E-text prepared by Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 57517-h.htm or 57517-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/57517/57517-h/57517-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/57517/57517-h.zip) Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive. See https://archive.org/details/importedamerican00branuoft Transcriber’s note: Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). IMPORTED AMERICANS [Illustration: The Real Problem] [Illustration] IMPORTED AMERICANS The story of the experiences of a disguised American and his wife studying the immigration question ❧ ❧ ❧ ❧ by BROUGHTON BRANDENBURG With sixty-six illustrations from photographs by the author [Illustration] New York · Frederick A. Stokes Company · Publishers Copyright, 1903, 1904, By Frank Leslie Publishing House Copyright, 1904, By Frederick A. Stokes Company This edition published in August, 1904 _This volume is dedicated to my brave little wife, who endured with heroism conditions that, while not unbearable for me, were superlative hardships for a woman of delicacy and refinement._ _B. B._ _Clay Place, Mamaroneck, June 23, 1904._ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I THE IMPETUS AND THE METHOD 1 II LIFE IN A NEW YORK TENEMENT 7 III TO NAPLES IN THE STEERAGE OF THE _LAHN_ 25 IV CONDITIONS IN THE NEAPOLITAN ZONE 47 V IN THE ROMAN ZONE 61 VI IN THE HEEL AND TOE OF THE BOOT 71 VII GUALTIERI-SICAMINO AND THE SQUADRITO FAMILY 83 VIII THE SICILIAN COUNTRYSIDE 104 IX THE DEPARTURE 118 X FROM SICILY TO NAPLES 130 XI THROUGH THE CITY OF THIEVES 138 XII ROGUERY AND ILLITERACY 151 XIII THE EMBARKATION PROCESS 159 XIV THE VOYAGE 171 XV THE VOYAGE (_Continued_) 184 XVI NEARING THE GATE 198 XVII WITHIN THE PORTALS OF THE NEW WORLD 205