commissioned by a contractor in Pittsburg to go into the Italian
provinces of Austria and engage 200 good stonemasons, 200 good
carpenters, and an indefinite number of unskilled laborers. These people
were to be put in touch with sub-agents of lines sailing from Hamburg,
Fiume, and Bremen, and these agents were to be accountable for these
contract laborers being got safely into the United States. This woman
said many of her neighbors in Pittsburg had come into the country as
contract laborers and held the law in great contempt, as it was merely
a matter of being sufficiently instructed and prepared, and no official
at Boston or Ellis Island could tell the difference.[29] Why should not
the law be held in contempt, not only this one but all law, by the
immigrant who is introduced to America through its violation, and
trained to perjure himself at the outset of his new career? Does not the
Commissioner-General sound a note of warning when he says:
[Sidenote: The Christian Duty]
"It is not reasonable to anticipate that if the great transportation
lines do not respect the laws of this country their alien passengers
will do so, nor can it be conceded that those aliens whose entrance to
the United States is effected in spite of the law are desirable or even
safe additions to our population."[30]
[Sidenote: Remedy Demanded]
It is painful to think that such conditions can exist in connection with
so vital a matter as immigration. But it is better to have the facts
known, in order that a remedy may be found. Publicity is the safety of
republics and communities. And the disclosures of the lengths to which
men will go in order to make money should give new and mighty impulse to
those who believe in righteousness and have not bowed to the god mammon.
If the work of Christianizing the aliens is made harder by the
experiences through which they pass and the examples they have set
before them by unscrupulous persons, it must be undertaken with so much
the more zeal. Respect for law must be preserved, and one of the best
ways to accomplish this is to see to it that the laws are enforced and
the violators of them punished, even though they represent giant
corporations and vast capital.
QUESTIONS FOR CHAPTER II
AIM: TO REALIZE THE NECESSITY OF JUST AND ADEQUATE LAWS FOR THE
ADMISSION AND RESTRICTION OF IMMIGRANTS
I. _Method of Admission._
1. What proportion of the immigrants now coming land at New York?
2. What is Ellis Island like--materially--spiritually?
3. Suppose yourself an immigrant: what steps would you take to
reach New York? What processes would you undergo on landing? How
would you be directed?
II. _Governmental Regulation._
4. What two kinds of government regulation are practicable? Are
both in force?
5. Do the steamship companies obey the law? with regard to its
letter? to its real intent?
III. _Restriction._
6. * Do you think unrestricted immigration is best for our country?
7. Why is the present discrimination against the Chinese not just?
8. When and to what extent was control over immigration assumed by
the United States Government?
9. What measures were passed in 1903? Has there been any action
since?
10. What classes of immigrants are excluded as unfit? Who decides
in case of doubt?
11. Are many immigrants sent back? Why do the steamship companies
bring the unfit?
IV. _Violation._
12. How is immigration solicited? How is it coerced?
13. What is the purpose and what the actual working of the
"Contract-Labor Law"?
V. _What Can the Christian Public do to Improve Conditions?_
14. * Can we expect immigrants to obey our laws, if they are
started in such ways? Why not?
15. Has Christian public opinion any special duty in this matter?
What is it?
REFERENCES FOR ADVANCED STUDY.--CHAPTER II
I. Visit and inspect if possible, some receiving station for
immigrants, and report; or else consult the statements and charts
of Reports of the Commissioner of Immigration, for the year ending
June 30, 1905.
II. Describe the Brandenburgs during life among Italians, and
journey to this country as immigrants; their aims, and the results
achieved. Brandenburg: Imported Americans, IV, XIII, XV, XXII.
III. The present regulation of immigrants, with special reference
to "The Excluded." Laws for 1903. Hall: Immigration, 216-231.
Brandenburg: Imported Americans, 248-274.
IV. Is there need for further restriction? Hall: Immigration, XI,
XII. Hunter: Poverty, VI. Charities and The Commons, issue for
March 31, 1906.
