Over her dingy decks march in endless
succession the eager battalions of Europe's peaceful invaders of the
West. That single craft, in her hourly trips from Ellis Island to the
Battery,[13] carries more immigrants in a year than came over in all the
fleets of the nations in the two centuries after John Smith landed at
Jamestown."[14]
[Sidenote: Human Storage Reservoirs]
Reading about the arrivals at Ellis Island, no matter how realistic the
description, will not give a vivid idea of what immigration means nor of
what sort the immigrants are. For that, you must obtain a permit from
the authorities and actually see for yourself the human stream that
pours from the steerage of the mighty steamships into the huge human
storage reservoirs of Ellis Island.[15] We know that however perfect the
system, human nature has to be taken into account, both in officials and
immigrants, and human nature is imperfect; much of it at Ellis Island
is exceedingly difficult to deal patiently with. Hence, from the very
nature of things and men, the situation is one to develop pathos, humor,
comedy, and tragedy, as the great "human sifting machine" works away at
separating the wheat from the chaff.
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