The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-13
IMMIGRATION BILL
EDUCATIONAL TEST TO BE
 ELIMINATED.
Those Who Appear Before Commit tee in Advocacy of the Meas ure Express Willingness
 to Consent to It.

Washington, Dec 12.-The hearings on the immigration bill by the Senate Com- mittee on Immigration were concluded to- day.
 The testimony taken was largely in the interest of legislation and a willingness was manifested on the part of the im- portant witnesses to submit to the elimi- nation of the provision for an educational test should such action prove necessary to secure the success of the bill.
 Commissioner General of Immigration Frank Sargent said he recognized the fact that the feature could be sacrificed without destroying the efficacy of the bill. Mir. Sargent made an urgent plea for retention of the 8 head tax. He spoke especially of the necessity for in- creased vigilance on the Mexican from tier and said that he recently had se- cured information by personal observa- ton of the smuggling into this country of large number of the most undesir- able element of Mexican peons, who were willing to work at from 25 cents to 36 cents per day. These people, he said, were fed from troughs. as hogs might be and were treated as slaves.
 They were finding employment in the mines of Colorado and New Mexico We did not want such labor as that and the Mexican frontier is long and hard to guard, rendering the work expensive. He declared that the plea for unlimited i'm migration is from the transportation com- panies alone and not from the manufac- turers and farmers. He complained Of the transportation companies' schemes to avade the Jaw and appealed for iron olad requirements.
 Nn ID and ex-member of the Industrial Commits sion, who said he had carried union card for fifty years, also Indicated a will ingness to have the educational test drop ped.
 Among the more important witnesses of the day was Robert waachorn. in charge of the United States Emmigration In- speotion Service, in Canada with head quarters at Montreal. He said the bill would be improved if all the provisions relating to Canada should be stricken out except Section 8. placing the entire regulation of border immigration in the hands of the Immigration Bureau. He said that at present the Canadian rail- roads coming into the United States are prompt in complying with the require ments of the inspectors but that this compliance was due to the penalty im- posed Without that penaly it would be impossible to secure their compliance. He
 said that owing to the strict requirements made by our laws of steamship lines com | ing into the United States there had been an almost entire elimination of undesir- able immigrants landing at American ports, but that the reverse was true of l immigration coming to the United States
 through Canada, the per centage Of dis ! eaAed persons co'Ging through Caf,sf1 ne- 1 ing 60 while those coming direct to the United States the proportion was only one-tenths of 1 per cent.
 Commissioner David Healy. with head quarters at Victoria, B. C.. gave similar testimony concerning the necessity for
 guarding the Northwest frontier. He
 spoke especially of the danger from an invasion of Japanese coolies.
 Richard K. Campbell. Chief Inspector for the Immigration Bureau, suggested number of amendments looking to the | improvement of the administrative fea' lures of the bill.