Immigration and the Commissioners of Emigration of the state of New York/Chapter 5
CHAPTER V.
THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF EMIGRATION OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
THE extortions and frauds which, in all the forms that rapacity Necessity of legislation for protection of emigrants made apparentcould invent or suggest, had been practised for many years, finally, in 1845 and 1846, assumed such fearful proportions, and became the object of such general abhorrence, that legislation for the protection of emigrants seemed the only possible remedy. The community finally began to understand that it had to suffer in the same if not in a greater proportion than the emigrants them selves, if the latter were not secured from the cupidity of the runners and mercenary attempts of the agents. Thus humanity and sound policy equally indicated the necessity for a thorough change of the old system, and a strong desire manifested itself among all political parties to reform the existing laws.
The problem to be solved was to protect the new-comer, to prevent him from being robbed, to facilitate his passage through the city to the interior, to aid him with good advice, and, in cases of most urgent necessity, to furnish him with a small amount of money; in short, not to treat him as a pauper, with the ultimate view of making him an inmate of the Almshouse, but as an independent citizen, whose future career would become interwoven with the best interests of the country.
There were two adverse interests at work desirous of controlling Adverse interests seeking control of emigration and regulating all measures relating to the emigrant. The city authorities, and especially the Almshouse Commissioners, endeavored to have concentrated in their own hands the right to provide remedies and suggest reforms. Their sphere of action did not extend beyond the city limits; all they cared for was an increase of their power by resuscitating and amending the existing laws. On the other hand, there were a number of leading and public-spirited citizens, journalists, merchants, influential members of the Chamber of Commerce, and philanthropists, who, being impressed with the necessity of a radical change and a more liberal legislation for the benefit of the emigrant, were opposed to the action of the city officials. Among the latter, Comptroller Ewen, Assistant Alderman Purser, and the Almshouse Commissioners were the most active, while, among the citizens at large, Messrs. Leopold Bierwirth, Robert B. Minturn, Thurlow Weed, Andrew Carrigan, and Archbishop Hughes labored with untiring zeal and energy.
Creation of Board of Commissioners of Emigration by Act of May 5, 1847, and causes thereofThe efforts of both parties finally led to the Act of May 5, 1847, creating the Board of the Commissioners of Emigration of the State of New York. This result, however, was just the reverse of what had been intended at the beginning by the city authorities. In order to enable the reader to properly understand the operations of the conflicting interests, it is necessary to give a short statement of the means by which the Legislature was induced to pass the above act.
The Common Council, at the conclusion of their investigation of the frauds committed by the Clerk of the Mayor, became fully convinced of the pecuniary importance of the subject of emigration. Since 1842, not a year passed without some effort on their part to correct the most flagrant of the abuses practised on the emigrants, and to extend to them more effectual protection; but, however well-meaning; some members of the Common Council were, the influence of those who lived by fleecing the poor aliens was sufficient to, and did, control the majority, and thus repressed every attempt to effect the much-needed reform.
From 1845 to 1847, all the efforts of the city officials were exclusively directed towards having the Mayor vested with the power of bonding and commuting alien passengers.
Recommendations of Comptroller Ewen and Alderman PurserThus, in his Report for 1845, the Comptroller, General John Ewen, recommended application to the Legislature for an amendment of the law, so as to authorize the Mayor to require the payment of one dollar for each of the alien steerage passengers in lieu of bonding them, in all cases where he should deem it for the public interest to do so. He prepared the draft of a law to effect this object, and submitted it to the Common Council, which advocated its adoption during the session of the Legislature in 1846.
On September 29, 1846, Mr. G. H. Purser, then an Alderman, who took a lively interest in the subject, reported, as Chairman of a select Committee of the Common Council, among other things, as follows:
"To avoid the importation of persons utterly unable to maintain themselves, from infirmity of mind or body, and who must necessarily become a permanent charge, your Committee believe that discretionary power should be given to the Mayor to exact bonds in such cases, but distinctly divesting the bondsmen of any authority to maintain them at any private irresponsible establishment. Nearly two millions of dollars being now annually expended in the transportation of passengers to this port alone, it appears unreasonable that the tax-payer should be burdened in proportion to the benefits conferred on a particular class of the community. Voluntarily the passenger agents will never permit the commutation-money which they receive to pass into the city treasury.
