34 For further interesting facts along this lie see: P. H. S. Report, 1906, p. 59, p. 64, p. 61; 1907, p. 69; 1903, p. 193. Boston's report (1906) that the second cabin frequently shows a higher per cent of defect than the third is a matter of note. Also "families, separated as to class," is a state of affairs most closely watched. Oftentimes the separation is based on the belief that the second cabin list is not so closely scrutinized. When one man who came in the cabin, sent his wife in the steerage because, as he explained to the "Board," she would be more confortable there, the case was gone into with great minuteness, for if it did not have some hidden meaning as to mental health, it certainly was an indication of a poor standard for the starting' of life in America. 35 Public Health Service Report, 1913, p. 150. 36 At Ellis Island an amusing case of intelligent judgment is told. A man was asked the question, as to which he would throw overboard, a box of bread, or a box of gold, if he had to discard one or the other, in order to lighten a little boat in which he was shipwrecked ten days away from land. The immigrant paused a moment, and then said, "Did you say ten days, Doctor?" The doctor said, "Yes." "The gold then," said the patient, "but if it had been eight days, I'd have risked it." The man was an old hand at the sea, as it turned out, and spoke from experience. 37 P. H. S. Report, 1914. 38 P. H. S. Report, 1914, p. 207. 42 P. H. S. Report, 1921, p. 233. 43 For interesting facts as to Italian emigration, see P. H. S. Report, 1904, p. 218. Dr. J. M. Eager. P. H. S. Report, 1909, p. 197 (where it is shown that of the emigration of that year, 82.7 per cent were males, of whom only 18.7 per cent were accompanied by their families). See also "The Italian Immigration of our Times." Robert F. Foerster, 1919. See also "Illiteracy and Mortality." Medical Record, 1914, vol. 85, p. 966, May 23, 1914. Statistics show here a more or less close parallelism in Italy. 44 M. H. Foster, M.D., Surgeon U. S. Public Health Service, Ellis Island. "Methods of Examination of Illiterates for Mental Defectiveness." Journal Amer. Med. Assoc., vol. lxii, April 4, 1914, p. 1068–1071. 45 Congressional Record, 60, no. 64, p. 3553 (February 17, 1921). 46 Dr. Kerr reports that at Danzig, Passed Assist. Surgeon J. H. Linson says that of the immigrants passing through, 90 per cent are Hebrews and the remaining 10 per cent Lithuanians, Czecho-Slovaks, Ukranians and Germans. (See note 45, p. 3555.) 47 Immigration Report, 1922, pp. 110-111; 1923, pp. 126-127. 48 P. H. S. Report, 1922, pp. 188-189. 49 Immigration Report, 1922, p. 109; 1923, p. 41. 50 Immigration Report, 1923, p. 1. For arrivals and departures see 1922, p. 100-105 1923, pp. 73-76. 51 Immigration Report, 1922, pp. 101 and 105; 1923, pp. 120–122. 52 Immigration Report, 1922, p. 104. 53 Immigration Report, 1923, p. 6. Limmigration Report, 1922, pp. 25–28; 1923, pp. 44 and 125. 5.Immigration Report, 1922, p. 128; 1923, pp. 145 and 118. Immigration Report, 1922, p. 110; 1923, p. 126. 57 Immigration Report, 1922, pp. 112-113; 1923, pp. 128-129. 58 Immigration Report, 1922, pp. 114-115; 1923, p. 129. 59 Public Health Service Report, 1923, p. 183. 60 Immigration Report, 1922, p. 121; 1923, p. 137. 61 Immigration Report, 1922, p. 127; 1923, pp. 142-143. 62 Actual figures to be found in Class A' Tables in the Public Health Service Reports of the various years. 63 Immigration Report, 1923, p. 13. CHAPTER VI REPORT OF EXPERIMENTAL STUDY MADE AT ELLIS ISLAND The School at Ellis Island is wholly voluntary. The "Head" of the School (or her assistant) goes through the detention rooms each morning and each afternoon, with the exception of Saturday and Sunday, and the children who wish to come to school form in line when she appears. The "Head" of the school is from then on responsible, until the children are returned at the end of the session. It must always be remembered that great care has to be taken in keeping record of the whereabouts of each immigrant. From the unlocked gate leading out of the detention rooms, the children are taken up a flight of stairs to the school with its invigorating roof playground. In this school was done the psychological testing which is reported in this study. It was of two kinds-with individual children and with small groups. In the "Beta" test, for instance, it seemed best not to have more than five or six children of varying nationalities, at one time, for the difficult process of getting names, ages, etc., had to be necessarily "individual," even with