_The evils attendant upon unrestricted immigration are not
theoretical but actual. Emigration from one place becomes
immigration into another. It is an international affair of greatest
importance, and should be speedily recognized as such._--J. D.
Whelpley.
III
PROBLEMS OF LEGISLATION AND DISTRIBUTION
The immigration question in this country has never had the attention to
which its importance entitles it. It has sometimes been the scapegoat of
religious and racial prejudices, and always, in recent years, an annual
sacrifice to the gods of transportation.--_Prescott F. Hall._
It is exasperating to any patriotic American to have brought
convincingly before him the proofs of a wholesale evasion of a very
carefully planned code of laws which he fain would think is a sufficient
protection of his country's best interests. It is more annoying to
realize that the successful evaders are for the most part foreigners,
and those, too, of commonly despised races. The conclusion is plain:
Seek the grounds on which to deny passage to undesirable emigrants who
wish to come to the United States, in the villages from which they
emanate. In the communes of their nativity the truth is known and cannot
be hidden.--_Broughton Brandenburg._
The mesh of the law needs to be stiffened rather than relaxed. The
benefit of the doubt belongs to the United States rather than to the
alien who clamors for admittance.--_Commissioner-General Sargent._
Distribution, rather than wholesale restriction, is being more and more
recognized as the real way out of the difficulties presented by our
immense unassimilated immigration.--_Gino C. Speranza._
The need is to devise some system by which undesirable immigrants shall
be kept out entirely, while desirable immigrants are properly
distributed throughout the country.--_President Roosevelt._
III
PROBLEMS OF LEGISLATION AND DISTRIBUTION
_I. The Present Situation_
[Sidenote: Difficulties in the Way]
There is a growing conviction that something ought to be done to check
the present enormous inflow of immigrants. But when it comes to what
that something is, difficulties at once arise. There are so many
foreigners already in America, and so many children of foreign-born
parents, that it is impossible to touch the stream at any point without
protest from some source. As some one says, "You do not have to go very
far back in the family line of any of us to find an immigrant. Scratch
an American and you find a foreigner." And not a few of these foreigners
sympathize with the Irishman who said to a lady against whom he had a
grievance because she insisted on having a Chinese servant, "We have a
right here that those who are here by the mere accident of birth have
not." On the other hand, it was a foreigner of wide vision who said: "I
do not believe there is any peculiar virtue in American birth, or that
Americans are (_per se_) superior to all other nations; but I do believe
that they are better fitted than all others to govern their own
country. They made the country what it is, and ought to have the first
voice in determining what it is to be. In this alone consists their
superiority."[31]
[Sidenote: The Immigration Conference of 1905]
It is significant and hopeful that men are thinking upon the subject.
What we want is full and fair discussion and thorough information.
Nothing is so perilous in a democracy as ignorance and indifference. It
is far better for men to disagree thoughtfully than to agree
thoughtlessly. What all patriotic and Christian men seek is the best
good of this country, which means so much to the whole world as the
supreme experiment of self-government. That the people are awakening was
shown by the Immigration Conference in New York in December of 1905,
when five hundred men, most of them appointed by their state governors,
gathered under the auspices of the National Civic Federation to discuss
the whole question of immigration. The immigration experts of the
country were present, and the company included United States Senators
and Representatives, college presidents and professors, leading editors,
lawyers and clergymen, and prominent labor leaders.
[Sidenote: Conclusions Reached]
No such conference on this subject has before been held, and the results
of the discussion, which was for the most part as temperate and sensible
as it was straightforward, were such as to bring about a better
understanding between the men who are supposed to be theorists and the
representatives of American labor. The resolutions unanimously adopted
were conservative and practical. The most important recommendations call
for admission tests in Europe rather than after the alien has reached
America, for the spread of information leading to better distribution,
and for the establishment of a commission to investigate the subject of
immigration in all its relations, including the violations and evasions
of the present law. Undoubtedly such a commission, appointed by the
president and possessed of competent authority, could accomplish much
good. For one thing, it could keep the matter before the people and
wisely guide public sentiment.