"The unceasing hostility of these men towards any modification of the law was indicated in their unscrupulous exertions last winter (1846), at Albany, to postpone the action of the Legislature on the subject. The draft of a law submitted by the Comptroller, and approved unanimously by the Common Council, was permitted to fail without even defence or examination. The Law lobbied through Legislature for benefit of passenger-brokerspassenger-brokers even succeeded in getting through the Legislature a law exclusively for their own benefit, and under circumstances which we hope may be eventually exposed. An amount of fifty cents per head is levied upon every steerage, and two dollars upon every cabin passenger, and designated hospital-money; and for many years, instead of being applied to the support of the emigrant in sickness or destitution, has been appropriated to the building of churches and the maintenance of sailor boarding-houses. The law, lobbied through the Legislature, provides that the Marine Hospital at Staten Island shall receive the alien passengers, when sick, for the period of one year after arrival, though previously this burden devolved upon the bondsmen, who thus increase their profits to the extent of five thousand dollars annually. During the next session of our Legislature, we trust this fund may command the attention of our delegation, and that it may be applied to uses better calculated to lighten the taxation of our citizens.
"Your Committee feel convinced that as a financial measure the subject is important, and that some policy should be adopted of a permanent character. There is every reason to believe that emigration to this port will increase rather than diminish, and that legislation should equally regard the interest of the city and the emigrant. To repose the duty of alleviating the sufferings of the alien stranger to a class of men prompted by every selfish consideration to avoid the responsibility, is to legalize a system of outrage and oppression. The claims of the sick and destitute should be entertained and relieved by the authorities of our city, and not be decided by those interested in denial or delay.
"Your Committee have before them a memorial in favor of the proposed alteration of the law, signed by the acting presidents of the Irish, German, British, Scotch, and Welsh emigrant societies, which states that the change would increase the revenues of the city, and secure the emigrants from the frauds now practised upon them. Resolutions adopted at a large public meeting evince that the subject is one of public interest.
"The sympathies of the adopted citizens have been enlisted especially in this question from the peculiar opportunity they enjoy of becoming familiar with the workings of the present system, and a natural desire which they entertain not only to secure the emigrant from the treatment to which he has been for years exposed, but gradually to establish a fund from commutation adequate to the maintenance of the alien poor.
"For these reasons, a law should be passed, authorizing the Mayor or Recorder to require the payment of a commutation fee of one dollar for each passenger, or bonds at his election. The law might be rendered still more advantageous by requiring that each surety to any bond taken under the act duly make oath at the time of becoming surety that he is a householder, resident in the city of New York, intending to reside there permanently, and worth the sum or sums in which he is bound, over and above all his debts, and over and above all liabilities, whether by bond or suretyship, or otherwise.
"The propriety of reserving to the Corporation the power of requiring passengers to be bonded in certain cases appears obvious on examining the history of emigration, and the unscrupulous conduct of European governments and cities in transferring to our country aged and decrepit paupers, and occasionally even criminals. Without this provision to arrest abuses so obviously calculated to demoralize the community and increase the burden of taxation, any change in the law would be impolitic. The admission of such persons would bring odium, however unmerited, upon the industrious and intelligent emigrant, and, as far as your Committee had the opportunity of consulting the opinions of citizens by adoption, they appeared strongly in favor of the proposed restriction."
On January 18, 1847, the Comptroller recommended to the Common Council that a further application be made to the Legislature for the passage of a law, vesting in the Mayor the power of commuting or bonding alien passengers. "As the enactment of this law," says the Comptroller, "will afford partial indemnity to the city, without drawing a dollar from the treasury of the State or imposing any additional burden upon the immigrants, it is believed that a very moderate degree of interest on the part of the City Delegation in the Legislature will serve to secure its passage."
By this time, public opinion had become aroused to the importance Public opinion aroused; efforts of Messrs Minturn, Weed, Carrigan, and Archbishop Hughesof the proposed changes. The subject was discussed in the Chamber of Commerce of New York, and the opposition to the insufficient measures suggested by the Common Council took a definite form early in the session of 1847, in a letter written by Robert B. Minturn, a distinguished merchant of New York, to Mr. Thurlow Weed, the influential editor of the Albany Evening Journal. Mr. Weed for two or three years previously had been doing what he could individually, and through the columns of the Journal, for the protection of the immigrants, whose sufferings he had daily occasion to witness at Albany, where the canal boat-runners were, if possible, still more hungry and rapacious than the boarding-house scalpers in New York.
