Chairman. some gentlemen are under the impression that the aliens themselves pay this tax to the different authorities. This is not so. This tax is really paid by the immigrant to the steamship company. and the steamship company then settles with the Government. This section of the bill provides. too. that the tax shall be paid to the collector of customs of the port or customs district to which said alien shall come. Now. that money is to be paid to the collector of the port. These aliens. as a rule. are within the port. but they. are denied admission to our country. therefore this provision for a head tax applies to all aliens who are rejected as well as those who are admitted. Last year there were nearly 20.000 rejected. and I venture to say that the steamship companies have had returned to them by the Government every dollar that they paid in as a head tax on these aliens. but how are we to know how many or how few of these rejected immigrants really had refunded to them by the steamship companies the amount of this head tax? Now. what we are interested in is that the money shall not be kept by the steamship companies. but that It shall be returned to the unfortunate immigrants who are denied admission. Frequently they have expended practically their entire savings to purchase a ticket to this country. and then. after undergoing many hardships. they reach the end of their journey only to be turned back. often without cause or justification. They should at least have returned to them this head tax which they have been obliged to pay. and which to them means a great deal. I do not believe we should legislate in favor of leaving It to the steamship companies. Surely. in justice to these aliens they should not be deprived of the amount they have been forced to pay as a head tax. when in fact they have been denied admission. It is for the reasons that I have stated above that I believe the amendment offered by the gentleman from Massachusetts. as well as the amendment offered by the gentleman from Rhode Island. should be adopted.
Keywords matched
immigrants head tax immigrant