Mr. President. It has been found in the past that where immigrants.are smuggled in in the guise of alien seamen the master pleads ignorance iof their Intention to desert. and the Government is unable to prove that the master connived with the smuggled immigrant to come to this country and remain. A ship comes in with :a large crew showing on its inbound manifest. It goes out with the bare requirements of the law. A large number of those Who showed on the incoming manifest do :not appear on the outgoing manifest. and the courts have held that those facts standing by themselves do not raise a prima facie case against the master when he is prosecuted for smuggling immigrants. The purpose of the subdivision to which the Senator calls attention. and the only purpose. is to throw the burden of proof over upon the master to show that those missing seamen deserted without his knowledge. or that they died. or that they were .held in hospitals. Under the present law and the present state of the decisions. the United States in any such prosecution has to prove all those negatives.
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