In consequence of Mr. Minturn's letter, which first took a comprehensive view of the subject, Mr. Weed went to New York to confer with Mr. Minturn, Mr. Andrew Carrigan, and the late Archbishop Hughes, in regard to the details of a law which should Alarm of Almshouse Commissionersfully secure the emigrant. These preliminary steps alarmed the Almshouse Commissioners, to whom the power, both in a pecuniary and political sense, was of too much value to be surrendered. Those Commissioners induced the Common Council to press the immediate passage of a law to protect emigrants from fraud and imposition. That, however, was simply a flank movement. The provisions of their bill merely kept the word of promise to the ear of the emigrants. In the meantime, the real friends of reform prepared a substitute, which, when the Assembly bill came to the Senate, was offered by Senator F. F. Backus, from Monroe County. The various influences unfavorably affected by the substitute offered by Dr. Backus united and made desperate efforts to defeat it. An earnest but unsuccessful party appeal was made to senators by the late John Van Buren and other distinguished politicians.
Resolutions of Common Council urging on Senate the adoption of a law to protect New York City and alien passengersAlarmed at the aspect of the question in the Senate, the New York Common Council, on March 15, 1847, took up this important subject, and passed a series of resolutions for the purpose of submitting them to a public meeting, to be called irrespective of party. The Mayor approved these resolutions on March 17, 1847:
"Whereas," they say in their proceedings, "The number of emigrant passengers annually arriving at this port has steadily advanced from 11,501 in 1829 to 114,000 in 1846; and
"Whereas, The Passenger Act adopted in 1824, by imposing the bonding system exclusively, has gradually enabled mercenary brokers and agents to assume the charge and custody of the sick and destitute stranger, and from various causes greatly increased the burdens of taxation; and
"Whereas, The annual expenses of the Almshouse Department have now reached the enormous sum of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars; during the month of January, five thousand three hundred and forty-three persons being sustained at the expense of the city, and out-door relief extended to nearly three thousand; and "Whereas, A bill correcting these important evils, and protecting the interests of the city and the emigrant, has been recently passed with great unanimity by the Assembly of this State, with the concurrence of the Common Council, and various emigrant societies, irrespective of party, but has been arrested in the Senate, either from misunderstanding the nature and magnitude of the evil, or from the influence of those pecuniarily interested in its defeat, and whose profits are partially derived from the injustice and inhumanity connected with the present system; therefore,
"Resolved, That the Common Council earnestly and confidently urge on the Senate the prompt adoption of a law which may afford protection to the city and the alien passengers, and which, by providing a uniform commutation fee of one dollar for every industrious emigrant, and making it the duty of public authorities to retain them in the event of sickness and destitution, will effectually prevent the extortions now practised in Europe in relation to the rates of commutation, and secure them, on their arrival, from the treatment to which they are now exposed in private almshouses and hospitals.
"Resolved, That the bonding reserved under the proposed law is expressly for the 'infirm, decrepit, and those likely to be come a permanent charge,' and is a distinct, plain, and reasonable provision, calculated to prevent the kingdoms of Europe indiscriminately introducing into our city persons from their respective poor-houses, physically and mentally incapacitated for labor, to become necessarily a permanent charge upon our public or private charities.
"Resolved, That his Honor the Mayor be requested to call a public meeting of the citizens, irrespective of party, to take this subject into consideration, and urge on the Legislature the necessity and justice of prompt action.
"Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed from both Boards to make arrangements for such public meeting, and prepare suitable memorials to the Legislature."
The meeting alluded to in the foregoing resolutions was called Mass Meeting at Tabernacle to support views of Common Councilfor March 22, 1847, to be held at the Tabernacle in Broadway.
Mr. Carrigan, on learning the names of two prominent Democrats who had been spoken of to preside at the meeting, called on them, and frankly and fairly stated the merits of the whole question. Those gentlemen declined to serve; and, finally, Mr. Charles O'Conor was designated. Mr. O'Conor, before taking the chair, had made himself acquainted with the merits of the two bills, and unhesitatingly approved of that submitted by Dr. Backus. The speakers named for the occasion were Messrs. Charles O'Conor and John McKeon, each of whom was expected to sustain the views of the Almshouse Commissioners and the Common Council. These speakers also, in preparing themselves for the occasion, possessed themselves of information which entirely changed the programme.
