system within its limits. It is true that the State of New York, where two-thirds of the European emigrants land, has inaugurated a system of surveillance at the emigrants' expense, and that some patriotic and philanthropic volunteer societies have also aided the new-comer in various ways, but the Federal Government has until recently taken no steps toward exercising supervision.

In point of fact, not even correct statistics are required by law to be kept of those emigrants that leave the United States in the steerage; which is an important defect for the maintenance of correct emigration statistics. This exodus is moreover considerable, and increasing from year to year. In the steamer Silesia alone were upward of one hundred and fifty steerage-emigrants. The greater number were merely on a visit to their old homes, but some of them intended to remain, and I believe that a law requiring steamship companies to deposit with the collectors of customs a complete passenger-list of all passengers carried is desirable.

THE OCEAN VOYAGE.

Foremost to the comfort of steerage-emigrants is the amount of space which is allowed them. The English and American law provides that at least twelve superficial feet of space shall be allowed to each statutepassenger, which means every person above 10 years of age-children between 1 and 10 years being rated as half passengers, and infants being excluded in the allotment of space.

The statutes of Bremen and Hamburg require an allowance of fourteen square feet of space if the deck is only between five and a half and six feet in height, and for twelve square feet when the decks exceed that height, which is the case in all modernly-constructed steamers. Thus, practically, the laws of England, Germany, and the United States agree upon allowing as a minimum of space twelve superficial feet below deck to each steerage-passenger.

As most steerage-passengers emigrate in families, a very considerable amount of luggage must also be kept within reach, which necessarily takes up considerable of the vacant space. I am fully convinced that no considerable amount of additional comfort can be placed within the reach of the steerage-passenger unless the space is enlarged. Very often stormy weather confines passengers for three or more days below deck, in three compartments, which are crowded with nearly a thousand human beings. Each statute-passenger is compelled to sleep, eat, and exist in a space of one and a third square yard, and close confinement like this cannot be otherwise than injurious to health, and expose them to miseries which no pen can describe. During the days of sea-sickness, when probably one-fourth of these people are vomiting at the same time, the fumes arising aggravate the nausea and prolong the disease. The groans of the sick adults, the moaning of infants, and the cries of a hundred children present a scene which only the master-hand of a Rubens could portray.

Considering the fact that the passenger in the first cabin pays $120, in the second cabin $72, and in the steerage $40, the steerage-passen. ger pays four times more in proportion to that of the two other classes. The passenger of the first class has at least eight times the room of the steerage-passenger, with five meals per day of the most expensive character, the absolute worth of which cannot be less than $3, while the food of the emigrant is at best of the most simple character, the cost of which cannot exceed 25 cents per day.

It has already been pointed out that the separate but concurrent legis lation of the cities of Hamburg and Bremen, and of England and the United States, has settled upon twelve square feet of room as the least possible space to be allowed to cach steerage-passenger; but, notwithstanding the fair professions of the steamship companies, this legisla tive provision is never respected when a larger number of passenger are on hand for transportation. Thus, the steamer Deutschland, on which I returned to the United States, started on a previous voyage from Bremen on the 20th of May with 663 steerage-passengers and 93 cabin-passengers, arriving in New York City on the 1st of June. As the number of superficial square feet of the steerage passenger deck is put down at 5,922, only 104 square feet were allowed to each statute-passenger, thus carrying 125 more passengers than the law allowed. In fact, there were less than nine square feet, or one square yard, allowed to the actual number (663) conveyed.

The Saxonia, which started from Hamburg on the 18th of May, arriv ing at New York on the 4th of June, carried twelve hundred and fiftyseven statute-passengers, which were four hundred and twenty-three and one-half more than the law permitted, on the twelve square feet basis. The Westphalia carried one hundred and fifty-sever, and the Thuringia one hundred and fifty-six passengers in excess of legal limi tation.

The records show that the English lines respect their laws no better, for the City of Paris, for instance, brought an excess of two hundred and fifty-six passengers. In fact, it seems as though organized capital, in the form of corporations, deems itself beyond law, and sweeps it away like a cobweb when it stands between it and large dividends. While claiming all the benfits of the governmental enforcement of the laws of contract against the poor, it respects neither the claims nor needs of humanity; and it is to be hoped that, either through international treaty, or through municipal legislation, means will be devised that will cause the laws of the country to be respected alike by rich and poor.

