Start of a documentary production titled,"The Inheritance." Introductory slate tells how in December, 1914, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (Union) was founded in a meeting at Webster Hall, New York City. It also describes how far and wide that union had grown in the ensuing 50 years. An ocean liner is seen in the mist in New York Harbor. Fog horn sounds. The statue of Liberty is seen dimly through the fog. A commercial ship and a tug boat pass in front of Ellis Island. Views of building interior, Sign in boiler room reads: "U.S. Immigrant Station. Ellis Island. N.Y.H." Furnace door and thermometer and pressure gauges are seen. Large hall is seen. Camera pans through the empty corridors and rooms of the facility. The frame of an iron baby's crib sits in an empty room. View through window of Ellis Island proper, just outside, and of New York City buildings across the water. Montage of still photo images: Immigrants on the deck of a ship in 1901. Views of small children. A group of immigrants wearing the fez. Immigrants waving their hats as they see the Statue of Liberty. Broader view of the ship packed with immigrants. Interior of Ellis Island building with queue of new arrivals being processed. Immigration officers seated on high stools, checking documents of arrivals. Medical officer examines a boy with a stethoscope (screening for TB). View shifts to passengers arriving. They walk across the pier, carrying their belongings.
Wright Brothers Model C aircraft in a field during a flight in the United States. Two men turn propellers, engine starts and it takes off. It flies low over a field as a DH-4 aircraft also flies. DH-4 and Wright Model C flying low and close to each other. A blimp in flight with DH-4 in the background. (This event occurred well after the 1914 grounding of the Model C by the Army due to a series of fatal crashes).
European immigration to America from 1880 to 1914. Elderly European immigrants recall their experiences to interviewers in 1975, between montages of still photo images circa 1900: Pictures of immigrants after they reach America. Faces of immigrants with sad look. Old men with long beards. Large number of immigrants waiting for immigration check at Ellis Island. Immigrants walk with heavy luggage and crying children. Immigrants seek passage. Special officers hired to communicate with immigrants easily.
Describes European immigration to America from 1880 to 1914. Elderly European immigrants recall their experiences to interviewers in 1975. Still photo montage scenes circa 1900: Immigration officer with a woman. Large number of immigrants wait for immigration check at Ellis Island. Children lined up. Immigrants at port and going through health examinations. During physical examination, immigrants with disease of Trachoma marked and segregated. In 1975 an old lady describes her experience of being misdiagnosed with Trachoma and almost sent back to Russia. She was reexamined and allowed to remain in America.
U.S. Army testing of weapons during World War 1. An American soldier fires a Browning M1917A1 .30-caliber Water-Cooled Machine Gun while sitting in a hard wooden chair on a porch. Two soldiers test firing a French M1914 Hotchkiss machine gun. Another soldier test fires a Vickers Mark I water-cooled machine gun.
A map of Europe with German cross superimposed on it. Shows various newspaper headlines about World War I. First one indicating the death of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914; next "Germany Declares War - All Europe in Arms"; next "Germany Invades France"; then "French Resist at Marne"; then "Lusitania Sunk", followed by "U.S. Declares War." The latter is seen after an image of a newspaper printing press running at high speed. A worker at the printing plant stands beside the printing press and reads the newspaper. Various headlines about America entering into World War I, including "U.S. At War" and "U.S. Troops Land in France." Scene shows several posters to promote Liberty Bonds; one reads, "Beat Back the Hun with Liberty Bonds." U.S. Navy ships being constructed during World War 1 at a shipyard. Ships at piers as men work on them. A U.S. vessel underway at sea. A United States Navy destroyer ship underway at sea.