Speech #640070001

I am of theimpression that no hearings in this countryshould Tbe private and apart from the public. so that no one can be informed or succeed in obtaining information of what is trnspiring before sucha tribunal. .[ have objected to this provi>-.ion before. -and I can not help thinking that -it is manifestly unfair -to have these hearings in an excluded place. away from the -public. depriving friends and relatives and the public from knowing what is occurring in those boards and what.is !eing -done by those inspectors. -The hearings as conducted. if they can be called hearings. fclosely resemble inquisitions. which typeof persecution -is practiced in only one country that I know .of. inalnely. Russia. If .the gentlemen of the House -are of the opinion that we should follow the -practice of that country. then the paragraph sh::uld -remain as it is. and the hearings of these immigrants who are .asking for admission to our shores should be kept -strictly. secret. or as the provision states. " separate and apartfrol wthe .public." I can hardly believe that the majority of the Memliers now present are in favor of such.a practice. I wish to quote from the Report of the Immigration Commission of 1910 and set out here the words of the gentlemen who. tafter two years of study.of the immigrationquestion. advised fagainst these secret inquisitions.: Onlpage 32. volume -1. we find the following sentence: The boardsexercise a power which. if not lproperly -used. -may result in injustice to the immigrant.or. through -the admission of undesirable :aliens. In harmtothe country. On the same.page we find the following paragraphs.: .At all the important ports the boards of special inquhy are composed -of -immigrant inspectors. who generally are without judicial or legal :training. This. -together with the fact that they are selected by the .commissioners of immigration at the ports -where -they serve. tends -to. impair.the judicial character of the -board and ..to influence its members in a greater or less degree -to -reflect in their decisions the attitude .of tthe commissioner in determining the case. The -character of their (fecislons -is indicated somewhat by the fact that -nearly.50 per cent of the .cases appealed are reversed .by the Secretary.of Commerce and Labor. whose -decision under the latr -must be based solely upon the evidence