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From the New York Tribune, July 11, 1909


BID FOR IMMIGRANTS
Brooklyn Would Offer Inducements to Garment Workers

Uncle Sam, not being interested in municipal divisions and city governments, does not recognize Brooklyn as a port of immigration. The thousands of men, women and children who first touch American soil, when they set foot upon the piers that line the South Brooklyn waterfront are merely so many units in the tables set aside for the Port of New York in Immigration Commissioner William's report, and no credit goes to Brooklyn for the work of handling them.

Naturally, the Brooklyn Board of Trade and certain civic organizations would like to see the borough get some credit in this connection. In normal years the number of future Americans who land at the local piers mounts to close on to 150,000, and even the low water mark year, 1908, showed a total of 70,000. So far, counting up to the end of June, over 60,000 immigrants have been landed in Brooklyn this year.

One of the principal reasons why it is deemed desirable to have the borough's  immigration records kept separate lies in the fact that the number of recently arrived aliens, who settle in Brooklyn is increasing every year, and the organizations would like to establish the correct relation between the increase or decrease in immigration and the growth of sections which almost entirely depend upon the overflow from Manhattan's congested district.

Until a few years ago, cases of immigrants who settled in Brooklyn immediately after landing were rare. With few exceptions they stayed for some time on the East Side, until a business enterprise or some turn of fortune brought them across the bridges. Now, however, the number of those who settle in Brooklyn within a day or so after their arrival in this country is steadily growing larger.




IMMIGRANTS ON ONE OF THE SOUTH BROOKLYN PIERS

When the commission appointed by Governor Hughes to investigate the immigration problem in its relation to the State of New York made its report to the last legislature, it was generally expected that something definite would result from its recommendation for the establishment of a state department of industries and immigration, and many men of prominence in Brooklyn strongly favored the participation of the state authorities in an effort to direct aliens to sections where their willingness to earn a living would be most readily appreciated. The report was pigeonholed, however, but it is believed that it will be resuscitated at the next session for the purpose of serving as a basis for wider agitation.

Among those who are deeply interested in the question is Irving T. Bush, the president of the Bush Terminal Company, who said the other day:

"It is unfortunate that the aliens arriving in Brooklyn have not a better opportunity to learn at the very first of the advantages which this borough offers as a home for working people. Property values are lower here, the apartment houses are newer, and the general living conditions for the working class are both better and cheaper.

"I know of one larger manufacturer of silk garments who has recently moved his factory to Brooklyn, and gave as the controlling reason for so doing that the working people in Brooklyn live under more cleanly conditions, and the damage to the delicate fabric which he uses in his business is much less, as he obtains cleaner and more self-respecting help. The federal government has done much in the past to point out to immigrants the best locations for settlement, but it is not likely that it will extend its labors to pointing out the most desirable sections in our cities.

"It may be generally known, but I think that statistics will prove that a majority of our immigrants find employment in the garment-making trade, and it is this trade which is gaining a steady foothold in Brooklyn. It was not many years ago that the work was carried on in what were known as sweatshops. These are being gradually abandoned, and the manufacturers are centering their work in factories or lofts at convenient places. The particular interest which this holds for Brooklyn is that the high rents and high insurance in Manhattan, and the lack of shipping facilities are making the manufacturing costs in that borough so high that the trade is becoming restive, and is casting its eyes across to Brooklyn in the hope of finding better conditions."

 








 

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