Meeting controlled by independent citizensThe Tabernacle was densely filled at an early hour. The question to be passed upon having in the meantime been extensively discussed, the independent citizens took the matter into their own hands, and the majority of those present, instead of responding to the principles of the bill urged by the Common Council, were in favor of a law which, while it looked to the protection of the city, had regard also for the welfare of emigrants. For this reason, the nomination first of Mr. Campbell, then of Alderman Purser, who were in favor of the Common Council's bill, for chairman, was rejected, and, on motion of Mr. Carrigan, Charles O'Conor was called to the chair by acclamation, and, on the same gentleman's motion, Charles H. Marshall, Moses H. Grinnell, James B. Nicholson, and G. W. Blunt were appointed Secretaries. James T. Brady and Alderman Purser addressed the meeting for the Common Council, the latter offering resolutions in support of the bill. John McKeon took a broader and more philanthropic view of the question, and submitted the following resolutions, which after those offered by Alderman Purser had been rejected, were adopted by an emphatic majority:
Resolutions of Mr. John McKeon advising creation of a per capita tax and appointment of commissioners to administer the fund."Whereas, The law of this State relative to passengers arriving at the port of New York, as at present administered, has failed alike to afford indemnity to the city and protection to the emigrant, causing a traffic in their sufferings which is abhorrent to humanity, creating private hospitals and poor-houses, which give to the emigrant neither the food nor care proper to their situation, and deny to their dying hours even the consolation of religion; and, whereas, a bill has passed the House of Assembly, which tends in some measure to remedy these evils, and is now before the Senate of the State, awaiting its action;
"Resolved, That, in the opinion of this meeting, any and all legislation on this subject should be directed in that course which, while it but advances the interests of the emigrant, will have reference to the complete indemnity of the city and State from their support, and will not, at the same time, by imposing unnecessary burdens on the honest ship-owner, tend to enhance the price of passage and retard immigration from lands of starvation to lands of plenty.
"Resolved, That the enactment of a law requiring, from the master or consignee of any vessel arriving at this port with foreign emigrants, the sum of one dollar for each and every passenger, with the privilege of exacting instead thereof, in cases of mental or physical incapacity for self-support, where, from the total want of relatives and friends, such persons are liable to become charges to the city or State, bonds which will secure the city or State for their support, will create a fund which, properly administered, will not only relieve the city and State from a heavy burden, but will greatly benefit the emigrant.
"Resolved, That, in the opinion of this meeting, it would be advisable to separate the receipt and disbursement of the fund so to be created from the rest of the city revenue, and place the same in the hands of commissioners, whose high character and moral integrity would, apart from all political considerations, be the guarantee for the proper administration of their duties.
"Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed to proceed to Albany, and urge upon the Legislature the passage of a law Conformable to the policy of the preceding resolutions."
On motion of Mr. McKee, it was
"Resolved, That the chair proceed to appoint the Committee."
The Chairman then announced the following gentlemen as the Committee: James Lee, George Montgomery, Mortimer Livingston, Theodore Sedgwick, and Andrew Carrigan.
On motion,
"Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be authenticated, and transmitted to the Senate and Assembly of the State of New York."
Efforts of Mr. Carrigan to secure passage of billOf the committee above named, Mr. Carrigan alone went to Albany, and in a great measure it is due to his indefatigable exertions that the Legislature finally passed the people's bill.
The Common Council likewise appointed a committee to proceed to Albany and oppose the passage of the bill. On that committee were two Whig aldermen, namely, Abraham Wakeman and Thomas McElrath. These two aldermen were the personal and political friends of Mr. Weed. The attention of neither had been previously directed to the enormous frauds to which emigrants were subjected. But as they were just and fair men, the facts, when presented to them, had the effect produced upon all impartial minds. Messrs. Wakeman and McElrath returned immediately to New York, and reported themselves in favor of the measure which they had been sent to Albany to oppose.
The bill introduced by Dr. Backus and drafted by Senator Ira Harris had the support, with one exception, of all the Whig senators. That exception was the Hon. George Folsom, of New Bill passed by the casting vote of Lieut.-Gov. GardinerYork. It required the votes of eight Democratic senators, of which number seven only could be obtained, and this occasioned a tie vote, so that the bill was finally passed by the casting vote of the Lieutenant-Governor. That Lieutenant-Governor was the Hon. Addison Gardiner, of Rochester. Judge Gardiner, though greatly and deservedly esteemed by his Democratic friends, was accused by the excited opponents of the bill with listening too readily to the representations of Mr. Weed, with, whom the Lieutenant-Governor had been for many years on terms of warm personal friendship. The simple truth was that Judge Gardiner was too enlightened and philanthropic to allow any considerations but those of justice and duty to influence his action upon such a question. The same motives and feelings prompted Mr. John E. Develin, of the Assembly, to give his voice and vote for the bill. The bill was finally saved by the casting vote of Lieutenant-Governor Gardiner. The highest praise, however, for their indefatigable and successful services in the cause of humanity belongs to Messrs. Thurlow Weed and Andrew Carrigan. Both these gentlemen received, of course, more than their share of abuse from the politicians of New York for the stand they had taken.
