IMMIGRATION. 



349 



school fund, $1,165,407.32 ; total debt, $6,290,- 

 402.96. 



The following are among the leading ques- 

 tions which will be agitated in the convention : 

 special legislation ; pay of officials ; veto-power 

 of Governor ; the general railroad system ; the 

 Illinois Central Road; universal suffrage, in- 

 cluding women ; the compulsory observance of 

 the Sabbath ; ratification of amendments to the 

 Constitution of the United States; majority 

 and minority representation; corporations only 

 to be created by general acts ; judicial system 

 of the State; amalgamation of races ; "water- 

 ing "stocks; educational system; death pen- 

 alty ; State militia ; pledging the State credit ; 

 taxation ; canal and river improvements ; ap- 

 portionment of Legislature ; law of divorce ; 

 homestead law ; the two-mill tax ; State rights 

 and Federal relations. 



IMMIGRATION. The immigration to the 

 United States from foreign countries, for the 

 year ending June 30, 1869, was greatly in ex- 



cess of that of any previous year since 1854, 

 having reached the number of 352,569. The 

 magnitude of the immigration for this year, as 

 well as its rapid increase since the war, is 

 shown by the following comparative state- 

 ment of the total arrivals at the different 

 ports of the country since and including the 

 year 1856 : 



1856 200,436 



1857 251,306 



1858 123,126 



1859 121,282 



1880 153,640 



1861 91,920 



1862 91,987 



1863 176,282 



1864 198,418 



1865 248,120 



1866 318,554 



1867 298,358 



1868 297,215 



1869 352,569 



Total in fourteen years 2,918,213 



Total from July 1, 1865, to June 30, 1869, 

 five years, 1,514,816. 



The nationalities and occupations of the for- 

 eigners arriving in the United States during 

 the year which ended June 30, 1869, as well 

 as the proportion landed at the different ports, 

 are given in the following exhibit : 



The State of New York has the most ex- 

 tensive and the best-organized system in the 

 country for the reception and care of immi- 

 grants. The "Board of Commissioners of 

 Emigration of the State" has been in suc- 

 cessful operation since the 15th of May, 1847; 

 and its labors have been most beneficial to 

 the interests of the immigrants, and to those 

 of the country. The commissioners, who con- 

 tribute their services gratuitously, make it 

 their duty to anticipate the wants of immi- 

 grants on their arrival ; to protect them from 

 fraud and imposition, to care for the sick and 

 helpless, render aid to those seeking employ- 

 ment, and, in general, to superintend their wel- 

 fare. For the purpose of creating a fund to en- 

 able the commissioners to carry on this work, a 

 per capita tax of two dollars and fifty cents is 

 assessed upon each alien entering the port of 



New York, which is paid by the owner of the 

 vessel carrying the immigrant. This com- 

 mutation fund is the consideration of a con- 

 tract between the immigrant and the State of 

 New York, by which the latter binds herself 

 "to protect him on his arrival, and for the pe- 

 riod of five years thereafter provide him with 

 shelter if destitute, and with medical and other 

 aid if sick." The amount of this fund for the 

 year 1868 was $538,480.50, and for the year 

 1869 exceeded the sum of $650,000 ; and the 

 good which it has enabled the commissioners 

 to accomplish is shown by the fact that in the 

 year 1868 they paid to the hospitals and cities 

 and counties of the State, for the nursing and 

 support of immigrants, upward of $100,000, 

 and also $230,000, the cost of maintaining 

 11,513 inmates of the immigrant hospitals and 

 asylums on Ward's Island, in the bay of New 



