IV Excluding the Unfit
Intelligence of Inspectors
Trickeries Attempted
At Ellis Island one may see what is aptly termed “the tragedy of the excluded.”24 The enforcement of the laws comes into operation at the ports of entry. Practically everything depends upon the intelligence and faithfulness of the inspectors, who are charged with grave responsibility. Immigrant and country are equally at their mercy. Necessarily a large margin must be left to their judgment when it comes to the question, Will the applicant now before me probably become a public charge—that is, fall into the pauper or criminal class—or is he of the right stuff to make a respectable and desirable American citizen? In cases of plain insanity or idiocy or disease the decision is easy; but when it comes to the moral and economic sphere an expert opinion is required. Then, the inspectors have to be constantly on the lookout for deception and fraud. Immigrants who belong to the excluded classes have been carefully coached by agents interested in getting them through the examination. Diseased eyes have been doctored up for the occasion; lame persons have been trained to avoid the fatal limp during that walk between the two surgeons. Lies have been put into innocent mouths and the beginnings of falsehood into the heart. Mr. Adams gives this instance showing how the mind of the inspector works. The line is passing steadily, ceaselessly. A flashily dressed French girl has plenty of money but unsatisfactory references and destination, and back she is turned.
Picking the Winning Man
“Next comes a bookkeeper, so he says. His father gave him money and he was coming here to make his fortune. The inspector is not satisfied and he is turned over to the ‘S. I.’ Board. But his papers, money, and statements are clear and he is admitted; they give him the benefit of the doubt as they always do. But next in line comes a well built stocky Pole, with nothing in the world but a carpet bag, a few bundles, and a small showing of money. Ambition is written all over his face and he is admitted. ‘Now,’ says the recorder, pausing for a moment, ‘see the difference between these two gents. The first duffer will look around for a job, spend time and money to get something to suit him, and keep his job for a short time; then he will give it up, run through his money, borrow from his friends, and then give them all the cold hand. He won’t wear well, and his dad knew it when he sent him over, but he was glad to get rid of him. So lots of them are. Now look at the difference between him and that Pole. He knows nothing but work. Look at his eyes, mild but good. He has been brought up next to mother earth; turn him loose from the train when he reaches his destination and he will dig. He won’t hang around looking for a job, but he will till the soil and before you or I know it he will have crops and that is what he will live on. He comes from a hard country, is tough, and when you and I are going around shivering in an overcoat, he will be going around in his shirt sleeves. That is the stuff we want here, not the first kind, with flabby hands and sapped vitality.’ Sure enough the bookkeeper did not wear well, and falling into the hands of the police, some months later, he was deported under the three-year limitation law, and the country was better for it.”
Wise Partiality, and Work Praised
The inspectors are wise in showing partiality to the men who have plenty of days’ work in them, even if they have less money. It is not at all safe to judge the immigrants as desirable or otherwise according to the amount of money per capita they bring. It is the head and not the head-money that should be looked at. Think of the responsibility. More than 300,000 women passed through the “moral wicket” at Ellis Island last year. Of course many of bad quality, men and women both, get through, for inspectors on too meager salaries are not omniscient, but a good word should be said for these public servants, who in the main are conscientiously performing a delicate and difficult task.25 Let us see some of the results of their work. This will give an idea of the large numbers who ought never to have been allowed to leave home.
Record of the Debarred
The following table shows the principal classes of excluded for the past fourteen years, with the total debarred for each year, and the percentage:
The Debarred for the Years 1892-1905
| Year | Immigrants | Idiots | Insane persons | Paupers, or likely to become public charges | Loathsome or dangerous or contagious diseases | Convicts | Assisted Immigrants | Contract laborers | Total Debarred | Percentage of whole |
| 1892 | 9,663 | 4 | 17 | 1,002 | 80 | 26 | 23 | 932 | 2,164 | 0.4 |
| 1893 | 439,730 | 3 | 8 | 431 | 81 | 12 | .. | 518 | 1,053 | 0.2 |
| 1894 | 285,631 | 4 | 5 | 802 | 15 | 8 | .. | 553 | 1,389 | 0.5 |
| 1895 | 258,536 | 6 | .. | 1,714 | .. | 4 | 1 | 694 | 2,419 | 0.9 |
| 1896 | 343,267 | 1 | 10 | 2,010 | 2 | .. | .. | 776 | 2,799 | 0.8 |
| 1897 | 230,832 | 1 | 6 | 1,277 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 328 | 1,617 | 0.7 |
| 1898 | 229,299 | 1 | 12 | 2,261 | 258 | 2 | 79 | 417 | 3,030 | 1.3 |
| 1899 | 311,715 | 1 | 19 | 2,599 | 348 | 8 | 82 | 741 | 3,798 | 1.2 |
| 1900 | 448,572 | 1 | 32 | 2,974 | 393 | 4 | 2 | 833 | 4,246 | 1.0 |
| 1901 | 487,918 | 6 | 16 | 2,798 | 309 | 7 | 50 | 327 | 3,516 | 0.7 |
| 1902 | 648,743 | 7 | 27 | 3,944 | 709 | 9 | .. | 275 | 4,974 | 0.8 |
| 1903 | 857,046 | 1 | 23 | 5,812 | 1,773 | 51 | 9 | 1,086 | 8,769 | 1.0 |
| 1904 | 812,870 | 16 | 33 | 4,798 | 1,560 | 35 | 38 | 1,501 | 7,994 | 1.0 |
| 1905 | 1,026,499 | 38 | 92 | 7,898 | 2,198 | 39 | 19 | 1,164 | 11,480 | 1.2 |
| Total debarred in the fourteen years, 59,248. | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Right of Appeal
The debarred have the right of appeal, from the Special Inquiry Board which excludes them, to the Commissioner of the Port, then to the Commissioner-General, and finally to the Secretary26 of Commerce and Labor. The steamship lines that brought them have to pay costs of detention and deportation, which is one means of making these lines careful.