"For an effort made to reform these great wrongs," said Mr. Weed on a later occasion, "I encountered the combined hostility of the scalpers; was threatened with personal assault, and deluged with libel suits. On one occasion, I was required to appear, on the same day, before seven magistrates in seven different and distant towns."
The said bill became a law on May 5, 1847, and still remains First Emigrant Commissionersthe law of the State. The first Emigrant Commissioners were Gulian C. Verplanck, James Boorman, Jacob Harvey, Robert B. Minturn, William F. Havemeyer, and David C. Colden. In the bill as reported by the Committee, a blank was left for the names of the Commissioners. On the morning of the day that the bill was to come up as a special order, Mr. Carrigan and Mr. Weed met at the house of the Hon. Ira Harris, the Chairman of the committee that reported the bill, to designate Commissioners. It was understood between them that gentlemen of high intelligence, stern integrity, and proverbial benevolence only should be appointed Commissioners; and then, without indicating names, each privately wrote the number to be appointed on a slip of paper. On comparing names, all those found on Mr. Carrigan's slip, with one exception, were found also upon Mr. Weed's, who had named Mr. Carrigan instead of Mr. Harvey. Mr. Carrigan a year later succeeded Mr. Havemeyer in the Board, and, after five years service, he was elected President of the Irish Emigrant Society, and thus continued his connection with the Commission as an ex-officio member for about twelve years.
The principal features of the act creating the Board of the Commissioners of Emigration, which, since its passage on May 5, 1847, have been amended several times, in their present shape read as follows:
"§1. Within twenty-four hours after the landing of any passenger Emigration act Report to be made of all passengersfrom any ship or vessel arriving at the port of New York, from any of the United States other than this State, or from any country out of the United States, the master or commander of the ship or vessel from which such passenger or passengers shall have been landed shall make a report in writing, on oath or affirmation, to the Mayor of the city of New York, or, in case of his absence, or other inability to serve, to the person discharging the duties of his office, which report shall state the name, place of birth, last legal residence, age, and occupation of every person or passenger who shall have landed from such ship or vessel on her last voyage to said port, not being a citizen of the United States, and who shall have, within the last twelve months, arrived from any country out of the United States, at any place within the United States, and who shall not have paid the commutation money, or been bonded according to the provisions of this act, or of the act hereby amended, or of the act of February eleventh, eighteen hundred and twenty-four, concerning passengers in vessels coming to the port of New York, nor paid commutation money under the provisions of this or any former act. The same report shall contain a like statement of all such persons or passengers aforesaid as shall have been landed, or been suffered to land, from any such ship or vessel at any place during such last voyage, or who shall have been put on board, or suffered to go on board, of any other ship, vessel, or boat, with the intention of proceeding to and landing at the said city of New York, or elsewhere within the limits of this State. The said report shall further specify whether any of the said passengers so reported are lunatic, idiot, deaf, dumb, blind, infirm, maimed, or above the age of sixty years, also designating all such passengers as shall be under the age of thirteen, or widows having families, or women without husbands having families, with the names and ages of their families, and shall further specify particularly the names, last place of residences, and ages of all passengers who may have died during the said last voyage of such vessel, also the names and residences of the owner or owners of such vessel. In case any such master or commander shall omit or neglect to report as aforesaid any such person or passenger, with the particulars aforesaid, or shall make any false report or statement in respect to any such person or passenger, or in respect to the owner or owners of any such vessel, or in respect to any of the particulars hereinbefore specified, such master or commander shall forfeit the sum of seventy-five dollars for every such passenger in regard to whom any such omission or neglect shall have occurred, or any such false report or statement shall be made, for which the owner or owners, consignee or consignees, of every such ship or vessel shall also be liable, jointly and severally, and which may be sued for and recovered as hereinafter provided.
