River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1908-09-24

systematic No one will know what
the society is doing except three peo-
ple-the president, treasurer and ex-
ecutive. This mystery will go far.
Among these excitable people 1t will
prove vastly more effective than if the
organization was working openly and
above board
But the work of this nameless bro
therhood is not to end here. What has
been told already is but the beginning
of their big task. The Italians who
are heading this movement realize
there is vast amount to be done to
make their lives and property safe.
More than this they realize that they
must do it themselves. There must
be, they foresee, a change in the i'm
migration laws, much more careful
regulation as to the admission of TIA
lians and all other foreigners into
America. There must be much more
careful provisions as to the carrying
of firearms and the sale of fireworks
everything, in a word, must be done
to prevent the criminal Italian from
getting the upper hand he now has.
~ HE secret part of the organizations
i work has already been dwelt upon
in detail. There will be what may be
called a public branch, besides. 1t fol-
lows that many of the reforms these
representative Italians have in mind
cannot be carried out so completely as
desired unless they are carefully
pushed, taken up in detail with the
national and municipal governments.
What is wanted, what must be done,
according to the belief of these men
to bring Italian America into just the
position they desire, is a long story.
If these plans are carried out they
will result in very thorough addi-
tional revision of the existing immi-
grafton laws.
What these representative Italians
want are provisions SO that every i'm
migrant over 16, of whatever nation
ality, must possess not only passport
official seal of the municipality or
town from which he comes, signed by
the mayor or chief of police. This GER
tificate must state that it's holder
never has been accused, convicted or
imprisoned for any crime enumerated
in the new immigration laws. 1t must
bear date not earlier than three days
before his departure from such town
or district and not over 80 days earlier
than his arrival in this country.
A provision like this, it is contended,
would prevent man committing a
crime and hurrying at once to France
or England and then coming from
port in one of those countries to the
United States.
Even with law like this, the chiefs
of the new organization contend, there
is yet a loophole that must be care
fully guarded. 1t is known that
large number of foreign criminals
reach this country as sailors Accord
ing to present regulations they are en-
abled to get into America safely. Now
if these are bona-fide sailors, these
representative Italians insist, they
should be compelled to furnish a GER
tificate from their last captain.
1t is a question of guarding every
possible point. There are literally
dozens of ways by which a foreign
criminal, seasoned and hardened in
vice, can get into this country with
comparative ease. They are helped to
do so by men employed on the big
liners and indeed on every vessel
sailing from Italian ports. These men
in most cases belong to the same Sc
cret organization as those of the GRIM
inal classes they wish to aid. 1t is
comparatively easy matter to hide a
stowaway if certain members of a
ships crew make up their minds to
do so. Men have been sewed up in
mattresses, headed up in casks, and
have been undiscovered after hours of
persistent search. Later on it has
been equally simple for the stowaway
to make his way off the ship and out
on the pier in an old suit of overalls
or uniform. This has been done not
once but countless times, and the au-
thorities have seemed to be powerless
to prevent it.
THE Italian criminal has a genuinely
i hard time of it in his own country
He is beset by police regulations; if