Royal Commission on Alien Immigration.

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Document ID 9710333
Date 16-03-1903
Document Type Official Documents
Archive Queen's University, Belfast
Citation Royal Commission on Alien Immigration.;British Parliamentary Papers, 1903, Volume IX, [Cd 1742], pp. 61, 642- 645.; CMSIED 9710333
20895
ROYAL COMMISSION ON ALIEN IMMIGRATION.

MINUTES OF EVIDENCE

  TAKEN BEFORE THE

ROYAL COMMISSION

      ON

ALIEN IMMIGRATION.


 VOL. II.


Presented to Parliament by Command of His Majesty.


           LONDON:
 PRINTED FOR HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE.

    BY WYMAN AND SONS, LIMITED, FETTER LANE, E.C.


  And to be purchased, either directly or through any
Bookseller,
from EYRE  AND SPOTTISWOODE, EAST HARDING STREET, FLEET STREET,
E.C., and 32, ABINGDON STREET, WESTMINISTER, S.W.; or

    OLIVER AND BOYD, EDINBURGH; or

 E. PONSONBY, 116, GRAFTON STREET, DUBLIN.

       1903.


       Major W. EVANS-GORDON, M.P., recalled.

16313. (Chairman.) I think you have prepared a
Paper which you desire to hand in to the Commission?-
I want to hand in a document which is a memorandum
connected with the whole history and present condition
of affairs in America with regard to immigration.

16314. Where does it come from?- It comes from the
official American document which I have from America,
and which I have minuted and prepared. I think it will be
of interest and value to the Commission. (The Memorandum
was handed in, and is as follows):-


       IMMIGRATION INTO THE UNITED STATES.

 THE regulation of immigration by law is an old-standing
practice in the United States. It had its origin in the
fact that hygenic precautions were utterly neglected in
the sailing vessels which carried emigrants from Europe
throughout and even after the first half of the last century
and that, as a consequence, disease, especially typhus- called
also "gaol" and "ship" fever- was imported by the immigrants.
It was no uncommon circumstance for a ship to lose from 10 to
30 per cent of her passengers by death from disease on the
Passage. (Report of the United States Industrial Commission,
1901, p.450.)
  The first steps were taken by the New York State Legislature.
It was in New York that the great majority of the steerage
passengers landed. Many of them remained there and developed
on shore th disease with which they had been infected on board.
(Annual Report of Interments for 1847, p.104.)
  An Act was passed by the New York State Legislature in May,
1847, which created a "Board of Commissioners of Emigration,"
and provided that the master of a ship carrying immigrants to
the port of New York should report to the Mayor of the City the
name, birthplace, last legal residence, age, sex, and occupation
of each immigrant; whether any were lunatics, deaf, dumb, blind,
infirm, maimed, or above 60 years of age, or under 13 years of
age."
  Owners or consignees of ships were required to give a bond for
each passenger named in the report, conditioned to indemnify the

