The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1909-08-19
HIDE0US CRIME
Hidden by charity's Cloak im
New York City,.
white SLAVE TRAFFIC
Carried on by People Who Pretend
to Be Honest and Friends of Their
Misunderstanding Discovery 10
Made by the Detectives Of the Im-
migration Department.
migration Department.


migration Department.
The crusade against evils in the
management Of immigrant aid soci-
cites in New York, which began
Tuesday with the barring Of two
bocieties from Ellis Island, has
shown conditions which officials de-
clare will be called to the attention
Of Congress, at next session. !, In
an interview few days ago Repre-
sentative S. Benret, member Of the
commission appointed by congress
in 1907 to investigate immigration
problems says that an inquiry by the
commission has shown that Is per
cent Of the so-called homes in New
York have perverted the purposes for
which they were organized.
The most serious charge made by
Mr.. Bennett is that agents for disre-
putable resorts have been able to
go to the homes and obtain girls,
newly arrived from foreign coun-
tries, who believed that they were
about to find employment in desir-
able places. The agents have paid
from $40 to SIS piece for the girls
thus recruited, he says.
The commission in getting at the
facts here and in other cities, en-
ployed detectives who posed aa
agents foh questionable resorts.
They had no difficulty it is said, in
obtaining girls from the officials Of
certain homes.
Similar evils have been found by
the commission to exist in other
American cities, and the crusade
against them likely to extend to
several parts where large numbers
Of migrants arrive. The commis-
sion will report to congress early
next March. ''
The communication made public
by Commissioner of immigration
Williams, in which he called atten-
tion to certain evils existing in i'm
migration homes in this city, reyok-
ling the privilege which two Of them
had long enjoyed of sending their
representatives to Ellis Island, only
scraped the crust of situation. the
details of which are appalling.
The investigation Of the immi-
grant homes is not confined to the
immigrant authorities here. Presi-
dent Taft has been informed Of the
evils existing, and both he and Sec
retary Nagel Of the department OF
commerce and labor are anxious that
the most stringent methods be en-
ployed to stamp out. For many
months the immigrant commission
which Is separate and distinct from
the immigration service, has been in
vestigating these matters and today
Representative Bennett told some
things of what it had done.
In getting at the facts the commits
sion employed its own detectives-
women who posed as agents for ques-
tionable resorts. They had no diff
Guilty getting girls, and invariably
when these girls were questioned, it
developed that they thought they
were going to place of quite anoth-
er character than they had been
hired for.
In applying for girls to work for
them the agents Of the disreputable
resorts, Mr.. Bennet says, did not
stipulate that they wanted them to.
go as inmaes. "They didn't need to
20 In to the life unless they wished
to-" the agents were careful to say.
Mr.. Bennett was not ready to give
the names of any of these homes,
which he gave so black character,
but it is safe to say that the reports
of the commission, when it is made,
at Washington, will be startling
one. It is also to be expected that
the homes which have perverted the
avowed purpose for which they were
organized will be put out of busi-.
ness with scant ceremony.