[Sidenote: The Right of Self-Protection]
However much men may differ in view as to specific legislation, one
point ought to be regarded as settled. That is, the right of Congress to
pass such laws as may be deemed essential to safeguard American
institutions and liberties. A nation has the inalienable right to
protect itself against foreign invasion; and it does not matter whether
the invasion be armed or under the guise of immigration. No foreign
nation has the right to send its peoples to America, or by persecution
to drive them forth upon other nations, and no foreigner has any
inherent right to claim admission to the United States.
[Sidenote: Welfare of the State Supreme]
Right is determined, in migration as in civic relations, not by the will
or whim of the individual, but by the welfare of the state. Further than
this, the government has the right to deport at any time any aliens who
may be regarded as unfit to remain. There ought to be no confusion as to
rights in this matter.
[Sidenote: Cases that call for Reform]
The question recurs, however, is there need of doing anything? As to
this President Roosevelt and the Commissioner-General of Immigration are
agreed. In his last annual message the President recommended the
prohibition of immigration through Canada and Mexico, the strengthening
of our exclusion laws, heavier restraints upon the steamship companies,
and severer penalties for enticing immigrants. It is a striking fact
that nearly all of the proposed additions to our laws are intended to
stop the evasion and violation of the laws we have, which are made
ineffective by fraud and questionable practices of the most extensive
kind. A recent writer[32] presents this matter in condensed form worthy
of study, giving this "astonishing catalogue of abuses," brought to
light by special inspectors in the employ of the Immigration Bureau:
[Sidenote: Astonishing Abuses]
"1. The importation of contract laborers, usually under the
direction of padrones, from Greece, Italy, and Austria-Hungary.
"2. The smuggling of immigrants across the Canadian and Mexican
borders who would be certain of rejection at our Atlantic ports.
"3. The 'patching up' of immigrants afflicted with favus, trachoma,
and other loathsome or contagious diseases so that they can get
past the inspectors without detection, even though the process is
likely to augment their sufferings later.
"4. The forgery and sale of spurious naturalization certificates
and the repeated use of the same certificates passed back and forth
between relatives and friends.
"5. The assisting of immigration, either by local authorities in
Europe or by earlier comers in America.
"6. The stimulating of immigration by transportation companies and
their armies of paid agents and sub-agents in Europe."
[Sidenote: A Plain Necessity]
As a result, Mr. Ogg says, of the widespread operations through these
underground channels there is an abnormal immigration movement so vast
as "to override and all but reduce to a mere joke our whole restrictive
system. That an appalling number of aliens who are on the verge of
dependency, defectiveness, and delinquency do somehow contrive to get
into the country every year is a fact too well known to call for
verification here. Nobody undertakes to deny it." There is plain
necessity, therefore, that some means of redeeming the situation should
be found.
_II. Proposed Legislation_
[Sidenote: Three Recommendations]
The Commissioner-General of Immigration, in his report for 1905, devotes
much space to new or amendatory legislation, which he regards as a
necessity.[33] To bring the steamship companies to stricter regard for
law, he would raise the penalty for carrying diseased persons from $100
to $500. He favors the debarring of illiterates, and as a special
recommendation proposes an international conference of immigration
experts, with a view to secure by treaty or convention the coöperation
of foreign countries from which aliens migrate hither, both in reducing
the number of immigrants and preventing the inadmissible and undesirable
classes from leaving their own homes.
[Sidenote: Value of International Conference]
Such a conference would certainly be conducive to a good understanding
between nations, would doubtless secure an effective restraint of the
transportation agencies, and throw such light upon the attitude of
foreign governments toward our present system of immigration restriction
as would enable Congress to decide intelligently what additional
measures are necessary to protect this country from the dangers of an
increasing influx of aliens. This is an admirable recommendation. As Mr.