a group. The advantage of having varying nationalities was great, not only as to fairness, but also in regard to that greatest of "language difficulties," namely, the keeping of various nationals from talking to each other in the middle of a test, when the examiner often could not tell what was being said. It is most interesting to watch at work a group composed of an Arab, a Greek, an Italian, a Welsh boy, an Armenian, and a Russian. The members of such a group do not talk to each other; but they laugh together, and spur each other on. Those in charge of the school showed great interest in the testing, and helped not only in "physical" ways, but in the wonderful zeal with which they hunted up varying nationalities in the detention rooms, and found out various bits of information which could not be gained from the children. The selection of nationalities and races depended on who hap pened to be in the detention rooms, and on who wanted to come to school. Older girls came sometimes; at others, they preferred to stay in the detention rooms to sew. Older boys, too, came once in a while; but in general, they did not come. Children from ten to fourteen predominated, and with them most of the work was done. Some nationalities almost never appeared in the school. Practically no Scandinavians are included in this study, and yet many were passing through Ellis Island. This seems to be due to two things: the Scandinavians arriving, appeared to be mostly young men and young women, and as a general thing Scandinavians did not seem to be detained. Lacking children for the most part, they were not held up for a sick child in the hospital as so many families were, and exact information or precision in planning, or some other cause, seemed to prevent the difficulties of being met, or the difficulties in regard to funds, which were causes for many other detentions. Then too, of course, the small number coming, in comparison with certain other races, plays its part. As to the children who did come to the school, there were many reasons why they were being held. They might be waiting for some member of the family to be discharged from the hospital. They might be waiting for money, or for a father to come from Chicago, or for legal reasons-a child with people not his parents, and yet not legally adopted. Then, of course, sometimes the children from the "Special Inquiry" rooms whose cases were pending, were allowed to come to school, and often the "deports," who were waiting for a ship to carry them back over the ocean again. The nationalities actually studied were these: The Jewish race had representatives from many countries: Russia, Poland, Germany, England, Scotland, Egypt (Arabs), Turkey. That the control of conditions was not always as rigid as is desirable, goes without saying; for in this study it was essential to be most careful not to interfere with the necessarily complicated machinery of administration. For work officially done, better conditions could, of course, be arranged. In the middle of a test a child might be called away to appear before a board, for visitors, for deportation. Luncheon might suddenly be put early, as the afternoon was taken up with starting large numbers of deportees, a work which took much time, and must be got under way early, or, most touching of all, a child might be summoned to the hospital suddenly, which meant that there was danger of death for the mother or the father who was there. A child who started work in the morning might be on a train or a tug boat by afternoon. In a place so filled with the uncertainties of life, the children must have their share. But if some children moved and changed, appeared and vanished, it must be remembered too, that other children stayed and stayed, so that through them you got a little idea of permanency. In the summer of 1922, the testing of the children was primarily exploratory, for the purpose of finding out what tests might best be used. Non-language tests so often mean "non-language" on the part of the student; but much language on the part of the experimenter. For this work, such tests could not be used. Tests that were really non-language were sought, with the aim of making a study not merely of the given children, but also of tests that would lend themselves to quick, comprehensive, general use, if such tests were ever needed. This first year something over one hundred children, representing about twenty nationalities, were tested. The tests used were: For groups: 1. Army Beta 2. Whipple's Concellation (form h. 1. p. g.) (a to be cancelled) |