Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-07-27
EFFECTS Of IMMIGRATION.
Industrial Commission Conducting an
Inquiry in New York

industrial commission U0DuuCllug dn
Inquiry in New York
THAT rs BRINGING OUT MUCH
INTERESTING INFORMATION.
FOREIGN CLERKS ARE THE
FIRST TO BECOME PUBLIC
CHARGES = STATUTES RELA-
TIVE TO IMMIGRATION IN SUCH
A CHAOTIC STATE AS TO Rem
DER THEM WORTHLESS-CON-
TRACT LABOR IMPORTATION
IMPOSSIBLE OF PUNISHMENT.
NEW YORK, July 26.-At to-day's
session of the subcommittee of the In
tied States Industrial Commission,
Roman Dobler, chief of the boarding
inspectors of immigration at the barge
Office testified that his experience was
that clerks coming to the United States
in the second cabin with $40 or $50
were the first to become public charges.
The witness prepared a table showing
the comparative arrivals of passengers
in the first and second cabins and the
steerage. On such lines as the North
German lloyd, Cunard, American, An
Choir and White Star lines, the number
OF saloon passengers almost equalled
the arrivals in the steerage. In YES
sells from Mediterranean ports, how
ever, the steerage passengers greatly
exceeded the other classes. MormOns,
The said, always came on vessels OF the
Anchor line from Glasgow in the sec
ond cabin. His figures showed that
while 2,0S3 passengers came from Ital-
ian ports in the steerage, only 20 came
as cabin passengers.
Mr.. Dobbler said many persons came
in the second cabin in order to avoid
the rigid scrutiny at the barge office.
He believed many of the new arrivals
had been coached as to their answers
to questions put to them here.
DR.. Lorenzo Ullo, legal adviser of
the immigration bureau, said there was
difficulty in enforcing statutes on
to immigration. A case in point was
the law regarding criminals coming to
this country whom the law requires
shall be returned to the nation to
which they belong and the port from
which they came. Sometimes the
criminal was an oriental and came
from Bremen He thought the law
should say such persons should simp
ly not be permitted to land and the
steamship companies left to do with
them as they believed best.
Witnes said that in none of the i'm
migration laws was there an express
provision for the deportation of con-
tract laborers. The laws of 1891 did
SO by implication, and it was under
this act that the department was
working.
The witness said he favored amend
ing the law regarding contract labor
ers so as to include any agreement to
come here to work, not rigidly con-
tract. He would also give persons
brought here by the steamship COM
panies contrary to the migration laws
cause of action against the owners Of
the vessel that brought them.
IF it is advisable" he said, ito re-
strict contract laborers from coming
here the law must be amended. The
law as it stands does not restrict"
Mrs. Virginia Sucker, the chief
matron at the Barge Office testified
regarding the treatment of enciente
women arriving here. OF 1,441 wom-
en- arriving during this month in that
condition ffty-two were married at
the Barge Office, twenty-eight were
admitted on appeal, and the others
were found to be married women.
Mrs. Sucker said that there was
an average of one marriage a day at
the landing bureau. Thirty-one wo~
men arrived who had been unfaithful
10 their husbands but except in three
cases they were permitted to land.
Mrs. Sucker thought the laws
should include an act prohibiting the
landing of girls brought here for i'm
moral purposes. There was no such
prohibition in the present laws.
William Wiehe, of the Contract La
bor Bureau. who was formerly president
of the Amalgamated Association OF iron
and Steel Workers, said 90 per cent, Oh
all the cheap labor coming here-Sio-
walks. Polacks and Russian Poles-went
to PENNSYLVANIA, where they not only
worked on railroads and in the mines,
but entered into competition in the in
dustrial centres in the iron and glass
works.
at has been shown said Mr.. Weihe,
that the companies give the preference
to foreigners even when skilled Anleri-
can workmen offer TO work for the same
wages. In 1897 tin plate mill at Har-
risburg brought TO this country two
roll turner's from Wales at s35 and $50
H.