Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 February 1911 — Page 2

WHY THEY COME

A SCANT one-third of the '%&■ immigrants who land on our shores come volunt&rily and of an intelllgent desire to better their condition by -f ■ hard work. Of these it 'a- tI 1s not the purpose of rJA this article to treat. 1 The remainder of the i I yearly output from for--1 I etgn countries come J| }| here because they have BilUHlHllllUflll tj eeil caught up and torn away from their native homes by 3h» superior power of a vast and lntrlsale "machine.” In ita main outlines •Mb “machine” may be likened to an tnormous dredging apparatus stretching forth gigantic cranes to every port of Europe, catching up and heaving back loads of emigrants collected from every corner of the eastern hemisphere Dy the tireless efforts of no less than 60,000 steamship agents and their canvassers. The fuel which energizes this colossal structure is an equally colossal greed lor yearly dividends, and the combined Intellects controlling our greatest steamship and railroad companies may be said to represent the engineer. The pivot open which the entire mechanism turns Is fraud and evasion of the United States Immigration law. No large city in the United States is without its element of foreign-hern purchasable voters, criminal cliques, “black handers,” anarchists, paupers. Its "cheap labor" supply controlled by foreign-born contractors, its overcrowded tenements breeding disease; furthermore, a careful estimate shows that about 90 per cent of the unaccompanied Immigrant male adults who enter our oountry are legally Ineligible. Our laws are therefore an ever recurrent subject of controversy. Yet despite all discussion, no person will dispute but that an immigrant is desirable from every sane standpoint, if be has a reasonable amount of intelligence, is physically sound and of good moral character, Is possessed of sufficient money earned by himself to cover the expense of his Journey and comes here of his own Initiative, capable for work, but not under contract to work at a wage which will lower the American standard. But this In plain language is precisely what our present immigration law requires; It !■ the legal, definition of immigrant < To understand the real evil underlying the present condition of immigration we must take- into consideration that while our dilettante theorists are consuming reams of paper with interesting reflections upon the “problem,” while our couhtry Is In its chronic state of optimism over present conditions, whatever they are —and while our legislators are engaged in the passage of new, unnecessary and often Impractical laws —thousands of foreigners excludable under the laws already passed are being yearly dumped upon our shores by various interests which work together as one machine. It Is well known that the fabulous profits derived from an. artificially stimulated Immigration are participated In by the allied Interests of the transatlantic steamship companies, the Ellis Island railroad pool and the Atlantio coastwise steamship lines. Co-operating, as they do, they run automatically of their own weight, practically without friction, and thrive by reason of a continuing abnormal immigrant supply. They all combine upon a single Instrument — namely, the European steamship agent—to solicit a trade In Immigrants that will appreciably increase passenger fares. He ft Is who, actuated by prospective fees whtah are dependent upon sales made, gives Impulse to the "machine” by selling its “through tickets” In every European town and hamlet The several affiliated steamship lines, having created their zones of Influence, enjoy what is practically a monopoly upon the sale of steerage tickets, and by spreading their field agents over the entire European territory from which immigrants are drawn they effectively suppress competition. At the immigrant gateway of America, all these lines converge to hand over their immigrant cargoes to the other participants in the “machine.” From the vantage point at Ellis Island the railroad "pool”—known as the “Immigrant Clearing House,” which is a combination of thirteen of our largest railroads, together with one of the consolidated steamship companies—takes the Immigrants in hand to tag and forward them to every point In the country at special third-class rates. The railroad “pool" finds it profitable to pay to the United States an annual fe-ental of 14,000 for Its headquarters on government ground, where it sells special tickets “for the benefit of ship immigrants only” for rail transportation from New York. Boston. Philadelphia and Baltimore to about 7,000 selected places In the Interior of the United States. Since, these tickets, sold either in Europe or at Ellis Island, are cheaper in price than can be obtained by our ettixens, the plain intent of congress to close every avenue against railroad rate discrimination. as expressed in the laws relating to Interstate commerce, is clearly defied. Further, the "committee" by which this ‘"pool” is managed restricts Its private gate book—“ Joint Tariff No. I*”—to the use of the European steamship agents end the “pool’s" “Joint agents” here, and ft Is said that the Individual companies of the "pool” spare in succession In the lucrative profits. It is also said that the railroad com peades. as well as the coastwise steam Hkf :>£ ' * 1

ship companies, regularly pay commissions for lnlapd transportation to the Atlantic steamship companies, where such transportation is purchased from the European steamship agents of these steamship companies in Europe. And so the “machine” an aggregate of

these commercial Interests —with Its employment of not less than 6(1,000 European agents and sub-agenta whose sole purpose Is to pack the steerage and load the (rains —with its secret operations fortified by enormous resources, hacked by the best Intelligence in both continents—ls practically in control of all the channels of immigration. Vigorous attempts are being made to successfully combat every law now before congress which Will reduce the number of these agents by restricting im-

migration, while repeated violations of our present laws are regularly practised and may be classed under two main heads. I. OLI CITING AN ARTIFICIAL E M I O RATION IN EUROPE FOR THE BENEFIT O F T H E STEAMS HIP COMPANIES. 11. M A K I N G CERTAIN THE ADMISSION OF I M M I GRANTS INTO THIS COUNTRY TO

