somrtlmus sent in by countries and cltle. abroad who want to get rid of supporting them and inukv Uncle Hum puy the bill. The classes wlio are excluded , are definitely set down In the laws. Here Is u list of them us the commissioner. of immigration has given It to me: Idiots, Imbeciles, fer b,e-io;u.e J persons and eillrptlcs. I mane, persons who have been Insane within five years. I'aupera snd persons likely to become a public churgc l'eihoiis having tuberculosis or a dangerous contagious disease. I'ersons Miff, ring from m-'ntul or physical de frclH which may affect their ability to earn a living. i liniiiaui, pulygamlsts and anarchists. .I'roHtlttue and procur er. Contrail laborers. I'ersons whoso pHhage ban been paid for by any asso iliitlon, municipality or ' foreign govern ment, and lastly children untie;- W unac companied by a parent. How 'I be, ( heat lufle nam. All soils of frauds ure attempted to get thene clasped through. Diseased eye are doctored and the lame arc taught to walk' without limping as they pass by the Inspectors. I.les Innumerable are told by tho Immigrants and evory trick Is played to pass through the registry hall. Juat now an especial care is taken as t girls who might be brought In as "white slave." The lone Immigrant maiden Is detained, and If there is any suspicion concerning her she goes back to Europe. Any one suspected of disease is examined by several doctors,' and It takes the O. K.' of three of them to let him go through. To show how Important these restric tions are. more than S4.roo Immlgrnnta wer shut out of th United b'tates last year upon this ground, and of these almost 18.000 were paupers and likely to b scorn public' charges. More then J.000 had loathsom or contagious diseases; MO wero criminals, more than 300 wer pros titutes and about 1,800 wer laborers who cam to work under contract x Million New Brother and Slater. And now let us look at th million new brothers and sister who got In. Wo have adopted them all Into our national family. Who are they and where do they come fromT I ' wish you could have tramped over Kilts Island with me and. taken a look for yourselves at the sawsd off, anemia, unintelligent classes who passed through the doors at th same time I did. There wer X604 of them altogether, and the majority wer under sited and uneducated.' They' cam front southeastern Burope, and wer composed largely of Hungarians, .Slavs, Italians, gypsies and Polish and Russian Jews. They were In about the same proportion se' those w1 Imported last year, 6nly tho number thl year' will be greater. Jri 1910 . we admitted 1.011.000 Immigrants, and of Uies mora tban 800,000 war shipped her from Europe. W had mora than 260,000 from Austria-Hungary; we had over 200,000 from Italy and 180,004 from the Russian emplr and Finland. There was only a bagatelle from north Kurope, and th bulk of the whole camo from the southeastern countries of. that continent, where from 23 to BO pr cent of the people are Illiterate, and where In some plaoes more than the majority can neither read nor write. This hold true of th Immigrants wo are now getting, and It Is In striking contrast to those who cam In In the past. . For many years our adopted brothers and sisters were from England, Scqtland, Ireland, Germany and Kcandlnavlu. Among these the percentage of education waa high. Only about per cant of tho Germans were illiterate and 1 per cent of the English and Scotch. Only. 3 per cent of the Irish could not read and write, and the same was true of th Finns, while the Illiteracy among the Swedes and Norwegians ran as low as on In a hundred. ' The people we are bringing In now ar almost barbarians In comparison with, those we had a generation ago, and thu question Is. how Uncle Sam Is to tako rare of them and still maintain th hlgli rtandard of American character. . The Great A merle Peril. We talk of the yellow peril and shudder as we think of Chinese and Japan Immigration. I believe one of our great est perils todsy is from Kuropeau Immi- -gratlon. snd also In tho exploitation' of our country by a lot of steamship com panies whose stock la owned In Europe and whose only aim Is to keep up their CMdends. In the past the bulk of . th Immigrants we.U to the west, and their pure, fresh air of America and the smell of old Mother Korth, a part of whom was owned by themselves for the first time, drove the servility of Europe out of their veins, and by association wltu. Americana and contact with American problems they were finally ground, over Into good American cltlxana loiiitiilUi the Cities. Now the Immigrant come In by the million, and 'hundreds of thousands oC Mm .te dropped down Into New York. Philadelphia, Chicago, Hoxton and other big cities. They lead there a life much the same as hi Europe. Many ot then go to the sweatshops, and their blood la thinned by the oust of the factory or mine. They tptak their own languagu and Intermarry, They have their own newspapers and are largely moved by politicians or agitators who preach so- clalbm and anarchism free from re straint. The situation Is, indeed, far diffsrent from anything we have bad in the past, and it becomes more and more serious from year to year. I hav before m the numbers of Immigrants who hav landed hi this country since 1ST2. There hav been, gll told, a8,000.000 or . 000,000, and of them about . one-fourth hav come . In within tho last five yrers. W struck ' the million mark first in Wo. W brought In another l.lOO.OuO in 10. and mora than l.ftO.OQO In lsOT. In the two following years times were hard and there was a decrease, but In we came up to 1,000,. 000 again, and this year we have even more. Can Uncle Sam Hand It? The question bulks big In our prospects for ' the future, and it Is one that should be settled forthwith. FRANK G. CAWENTfcU. , i ; 1