Punctually at midnight, Eastern Standard time, the nine passenger liners, Aquitania, France, Nieuw Amsterdam, Canada, President Wilson, President Adams, Polonia, King Alexander and Washington, which had reached Gravesend Bay, started for Quarantine.  Swarms of motor launches were cruising around the ships with friends of aliens who shouted greetings in every language from Arabic to Zulu.  The small boats became so numerous that the police boats Manhattan and Blue Boy were sent from Pier A to keep them clear of the channel where the steamships had to pass through.

The Italian liner Presidente Wilson, from Trieste with 776 aliens, was the first of the fleet to cross the imaginary line at quarantine to gain admittance to the United States under the new quotas of the restricted immigration law.  The French steamer Canada from Pireaus, Greece, with 949 aliens was second and the Danish steamship Polonia from Libau with 741 was third.

The President Wilson was oficially timed at two minutes after midnight, standard time, the Canada a minute later and the Polonia at 12:04 A.M.
 

Mr. Uhl said there were about 900 immigrants on Ellis Island yesterday for the week-end, and that the staff could take care of 2,000 more today.  The staff of inspectors has been increased from seventy-nine to eighty-five, and a fource of fourteen surgeons will go down the bay to board the ships in turn as they reach Quarantine.  Those who are not taken to Ellis Island today will remain on their vessels until they are examined.

Additional mattresses of the best quality have been purchased during the last week and sent to Ellis Island for the use of the first and second class passengers who may be sent there.  The surplus of steerage passengers will have to sleep on the soft side of the wooden benches in the main hall of the immigration building and in the detention rooms.  The steamship lines will have to pay 50 cents a night for lodging and 29 cents per meal for their pasengers during their stay on the island.
 

One of the best contintents of immigrants expected today is that of 500 Dutch farmers from Friesland, Holland, with their families.  They are bound for the Middle West and are in the second cabin of the Holland-America liner Nieuw Amsterdam.  Of the forty-three nationalities figuring the quota list only Iceland will not be represented today or tomorrow.  The Greek quota for July will be most quickly exhausted as it allows only  659 for the month and there are nearly 1,700 Greeks on the King Alexander.

Henry H. Curran, the newly-apointed commissioner of Immigration, who takes charge at Ellis Island today, announced yesterday that Assistant Secretary of Labor White, Assistant Commissioner General Wixon and Chief Inspector Silbray would arrive from Washington this morning to decide immediately on any cases of aliens who may appeal from the ruling of the local board of special inquiry.  This action is taken to avoid congestion at the island.

(The photocopy used for this transcript is of very poor quality.  Works and phrases guessed at are  in parentheses.)
Representative John L. Cable of Ohio, member of the House Immigration Committee  arrived in New York yesterday (to learn?) first-hand facts to incorporate in a new immigration bill dealing with immigration quotas.   He (said?) he would board one  of the Italian steamships at Quarantine this morning and later would go to Ellis Island to observe the methods of handling new arrivals.  The proposed bill, he said, would provide for additional inspectors and for alleviation of the present croweded conditions at Ellis Island in a general plan to expedite examination of aliens.

Commissioner Curran said that every effort would be made to provide for the comfort of the incoming aliens at Ellis Island, but that the facilities were sadly inadequate.  Hundreds of the immigrants waiting on board the liners to know their fate were here last year and were sent back to their native lands because the quotas were full.  After waiting for seven months they are taking another chance of entering the United States.

Twenty percent, of the quota from each country will be accepted during each of the first five months in the (current?) year commencing today.  After that if the annual quota has been filled, no more may enter until next July.