PREVENT A REDUCTION OF PROFITS. Under the first heading the specific violations are: (a) SOLICITING EMIGRANTS. This Is "forbidden on the part of transportation companies, owners of vessels or others engaged In transporting aliens Into the United States.” For every violation there is a penalty of 11,000.—(Sec. 7, U. 8. Immigration Act of February 20, 1907.) (b) IMPORTING CONTRACT LABORERS. This includes those who have been “assisted, encouraged or Induced to migrate by offers or promises of

employment or .' In consequence of agreements, oral, written or printed, express or Implied, to perform labor In this country of any kind, skilled or unskilled.” For every violation of this law there is a penalty of f 1.000. (Sec. 2, U. S. I m m 1 gration Act, February 1 1907.) (OABSIST INO ALIEN S TO MIGRATE BY REPAY INO THEIR PASSAGE.

“One whose ticket or passage is paid for with the money Of another, or who la assisted by others to come.” is an excludable alien. — (Sjbc. 2, U. S. Immigration Act, February 20, 1907.) Id a single case all three of these violations are too often found. The following is an illustration. A well-known American citizen, and a member of the Mississippi bar, Is a member of a firm of cotton “factors” which employs Italian immigrants sipon Its plantation. An Italian steamship agent, whose brother solicited emigrants in Italy, worked

in this plantation commissary. It was the agent’s practice to extract from immigrants upon the plantation the names and addresses of their kinfolk living in Italy. These he forwarded to hto brother, who in turn persuaded them to become cotton workers. Snch remunerative commissions resulted thst the

agent soon left the planter’s commissary and. moving to a business center in the Yaxoo delta district, built up upon an extensive scale a genertfl business of importing contract laborers, which he termed "Ital- ’ ton products.” He published the following notice: ITALIANS! ... If you have not monoy to send passage farea to your relatives, I have the possibility of making them come here with the understanding that thsy will placs themselves where they are assigned; lands the moat fertile, conditions the beat.”. He furnished laborers for the surrounding cotton

farmers, and among other Influential patrons was the planter named above, who ordered a number of Italians for a second plantation which he controlled. Names of persons in Italy were accord Ingly furnished and the planter sent the agent a check of some 13,866.60, with which to purchase “prepaid

tickets.” aa well as $756 which was to be divided among the new arrivals In sums of $lO each for display at Ellis Island. As a matter of fact the planter’s money had gone from his pocket to the “machine” via the Mississippi agent, also via the same agent, to the ageat of the steamship line, and from thence to the steamship agent in Italy, who delivered “through tickets” to the Italians. The Italian families promised before they left Italy to work out their transportation here, but It was the planter's policy to take the extra precaution of charging the advance be made against the account

of the Italian who furnished him names, which secure him against loss in case his imported laborers were refused a landing, The agent, however, ranged with this Italian to write the expected cotton workers individually and direct them how to Violate the United Staten immigration law by giving them the following instructions; They must pay great attention not to know at all that they have somebody in America who has prepared work for them or that they, the famlUes. have entered into an agreement-or contract. . . . If they aay anything the opposite of what I am telling you they will absolutely be sent back to Italy. Also you will have to Inform these f ami Ilea that the

their false statements at Ellis island, insisting, as per Instructions &ven, that they themselves had paid for their tickets, that the money they exhibited was their own and also that they had made no contracts for work. The unique feature about this transaction is that the planter, being a lawyer, availed himself of the legal quibble of calling his imported laborers “settlers,” when as a matter of fact they were , clearly contract laborers, whose entrance into this country

section 24 of the act of February 20, 1907, when he encounters the immigrant inspectors or board ,of special Inquiry at Ellis Island. In this case he may be punished severely, if detected, while the steamship agent, “Us suborner and accessory before the fact, has no cause for trepidation, being beyond the arm of the law If he keeps out of the country. This violation falls under thageneral head No. IlTSfifore mentioned, ans is explained as follows: Before the “machine” begins to load its dally

from the agent, together with his steerage ticket;, he to told to commit them to memory and not to target to throw the paper Into the sea before the ship reaches America. It is made clear to him that to answer the questions according to the list, regardless of fact, is a prerequisite for entrance into the United States. The steamship agent and sub-agent have come to be the most unique figures in European life today. By their secrecy, collusion and the almost hyp-

alarming. They hold the real key to the Immigration situation. An Idea as to the extent of the returns may be gathered from what was told me by a steamship agent in a small community of the southern Peloponnesus. Greece —a town so far from a railroad that one must ride nine hours mule back to reach the nearest station. This worthy said that in five years he had cleared in drachmas a sum equal to $30,000. H^* had been In the United States to study

