consignments of emigrants the dirt and muck on which we trod could be felt, but not seen. At sea, when lights are not permitted below, and there are many causes to intercept the few rays of daylight which struggle to descend, the condition of things can not be seen and cleaning is impossible. Almost perpetual night reigns in these subaqueous abodes. * When, therefore, we consider the impracticability of preserving cleanliness and purity at such a depth from the surface, it becomes a serious question whether the second hold should not be prohibited as a receptacle for passengers. * * A fact which seems to have escaped the notice of Doctor Griscom, but which is noted in a letter to the committee from a company owning passenger vessels, involved a still more serious obstacle to the proper ventilation of the between decks. The largest vessels then used ordinarily had 4 decks: (1) The upper deck (flush spar deck), removable, of strong latticework; (2) the usual deck (main deck), required to be calked water-tight; (3) the lower deck (between deck), usual with most vessels, seldom calked and generally removable; (4) the lowest deck, second lower or orlop deck (second between deck), much resembling deck three. Messrs. Meyer ånd Stucken, the shipowners referred to, said: The deck No. 1 is needed where so many passengers are carried [the result apparently of the operations of the law of 1848] to enable the crew to have room to work the vessel; it affords shelter to deck 2, or regular deck, and leaves that sufficiently ventilated without any other preparation, but it more or less hinders bad air escaping lower decks. * * * We further attribute the greater mortality to want of proper food and nourishment. Passengers providing themselves get cheated in every way-quantity, quality, and price. If, however, emigrant traffic enjoyed immunity from disaster for any extended period between 1820 and 1855, undoubtedly it was due in a large measure to steady improvements in the size and model of ships engaged in the business of transporting passengers, and also, to an important extent, to the years characterized by only a normal increase in emigration, when the numbers seeking passage were not so great as to tax the capacity of such vessels unduly. Judged, then, from actual results attained, as shown by conditions existing when the Senate select committee's investigation was made, it may be fairly concluded that none of these laws was successful in securing for the individual passenger "a security of comfort and convenience." It appears that under one and all of them the evils of overcrowding continued to be not the exception but the rule. The first, the law of 1819, and the second, the law of 1847, overlooked the great mass of emigrants needing protection against undervictualing. The third, the law of 1848, by including a proviso whereby passengers were permitted to commute their rations, destroyed the effect intended to be produced by the first clause of the same section, thereby leaving the individual liable to the privations which actually prevailed on many ships under the first and second laws. Throughout this entire period the sailing vessel was absolute in emigrant traffic. Steam navigation, although the subject of numerous experiments on the Atlantic after 1819, did not establish itself as a serious rival of the sailing vessel in any branch of the ocean-carrying trade until 1840. In that year the first of the great trans-Atlantic steamship companies inaugurated a service between Liverpool and Boston, taking, with one or two others soon afterwards established, the choicest of the freight and passenger trade away from the sailing vessels, and leaving to the latter the transportation of the less desirable cargoes and the carriage of emigrants. BRITISH PASSENGER LAWS (1848-1855). During the period from 1848 to 1855 Great Britain enacted several important laws affecting steerage passengers. In 1849 the pro visions of the British acts of 1842, 1847, and 1848 were consolidated and amended. The additional regulations ordered that an adequate ventilating apparatus should be put on board all ships carrying 100 or more passengers, and that adult passengers of different sexes, unless husband and wife, should be separately berthed; a lifeboat and two life buoys were to be provided, and the following dietary scale was prescribed: Three quarts of water daily; and 24 pounds bread or biscuit (equal in quality to navy bread), 1 pound wheat flour, 5 pounds oatmeal, 2 pounds rice, 2 ounces tea, one-half pound sugar, and one-half pound molasses weekly, to be issued in advance, and not less often than twice a week. Certain substitutions in the matter of food were allowed in ships sailing from Irish or Scotch ports, and the emigration commissioners were allowed to vary the diet under the direction of the secretary of state. By an act passed in 1851 the British law of 1849 was so amended as to enable the emigration commissioners to fix a different length of voyage for steam and sailing vessels, and to allow the use of an alternative diet scale in all passenger vessels. Vessels putting back into any port in a damaged state were prohibited from putting to sea again until effectually repaired. Bond was required to be given by masters of foreign ships carrying passengers to the British possessions abroad that they would submit