A number of passengers are still carried by sailing-vessels, and as the passage in these ships is so much more prolonged, a much larger amount of space is necessary than upon steamships; and I believe that at least twenty square feet should be insisted upon, even though it lead to the suppression of the carrying-trade by sailing-vessels entirely. The mortality upon these ships is very great. For instance, the Marco Polo sailed from Bremen with 364 passengers, and was 103 days out, and lost 29 persons by disease during the voyage, of which 23 were children under 8 years of age. The Argonaut was also 43 days out, carrying 423 passengers, of whom ten died-eight being children. The Helene carried 389 passengers, and was out 52 days, and lost 7 passengers. Thus it will be seen that 46 persons died on these three vessels, while it is very rarely that more than one or two deaths occur during a voyage on a steamship.

In regulating the amount of space requisite for steerage-passengers the amount of deck-room on the spar-deck must also be taken into consideration, for it is all-essential that passengers should have the chance to spend most of their time, when not prevented by storm, in the open air. Inasmuch as nearly one-half of the deck is devoted to the use of cabin-passengers, and the forecastle becomes unavailable on account of the frequency of the water pouring over it, and the center of the deck is, in great part, occupied by the smokestacks and ventilators, but a small portion of the deck is available for the use of steerage-passengers; therefore, any law, to be effectual, should specify that, under no circum

stances, should a ship of a certain size carry more than a certain number, to be regulated by the tonnage. At present, quite frequently 1,200 steerage-passengers are carried, and the crew and cabin-passengers swell that number to 1,400 or 1,500. In case of disaster, moreover, the means of egress from the lower decks are not sufficient to permit any considerable number to come on deck. It would take at least twenty minutes, without any confusion or panic, to permit the passengers to come on deck from below through the three hatchways that are to them accessible.

The number of boats carried is moreover entirely insufficient to float that number. The carrying capacity of the life-boats does not exceed 400 even in the best-provided ships. I am informed that it is impracti cable to carry a larger number of boats, with but one exception, that an additional boat might be suspended from the stern of the ship without in any way interfering with its proper management. This deficiency of boats is a very serious question, for had the City of Washington, which was recently wrecked, been overtaken by a rough sea, nearly all the passengers, which it took several hours to transfer to the shore, would have perished. Rafts, supported by India-rubber bags, to be inflated at the proper time, have been suggested; and it seems to me that if there were less indifference, and a more earnest desire to provide means of escape, materials could be collected that would answer in the nature of a raft, and might be the means of saving many valuable lives. Great improvements have been made in the ships more recently constructed to secure better ventilation. A number of large blowers have been introduced, some of which are turned to, and some from, the wind so as to induce a circulation. Having visited the steerage several times each day, particularly early in the morning, I have found that wherever there was a bulk-head or obstruction to a through current of air these means of ventilation did not produce the desired effect. A great quantity of air was injected, but it did not penetrate more than twenty or thirty feet lengthwise, that portion of the space nearest the bulk-head not being penetrated, and therefore the air not changed. I have no doubt that a sea-voyage, when for a number of days the passengers are confined below by stormy weather, is decidedly deleterious to the constitu tion.

In view of these facts I claim that, as the basis of all domestic legislation or of negotiations with foreign powers, a very decided increase of space should be made. The bill introduced by Mr. Conger in the last Congress provided for the allowance of sixteen square feet of space; and although this was denounced by the friends of the steamship companies as so extravagant that they could not submit to it, I submit to the candid consideration of disinterested parties whether this space is not the least possible which should be allotted to human beings for a voyage of fifteen or more days.

I am glad to say that since my last report several improvements in the arrangements of the room occupied in the steerage have been made. Formerly, berths were arranged on each side and in the center of the ship, leaving two narrow and dark passage-ways on both sides, which could scarcely ever be kept clean; but now the berths are placed entirely in two rows above each other on the sides of the ship, leaving but one passage-way, about ten feet in width, in the center, the width of the berth having been reduced to eighteen inches, which leaves scarcely room for a large man to sleep on his side, and makes it impossible for him to turn over without rising during the entire voyage. It is true that by this ensmallment of the berth a little more room has been S. Ex. 23-11

obtained in the center, but I question whether the aggregate comfort has been increased. Passengers, moreover, have no tables or chairs, and many of them have not even a suitable tin vessel wherefrom to eat or wherein to keep their allowance of butter, &c. Some present preserve-cans, quart-measures, and wash-basins, and others use even more unsuitable vessels wherein to receive their meals. Much good could be done without entailing any additional expense upon the steamship companies if they would supply a suitable outfit, including a mattress, for a specified sum; for many passengers, ignorant of what is needed, come on board entirely unprepared, and are therefore put to great inconveni

ence.

SEPARATION OF THE SEXES.

