Speech #510158918

President. the Treasury Department has been most anxious to have the law amended so as to read as it does in this section. This is not as stringent as it was desired to be. but some modifications were effected in the other House beiore the bill came here. lessening its stringency. One point where difficulty has been experienced. as I understand. is this: That the law has been evaded by the master bringing the immigrant or the laborer who hasbeen contracted for in the vicinity of the landing wharves and then covertly allowing the immigrant to be taken off the ship and taken ashore in some other direction. and so it was thought that in order to hold the master to his liabilitiesfor it is only through the master who is in the management of the vehicle in which the immigrant is conveyed that the evil can be reachedhe should be held responsible for the passengers he carried. Therefore it was deemed desirable to have the law so framed that the act of landing could be fixed upon the master. and that being evaded he should be held liable for the act of bringing. Of course no master brings a man here unless he lands. and no immigrant is brought. unless he is landed. If the master is held liableand does not perform the specific act of landing or is not supervising that act of landing. or if the landing is held to be technically at the wharves and that act is done with due legal formality. and the act of landing is held to be the offensive act and the immigrant is quietly taken off by a boat outside the harbor or away down the harbor and put ashore. then the master is not reached at all by the law as it has hitherto been. and the purpose of the lawis evaded. It was the object of this section to hold the maqter for either the act of bringing or of landing. or both combined. as the case mightbe. and although it may appear to operate with some hardship at times upon an innocent master. if you can suppose that the master is ignorant of the character of the cargo which he is bringing. nevertheless the public policy seems to require that the evil shall be eradicated. and if the evil is eradicated it can be reached only by stringent regulations which take hold of the master of the ship. This section is designated to accomplish that.