Commissioners of Emigration and any county, city or town, in the
State from any cost which the Commissioners or localities should
incur for the relief or support of the person named in the bond,
within five years of its date, and also to indemnify the
Commissioners or refund to the Commissioners any expense
incurred for the support or medical care of the persons under their
charge, if received into the Marine Hospital or any other
institution under their jurisdiction; such bond to be secured by
at least two sureties in the sum of 300 dollars each.
  It was lawful for the owner or consignee of a vessel at any
time within twenty-four hours after the landing of all but
prohibited passengers to commute for the bonds so required by
paying to the Health Commissioner of New York City, one dollar
(afterwards placed at as high a figure as 2.50 dollars, and
lowered or raised as circumstances demanded) for each passenger
reported by him, and this was deemed a sufficient discharge from
the requirement of giving bonds.
 Fifty cents of the amount commuted was set aside as a separate
fund for the benefit of each locality in the state, except
New York county; the balance to be used for general purposes by
the Commissioners of Emigration. The Commissioners and their
agents were authorized to board vessels for the purpose of
examining into the condition of immigrants and report to the
Mayor those who were liable to become a public charge
(Sixteenth Report, Bureau of Immigration, pp.971, 972).
  The conditions of the immigration traffic at this time
may be inferred from the inscription on a monument of rough
granite in an old burying ground near Montreal:
-"To preserve from desecration the remains of 6,000 immigrants
who died of ship fever, A.D. 1847-1848."
(Stafford, "Immigration as a business, "p.7.)
 In 1856 an immigrant landing station was opened at Castle
Garden on Manhattan Island. In 1858 the Commissioners
removed their offices to the same place.
 In 1853 Asiatic Cholera broke out in immigrant vessels,
and led to demands for United States legislation to remedy
such causes as could "be traced to any state of things on
shipboard, such as defective ventilation, for stated supplies
of food and water to passengers, for cleanliness, and for
inspection at the ports to see if all conditions were
complied with. (Report of Industrial Commission, 1901, p.451.)
 As early as 1819 an enactment had been passed, limiting the
number of passengers that a ship might carry to two for every
five tons of the custom-house tonnage, and requiring that
certain rations of food and water should be provided; but these
regulations only applied to vessels on the voyage to Europe.
(Stafford, "Immigration as a business," p.7
 The Act of 1855 proved effectual. By 1858 the sanitary
condition of the immigrants had greatly improved, and in 1864
it could be said that the diseases engenderd, by "confined air,
filthy habits, bad fare, and long voyages," which at one period
filled the hospitals with the sick and dying, had been so reduced
as no longer to be a source of serious apprehension." (Report of
Industrial Commission, 1901, p.451.)
 Further Federal legislation followed. In 1875 the importation
of prostitutes was forbidden. Persons infringing the law were to
be deemed guilty of a felony, and might be imprisoned for not
not more than five years, or sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding
5,000 dollars. By the same enactment the following classes were
prohibited from entry into the United States:-
"Persons undergoing a sentence for conviction in their country
of felonious crimes other than political, or growing out of,
or the result of, political offences, or whose sentence has been
remitted on condition of their immigration," and women "imported
for the purposes of prostitution.*"
 Power was given to the Collector of the port at which any
vessel arrived to inspect it, if he had reason to believe that
any such obnoxious persons were on board. When the collector demanded
such inspection, no alien was allowed to leave the ship till the
inspection had been made and the result certified. If an
immigrant raised an objection to the inspecting officer's decision,
the vessel was detained till the matter was heard and determined.
"And for all the violations of this Act, the vessel, by the
acts, commissions, or connivance of the owners, master, or other
custodian, or the consignees of which the same are committed,
shall be liable to forfeiture and may be proceeded against as
in cases of frauds against the revenue laws, for which
forfeiture is prescribed by existing law." (Immigration Laws and
Regulations, Treasury Department, Washington, 1902, pp. 13,14.)
  In 1882 an important enactment was made.
By the first section the "Immigrant Fund" was created. A duty
of 50 cents was to be paid "for each and every passenger not a
citizen of the United States who shall come by steam or sail
vessel from a foreign port to any port within the United States."
The money was to be paid by the master, owner, agent, or consignee
of the vessel within 24 hours of its entry, and was to be applied
"to defray the expense of regulating immigration under this Act,
and for the care of immigrants arriving in the United States,
for the relief of such as are in distress, and for the general
purposes and expenses of carrying this Act into effect. The duty
imposed by this section shall be a lien upon the vessels which
shall bring such passengers into the United States."
  Section 2 assigns to the Secretary of the Treasury the duty of
enforcing the Act, and the power of entering into contracts for
the purposes of it. Provision is made for the boarding and
inspecting of vessels, and if there be found among the
passengers "any convict, lunatic, idiot, or any person unable
to take care of himself or herself without becoming a public
charge," the inspecting authority is to report, and such person
is not to land.
 Section 3 empowers the Secretary of the Treasury to
issue such instructions "as he shall deem best calculated
to protect the United States and immigrants into the
United States from fraud and loss", and to prescribe the
form of all papers used under the Act.
 Section 4 provides for the deportation of foreign
convicts "to the nations to which they belong," and throws
the expense of the return on "the owners of the vessel"
in which the person to be deported came to America.
 This legislation was followed by the Act of 1885. The
first section prohibits the immigration of any alien who
has entered into a contract made previous to landing in
the United States to "perform labour or service of any
kind" there, and makes it unlawful to assist or
encourage such immigration.

