Out of the 64,498 immigrants who landed at the Port of New York during the first three months of this year, 54,662 were destined to the group of states comprising the North Atlantic Division, of which New York leads in industrial and commercial importance; 25,584 or 36.8 per cent of them remaining in this State, 15,361 or 22.1 per cent going to Pennsylvania, 5,499 or 7.9 per cent to Massachusetts, 5,070 or 7.3 per cent to New Jersey, and 2,329 or 3.4 per cent to Connecticut.

The States forming the North Central Division received 11,585 (16.7 per cent), of which Illinois got 3,998 or 5.8 per cent; Ohio, 2,218 or 3.2 per cent; Michigan, 1,351 or 1.9 per cent.

The numbers destined to the other three great divisions of the United States were as follows: South Atlantic Division 716, or a trifle more than one per cent; South Central Division 265, or 0.4 per cent, and Western Division 2,270, or 3.3 per cent.

TABLE SHOWING THE AVowed DestinATION OF IMMIGRANTS WHO LANDED At the Port of NEW YORK DURING THE QUARTER ENDED MARCH 31, 1900.

NEW YORK STATE FREE EMPOYMENT BUREAU.

Report of Superintendent.

Our report for the quarter ending December 31, 1899, called attention to the fact that that particular quarter ended the most successful year of the Free Employment Bureau since its inception. The opening quarter of the present year is one that speaks very hopefully for the business of the Bureau during the current year. Contrasting it with the corresponding quarter of the year 1899 the table annexed will show an improvement which is very satisfactory. During the quarter considerable agitation occurred in the New York City press on the question of domestic employment and the solution of what is termed the "servant girl question," all of which had a tendency to focus public attention on this Bureau and its work.

For January, February and March of the current year there were registered with us 1,482 applicants for work and 827 applicants for help, 630 of which applications for help we were able to fill. The greater number of those unfilled were for general houseworkers, in regard to which the same conditions prevailed as heretofore stated— the applications for help being far in excess of the supply.

For years past the management of many of the employment agencies in this and other cities brought into existence abuses of such character as to attract the attention of the general public through press reports, court proceedings, etc., etc., resulting in the introduction of the Ford-Kelsey bill in the State Legislature, which bill was practically drawn on the lines laid down by Governor Roosevelt in his annual message to that body. This bill covered every phase of the employment agency question, and if it were engrafted on the laws of the State it would, no doubt, remedy the evils complained of. The bill in question was approved by a committee representing many reputable employment agencies in New York City, Labor organizations of the State, University Settlement, Social Reform Club, Church Temperance Society, Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Society of Ethical Culture, United Hebrew Charities, Baptist Preachers' Meeting, Methodist Preachers' Conference, and many influential people in our community. The bill passed the Assembly and, in due

order, was referred to the Senate Committee on City Affairs. It was twice reported by that committee, amended an equal number of times, and re-committed again, but failed to be reported after amendment, and remained in committee at the adjournment of the Legislature.

That there is need of such a law as was contemplated in the Ford-Kelsey bill is made evident by the following incident which is reported in the New York "Times" of Friday, April 13th:

"As Recorder Goff was about to sentence Amelia Monach, a pretty Hungarian girl living at 130 Lewis street, who had pleaded guilty in General Sessions to having stolen merchandise worth $800 from her employer, David Rosenbach, of 452 East Eighty-fourth street, Mrs. Foster, the "Tombs Angel," came forward and asked the Recorder to be lenient. ""The girl has told me that she is thoroughly repentant for what she has done,' said Mrs. Foster. 'Besides she has told me that it is her first offense.'

"This speech seemed greatly to excite a man in the courtroom.

"It isn't her first offense,' he said, hastening up toward the bar. "'She worked for me as a servant, and cleared my flat out entirely, taking away $275 worth of goods. My name is Abraham Spitzker, of 330 East Seventy-ninth street, and I will identify her and swear to her guilt on the witness stand.'

"Two other men in the courtroom also came forward and said that they had employed the girl as a servant, and that she had stolen money from them.

"Recorder Goff listened to what the men had to say, and sentenced the prisoner to two years and six months in the penitentiary.

""This is a splendid commentary on methods adopted by employment agencies,' he said. "This girl is a specialist in the business of robbing her mistresses and helps to support her parents in Hungary in that way. She says that she secured all her positions through the assistance of employment agencies. Some of them make a practice of sending thieves into the homes of respectable citizens, giving them recommendations and first-class certificates of character.'

"Five pawnbrokers were then called to the bar, forced to acknowledge numerous pawn tickets found in the girl's possession as their own, and ordered to return the goods. One wept bitterly at his loss."

In order to make sure of this most remarkable news item Recorder Goff was interviewed by a representative of this Bureau. On stating the purpose of the visit to the Recorder he said that this fact was brought out by the evidence in the court at the trial of Amelia Monach, that she gained admittance into two families in three weeks on certificates of character given her by East-side employment agencies; that she had committed robberies in each of

the places where employed, and that the agencies in question were, to say the least, criminally negligent in not investigating the references before introducing the girl into families.

Intelligence agencies are supposed to perform a public function. It is generally understood that they make an effort to know something of the ability and character of the people they introduce to employers. And yet it has been proven in the Recorder's court that quite the contrary condition of affairs exists.

We cannot conceive of a more reckless manner of doing business than the case of a newly married couple seeking help through one of these agencies and being introduced to Amelia Monach, and by this means she gained admittance to the home, and in a short while after, while her employers were absent, she stole the almost coinplete belongings of the flat in which she was employed. This, however, did not end her career. She presents herself to another employment agency, gets another certificate of character (?) through the instrumentality of the agency in question, enters another household, and commences once more her unlawful practices of robbing her employers.

We again repeat, that if the Ford-Kelsey bill had become a law by passing the Legislature and the employment agencies were operating under such a law the scene described in the Recorder's court would not have been enacted. It is to be hoped that the remedy for this and other evils which have crept into the employment agencies throughout the State will be found at the next session of the Legislature in the passage of a law on the lines marked out in the Ford-Kelsey bill.

A reference to the table appended shows the business of the Bureau for the quarter ending March 31, 1900, as compared with the corresponding quarter of 1899.