Speech #630041886

Secretary Wilson. At the very outset he remarks: I desire to state to you that neither Commissioner General Camlnettl nor anyone else either requested or suggested to me that I should ask you to postpone the trial. You see he frankly assumes the r6le of "goat". and then he continuesthat the department was in a formative stage . that we had large contracts for feeding the immigrants at Ellis Island and other ports of entry to consider and dispose of. that Hindu immigration to the Pacific ccast via Hawaii and the Philippine Islands was becoming an acute problem which ought to be worked out at as early a date as possible. that allegations were continuously being made that Chinese were being smuggled into the United States in violation of the Chineseexclusion laws that the administration of the immigration laws generally would require his close application for some time to enable him to grasp the details of the methods used by the department in enforcing the law . and that. in view of these conditions. it was imperative that le should remain here for a considerable period in order that lie might assist in the work in this emergency and acquaint himself with the problems we had to work out. That. then. when he went to the Pacific coast he would be In a position to inspect the various immigration stations in a manner which would give beneficial results. I then asked him if it would not be possible for him to secure a postponement of his sons trial until the next term of court. so that he could attend the trial of his son and on the same trip inspect the Immigration Service on the Pacific coast. He replied that he did not know whether a postponement could be obtained or not . and I stated to him that I would take the matter imp with the Attorney General and ask for a postponement of the case. with a view to carrying out the suggestion I had made. It was pursuant to this suggestion that I called you up on June 18. stated the circumstances. and asked for the postponement. which was granted. Mr. Speaker. in the first place the Immigration Service is not in a formative stage. It was transplanted bodily from the former Department of Commerce and Labor to the present Department of Labor. The work in that service. so far as the present Commissioner General of Immigration is concerned. has been lessened. if anything. because under the new law creating this Department of Labor the Bureau of Naturalization has been segregated from the Immigration Service and has been created an independent bureau. with an independent commissioner. Besides. the Deputy Commissioner of Immiigration. Mr.