themselves to the jurisdiction of the colonial courts in the same manner as if they were British subjects. By an act passed in June, 1852, the two previous acts were repealed, but their provisions were reenacted in an amended form. The following were the main differences introduced in the new law: It provided that "passenger ships" putting to sea without obtaining a clearing certificate from the emigration officer should be forfeited; it required the survey of a ship by two surveyors instead of only one; it required that single men should be berthed in a separate compartment in the fore part of the vessel; it provided for hospitals and privies; it added horses, cattle, and lucifer matches to the articles expressly prohibited as cargo; it increased the length of the voyage for ships sailing for North America from seventy to eighty days; it empowered the emigration officers to reject bad provisions; it required the provisions to be issued in a cooked state, and daily instead of twice a week, at the same time allowing a greater variety of articles to be substituted for oatmeal, rice, and potatoes; it provided for the appointment of stewards and interpreters when required, and for the medical inspection of crew and passengers; it required masters of ships which put back for the purpose of repairing damages to maintain the passengers or pay them subsistence money until the ship was ready for sea, or else provide them with passage in some other ship. Emigrant runners were for the first time brought under legal control. In the agitation, investigation, and discussion leading up to and culminating in the United States legislation of 1855, the lack of uniformity in the laws of the various countries was given considerable attention, and effort was made to harmonize important points of difference. In its report to the Senate the select committee previously referred to called attention to the difficulty of enacting laws that would not conflict with the regulations of foreign countries. Upon this subject the report said: " a It is, of course, the intention of every lawmaker that the laws passed by him shall be enforced; and to place enactments on the statute book which can not be carried into effect, without subjecting those who are governed by them to difficulty and annoyance from foreign countries, is worse than useless. That such a state of things at present [1854] exists under the passenger laws now in force has been proved by experience; and those engaged in the transportation of passengers do not hesitate to say that the laws under which they are acting are in many respects impracticable, unless at great expense and loss to the American shipowner. It is only necessary to allude to one case of the kind by way of illustration. The acts of Congress require that every passenger ship shall be furnished with provisions of a certain description to a given amount. An American ship goes to Bremen or Hamburg and there takes on board a cargo of passengers. The laws of those cities require that all passenger ships sailing from them with passengers shall be supplied with a prescribed amount of certain provisions, which are specified. Now, in order to comply with the regulation of the port whence he sails for America, the American captain must provide a supply of the articles required by the local law, and, at the same time, to comply with the law of his own country, he must be provided with the food called for by the act of Congress. Some idea of the difficulty of framing laws that would be beneficial to the emigrant without being in conflict with foreign laws regulating passenger-carrying vessels may be seen from the following table, which shows the food supply per passenger required to be carried in 1854 on ships sailing from various European ports, compared with the requirements under the United States law: TABLE 1.-Food supply per passenger required on ships bound to United States ports from the ports indicated, 1854. [From "Sickness and Mortality on Board Emigrant Ships." (Rep. Com. No. 386, 33d Cong., 1st sess., p. 91.)] Antwerp: Children under 8, 2 as 1 adult; under 12, 4 equal to 3 adults. London: Children under 14, 2 equal to 1 adult. /Pint. Quarts. CHAPTER II. TRANSITION FROM SAIL TO STEAM, 1856 TO 1872. Unlike the earlier laws regulating passenger traffic, which were hurriedly enacted, the act of 1855 was preceded by a careful investigation into emigration and steerage conditions. On December 7, 1853, the Senate passed an order directing the appointment of a select committee of that body "to consider the causes and the extent of the sickness and mortality prevailing on board the emigrant ships on the voyage to this country, and whether any, and what, legislation is needed for the better protection of the health and lives of passengers on board such vessels.' INVESTIGATIONS OF THE SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE. Hon. Hamilton Fish was chairman of the select committee appointed in pursuance of the Senate's order. In carrying on the investigation the committee issued a circular letter containing a series of questions pertinent to the subject. This letter, which was sent to numbers of the medical profession, shipowners and navigators, customs officials, heads of benevolent societies, and others interested in the subject under consideration, was as follows: " SENATE