broadminded pastor would encourage the planting of a church in some
needy field, but too often the establishment of a new mission was looked
upon as an encroachment on the parochial rights of the older
congregation. At this point in the congregational polity of our church
the absence of a directing mind and a unifying force was sorely felt.

The condition of immigrants at the port of New York was for many years a
public scandal. In 1847 the State of New York appointed Commissioners of
Immigration. Under the Act of March 3, 1891, the Commissioner was
appointed by the Federal Government.

Before this was done, the helpless immigrants were the prey of countless
vampires, chiefly in the form of "runners," agents of boarding houses
and transportation companies. These pirates of the land exacted a heavy
toll from all foreigners who ventured to enter our city by way of the
steerage.

[illustration: "Pastor Wilhelm H. Berkemeier"]

In 1864 Robert Neumann, who had been a co-laborer with Gutzlaff, a
pioneer missionary in China, established an Immigrant Mission at Castle
Garden and succeeded in awakening an interest in this cause.

A few years later, in the subsequent period, the churches took up the
question of providing for the needs of the immigrants.

The Deutsches Emigrantenhaus was incorporated in 1871. Pastor Wilhelm
Heinrich Berkemeier became the first housefather. His unflagging zeal
gave strong support to a much-needed work of love. His venerable
personality was a benediction to his contemporaries.