Speech #720026121

I know he represents a * seamens union. and I think most of us here in Congress are familiar with him and his arguments. Mr. Furuseth began the agitation for the measure. and he performed a very useful service in bringing to the attention of Congress the degree to which our immigration laws were being evaded by smuggling of seamen. It was quite a common thing for a Greek vessel. let us say. to come to the United States with a crew of 40 and depart with a crew of 20. and 20 Greeks had come into the United States without examination and without respect to the quota law. They simply disappeared into the population of the country in defiance of all law. It was quite a common thing for intending immigrants. particularly from the countries whose quotas were small. to enlist as seamen when they did not know any more about the ocean than a pig knows about astronomy. They would enlist as seamen on a ship bound for the United States and * desert the very instant the ship got to New York. Once they had deserted. it was like hunting for a needle in a haystack to find them in their foreign colonies. Some of them. of course. would get into quarrels with their associates and anonymous letters would be sent to the Department of Labor saying that "John Soandso. living in such a place. is an illegal entrant. He deserted from a steamer once. and he has no right to be here." Then the Department of Labor would hunt up John. arrest him. and deport him. But there was. only 1 John deported to about 10 Johns who stayed. and that process was never entirely successful. The idea underlying the seamens bill we are now considering is a sound idea. that is. that every vessel which comes in with an alien crew shall go away with as many aliens as she brought in. It is argued that that might result in our getting an undesirable and taking away from us a perfectly good alien who came here lawfully. who had his family established and was a desirable inhabitant of the United States.