Whelpley says, it is a question of emigration as well as immigration,
and since two countries are interested in the migrants, the whole matter
is properly one for international conference and action.
[Sidenote: Immigration Bills in Congress]
The interest taken by Congress in immigration is indicated by the
introduction in the House during the session of 1906 of nineteen bills
to regulate or restrict immigration, while a number were introduced in
the Senate also. The House Committee on Immigration, of which Mr.
Gardner, of Massachusetts, is chairman, took all the bills into
consideration and reported a comprehensive Bill to Regulate the
Immigration of Aliens into the United States. This proposed law advances
considerably beyond the Act of 1903, which it is designed to replace. It
raises the head tax from $2 to $5, introduces the reading test,[34] and
practically creates a money test also, by requiring every male immigrant
to have $25 in hand at the time of examination.[35] The money from the
head tax is to constitute a permanent immigration fund, to defray not
only the cost of the Immigration Bureau, but also that of maintaining an
information bureau, to save immigrants from being deceived and show them
where they are most wanted and likely to succeed.[36]
[Sidenote: The Reading Test Pro and Con]
The section in this proposed legislation that has caused most
discussion and dissension is the illiteracy test. This measure has been
pressed upon Congress by the Immigration Restrictive League ever since
the organization of that Society in 1894. Senator Lodge fathered it and
it was passed once and vetoed by President Cleveland. President
Roosevelt recommended it in his message of December 3, 1901, and it has
received the endorsement of many boards of charities and many leading
men. The strongest argument in favor of it is contained in a resolution
passed by the Associated Charities of Boston, although the same argument
applies broadly to the question of restriction. The reading test was
discussed by speakers at the National Immigration Conference, but that
meeting did not include it in the resolutions adopted. The Jewish
influence is thrown strongly against it, since the Russian Jews who are
fleeing from oppression are among the most illiterate of the present
immigration. This is due to lack of school facilities, however, for the
Jews naturally take to education and the Jewish children in the public
schools and high schools are carrying off the prizes. "Not long ago I
saw a Jewish girl in a New England academy win the prize in
constitutional history over the heads of the boys and girls from
American families, though her father was an illiterate Russian
Jew."[37]
[Sidenote: In Favor of Illiterates]
That is not by any means an unusual testimony. Another fact worthy of
note is that many of those who have worked most closely among the
immigrants do not favor the reading test. Mr. Brandenburg, for example,
suggests that the illiterates often prove less opinionated and more
easily assimilable than others of the same race who can read and write,
and says that so far as his experience goes the great proportion of the
rascals and undesirables can read and write; that if he had his choice
between admitting to this country a wealthy educated Roman nobleman or
an illiterate Neapolitan or Sicilian laborer, he would take the laborer
every time, for his brain and brawn and heart make the better foundation
on which to build the institutions of our Republic. Miss Kate Claghorn
and other experienced workers agree in this view, and think it would be
a positive misfortune to make ability to read the deciding test. Nor
would these experts favor the money test. They believe the inspectors
should have more leeway, as judges of human nature, and would rather
rely on their judgment as to the character of the applicant than upon
any arbitrary tests. So this is an open question for discussion, with
good arguments on both sides.
[Sidenote: Three Further Propositions]
There are three propositions further. The first is a measure introduced
into the House by the late Congressman Adams of Pennsylvania. This
would restrict by law the total number of immigrants from any given
country in any one year to 80,000. This would decrease the south of
Europe quota, and might increase that from northern Europe. It would at
any rate tend to stop the million a year rate.
[Sidenote: Itinerant Boards]
The second measure is proposed by Mr. Brandenburg, who feels sure it
would prove the desired remedy. His opinion carries a good deal of
weight. His proposal is to "select emigrants before itinerant boards of
two, three, or more native-born Americans who speak fluently and
understand thoroughly the language and dialects of the people who come
before them--these boards to be on a civil service basis," and to sit at
stated times in the central cities of the countries whence aliens
come.[38] This he believes to be "a correct solution of the gigantic
problem." It would keep expense down, avoid opportunities for wholesale
corruption of American officials by the transportation interests and the
immigrants themselves, and enable the examiners to deny passage to
persons desirous of going to districts already over-populated with
aliens.