CHAMBER, Washington, December 29, 1853. SIR: A select committee, appointed by the Senate of the United States, to inquire into the causes and the extent of the sickness and mortality prevailing on board the emigrant ships have instructed me to obtain the opinion of gentlemen of experience and of professional knowledge, both with reference to any deficiency in the provisions of the existing statutes, and the propriety of further legislation. In conformity with their direction, I take leave to ask your opinion as to the adequacy of the existing laws with respect to— I. The space allotted to each passenger. II. The quantity and the quality of the provisions required for each passenger. III. The permission allowed to the passengers to furnish their own provisions for the voyage, instead of making it, in all cases, the duty of the master to provide them. IV. Ventilation. V. The cooking arrangements. VI. The duty of the master to enforce personal cleanliness and to insure the cleanliness of the vessel. The committee further request your opinion as to the propriety of amending the existing laws by requiring VII. The employment of a qualified and experienced surgeon. VIII. The employment of a reasonable number of attendants to minister to the sick, and to enforce the observance of cleanliness, both of the persons of the passengers and of the vessel. IX. The separation of the sexes, and the prevention of unnecessary intercourse between the crew and the passengers. X. A thorough process of disinfecting every vessel on board of which disease has once made its appearance. a Sickness and Mortality on Board Emigrant Ships. (Rept. Com. No. 386, 33d Cong., 1st sess., p. 31.) XI. A report, to be made by every vessel bringing emigrant passengers, of the length of voyage, number of passengers, number of deaths, etc., to be published and to be returned to the State Department. XII. In case deaths have occurred during the voyage, an inquest to be held under the supervision of federal officers, and the verdict to be published and returned as above. XIII. A limitation to the number of passengers allowed in any vessel, in proportion to the tonnage of the vessel. XIV. A distinction with respect to the number of passengers between vessels passing within the Tropics and those not so passing. The committee will also be happy to receive from you any statements of facts within your knowledge tending to exhibit the extent or the causes of the sickness and mortality which have prevailed or the insufficiency of the provisions of the existing laws, as well as any suggestions which you may think proper to make in connection therewith or with regard to the proper remedy to be applied. An early reply, with answers to any or all of the points above suggested, will be esteemed a favor. Very respectfully, HAMILTON FISH, Chairman. It is unnecessary to reproduce in detail the various replies to the select committee's circular letter. It may be said, however, that generally they emphatically condemned existing conditions on emigrant ships relative to air space, ventilation, food provisions, treatment of the sick, and the attitude of members of the ships' crews toward steerage passengers. A summary of certain of the recommendations made by persons addressed by the committee is interesting for purposes of comparison with the recommendations of the select committee and the legislation which actually followed the investigation. The correspondents generally recommended an increase in the air space for each passenger, although some contended that the space required by the law then in force was sufficient. Some advocated the substitution of cubic air space for the superficial-area system, and there were various opinions with regard to the value of the methods under which the number of passengers was apportioned according to the ship's tonnage. One advocated from 20 to 30 superficial feet for each passenger, according to the location of the deck; others suggested that the height between decks should be considered in allotting space, and that a certain amount of open deck room should be provided for each passenger. The most radical recommendation relative to air space was that of John H. Griscom, M. D., of New York, who said that in his opinion not less than 250 or 300 cubic feet should be given to each passenger. One correspondent expressed the opinion that a ship with a single steerage should never carry more than 500 passengers, and that ships of two steerages should not be allowed to carry more than 200 in the lower and 400 in the upper steerage. It was also recommended that on ships of three decks the use of the orlop deck for passengers be prohibited. Concerning the opinions of correspondents relative to space, the select committee's report says in part: The opinions furnished to the committee in regard to space are in a high degree conflicting, some of them being in favor of the sufficiency of the provisions contained in the present laws, while others pronounce them to be totally inadequate. This antagonism of opinion may, in part at least, be accounted for by the fact that the interests of those from whom they emanate are opposed. Generally speaking, the parties to be accommodated and their friends deem the present provisions insufficient, while those who are required to incur the expenses of a change, with a few exceptions, think differently. |