"§2. It shall be the duty of the said Mayor, or other person Owner or consignee of ship or vessel to give a several bond for each person or passenger named in reportdischarging the duties of his office aforesaid, by an endorsement to be made on the said report, to require the owner or consignee of the ship or vessel from which such persons were landed, to give a several bond to the people of the State, in a penalty of three hundred dollars for each and every person or passenger included in such report, such bond being secured as hereinafter provided, and conditioned to indemnify and save harmless the Commissioners of Emigration and each and every city, town, or county in this State from any cost which said Commissioners or such city, town, or county shall incur for the relief or support of the person named in the bond, within five years from the date of such bond, and also to indemnify and refund to the said Commissioners of Emigration any expense or charge they may necessarily incur for the support or medical care of the persons named therein, if received into the Marine Hospital or any other institution under their charge. Each and every bond shall be Each bond to be secured by two or more securitiessecured by two or more sufficient securities, being residents of the State of New York, each of whom shall prove by oath or otherwise that he is owner of a freehold in the State of the value of three hundred dollars over and above all or any claim or lien thereon, or against him, including therein any contingent claim which may accrue from or upon any former bond given under the provisions of this act; or such bond may, at the option of the party, be secured by mortgage of real-estate, or by the pledge and transfer of public stock of the United States or of the State of New York, or of the city of New York, or by deposit of the amount of penalty in some bank or trust company; such security, real or personal, having been first approved by the said Mayor. It shall be lawful for any owner or consignee, at any time within twenty-four hours after the landing of such persons or passengers from any ship or vessel in the Owner or consignee may commute for the bondsport of New York, except as in the section hereinafter provided, to commute for the bond or bonds so required, by paying (to the Health Commissioner of the city of New York) the sum of two dollars and fifty cents[1] for each and every passenger Commutation moneyreported by him as by law required; the receipt of such sum (by said Health Commissioner) shall be deemed a full and sufficient discharge from the requirements of giving bonds as above provided. And fifty cents of the amount commuted for any passenger or passengers shall be set aside as a separate fund for the benefit of each and every county in this State, except the county of New York. The Commissioners of Emigration shall deposit the moneys of said fund, so set apart, in any bank that the said Commissioners may select, and the same, or as much of it as may be necessary, shall be distributed to the several counties, except the county of New York, once in every three months, and the balance that may be left after such three months payment shall be paid over to the Commissioners of Emigration for general purposes.
Condition of passengers to be examined into"§3. It shall be the duty of the Commissioners of Emigration, hereafter named, to examine into the condition of passengers arriving at the port of New York in any ship or vessel, and for that purpose all or any of the said Commissioners, or such other person or persons as they shall appoint, shall be authorized to go on board and through any such ship or vessel; and if on such examination there shall be found among such passengers any lunatic, idiot, deaf, dumb, blind, maimed, or infirm persons, or persons above the age of sixty years, or widow with a child or children, or any woman without a husband, and with child or children, or any person unable to take care of himself or herself without becoming a public charge, or who, from any attending circumstances, are likely to become a public charge, or who, from sickness or disease, existing at the time of departure from the foreign port, are, or are likely soon to become, a public charge, they shall report the same to the said Mayor particularly, and thereupon, and unless a bond, as required in the second section of this act, shall have been given, the said Mayor, or the person discharging the duties of his office, shall require in the endorsement to be made as aforesaid, or in any subsequent endorsement or endorsements thereon, and in addition to the commutation money, that the owner or consignee of such ship or vessel, with one or more sufficient sureties, shall execute a joint and several bond to the people of the State in a penalty of five hundred dollars for every such passenger, conditioned to indemnify and save harmless the Commissioners of Emigration, and each and every city, town, or county within the State, from any further cost or charge which said Commissioners, or any such city, town, or county, shall incur for the maintenance or support of the person or persons named in such bond, or any of them, within five years from the date of such bond. The sureties of the said bonds shall be required to justify before and to the satisfaction of the officer making such endorsement, and by their oath or affirmation shall satisfy such officer that they are respectively residents of the State of New York, and worth double the amount of the penalty of such bond, over and above all debts, liabilities, and all property exempt from execution. The subsequent endorsement authorized in this section may be made at any time within thirty days after such examination, or of the landing of any such person or passenger.