[Sidenote: Inspection Abroad]
The third measure is in line with the second, but instead of
establishing itinerant boards of examiners, it proposes to select
fifteen or twenty ports abroad which shall be made exclusive points for
the embarkation of emigrants bound for the United States. Mr. Ogg states
the plan as follows:
[Sidenote: List of Cities]
"Perhaps an adequate list would be Hamburg, Bremen, Stettin, Rotterdam,
Antwerp, London, Southampton, Liverpool, Havre, St. Nazaire, Marseilles,
Fiume, Trieste, Naples, Genoa, and Odessa. At each of these ports should
be located an immigrant station, similar, in a general way, to the
immigrant stations at our larger Atlantic ports to-day, and it should be
made the duty of the resident commissioners, with their staffs of
inspectors and medical attachés, to examine carefully and minutely every
man, woman, and child of alien nationality who applies for passage to
the United States. Successful applicants should be given a certificate
which alone would enable them to land at the port of destination; those
unsuccessful should be made to understand then and there that, in their
present state at least, there is no chance for them to carry out their
intention of migration, and that the best thing for them to do is to
return to their homes."[39]
[Sidenote: Do the Sifting in Europe]
This radical plan proposes to transfer Ellis Island, in effect, to a
score of points in Europe, and do the sifting before the starting. That
would be sensible. Then only the desirable portion would get here. While
the idea is radical, it is the outgrowth of years of experience and
reflection, and Mr. Ogg says, immigration officials are generally
agreed upon its wisdom and practicability. This system, thoroughly
carried out, would not only stop all immigration that is illegal, but as
much as possible of that which, though not illegal, is questionable and
undesirable. More tests applied at this end of the route will be only
partially effective, since experience proves that the present tests are
evaded. The means of reform, upon which all other immigration reforms
must wait, lies in this shifting of the main work of supervision and
inspection to Europe. The foreign governments would welcome the plan, or
at least accept it if proposed by this country.
[Sidenote: What this would Accomplish.]
This system would serve to prevent the tragedies of the excluded; would
go far toward stopping the pernicious activity of the steamship
companies and their enticing emissaries; would facilitate the detection
and punishment of those breakers and evaders of the law who are now
immune; and it would make possible a quite different and more searching
examination of intending immigrants than is possible when the mass of
them is poured out at Ellis Island, as through the small end of a
funnel. Back to the sources is humane and wise. The expense involved
could easily be met by an increased head tax; and if not, this is a case
where expense in money is not to be counted in comparison with the
country's welfare.
[Sidenote: International Regulation]
These are interesting propositions. Mr. Whelpley agrees with Mr.
Brandenburg as to the necessity of dealing with the migrant before he
reaches port, either of embarkation or disembarkation. He says our laws
and restrictions are severe, and thoroughly and intelligently enforced,
but fall short of their purpose for the simple reason that there is
little or no control over the source of supply. "It is an effort to beat
back the tide after it has rolled upon the shore, and in the vast
multitude of arrivals many gain entrance legally whom the country would
be better off without."[40] His plan is to have an international
regulation of migration, so that each government will do its part to
check the present conditions and regulate the matter at its starting
point.
[Sidenote: A Higher Standard]
This subject of legislation is confessedly delicate and difficult. The
diversity of opinion is confusing. Yet we cannot escape the conviction
that the present immigration is altogether too vast for the good of the
country. Suspension is not to be seriously considered, but surely it
could do no harm to make the laws more stringent, to insist upon a
higher physical standard, to debar degenerates, and to stop at any cost
the solicitation and "assisted" immigration abuses which have caused so
much suffering to the deceived and excluded victims of greed.
_III. The Problem of Distribution_
[Sidenote: The Crucial Point]