Speech #600143906

That commission reported to Secretary Straus in 1908. and the concluding paragraphs of that report are as follows: Our commission. therefore. has reached the conclusion that the demoralization of the bureau in its Chinese service is widespread. and unless radically reformed serious complications. both political and commercial. are thrtatened. Our commission did not consider that its duty was to make definite. formal charges against particular officials. except as incidental results of investigation. but to present to you as full a statement as possible of the bureaus relation to the causes of the boycolt. leaving it to you to determine what action should be taken. In no point does the demoralization of the bureau appear more striking than in its failure to prevent the smuggling of coolies. We found no evidence of systematic efficient effort to check such widespread violations of the law. The recommendations of Greenhalge to the CommissionerGeneral that the Government should attempt to catch the leading white smugglers. upon whom the smuggling system depends. seemed to your commission the most practicable method of securing substantial results. This suggestion appears to have been unheeded. From my present knowledge of the situation I am confident that with Intelligent and energetic handling the extensive smuggling which exists today might be practically wiped out. It is therefore the earnest hope of your commission that the relations between the Chinese in this country and the American Government. through the Bureau of Immigration. may be essentially improved . that more determined effort and persistent effort may be made for the suppression of blackmail and. the smuggling of Chinese coolies. and that a higher standard in the selection of immigration officials may be enforced. These conditions were brought to the attention of the proper department long ago. In August and September. 1907. Professor Jenks. of the Immigration Commission. with Mr. Atkinson. secretary of that commission. visited the Canadian and Mexican borders. investigating and reporting conditions to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor. On his return from that trip. he gave to Secretary Straus evidence of complicity on the part of a number of inspectors in the wholesale smuggling of Chinese on both borders. and I ought to say that I do not get this inforlnation from Professor Jenks. "The only thing that seems to have been done about it was that the honest inspector who gave Jenks his information was shorn of his credentials and transferred. and the dishonest employee retained. just as Doctor Solomon was transferred from Ellis Island in the fall of 1906 for giving J.