 Section 2 renders contracts of the prohibited kind
invalid.
 Section 3 prescribes a fine of 1,000 dollars for
infraction of the law in this particular. Proceeds to be paid
into the Treasury. Separate suits may be bought for each
foreigner being a party to a prohibited contract.
It is made the duty of the district attorney of the district
concerned to prosecute at the expense of the United States.
 Section 4 prescribes a fine not exceeding 500 dollars, to
which imprisonment for not more than six months


 * In explanation of the importance of this addendum, I
mention the accusation made against Mendel and Dora
Piernick, and reported in "The Times", of January 24th,
1903.- Mendel Piernick, 33, and Dora, 28, his wife, were
charged before Mr. Kennedy, with conspiring to procure
Merjem Lie Giek, a young Polish woman, for improper
purposes during the past three months at a house in
Fitzroy Court, Fitzroy Square. The male prisoner was
further charged with living upon the earnings of the
girl. Mr. G.H. Young, solicitor, prosecuted; Mr.
Barrington Matthews, solicitor, appeared for the
defence; and Mr. Woolf Levy interpreted in Yiddish.
Mr. Young, in opening the proceedings, said that the
prisoners and the girl Giek, who was 24 years of age,
were Poles, and were acquainted with each other in
their native country. The prisoners came to England
from Lodz, Poland, and invited the girl to follow
them to this country. She did so, arriving at St.
Katherine's Docks on November 7th. The prisoners met
her there, and when an agent of a society for the
protection of Jewish women spoke to the girl the
male prisoner told him she was a friend of his, and
was going to stay with him and his wife. The prisoners
took her to a house in Fitzroy Court. It was then
suggested by the female defendant that she should
lead an improper life. The girl, who could not speak
English, began to cry, and declined to do as she was
told.  Eventually, however, the woman took her to
Tottenhan Court Road, where she commenced the life,
and had since continued it. The woman used to
take the money she got and hand it over to Mendel.
Sometimes complaint was made that the girl did not
earn sufficient money. Inspector Soper, D. Division,
deposed that almost daily observation showed that the
male prisoner did no work, although the establishment
in Fitzroy Court was obstensibly a bookmaker's. As
soon as he began to occupy the place it was used for
other purposes, and was "registered" as such by the
police. Evidence was called bearing out Mr. Young's
statement. Mr. Barrington Matthews said there was
nothing in the evidence to support the second charge
that was made against the male prisoner. Mr. Kennedy
committed the prisoners, who reserved their defence,
for trial.


