For some time past the quarters in which your society receives immigrants have been maintained in a condition of almost indescribable filth, and ordinary sanitary requirements have been disregarded. * These facts have, at various times in 1908 and 1909, been reported to a congressional committee by government agents, who went to the house in order to investigate it. The same atrocious conditions were on August 9, 1909, again witnessed and reported to me by an inspector of this office. That all of these government agents have been conservative in their statements is now conclusively proved by an investigation conducted a few days ago by the health department of the city of New York, which shows the home's quarters to be grossly insanitary and filthy, some of them being offensive with decomposing animal and vegetable matter. As a result, appropriate orders will be issued by the health department. In view of what precedes, I am amazed that you should have cared to write me under date of August 11, 1909, that "now the house is in a clean, good condition." The food furnished in the majority of the homes investigated was wholesome, plentiful, and nourishing; but in some cases it was very bad, lacking much in quality, quantity, and variety. That a number of the homes were conducted as regular money-making enterprises, rather than as philanthropic institutions, was shown by the filthy and insanitary conditions which prevailed in them and by the rates which they charged for food and lodging. Investigation proved that the quoted rates were often much lower than those which were actually charged. In order to have full information concerning the management of the homes, the Commission sent a letter to the president of the board of trustees, or other responsible official, of each home, asking him to state by what body the home was controlled; how this controlling body was chosen; to whom it was responsible; how frequently it inspected the home; how the controlling body selected the superintendent and other members of the staff of the home; what financial reports concerning the home were rendered to the controlling body; whether the home paid its own expenses, and in case it yielded a profit what use was made of the same, and in case of a deficit who provided for the same. It would seem from the replies received that the majority of immigrant homes are well supervised and inspected and that their superintendents and staffs are chosen with a sufficient degree of care. The results of the Commission's investigation, however, hardly support this conclusion. The investigation showed that very bad conditions existed in homes which, according to the letters received, were frequently inspected and closely supervised and whose superintendents and staffs were carefully chosen. It was found that in a good many instances the controlling bodies of homes are not in touch with the situation which actually prevails in these homes and that they do not appreciate their responsibility for the bad conditions which exist in them. DISCHARGE OF IMMIGRANT WOMEN AND GIRLS BY IMMIGRANT HOMES AND AID SOCIETIES. The chief evil in the present situation with respect to immigrant homes and aid societies is the insufficient amount of care which these institutions exercise in discharging young women and girls who have been placed in their charge by the immigration authorities. It is obvious that a heavy responsibility rests upon the institutions assum ing charge of this class of immigrants. This responsibility means, of course, the adequate protection of the women and girls while they are inmates of the institutions, but it also means the full protection of these immigrants when they leave the institutions to go out into employment. It is the duty of immigrant homes and aid societies to see that the women and girls intrusted to them by the immigration authorities shall, in turn, be discharged by them only under circumstances and conditions that will make it unlikely that these persons will become a public charge. It is particularly the duty of these institutions to see that, when the young women and girls go out into employment, they shall go to positions and surroundings that will not be detrimental to their morals. That the majority of immigrant homes and aid societies do not recognize these duties as binding upon them, and do not exercise a sufficient amount of care in discharging the young women and girls who are intrusted to them, was conclusively shown in the course of this investigation. It has been explained that one feature of the investigation of each home was to have one of the Commission's women investigators go to the home and ask the manager or other member of the staff to supply her with a girl for work as a servant in an alleged "sporting house or "fast house." Of the total number of homes investigated by the Commission only about one-sixth refused to place girls in such immoral surroundings. One-half of the homes actually supplied the girls asked for. Some of the homes said that they had no girls at the time, but they would be glad to supply the demand later. A few said that they had no girls and advised the investigator to go to some other home or to an employment agency. Some of the managers supplying girls for alleged "sporting houses" urged the girls to do just what their mistresses told them to do and to try to give satisfaction. One woman manager said that the Lord had probably sent the girl supplied and the woman employer to the home at the same time, and added that she supposed the latter's "house" was all right. The investigator replied that her house had "never been raided" and was "well protected by the police; " whereupon the manager said that sometimes there were "temptations," and she hoped that the girl would get along all right. One woman manager advised the girl to shut her eyes to the things she did not like, and said that unless things were very bad she did not wish to see her back at the home again within six months. Another told the girl that there would probably be many men around the woman's house, but she should not pay any attention to them; and added that, in her own opinion, it was the girl who always made the first advances. A few of the managers told the girls to return if they did not like the places to which they were sent. In order to ascertain the degree of care exercised in this respect by aid societies which did not maintain homes, 21 missionaries and representatives of such societies were asked by one of the Commission's women investigators to supply her with a girl for work as a servant in an alleged sporting house" or "fast house," which was "well protected by the police," and had "never been raided." Seven men (three of whom were or had been clergymen) and four women