Exclusion by Races
A second table, which shows the exclusion by races, will repay study. It is given in Appendix A. It not only shows where the bulk of the excluded belong, but reveals not a little concerning the character of those admitted who come from the same races. The intention of the present Commissioner-General is to enforce the laws strictly, yet in a humane spirit. Comparing the figures for the two years 1903-1904, he says:
Increase of Undesirable
“The most significant feature of this statement is the large increase in the number of idiots, insane persons, and paupers during 1905, which, coupled with an increase of twenty-five per cent. in the number of diseased aliens, justifies the Bureau in directing attention to the flagrant and wilful disregard by the ocean carriers of the laws for the regulation of their business of securing alien passengers destined for the United States.”27
Fraud of Transportation Companies
This brings up a point of vast importance in more ways than one. The official reports charge wholesale deception, evasion, and fraud upon the great transportation companies. The fact stands for itself that in 1904 they were fined more than $31,000 under the section of the law imposing a $100 penalty for bringing a diseased alien whose disease might have been detected by a competent medical examination at the port of departure. For many years these companies have in doubtful cases demanded double passage money, so that they might make a profit both ways if the alien were rejected. The Italian government has passed an Act giving an alien right to recover the money illegally retained in this way, showing the practice, and the government opinion of it.
Artificial Swelling of Passage Fees
The truth is, the transportation agent has become a figure of international consequence and concern. The artificial cause behind the present unprecedented exodus from Europe, according to Whelpley, is the abnormal activity of the transportation companies in their effort to secure new and profitable cargo for their ships. In 1900 over $118,000,000 was invested in trans-atlantic steamship lines, which are largely owned by foreigners. New lines to the Mediterranean have been put on with distinct purpose to swell the Italian and Slav immigration. Rate cutting has at times made it possible for the steerage passenger to go from Liverpool to New York for as low as $8.75. The average rate is not high enough to deter anyone who really wants to come. An English line, in return for establishing a line direct from a Mediterranean port, has secured from the Hungarian government a guarantee of 30,000 immigrants a year from its territory.
Solicitation Law Violated
The law forbids transportation companies or the owners of vessels to “directly or through agents, either by written, printed, or oral solicitations, solicit, invite, or encourage the immigration of any aliens into the United States except by ordinary commercial letters, circulars, advertisements, or oral representations, stating the sailings of their vessels and terms and facilities of transportation therein.” That this restrictive provision is persistently evaded is made plain by the reports of government inspectors sent abroad to investigate. The annual migration involves more than a hundred millions of dollars, and where money is to be made law is easily disobeyed.
The Ubiquitous and Unscrupulous “Runner”
One of the inspectors says the chief evil in this solicitation business is the so-called “runner.” Here is his description of this mischievous genus homo. “It is he who goes around in eastern and southern Europe from city to city and village to village telling fairy tales about the prosperity of many immigrants in America and the opportunities offered by the United States for aliens. The runner does not know of anyone who is undesirable; he claims to be all-powerful, that he has representatives in every port who can ‘open the door’ of America to anyone. It is he who induces many a diseased person to attempt the journey, and it is also he and his associates who do their best to have the undesirables admitted. The steamship companies, as a rule, do not deal with these runners directly and disclaim all responsibility for their nefarious practices. But the official agents of the steamship companies do pay their runners commissions for every immigrant referred to them. I have especially studied this problem along the borders of Germany, Russia, and Austrian Galicia. Here most of the emigrants are smuggled across the frontiers by these runners and robbed of the greater part of their cash possessions. When they arrive at the ‘control station’ it is remarkable that most emigrants have cards with the address of a certain steamship ticket agent, and the agent, on the other hand, has a list of all the individuals who were smuggled across the frontiers. When I asked one of these representatives how this was done, he told me that he paid ‘good commissions’ to the runner on the other side of the frontier for each case. When steamship companies and their agents stop paying commissions to runners for emigrants referred to them, individuals will only by their own initiative attempt to come to the United States, and most of those considered undesirable will remain at their native homes.”28
Law in Contempt
Violations of law abound. Smuggling persons is regarded with much the same moral leniency as smuggling goods. The law forbids importation of persons under contract to work. In April last two Italian steamships carried back to Europe more than 1,000 laborers, who had been brought over in violation of the contract-labor laws. Commissioner Watchorn had word from his special investigators abroad that the men had been collected in the Balkan States to work for padrones in this country. So back went the thousand Slavs; but it was a chance discovery. The men admitted that the padrones had paid their passage and agreed to furnish them work. They said the rosiest conditions had been painted before their eyes, and they believed “big money” was to be made here. The steamship companies had to bear the expense of taking them back, but the padrones have not suffered any penalty, and will go on with their unlawful work.
