PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT AND THE SYRIAN CHILDREN
A very touching incident, characteristic of the kind heart
of President Roosevelt, ought to be put on record in connection
with his visit to Worcester.
During the Christmas holidays of 1901 a very well known Syrian,
a man of high standing and character, came into my son's office
and told him this story:
A neighbor and countryman of his had a few years before emigrated
to the United States and established himself in Worcester.
Soon afterward, he formally declared his intention of becoming
an American citizen. After a while, he amassed a little money
and sent to his wife, whom he had left in Syria, the necessary
funds to convey her and their little girl and boy to Worcester.
She sold her furniture and whatever other belongings she had,
and went across Europe to France, where they sailed from one
of the northern ports on a German steamer for New York.
Upon their arrival at New York, it appeared that the children
had contracted a disease of the eyelids, which the doctors
of the Immigration Bureau declared to be trachoma, which is
contagious, and in adults incurable. It was ordered that
the mother might land, but that the children must be sent
back in the ship upon which they arrived, on the following
Thursday. This would have resulted in sending them back as
paupers, as the steamship company, compelled to take them
as passengers free of charge, would have given them only such
food as was left by the sailors, and would have dumped them
out in France to starve, or get back as beggars to Syria.
The suggestion that the mother might land was only a cruel
mockery. Joseph J. George, a worthy citizen of Worcester,
brought the facts of the case to the attention of my son,
who in turn brought them to my attention. My son had meantime
advised that a bond be offered to the Immigration authorities
to save them harmless from any trouble on account of the children.
I certified these facts to the authorities and received a
statement in reply that the law was peremptory, and that it
required that the children be sent home; that trouble had
come from making like exceptions theretofore; that the Government
hospitals were full of similar cases, and the authorities
must enforce the law strictly in the future. Thereupon I
addressed a telegram to the Immigration Bureau at Washington,
but received an answer that nothing could be done for the
children.
Then I telegraphed the facts to Senator Lodge, who went in
person to the Treasury Department, but could get no more
favorable reply. Senator Lodge's telegram announcing their
refusal was received in Worcester Tuesday evening, and repeated
to me in Boston just as I was about to deliver an address
before the Catholic College there. It was too late to do
anything that night. Early Wednesday morning, the day before
the children were to sail, when they were already on the ship,
I sent the following dispatch to President Roosevelt:
TO THE PRESIDENT, WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, D. C.
I appeal to your clear understanding and kind and brave heart
to interpose your authority to prevent an outrage which will
dishonor the country and create a foul blot on the American
flag. A neighbor of mine in Worcester, Mass., a Syrian by
birth, made some time ago his public declaration for citizenship.
He is an honest, hard-working and in every way respectable
man. His wife with two small children have reached New York.
He sent out the money to pay their passage. The children
contracted a disorder of the eyes on the ship. The Treasury
authorities say that the mother may land but the children
cannot, and they are to be sent back Thursday. Ample bond
has been offered and will be furnished to save the Government
and everybody from injury or loss. I do not think such a
thing ought to happen under your Administration, unless you
personally decide that the case is without remedy. I am told
the authorities say they have been too easy heretofore, and
must draw the line now. That shows they admit the power to
make exceptions in proper cases. Surely, an exception should
be made in the case of little children of a man lawfully here,
and who has duly and in good faith declared his intention
to become a citizen. The immigration law was never intended
to repeal any part of the naturalization laws which provide
that the minor children get all the rights of the father as
to citizenship. My son knows the friends of this man personally
and that they are highly respectable and well off. If our
laws require this cruelty, it is time for a revolution, and
you are just the man to head it.
GEORGE F. HOAR.
Half an hour from the receipt of that dispatch at the White
House Wednesday forenoon, Theodore Roosevelt, President of
the United States, sent a peremptory order to New York to
let the children come in. They have entirely recovered from
the disorder of the eyes, which turned out not to be contagious,
but only caused by the glare of the water, or the hardships
of the voyage. The children are fair-haired, with blue eyes,
and of great personal beauty, and would be exhibited with
pride by any American mother.
When the President came to Worcester he expressed a desire
to see the children. They came to meet him at my house, dressed
up in their best and glorious to behold. The President was
very much interested in them, and said when what he had done
was repeated in his presence, that he was just beginning to
get angry.
The result of this incident was that I had a good many similar
applications for relief in behalf of immigrants coming in
with contagious diseases. Some of them were meritorious,
and others untrustworthy. In the December session of 1902
I procured the following amendment to be inserted in the immigration
law.
"Whenever an alien shall have taken up his permanent residence
in this country and shall have filed his preliminary declaration
to become a citizen and thereafter shall send for his wife
or minor children to join him, if said wife or either of said
children shall be found to be affected with any contagious
disorder, and it seems that said disorder was contracted on
board the ship in which they came, such wife or children shall
be held under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury
shall prescribe until it shall be determined whether the disorder
will be easily curable or whether they can be permitted to
land without danger to other persons; and they shall not be
deported until such facts have been ascertained."