BY MARY GRACE QUACKENBOS

ccpyAxwrjsY M&vzsQAr &/b. co.

necessary money for their landing In New York will be handed them when they arrive in that city. This shows plainly the three violations of law mentioned before —t h e Italians were solicited, they were imported as contract laborers and their tickets were prepaid. All but one or two entered the country successfully, making

is prohibited by law. An even more striking lawbreaking practice, however — and one which cannot fail to be a serious menace to our nation’s welfare because it Is so far-reach-ing—is that in which the immigrant appears as principal and oommits perjury in violation of

steerage hold with emigrants the, agent carefully coaches them in the questions and answers which constitute the Ellis Island inspection. This is Intended to secure alike for the “machine,” the agent and the emigrant freedom from detection. These questions and answers the emigrant receives

notic power they exercise over the ignorant minds, they are In such association with each other that they may be even more accurately described as a “fraternity” than the widely feared Black Hand dety and the influence they exercise upon the destiny of our nation and upon ths Immigrants themselves is far more

the V commercial aspect of immigration, and his brother was a Greek consul here. Returning home, all he had to do was to talk and talk again—everywhere on the road, in the coffee houses, on the village green, near the fountain at sun sat when men rest their cattle and

women draw water. He was “friend” in the homes of the despondent and to the poverty-stricken; he proffered sympathy to those who were heavily taxed; he listened to the various events in their lives antkawakened the dormant impulse to migrate which is born in every human heart. Thus he created a demand for his steerage tickets by spreading discontent with home surroundings and by arousing hope and enthusiasm for America, always promising that there ‘‘everything will be all right” Hardly any commercial enterprise in Europe is more remunerative than that of encouraging emigration. From the sale of a single ticket several fees accrue which, fully computed, range from five to twenty-five dollars per emigrant There is a commission upon the sale of the steerage ticket, another for the railroad ticket and the agent charges a third to the emigrant if he can; extra fees are added for procuring various official papers which the emigrant Is told he needs; large fees are taxed for placing Jetty mortgages and making loans of money secured by the promises of friends in the community, for which interest runs as, high as 30 or 60 per cent.; while “helpers" who escort the emigrants to embarking points and march them to the pier—likewise emigrant-house keepers, money exchanges, ship interpreters—must be paid. On this side of the water at Ellis Island, - there are other speculators, various persons “Interested in the welfare of aliens,” that insist upon sending telegrams for them, selling them food, changing their money, handling their baggage; and, frequently, on a plea of escorting them to their place of destination, runners will “guide” immigrants into the hands of some labor agent by which they are paid, thus drawing double fees. One may think the agent conscienceless in his greed for gain, but, on the other hand, he Is gleaning profits greater than his own for men far above Tiim in the business world." The “machine” depends upon him for passenger fares; contractors depeqd upon him for gangs of “greeners” to dominate and exploit; American employers beckon to the cheap labor which he alone can provide- even his own government may be tempted to withhold interference with all his maneuvers, for Is he not an instrument through which wealth and benefit to his nation is accumulated? Bank deposits certainly are augmented through his efforts; economic and industrial conditions are improved; the large head tax alsh which Is gleaned through his efforts brings a substantial increase to his nation's revenue; while the relief from supporting too many poor, from educating too many illiterates, perhaps also the temptation to quietly scatter criminals —(who knows) —all are surely brought about through the efforts of the steamship agent. The respect accorded to him by all seems only to Increase his zeal. Mastering the situation from all sides, he sytematlzes his work and makes it efficient through a painstaking, persistent study of the lower classes of Europe—their weaknesses and their wants, and with a provident eye on the future, he trains his son from early manhood in all the intricacies of hto subtle trade. In time he becomes all things to all men, he is never discouraged, and Is able to wheedle almost every person within his reach into the belief that America is the great and only goal. We have seen that our government officials are hoodwinked dally by thousands of foreigners, deposited at our ports by these allied interests, carefully coached in deceit by their agents. Fraud starts the Immigrant upon his Journey; fraud lands him In America. Fraud is merged Into the very name “America!” The immigrant does not fully realize what he is doing, his trust is in his own countrymen and not in the people of a strange land.

