Speech #660160630

R.. 570.) In 1890 a joint committee of the House and Senate found that the contractlabor law was "generally evaded." (2 I. C. R.. 571.) In 1893 another joint committee of the House and Senate found that undesirable aliens not entitled to admission were being admitted. and- that the socalled examination of immigrants at ports of entry "appeared to be more of a farce than a reality." (2 I. C. R.. 572.) In 1907 the National Immigration Commission was created. which consisted of nine members. three appointed by the Republican President. three by the Republican President of the Senane. and three by the Republican Speaker of this House. Among its members were Senators LODGE and DILLINGHAM. Hon. John Burnett. long an honored Member of this House. and men of like character. It was overwhelmingly Republicfin. and is subject to no charge of unfairness against the Republican Party. The commission made the most exhaustive study of the industrial features of immigration in America. conditions in Europe causing immigration. and the enforcement of our immigration laws. Its work covered a period of more than three years. and is reported in some 40 volumes. its conclusion being largely covered in volumes 1 and 2 and its hearings in the remainder. I am citing these reports as Immigration Commission Reports. preceded by the number of the volume and followed by the page. This commission found that at that time feebleminded. insane. and diseased persons were being fairly well excluded. but says: No adequate means have been adopted for preventing the immigration of criminals. prostitutes. and other morally undesirable aliens. * * * In spite of the stringent law. criminals or moral defectives of any class. provided they pass the medical examination. can usually embark at European ports and enter the United States without much danger of detection. (1 I. C. R.. 27.) The report further says that. because of the rigidity of the law. few actual contract laborers are admitted. butThere are annually admitted a very large number who come in response to indirect assurance that employment awaits them. In the main. these assurances are contained in letters from persons already in this country. who advise their relatives or friends at home that if they will come to the United States they will find workawaiting them. On the other hand. it is clear that there Is a large Induced immigration. due to labor agents in this country. who. Independently or in cooperation with agents in Europe. operate practically without restriction. (1 1. C. R .. 29.) In the same report. volume 1. page 25. it is said: Comparatively few immigrants come without some reasonably definite assurance that employment awaits them. and it is probable that as a rule they know the nature of that employment and the rate of wages. A large number of immigrants are induced to come by quasi labor agents in this country. who combine the business of supplying laborers to large employers and contractors with the socalled immigrant banking business and the selling of steamship tickets. (1 1. C. It.. 25.) In the records of this House and reports of committees and joint committees and commissions created by both Houses I have not found one statement that these laws were generally and effectually enforced. Again and again in the record of a period of more than 40 years is found complaint of the violations or evasions of contractlabor laws. Gentlemen. the evidence taken upon hearings of the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization. and an actual inspection of the work of admitting immigrants at Ellis Island in New York Harbor. have fully convinced me that your restrictions against the admission of undesirable immigration are not now being properly enforced. The Bureau of Immigration is not. in my judgment. chargeable with the failure. The whole system is inadequate to a proper enforcement of the law. The force. arrangement. and system do not evidence an understanding of the problem or a purpose on the part of Congress and the United States Government to deal effectively with it.