576

may be added, for any master of a vessel who knowingly
brings in workers who are parties to prohibited
contracts.  Section 5 allows foreigners to bring in
private secretaries and servants, and sanctions the
importation of such skilled labour as is needed "in
or upon any new industry not at present established
in the United States," provided this labour" cannot
be otherwise obtained." Lecturers, actors, and some
other persons are exempted from exclusion.
 An Amendatory Act was passed in 1887.
This gave power to certain authorities to board and
inspect vessels in search of persons infringing the
contract law, to the Secretary of the Treasury to make
regulations, and to provide for the deportation of
excluded persons to the country whence they came at
the expense of the vessel which brought them.
A further amendment was enacted in 1888. This
authorised the Secretary of the Treasury, "in case
that he shall be satisfied that an immigrant has
been allowed to land contrary to the prohibition of
the Contract-labour Law, to cause such immigrant,
within one year after entry, to be taken into custody
and returned to the country from whence he came."
 Legislation of a much more stringent kind was adopted
in 1891.  The Act of this date added to the classes
already excluded all persons suffering from a loathsome
or a contagious disease, persons who have been convicted
of a felony or other infamous crime or misdemeanour
involving moral turpitude, polygamists, and also any
person whose ticket is paid for with the money of
another, or who is assisted by others to come." Political
offenders are exempted.
 Section 2 strengthens the law of 1885, and Section 3
prohibits the encouragement of immigration by promises
of employments made in advertisements published abroad,
and provides that any alien coming to the United States
"in consequence of such an advertisement, shall be
treated as coming under a contract" of the prohibited
kind.
Section 4 forbids steamship and transportation companies
and their agents to encourage or solicit immigration
otherwise than by ordinary commercial letters, circulars,
advertisements, or oral representations. Penalties as under
Section 3 of the Act of 1885.  Section 5 exempts certain
persons (ministers of any religious denomination,
professors, professional men, and a few others) from the
operation of the Act of 1885, and extends its operation
to certain persons previously exempted (assisted
relatives and personal friends of residents in the States).
 Under Section 6 anyone bringing in or aiding in the
importation of a prohibited alien was to be deemed guilty
of a misdemeanour, and was made liable to a fine not
exceeding 1,000 dollars, or to imprisonment for not
more than a year, or to both fine and imprisonment.
 Section 7 appointed a Superintendent of Immigration,
and provided for his staff.
 Section 8 is of so much importance in the history of
the control of immigration that it is necessary to quote
portions of it in extenso. It provides "that upon the
arrival by water at any place within the United States
of any alien immigrants, it shall be the duty of the
commanding officer and the agents of the steam or
sailing vessel by which they came to report the name,
nationality, last residence, and destination of every
such alien, before any of them are landed, to the proper
inspection officers, who shall thereupon go or send
competent assistants on board such vessel and
there inspect all such aliens, or the inspection
officers may order a temporary removal of such aliens
for examination at a designated time and place, and
then and there detain them until a thorough inspection
is made. But such a removal shall not be considered a
landing during the pendency of such examination.
The medical examination shall be made by surgeons
of the Marine Hospital Service. In cases where the
services of a marine hospital surgeon cannot be
obtained without causing unreasonable delay, the
inspector may cause an alien to be examined by a
civil surgeon, and the Secretary of the Treasury
shall fix the compensation for such examination.
The inspection officers and their assistants shall
have power to administer oaths, and to take and
consider testimony touching the right of such aliens
to enter the United States. All decisions made by
the Inspection Officers or their assistants touching
the right of any alien to land, when adverse to such
right, shall be final unless appeal be taken to the
Superintendent of Immigration, whose action shall be
subject to review by the Secretary of the Treasury.
 "It shall be the duty of the aforesaid officers
and agents of such vessel to adopt due precautions
to prevent the landing of any alien immigrant at
any place or time other than that designated by the
inspection officers, shall be deemed guilty of a
misdemeanour and punished by a fine not exceeding
1,000 dollars, or by imprisonment for a term not
exceeding one year, or by both such fine and
imprisonment."  Section 9 gives officers of the
law access to immigrant stations. These stations
are under Federal control, but for the purposes
of this section Municipal and State Courts have
jurisdiction over them.
Section 10 provides for the immediate deportation
of excluded aliens in the vessel which brought them;
the cost of maintenance on land, as well as the
expense of the return journey to be borne by the
ship. Contumacy of master, agent, consignees, or
owner is punishable by a fine of not less than 300
dollars for every effence, and constitutes a
misdemeanour. No vessel to have clearance from
any United States port till fines under this
section are paid.  Under Section 11, any alien
who enters the United States unlawfully may be