Culture at any Cost

“We came back from Sicily this October,” said a literary woman, “on a big emigrant boat. Along with some 1,600 Hungarians were five Americana, forced, Sllke ourselves, out of their regular route by the cholera in Naples. They had embarked at Flume and were already warm friends with each other and with the officers, so we newcomers decided not to ‘butt in,’ but to spend most of our time reading. There was only the officers* library and the only really worthwhile book in it was loaned, bo the ship's doctor informed me. ‘lt's Henry James’s “Ambassador.” ’ he continued, ‘and the lady from Oklahoma has it* “She not only had it, but she kept It. Morning, noon and night it was under her arm, as Jealousy guarded as a nun guards her breviary. About a week later, when we had scraped acquaintance, she accosted me one morning with, ‘Say, I hear you write, so maybe you can tell me what this man’s trying to get at. anyway! I can’t make head nor tail of the darned thing! 1 suppose you’re heard of him, haren’t you? His name’s Henry James.' “Hoping to discourage her into giving up the book, I assured her she was not the first who had been unmercifully tortured by Henry’s curious, involved style —that that was precisely what he was noted for and that nobody ever pretended to understand him. “•There, now. she ejaculated. T knew I'd get a lemon the miniate I struck the first page! It made me so mad 1 felt like chucking it overboard. But you see, the doctor, who lent it to me, told me it was a sign of culture to be seen reeding Henry James, so I’m going to stick to it right straight through the whole voy* ag*U» "And she did.”

wiihirp Jfcfljx The daylight and darkness are a song; The clouds that fleck the summer skies with white, The stars that gleam above us all night long. Are gy«nbols of the song of love and light. And deeper chords there are, and harmonies . , N The which no mortal thought has ever found . Because they are eternal ecstacies Too marvel-sweet to be blurred into sound. Beyond the pulsing cadence of the breeze, Beyond the throbbing monotone of rain. The lilt of bird songs and the hum of bees. There surges up a vast, unfathomed strain ✓ Which we might -hear all faintly In the night When all the world has left us quite alone. Or when in awe we stand upon some height—- — Yet never Is that song completely known. Aye, times we sense it when we feel the , thrill Of. looking o’er the meadowlands in spring, ■ VX - Or when the snow makes of the treecrowned hill An ivoried stillness—then the shadows sing As do the sun-kissed fields, and distant haze, And all things—all the sky and sea and land; It is the song of all the nights and days That we may hear, but may not understand. The daylight and the darkness are a song, And ail the unknown heights and depths of space Where myriad systems whirl and wheel and throng. Each fleck of star-dust in its given place— All these, with blades of grass, and orchard bloom, - ■—— And gale-tossed snows, and winding flowered ways, And great sea billows, and the rose perfume, All blend Into the song of nights and days.

Expert Statement.

"Elijah," says the judge to the defendant, “you have had a fair trial. The prosecuting attorney has shown by circumstantial evidence that cannot be gainsaid that you were in Mr. Brown’s chicken coop on the night that his hens disappeared, and your own attorney, In his speech, Jias practically admitted that the theory of the prosecution is true. Have you anything to say before the court pronounces its decision?” “Jedge,” says Elijah, rising politely, "all I’s got to say is die. I don’t know much about de law, but I does know heahSay evumdence Isn’t good, an’ all dese lawyehs says is heahsay. I oughter know, foh I us de only man In dat chicken coop dat night, an' I’s denied it ralght erlong.”

Biff!

“A new and novel idea for an afternoon affair?" asks Mrs.'Justgottlt of Mrs. Peddygreigh. “O, I can, suggest a very clever plan. Let us have a spring bousecleanlng party. Let us invite all our set and have them don aprons and take mops apd brooms and dusters, and clean the house!” The suggestion is hailed gladly b j r the others of the 400, whereat the originator of dinners to monkey* and doll parties and Blmilar Joyous affairs jealously remarks! “And Mrs. Justgottlt will be the very one to take charge. of such a function, won’t she?”

Vincentized Mother Goose.

There was an automatic man t Who lived an automatic life. He pressed an automatic suit 4 And won an automatic Wife. ' And In his automatic way Her buttons he was wont to bless; “Why don't you go and get, I say, t An automatic buttoning dress?"

Modern Methods.

Having taken the butter from the churn, the thrifty housewife works tt into shape, and, to the surprise of her guest, begins adding coloring matter to ft “Why. surely you are not going to adulterate such splendid butter aa that!” criea the guest. “I have to. I’ve got to make thia gutter resemble the best brapds of oleomargarine or It will never sell at, alf