supplied the girls; one man made every effort to do so, but the girls refused to take the place; one woman agreed to furnish girls, but failed to do so; two men said they could not supply girls, but one of them gave the name and address of a girl who might be secured, and the other directed the investigator to an employment agency which he said would supply the girls. One woman said she understood the applicant's "house was immoral, and that it would be on her conscience if she sent a girl to such a place. When offered $10, the woman said that her society was expected to get places for girls free of charge. The investigator then remarked that money was a good thing, whereupon the woman replied that if the money was put in the form of a present she would take it. Only two men (one of whom was a clergyman) and three women refused outright to place girls in such employment.) One of the three clergymen who supplied girls, made immoral proposals to the girl supplied (an employee of the Commission, who had asked the clergyman to help her to get a situation), explained to her the bad character of the house into which he was sending her, and said that he would come to see her that night. In order to make the inquiry into this feature of the situation as complete as possible, it was found necessary, as previously explained in this report, to investigate a certain number of employment agencies, the majority of which were either operated in connection with immigrant homes or aid societies or recommended to immigrants by the representatives of homes and societies. Out of 22 employment agencies having a proper legal status, i. e., licensed under the law, only five refused to place girls in situations likely to be detrimental to their morals. Seventeen of these agencies supplied girls for work in an alleged "sporting house" or "fast house," or other establishment the description of which plainly showed its alleged immoral character. Three employment agencies which were unlicensed, but which were recommended by members of the staffs of homes and aid societies, readily supplied girls for the alleged "sporting houses," and the man who conducted one of the agencies explained to the girl supplied the immoral character of the place to which she was being sent. These unlicensed agencies violated the law by charging fees. These fees, of $1 or $2, were collected from employer or employee, and sometimes from both. It is believed that in practically every case where girls were supplied to investigators for work as servants in alleged disorderly houses the persons supplying them fully understood the alleged bad character of the places to which they were asked to send the girls. The investigators always took pains to describe their "houses" in terms that would clearly indicate the immoral character of the surroundings in which the girls would be placed, and to this end interpreters were employed whenever necessary. Of all the missionaries, representatives, and managers of homes, aid societies, and employment agencies who were asked to supply girls for this kind of work, only five persons-one woman who was a servant temporarily in charge of a home, one missionary who was not connected with a home, and three women who were in charge of institutions that sometimes housed immigrant women-apparently misunderstood the investigators' explanations with regard to the character of the "houses" which they operated. Even in these cases it is to be remarked that the persons who were asked to supply girls surely ought to have understood the representations which were made to them. It is obvious that missionaries, representatives, and managers of philanthropic institutions in large cities, whose business and duty it is to give moral protection to young women, are not fully qualified to give such protection if they do not understand the meaning of such expressions as "a fast house," "a sporting house," "a house that has never been raided," or "a house that is well protected by the police." There is one way at least in which these institutions can and should more carefully protect the morals of the young women and girls whom they send out into employment. If they do not know the character of the places to which they are asked to send girls, they ought at least to investigate carefully and find out about these places before allowing the girls to go to them. This applies not only to the case of friendless girls who go into employment, but also to the case of girls who leave the institutions to go to the addresses of supposed relatives or friends. In order to test the degree of care exercised in this regard by immigrant homes, the Commission made an investigation of the addresses of 228 immigrant girls who were discharged by the immigration authorities to the missionaries and representatives of 11 homes and reported upon by the managers of these homes as having been placed at the addresses indicated. These addresses were taken at random from the official reports of the homes, and were investigated within one to seven months from the dates on which the girls left the homes. One hundred and seventy-eight of these addresses were correct, for the girls were, or had been, at the addresses stated. Of the remaining 50 addresses, 39 were false, for the girls had evidently never been at the addresses given; 2 were houses in which there were prostitutes who were night-court cases; 1 was a house of prostitution known by the police as a "call house; and 8 were fictitious-i. e., nonexistent addresses. Not only should immigrant homes and aid societies carefully investigate the addresses to which they are asked to send girls before complying with such requests, but they ought also to make an investigation of these addresses after the girls leave their care to go to them. If they find that some of the girls never reached the places to which they were sent, they should report this fact to the immigration authorities. Out of the total number of homes investigated by the Commission, only one adequately protected immigrant girls by investigating the addresses to which the girls were sent both before and after the girls left the institution. Since the investigation was made the Commissioner of Immigration at Ellis Island has taken vigorously in hand the question of immigrant homes and societies, has verified many of the Commission's conclusions by later independent investigations, and by vigorous action has stopped many of the most flagrant abuses. In several cases he excluded representatives of the homes from the station till complete reformation had been secured. The homes are now regularly inspected, official escorts to their destinations in the city are furnished at nominal rates to immigrants needing them, and conditions are greatly improved. |