"§ 4. Gulian C. Verplanck, James Boorman, Jacob Harvey, Commissioners of EmigrationRobert B. Minturn, William F. Havemeyer, and David C. Colden are hereby appointed Commissioners, for the purpose of carrying into effect the intent and provisions of this act, of whom the said Gulian C. Verplanck and James Boorman shall constitute the first class, and shall hold their office two years; and the said Jacob Harvey and Robert B. Minturn shall constitute the second class, and hold their office four years; and the said William F. Havemeyer and David C. Colden shall constitute the third class, and hold their office for six years; and upon the expiration of their several terms of office their places shall be filled by appointments, to be made by the Governor, by and with advice and consent of the Senate, and the persons so appointed shall respectively hold their offices for the term of six years. The Mayor of the city of New York, the Mayor of the city of Brooklyn, the President of the German Society, and the President of the Irish Emigrant Society of New York, shall also severally, by virtue of their Their powersrespective offices, be Commissioners as aforesaid. The said Commissioners shall be known as the 'Commissioners of Emigration,' and by that title shall be capable of suing and being sued. The money, so as aforesaid to be paid to the Chamberlain of the city of New York, shall be paid out on the warrant of the said Commissioners, or a majority of them. It shall be the duty of the said Commissioners to provide for the maintenance and support of such of the persons for whom commutation money shall have been paid as aforesaid, or on whose account bonds shall have been taken as aforesaid, as would otherwise become a charge upon any city, town, or county of this State; and the said Commissioners shall appropriate the moneys aforesaid, for that purpose, in such manner as to indemnify, so far as may be, the several cities, towns, and counties of the State, for any expense or charge which may be incurred for the maintenance and support of the persons aforesaid; such appropriation shall be in proportion to the expenses incurred by said cities, towns, and counties, severally, for such maintenance and support. And the more fully to effect the object contemplated by this act, the said Commissioners are authorized to apply in their discretion any part of the said money, to aid in removing any of said persons from any part of this State to another part of this or any other State, or from this State, or in assisting them to procure employment, and thus prevent them from becoming a public charge. The said Commissioners are also authorized in their discretion to apply any part of the said moneys to the purchase or lease of any property, or the erection of any building, which they may deem necessary for the purposes aforesaid. But any expense so incurred by the Commissioners in any city, town, or county shall be charged to the share of such moneys which any such city, town, or county shall be entitled to receive thereof, for expense incurred in the support or maintenance of the persons for whom commutation money shall have been paid as aforesaid, or on whose account bonds shall have been taken as aforesaid.
"§5. In case any of the persons for whom commutation Provision in case of persons becoming chargeable for whom bonds were givenmoney has been paid as aforesaid, or for whom a bond has been given as aforesaid, shall, at any time within five years from the payment of such money or the execution of such bond, become chargeable upon any city, town, or county within this State, it shall be the duty of the said Commissioners to provide for the payment of any expense incurred by any such city, town, or county for the maintenance and support of any such person, out of the commutation money to be paid as aforesaid, and the moneys collected on such bonds, so far as the same will enable them to do so. The said Commissioners shall prescribe such rules and regulations as they shall deem proper for the purpose of ascertaining the right and the amount of the claim of any city, town, or county to indemnity under the provisions of this and the preceding section. The said Commissioners shall have power to provide for the support and maintenance of any persons for whom commutation money shall have been paid, or on whose account a bond shall have been given as hereinbefore provided, and who shall become chargeable upon any city, town, or county in such manner as they shall deem proper; and after such provision shall have been made by such Commissioners, such city, town, or county shall not be entitled to claim any further indemnity for the support and maintenance of such person.
"§ 6. The said Commissioners are authorized to employ such Appointment of clerks and agents by the Commissionersagents, clerks, and servants as they shall deem necessary for the purposes aforesaid, and to pay a reasonable compensation for their services out of the moneys aforesaid.
"§ 7. It shall be the duty of the said Mayor, or other person $2 50 to be paid by each passengerdischarging the duties of his office as aforesaid, by an endorsement to be made on the said report, to require the master or commander of such ship or vessel to pay to the Chamberlain of the city of New York the sum of two dollars and a half for every person or passenger reported by said master or commander as aforesaid, which sum shall be paid as aforesaid within twenty-four hours after the landing of such person or passenger from any ship or vessel arriving at the port of New York.
Commissioners to report to Legislature"§8. The said Commissioners shall annually, on or before the first day of February in each year, report to the Legislature the amount of moneys received under the provisions of this act during the preceding year, and the manner in which the same has been appropriated particularly.
Vacancies how be supplied"§9. In case of a vacancy in the said Board of Commissioners, the same shall be filled by an appointment to be made by the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The person so appointed shall hold his office for the remainder of the term of the person in whose place he shall be appointed. The said Commissioners shall, in all cases, be residents of the city of New York or city of Brooklyn.
Action may be brought on bone"§10. If any person for whom a bond shall have been given as aforesaid shall, within the time specified in such bond, become chargeable upon any city, town, or county of this State, or upon the moneys under the control of the said Commissioners as aforesaid, the said Commissioners may bring an action on such bond in the name of the people of this State, and shall be entitled to recover on such bond from time to time so much money, not in the whole exceeding the penalty of such bond, exclusive of costs, as shall be sufficient to defray the expenses incurred by any such city, town, or county, or the said Commissioners, for the maintenance and support of the person for whom such bond was given as aforesaid, and shall be authorized to collect and apply such money from any of the real or other security mortgaged, pledged, or deposited therefor in conformity to this act.
