Galveston immigration letter from 1910 reveals stringent rules for would-be Texans

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If you wanted to make it into Houston through Galveston in the early 1900s, you needed to come correct, according to this memo from 1910 that Slate uncovered this week.

Criminals, polygamists, and anarchists need not apply, for starters. Those with a history of insanity weren't allowed into the U.S., nor were those of lesser mental capacity.

Commissioner of Immigration William Williams, who wrote the letter, served as the immigration commissioner at Ellis Island for most of the first 15 years of the 20th century.

These days, the letter reads very ugly and offensive, in regard to those with handicaps, but immigration officials in 1910 believed they were doing the country and state a service. They didn't want people joining American society if they couldn't work or support themselves legally. Prostitutes and pimps ("procurers," if you are so inclined) were also not wanted.

So, it was a little like building a fantasy football league.



Of some interest is the requirement that immigrants arrive with at least $25, which was thought to be enough to get by in their first days in America.



Officials also didn't want immigrants to arrive already under a manual labor contract. This was thought to help cut down on businesses in the U.S. farming out cheap labor to people from other countries. Presumably they preferred immigrants to come to the country and find work organically, or through family already landed and planted.



The letter was drafted by the Department of Commerce and Labor’s U.S. Immigration Service for use by the inspector in charge in Galveston, though the letter was originally meant for his Ellis Island counterpart in New York City.

Congress chose Galveston over New Orleans as the site of a major new federal immigration station in 1906.

According to the Houston Museum of Natural Science in 2010, over 150,000 immigrants from Mexico, Central and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa entered Texas and parts north through the Port of Galveston from 1845 to 1924.



Chances are many of you reading this have ties back to the Port of Galveston in your bloodline.