Itinerant Boards
The second measure is proposed by Mr. Brandenburg, who feels sure it would prove the desired remedy. His opinion carries a good deal of weight. His proposal is to "select emigrants before itinerant boards of two, three, or more native-born Americans who speak fluently and understand thoroughly the language and dialects of the people who come before them—these boards to be on a civil service basis," and to sit at stated times in the central cities of the countries whence aliens come.[38] This he believes to be "a correct solution of the gigantic problem." It would keep expense down, avoid opportunities for wholesale corruption of American officials by the transportation interests and the immigrants themselves, and enable the examiners to deny passage to persons desirous of going to districts already over-populated with aliens.
Inspection Abroad
The third measure is in line with the second, but instead of establishing itinerant boards of examiners, it proposes to select fifteen or twenty ports abroad which shall be made exclusive points for the embarkation of emigrants bound for the United States. Mr. Ogg states the plan as follows:
List of Cities
"Perhaps an adequate list would be Hamburg, Bremen, Stettin, Rotterdam, Antwerp, London, Southampton, Liverpool, Havre, St. Nazaire, Marseilles, Fiume, Trieste, Naples, Genoa, and Odessa. At each of these ports should be located an immigrant station, similar, in a general way, to the immigrant stations at our larger Atlantic ports to-day, and it should be made the duty of the resident commissioners, with their staffs of inspectors and medical attachés, to examine carefully and minutely every man, woman, and child of alien nationality who applies for passage to the United States. Successful applicants should be given a certificate which alone would enable them to land at the port of destination; those unsuccessful should be made to understand then and there that, in their present state at least, there is no chance for them to carry out their intention of migration, and that the best thing for them to do is to return to their homes."[39]
Do the Sifting in Europe
This radical plan proposes to transfer Ellis Island, in effect, to a score of points in Europe, and do the sifting before the starting. That would be sensible. Then only the desirable portion would get here. While the idea is radical, it is the outgrowth of years of experience and reflection, and Mr. Ogg says, immigration officials are generally agreed upon its wisdom and practicability. This system, thoroughly carried out, would not only stop all immigration that is illegal, but as much as possible of that which, though not illegal, is questionable and undesirable. More tests applied at this end of the route will be only partially effective, since experience proves that the present tests are evaded. The means of reform, upon which all other immigration reforms must wait, lies in this shifting of the main work of supervision and inspection to Europe. The foreign governments would welcome the plan, or at least accept it if proposed by this country.
What this would Accomplish.
This system would serve to prevent the tragedies of the excluded; would go far toward stopping the pernicious activity of the steamship companies and their enticing emissaries; would facilitate the detection and punishment of those breakers and evaders of the law who are now immune; and it would make possible a quite different and more searching examination of intending immigrants than is possible when the mass of them is poured out at Ellis Island, as through the small end of a funnel. Back to the sources is humane and wise. The expense involved could easily be met by an increased head tax; and if not, this is a case where expense in money is not to be counted in comparison with the country's welfare.