Rate cutting has at times made it possible for the steerage passenger to
go from Liverpool to New York for as low as $8.75. The average rate is
not high enough to deter anyone who really wants to come. An English
line, in return for establishing a line direct from a Mediterranean
port, has secured from the Hungarian government a guarantee of 30,000
immigrants a year from its territory.
[Sidenote: Solicitation Law Violated]
The law forbids transportation companies or the owners of vessels to
"directly or through agents, either by written, printed, or oral
solicitations, solicit, invite, or encourage the immigration of any
aliens into the United States except by ordinary commercial letters,
circulars, advertisements, or oral representations, stating the sailings
of their vessels and terms and facilities of transportation therein."
That this restrictive provision is persistently evaded is made plain by
the reports of government inspectors sent abroad to investigate. The
annual migration involves more than a hundred millions of dollars, and
where money is to be made law is easily disobeyed.
[Sidenote: The Ubiquitous and Unscrupulous "Runner"]
One of the inspectors says the chief evil in this solicitation business
is the so-called "runner.
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