Much has been done to secure a more suitable separation of the sexes. Formerly, all families and single men slept in one great compartment, but a room was set apart of which single women could avail themselves by making application. Comparatively few availed themselves of this ar rangement, and the consequence was that nearly all of them lived in this single compartment. At present, the local agents of the companies are strictly enjoined to inquire whether a woman or man is single, and to sell them tickets marked A and C respectively. The family tickets are marked B. These letters represent three different compartments. A represents the apartment in the rear, and is given to single females. B represents the family apartment in the center, and C the apartment for single men, near the bow. This system has worked quite satisfac torily, and constitutes, probably, the best possible arrangement that can be made under the circumstances. The German steamers carry steerage passengers on the deck below the main deck, being two decks below the spar-deck, and the berths are divided from each other by a board about six inches high, like so many bureau-drawers.

An ocean-steamer is an immense floating hotel; it has three different sets of boarders, an average of 60 in the first cabin, 120 in the second cabin, and from 300 to 700 in the steerage. Although the general system is the same in each line, yet so much is necessarily left to the discretion of the officers that each ship constitutes a community or organi zation by itself, and the character of the captain, purser, doctor, and steward has a very large influence upon the comparative comfort of the passengers. This is so well known that commercial travelers whose business takes them across the ocean frequently have their favorite ships and put themselves to considerable inconvenience for the sake of obtaining a passage on a particular vessel. It is, therefore, not merely necessary that general supervision be had over each line, but that a system of supervision over each steamer that carries large numbers of steerage-emigrants be provided.

The food, although of the plainest description, is on the whole sufficient, and generally well cooked. Both the coffee and tea are of inferior quality, and an improvement in these articles is very desirable. Even if the companies are unwilling to increase the aggregate cost of the provisions furnished, a smaller quantity of meat and a better quality of tea and coffee, as well as the distribution twice a week of some cucumber pickles, would be judicious, and no more expensive.

As to the general treatment of passengers by officers, each ship constitutes a community by itself; but, judging from those which I visited, there is no intention to oppress passengers, but, on the contrary, a disposition to overlook many of their faults.

The officers of the vessels with whom I became acquainted were unanimous in their recommendation that any international law that may be provided should take cognizance of the peculiar relations of the captain to steerage-passengers. At present the captain can only interfere upon the general ground that he is charged with the preservation of order, and the means of the enforcement of order are entirely arbitrary, such as confinement in irons and in a dark room.

Captains would greatly prefer if regulations were made and posted up, pointing out what manner of penalties would be incurred by certain offenses. For instance, smoking in the berths is strictly prohibited, and for the best of reasons, and yet passengers are repeatedly caught smoking in their berths. Now, it is true, the captain could exercise his power and punish the guilty parties, but as his acts are liable to animadversion and misrepresentation, particularly by rival lines, it is felt that the least possible interference with passengers is the only safe method. Again, sometimes passengers are robbed. Thieves have smuggled themselves into the hold, and money or goods are missing. Should not the captain, in these circumstances, be authorized to search suspected parties, or to separate certain parties from the passengers whose conduct against order and decency give good grounds for complaint? At present it is justly said that regulations are only posted up relating to the duties of officers and not to the duties of passengers, which are equally important.

I was gratified to perceive that the police system and the watches at night between-decks have been greatly improved. The number of stewards, whose duty it is to keep the deck clean and to wait upon sick passengers, has been augmented, and the inspections of the captain are much more thorough than they were formerly. A couple of female stewards, or nurses, whose sole duty it should be to wait upon sick women and children, would be very desirable; and although there is much difficulty in obtaining the proper persons, owing to the hardships of a steerage voyage, and the small returns in presents which can be expected, still humanity requires that the company pay a sufficient sum, so as to secure suitable persons for that purpose. I think, moreover, that officers should be especially. authorized to insist upon personal cleanliness as far as circumstances admit. It is a well-founded complaint that many passengers will not keep themselves clean, and by throwing meats and other things upon the decks keep them in a constant state of filth. It is also almost impossible to keep the water-closets clean, though they are cleansed several times each day. This want of personal cleanliness is a cause of very great annoyance to those who are disposed to be clean, but it is found almost impossible to prevent the vermin from infesting all the occupants of the steerage-decks.

The effect of the law, which is strictly enforced, compelling the payment of ten dollars for every steerage-passenger that dies on the voyage, has had a most happy effect in diminishing the number of deaths, and I believe that a similar forfeit, to be collected by the collector, for all passengers carried in excess of the number prescribed by law, would be a simple and efficient means of restraining undue and excessive overcrowding. Thus, while making every allowance for the necessary dif ficulties and hardships of an ocean-voyage, and seeking to enforce no unreasonable or expensive requirements, I believe that much can be done by judicious legislation to augment the safety and comfort of passengers, without too greatly intrenching upon the profits of the carrying-trade.