Great Britain -- Emigration and immigration; Noncitizens -- Great Britain
When we come to inquire into the causes which bring so many of
these foreign Jews to our shores, we find that in addition to the
two principal reasons--the persecutions in Russia, and the American
Immigration Laws, which render their admission to that country
impracticable--there are other agencies at work as well. The existence
of these agencies is a disputed question; but from inquiries which
have been made, there is every reason to believe that many of the
East End sweaters have agents abroad working on their behalf. The
victims are caught by advertisements in the obscure Continental papers
inserted by the "greener slave-agent," who sends batch after batch
of poor Jews to this country, and they soon find their way into the
sweaters' dens by means of the addresses given them. This method of
advertisement is perhaps not so extensively carried on as formerly,
but it still exists. Again, there is also the suspicion, which deepens
almost into a certainty, of the existence of what is known in America
as "steamship-solicitation." It is highly probable that some of the
steamship companies principally concerned in bringing these people
to England, have agents on the Continent engaged in persuading poor
Jews, and poor foreigners generally, to come to this country with the
delusive idea that they will find plenty of employment, and plenty
of pecuniary assistance here. The notices which the Government have
recently caused to be posted up at some of the European ports, may
do something to nullify this; but the fact remains that there are
several German steamship lines doing an enormous business in bringing
these Jewish immigrants to our shores, and there are owners of British
vessels also engaged in the same traffic. In America, where it had
reached a very great extent, this "steamship-solicitation" has been
declared illegal. How far the steamship agencies act in collusion with
the sweaters' agents in England, it is not possible to say--or, indeed,
if they are in collusion at all. One can only notice that all things
work together in a very remarkable manner. A slight clue to the puzzle
is afforded by the fact that in Leeds (according to the Report of the
Chief Commissioner of Police) there exists a firm of money-lenders who
advance money to Jewish applicants having friends in Russia and Poland,
which is employed for the purpose of bringing them to this country.
This will explain how some, at any rate, of these destitute immigrants
manage to pay their passage-money to England.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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