Penalty in cases of neglect or refusal"§11. Any owner or consignee as aforesaid, who shall neglect or refuse to give any such bond or bonds and security therefor, as hereinbefore required, for each person or passenger landing from his ship or vessel, within twenty-four hours after the landing of such persons or passengers, in respect to bonds required by the second section of this act, or shall not within that time have paid the moneys authorized by said second section to be received in cases where such bonds are herein authorized to be commuted for, every such owner or consignee of such ship or vessel, severally and respectively, shall be subject to a penalty of five hundred dollars for each and every person or passenger on whose account such bond may have been required, or for whom such commutation money might have been paid under this act; such penalty to be sued for as provided for in the twelfth section of the said act hereby amended.
"§12. The penalties and forfeitures prescribed by this act may How recoveredbe sued for and recovered with costs of suit by, and in the name of, said Commissioners of Emigration, in any court having cognizance thereof, and, when recovered, shall be applied to the purposes specified in this act. It shall be lawful for the said Commissioners, before or after suit brought, to compound for any of the said penalties or forfeitures, upon such terms as they shall think proper.
"§13. Any ship or vessel, whose master or commander, Ship or vessels liable to penalitiesowner or owners, shall have incurred any penalty or forfeiture under this act, or under the Act of April 11, 1849, amending the same, entitled, 'An Act to amend certain acts concerning passengers coming to the city of New York,' shall be liable for such penalties or forfeitures which may be a lien upon such ship or vessel, and may be enforced and collected by warrant of attachment in the same manner as is provided in title eighth of chapter eighth of the third part of the Revised Statutes, all the provisions of which title shall apply to the forfeitures and penalties imposed by this act; and the said Commissioners of Emigration shall, for the purposes of such attachment, be deemed creditors of such ship or vessel, and of her master or commander and owner or owners respectively.
"§14. The said Commissioners of Emigration are, and each Powers of Commissionersof them is, hereby vested with the same powers in regard to the administering oaths of office to employees, and to the binding out of children with consent of parents or next of kin, actually chargeable upon them, and also in regard to persons in the institutions, or any of them, under the charge of said Commissioners, for the prevention or punishment of an infraction or violation of the rules or orders and regulation of such Commissioners or their officers in regard to such institutions as are possessed by the Commissioners of Public Charities and Correction in the city of New York, or any of them, for the same purposes.
Property of alien emigrants"§15. Whenever any alien emigrant, whose personal property shall not exceed the value of twenty-five dollars, shall die on the passage to the port of New York, or in the Marine Hospital, or in any other establishment under the charge of the Commissioners, and in all cases in which minor children of alien passengers shall become orphans by their parents or last surviving parent dying, as aforesaid, the personal property which such alien emigrant or such parent or parents may have had with them, shall be taken in charge by the Commissioners of Emigration, to be by them appropriated for the sole benefit of the next of kin of such alien emigrant or of said orphan children; and said Commissioners shall give, in their annual report to the Legislature, a minute description of all cases in which property shall come into their possession by virtue of this section, and the disposition made of the same, unless it shall appear that there are other persons entitled by will or otherwise to such property or distributive share there of. Whenever it shall so appear, the portion only to which the next of kin or said minor orphans would be legally entitled shall be transferred to them or applied to their use, and the remainder shall be received, held, and distributed to the parties severally entitled thereto, in the same manner and with the same authority as by law provided in respect to the Public Administrator of the city of New York, except that the said Commissioners are hereby authorized to distribute the same after a notice for creditors to appear and put in their claims within one week from the publication of the said notice. The said notice shall be published once in one of the daily papers of the city of New York."
- ↑ The original amount of the commutation money was one dollar (law of May 5, 1847). By the Act of July 11, 1851, §7, it was increased to one dollar and fifty cents, and to be paid directly to the Chamberlain of the city of New York. By Act of April 13, 1853, §13, it was further increased to two dollars; by Act of May 14, 1867, it was temporarily raised to two dollars and fifty cents; and by Act of May 10, 1869, it was unconditionally fixed at two dollars and fifty cents. As the commutation is paid in currency, while the shipping-merchants receive it in gold, it is evident that there is in fact no increase, and that the amount of $2 50 currency is actually less than the sum of $2, which, until the outbreak of the war, was paid in gold.