Photo of the Day

It is September 27, 1907.

And 1,002 young women, mostly from the United Kingdom,

have stepped down the gangplank of the RMS Baltic

The RMS Baltic in New York. Harlan & Wolff, in Belfast, builders of the Titanic, built the Baltic. At the time of the Baltic's launch in 1903, she was the largest ship in the world.

and arrived at the foot of Manhattan’s West 11th Street.

They have come to America to look for husbands.

Their impending arrival has been well advertised in the States.

Many young bachelors are waiting for them at the New York pier.

Farwell, Michigan, 1910.

Among them is a delegation of young farmers from northern Michigan

which has been sent by the state’s immigration office.

They are recruiters, of a sort, charged with bringing willing,

marriage-eligible young women to Kalamazoo.

There is no explanation for the sudden arrival of so many maidens.

And reports say three other lady-laden ships are expected in New York in the coming days.

But speculation persists that young Europeans

sensed an opportunity for matrimonial bliss in America.

‘There is a shortage of wives,’ they say.

And the shortage is especially acute out in the hinterlands,

where solo young men have carved a farm place out of the prairie

and now want to start a family.

When asked about the wife shortage,

the European girls say the word back home is that this shortage

is due, in no small measure, to the problem with American girls.

‘They demand too much of their husbands,’ they say.

[These European girls presumably have lesser expectations.]

So, here is a lovely story.

And it’s just one of the millions of stories which were

carried by people in the third wave of US immigration,

Baltic accommodations.

between 1880 and 1914, when more than twenty million Europeans

booked ship’s passage to come to America.

This third wave included Bob Hope, Irving Berlin,

‘Tarzan’ Johnny Weissmuller and Chef Boyardee.

[Who is more “American” than these guys?]

Left: Irving Berlin's handwritten lyrics to his song, "God Bless America." Right: Berlin and his troupe perform for soldiers in Guam, 1945.

So, think about these young women when you read today’s news

about the Trump-dominated House of Representatives passing its first piece

of anti-immigrant legislation.

This act springs from blackened hearts,

ignorant of America’s immigration history,

with no desire to change the country or themselves

for the better.

******************************

I’ll see you tomorrow.

— Brenda