FAREWELL TO REFORM 287sponsibility. In his own account of his troubles Weitling related
that his chief, a "general agent" named Murray, was absent fre
quently from work because of illness and political activity but
received a salary of $4,500, ten times the amount paid his sub
ordinate.
Part of Weitling's duties proved to be very disagreeable, for he
was expected to persuade the newcomers to volunteer for the
Union army in the early days of the Civil War, and this he re
fused to do. He became quite discouraged with his job and saw
little chance to change the system under which he had to work.
In a letter in which he applied for another job he pointed out that
"I write English and French easily and correctly, if not elegantly."
His chief, according to his account, could not write a hundred
words of his mother tongue correctly.
In his Account Book for June 11, 1862, Weitling recorded his
version of the facts which led to his dismissal. Apparently he had
been swamped by the practically simultaneous arrival of four
ships, by the flood of questions addressed to him by Irish immi
grants, and by the request of a German passenger to write a letter
for him immediately. Rushing around excitedly in an effort to
discharge all these responsibilities, he became involved in an argu
ment with a superior about the importance of a particular request,
and the dispute ended by Weitling losing his temper and telling
his chief that he was neither his "fool" nor his "servant." There
upon, he packed his effects and was dismissed for insubordination.
Several years later, his distress was so acute that he swallowed his
pride and applied for reinstatement, but to no avail. Another un
finished and undated letter preserved among his manuscripts was
addressed to a municipal judge applying for the post of court in
terpreter in Essex Market Court in New York City. On October
15,1867, at the age of fifty-nine, Weitling was admitted to Ameri
can citizenship in a New York court of common pleas.
Although the appointment as registrar at Castle Garden could
not have been without its political implications, Weitling defi
nitely had decided to abandon all forms of public agitation. The