deported within a year at the expense of the
persons who brought him; alternatively, at the
expense of the United States. Any alien who
becomes a public charge within a year is to be
deemed to entered unlawfully.
The law was again strengthened in 1893. Details
were now given of the information to be required
from immigrants. Section 1 provides that
"in addition to conforming to all present
requirements of law, upon the arrival of any alien
immigrants by water at any port within the United
States, it shall be the duty of the master or
commanding officer of the vessel to deliver to
the proper Inspector of Immigration lists or
manifests made at the time and place of
embarkation of such alien immigrants on board
such vessel, which shall, in answer to questions
at the top of such lists, state as to each
immigrant the full name, age, and sex, whether
married or single, the calling or occupation;
whether able to read or write; the seaport for
landing in the United States; whether having a
through ticket; whether the immigrant has paid
his own passage; whether in possession of money,
and if so, whether upwards of 30 dollars; and
how much, if 30 dollars, or less; whether going
to join a relative, and if so, when and where;
whether ever in prison or almshouse or supported
by charity; whether a polygamist; whether under
contract to perform labour; and what is the
immigrant's condition of health mentally,
physically, and whether deformed or crippled, and
if so, from what cause.
 Section 2 provides the immigrants are to be listed
in convenient groups, and that no one manifest is
to contain more than 30 names.  To each immigrant
shall be given a ticket on which shall be written
his name, a number or letter designating the list,
and his number on the list, for convenience of
identification on arrival. Each list or manifest
shall be verified by the signature and the oath of
affirmation of the master or commanding officer, or
of the officer first or second below him in command,
taken before the United States counsul or consular
agent at the port of departure, before the sailing
of the vessel, to the effect that he has made a
personal examination of each and all of the
passengers named therein, and that he has caused
the surgeon of the vessel sailing therewith to
make a physical examination of each passenger, and
that from his personal inspection and the report of
the surgeon he believes that he has no immigrant of
a prohibited class on board, and that the information
in the manifest is true.
 Section 3 provides that the ship's surgeon is also to
sign the lists before the departure of the vessel, and
is to make oath or affirmation before the counsul or
counsular agent stating his qualifications and that he
has made a personal examination of each passenger, and
that the lists give true information to the best of his
knowledge and belief. If no surgeon sails with the ship,
the owners are to employ a competent surgeon for the
examinations and the verifications of the manifests.
Under Section 4 failure of the master to comply, in the
case of any admissible alien, involves a fine of 10
dollars for each case; if this is not paid, the immigrant
is excluded.
Section 5 deals with special inquiries and appeals, and
provides that no inspector is to pass any person who does
not appear to him to be clearly and beyond doubt entitled
to admission, and that "no immigrant shall be admitted on
special inquiry except after a favourable decision
made by at least three" of the inspectors forming the court.
 Section 6 gives the Secretary of the Treasury additional
powers for the appointment of examining surgeons.
 Section 7 enacts that "no bond or guaranty, written or oral,
that an alien shall not become a public charge shall be
received from any person, company, corporation, charitable
or benevolent society or association, unless authority to
receive the same shall in each special case be given by the
superintendent of immigration, with the written approval of
the Secretary of the Treasury."
Section 8 obliges all companies and other persons engaged in
the immigrant traffic to file a certificate twice a year
with the Secretary of the Treasury to the effect that "they
have furnished to be kept conspicuously exposed to view in
the office of each of their agents in foreign countries
authorised to sell emigrant tickets, "a copy of the laws
in force in the United States for the regulation of immigration,
printed in large letters in the language of the country where
the agent carries on his business. They are to instruct their
agents to call the intention of intending immigrants to this
document before selling them tickets. In the case of failure
for 60 days on the part of the responsible persons to file
such certificate, or if a false certificate is filed, a penalty
not exceeding 500 dollars is prescibed, and the said fine shall
also be a lien upon any vessel" of the defaulting persons found
in the United States.
In 1895 the poll tax was raised from 50 cents. to 1 dollar.
In 1896 the title of Superintendent of Immigration was changed
to that of Commissioner-General of Immigration, and this
official was put in charge of the administration of the
immigration law, under the control of the Secretary of the
Treasury.  It is an instructive fact that the American
enactments have become more and more stringent, though
danger from the importation of disease has become less and
less. The more recent legislation has been based upon economic
and social, not upon directly hygenic considerations.
 *The measure which is likely soon to become law in the United
States stiffens existing legislation in the following manner:-