How the Laborers are Engaged
Mr. Brandenburg learned from an Italian woman that her husband had been commissioned by a contractor in Pittsburg to go into the Italian provinces of Austria and engage 200 good stonemasons, 200 good carpenters, and an indefinite number of unskilled laborers. These people were to be put in touch with sub-agents of lines sailing from Hamburg, Fiume, and Bremen, and these agents were to be accountable for these contract laborers being got safely into the United States. This woman said many of her neighbors in Pittsburg had come into the country as contract laborers and held the law in great contempt, as it was merely a matter of being sufficiently instructed and prepared, and no official at Boston or Ellis Island could tell the difference.29 Why should not the law be held in contempt, not only this one but all law, by the immigrant who is introduced to America through its violation, and trained to perjure himself at the outset of his new career? Does not the Commissioner-General sound a note of warning when he says:
The Christian Duty
“It is not reasonable to anticipate that if the great transportation lines do not respect the laws of this country their alien passengers will do so, nor can it be conceded that those aliens whose entrance to the United States is effected in spite of the law are desirable or even safe additions to our population.”30
Remedy Demanded
It is painful to think that such conditions can exist in connection with so vital a matter as immigration. But it is better to have the facts known, in order that a remedy may be found. Publicity is the safety of republics and communities. And the disclosures of the lengths to which men will go in order to make money should give new and mighty impulse to those who believe in righteousness and have not bowed to the god mammon. If the work of Christianizing the aliens is made harder by the experiences through which they pass and the examples they have set before them by unscrupulous persons, it must be undertaken with so much the more zeal. Respect for law must be preserved, and one of the best ways to accomplish this is to see to it that the laws are enforced and the violators of them punished, even though they represent giant corporations and vast capital.
Chapter II
Questions for
Aim: To Realize the Necessity of Just and Adequate Laws for the Admission and Restriction of Immigrants
I. Method of Admission.
1. What proportion of the immigrants now coming land at New York?
2. What is Ellis Island like—materially—spiritually?
3. Suppose yourself an immigrant: what steps would you take to reach New York? What processes would you undergo on landing? How would you be directed?
II. Governmental Regulation.
4. What two kinds of government regulation are practicable? Are both in force?
5. Do the steamship companies obey the law? with regard to its letter? to its real intent?
III. Restriction.
6. * Do you think unrestricted immigration is best for our country?
7. Why is the present discrimination against the Chinese not just?
8. When and to what extent was control over immigration assumed by the United States Government?
9. What measures were passed in 1903? Has there been any action since?
10. What classes of immigrants are excluded as unfit? Who decides in case of doubt?
11. Are many immigrants sent back? Why do the steamship companies bring the unfit?
IV. Violation.
12. How is immigration solicited? How is it coerced?
13. What is the purpose and what the actual working of the “Contract-Labor Law”?
V. What Can the Christian Public do to Improve Conditions?
14. * Can we expect immigrants to obey our laws, if they are started in such ways? Why not?
15. Has Christian public opinion any special duty in this matter? What is it?
Chapter II
References for Advanced Study —
I. Visit and inspect if possible, some receiving station for immigrants, and report; or else consult the statements and charts of Reports of the Commissioner of Immigration, for the year ending June 30, 1905.
II. Describe the Brandenburgs during life among Italians, and journey to this country as immigrants; their aims, and the results achieved. Brandenburg: Imported Americans, IV, XIII, XV, XXII.
III. The present regulation of immigrants, with special reference to “The Excluded.” Laws for 1903. Hall: Immigration, 216-231. Brandenburg: Imported Americans, 248-274.
IV. Is there need for further restriction? Hall: Immigration, XI, XII. Hunter: Poverty, VI. Charities and The Commons, issue for March 31, 1906.
The evils attendant upon unrestricted immigration are not theoretical but actual. Emigration from one place becomes immigration into another. It is an international affair of greatest importance, and should be speedily recognized as such.—J. D. Whelpley.