AN OFFICIAL REPORT ON NORWEGIAN AND SWEDISH IMMIGRATION, 1870

Abstract

AN OFFICIAL REPORT ON NORWEGIAN AND SWEDISH IMMIGRATION, 1870 BY A. LEWENHAUPT WITH A FOREWORD BY THEODORE C. BLEGEN In 1870 A. Lewenhaupt, the chargé d'affaires attached to the Swedish-Norwegian legation at Washington, made a report , based upon first-hand observation, on the immigration to the United States from Norway and Sweden, with special reference to the conditions met by the immigrants in America. This report is broad in scope: it examines the situation not only at Castle Garden but also in the areas of the Middle West to which the emigrants went. Lewenhaupťs findings are incisively presented, filled with concrete detail, and clearly of distinct historical interest. It is a sixteen-page pamphlet entitled Indberetning fra hans majestœts chargé d'affaires i Washington angaaende udvandringen fra de Forenede Rig er til de N ordamerikanske For enede Stater (Report from His Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires at Washington concerning Emigration from the United Kingdoms to the United States of North America) . I found a printed copy, in Norwegian, preserved in the Norwegian archives , and the present translation, which makes the document available for the first time in English, is based upon this copy.1 After the report proper, Lewenhaupt gives some extracts from American laws in reference to the traveling effects of immigrants and a statistical table having to do with prices of various American products, foods, clothing, and the like in certain selected states in 1869. This material is not included in the translation herewith presented. T. C. B. 1 The translation was made some years ago under my direction by Mr. J. A. Fagereng as part of a University of Minnesota CWA project. 46 REPORT ON IMMIGRATION 47 The Lewenhaupt Account Since immigration constitutes the chief means of contact between the United Kingdoms and the United States of North America, and in view of the fact that current business at the legation consists largely of commissions from the immigrants' relatives in the mother country, I have hereby the honor to present in part some information relative to immigration in general , as well as to render an account of the reason for the delay in the execution of the commissions presented to the legation. Most of the immigrants from the United Kingdoms to America reach New York via England and on English steamships. Last year, however, a small group of about five thousand arrived on American steamships via Copenhagen. At present no immigrants are conveyed directly by steamship from the United Kingdoms to America. As a consequence of this situation, Swedish laws have definitely prohibited the overcrowding of immigrant ships such as prevails in other countries. Meanwhile, the immigrants complain more of the poor food aboard the ships than of the lack of sufficient space. Upon arrival in New York the immigrant vessels land their passengers on a cliff that projects into the harbor; it is called •" Castle Garden.'' There the passengers are received by the emigration commissioners or by a committee appointed by the state of New York, to whom the supervision of immigrants is entrusted . This committee has at its disposal a considerable sum of money; every passenger boat that arrives in New York must pay a fee of 7 rix-dollars, 50 öre (1 specie dollar, 105 Norwegian skiUing ) for each immigrant. This sum, which amounts annually to more than 3,000,000 rix-dollars, Swedish currency (750,000 Norwegian specie dollars), is used for the maintenance and expansion of the immigrant home on Ward's Island, an island situated at the entrance to New York. These fees also defray expenses incurred by the committee for the reception of the immigrants at Castle Garden and for their transportation to other points. All immigrants coming by way of New York have the right to free accommodation, if they need it, on Ward's Island during the first five years of their stay. The accommodations to be had there are necessarily comparable to those received at 48 STUDIES ANDRECORDS poorhouses; if they were otherwise the immigrant house would become overcrowded. The immigration committee's report for last year indicates, nevertheless, that immigrants seek admission to Ward's Island during the winter months in order...