 (1) The poll-tax is raised to 3 dollars.

 (2) Epileptics, and persons "who have been insane
 within five years previous," persons who have had two or
 more attacks of insanity at any time previously, and
 anarchists, or persons who believe in, or advocate, the
 overthrow by force or violence, of all government, or of all
 forces of law, or the assassination of public officials, are
 added to the excluded classes.

 (3) A literary test is established. Persons over fifteen
 who cannot read are excluded, with an exception in favour of
 the wives, children under 18, and parents or grandparents
 over 50 of persons now lawfully resident, or who may hereafter
 become so, in the United States. Immigrants to be tested by not
 less than 20 nor more than 25 words of the Constitution of the
 United States in the language they profess themselves able to
 read. Persons who fail are to be deported at shipper's expense.
 Persons other than Canadians and Mexicans and such people as
 have been bona fide in residence in Canada or Mexico for a
year, may only enter the United States at prescribed points on
the land borders. Seamen and railway servants excepted. Persons
infringing this regulation to be deported.
   By Section 10 it is provided that, if any company or other
shipper transports a person having a loathsome or dangerous
contagious disease, and this disease might have been detected by
a competent medical examination at the time of embarkation, the
shipper becomes liable to a fine of 100 dollars for each person
so transported.
 Section 11 provides that if a helpless alien is accompanied by
a person whose guardianship is necessary to him, the shipper shall
be required to return the guardian together with the helpless alien
when deported.
 Section 12 makes the decision of a Board of Special Inquiry,
under the conditions laid down in Section 26, final with regard to an
immigrant's mental or physical disability.
 Section 13 adds to the queries to be put to immigrants the
question whether he has ever been in an institution for the care of the
insane.
 Section 17 while providing that the temporary removal ashore of
an alien for examination shall not relieve the shipper of any
responsibility, allows aliens to be placed in the charge of the
immigration officials where a suitable building is used for
detention and examination. The shipper is then free of liability
unless and until the immigrant is returned to his care.
 Section 19 provides that an alien illicitly landed shall be
deemed to be unlawfully in the United States, and shall be deported.
 Section 20 gives power for the suspension of the deportation of
aliens whose evidence, in the opinion of the Secretary of the
Treasury, may be necessary in a prosecution with regard to
pre-contracted labour.
 Sections 21 strengthens the law as to deportation; throws
one-half of the cost of the inland transportation of any expelled
immigrant on the company which brought him, or, if this cannot be
done, on the immigrant fund; extends to three years the time during
which an alien may be deported, and provides that the expense, during
the two latter years shall be shared between the immigrant fund and
"the corporation, municipality, or institution seeking relief
from the burden of such alien," the former paying ocean transport,
the latter meeting the cost of delivering the alien at the port of
departure.
 Section 22 extends to three years the time during which an
alien who has landed unlawfully may be arrested for the purpose of
deportation.
 Section 26 provides for the prompt constitution of
Special Boards of Inquiry to hear and determine the cases raised
by detained immigrants. The Boards are normally to consist of the
three Inspectors of Immigration; failing them, other United
States officials are to be nominated by the Secretary of the Treasury.
Complete Records of the proceedings to be kept, but the hearings
not to be public. An appeal lies to the Secretary of the
Treasury.
 Section 31 provides that no intoxicating liquor may be sold at
any United States immigrant station.
 Section 36 introduces a new and drastic regulation. It is thus
worded:- "That the deportation of aliens, provided for in this
Act, shall be to the trans-Atlantic or trans-Pacific ports from which
said aliens embarked for the United States, or, if such
embarkation was for foreign contiguous territory, to the foreign port
at which said aliens embarked for such territory."
 The latter part of this section is intended to stop the
extensive immigrant- running businesses across the Canadian border.
Strong complaint is made about this in America. The traffic has an
odd similarity to that which proceeds along the Russian frontier. As
much as 80 dollars is paid to those who smuggle undesirable
aliens into the States. Mr Watchorn, the United States Special
Immigrant Inspector stationed at Montreal, said in his evidence before
the Senate Committee which has lately inquired into the immigration
question that such persons get through "in wagons, buggies,
rowboats and every other conceivable form of transportation." There
are experts whose business is this class of smuggling, and Mr.
Watchorn stated that five of the most skilful of them were in United
States gaols at the time when he gave his evidence. Under earlier
legislation it was only possible to deport the undesirables,
when captured, across the border; they then remained close at hand
awaiting their next opportunity, or, in some instances, made
their way to a Canadian port and reached the States by water in
small coasting vessels, from which they could be put ashore with
little risk.

  * This measure has now become law.