The evening world., 1911-02-09
FOUR LAW HARSHER
ON ERR|NG WOMEN
THAN BIBLE ED|cT
Judge Lacombe Denounces
the Statute Which Bars Some
Aliens as Undesirable.
QUOTES ROMANS W., 3.
Draws a Vivid Picture of What
Might Befall an Unfor-
tunate Woman.
QUOTES ROMANS VI, 3.

Sustaining the denurrers interposed
by the defendants In the test suits in
s,ituted by the Government against tho
North German Lloyc Steamship Com
pany and the International Murine Com.
pauy to recover passage money OF two
allen women OF immoral character or
dered deported. Judge Lacombe filed to-
day an opinion of unusual interest In
the United states Circuit Court.
so FAR as the alien is concerned the
statute az 1t stand amended Is a dras-
tic one" Judge Lacomoe says. How
far reaching II Is may be best under
stood By supposing a not impossible
case. An alien girl while yet an
infant comes to this country ,with her
parents. None OF them Is within any OF
the excluded glasses; they are received
as desirable immigrants and prove them
selves TO be so: the parents better their
conditions as the years go by. hut the
father ~neslects to he naturallzed. the
child grows up under thor care and
guidance an es,imable and virtuous girl.
Then Misfortune Comes.
Then Just as she reaches womanhood
both parents die after lingering Illness
which wastes away their little resources
aud the young woman is left. II may
lie with no other relatives, to make
her struggle for existence as best she
ian. She may for some years main
tain herself and tSen at last-at some
time when work Is scarce and poverty
IL ~stronG-may take the casles, way TO
keep body and soul together and, fail
ing, may slip rapidly down TO the con-
ditaon denounced in the act 'practic!hg
prostitution
All hope for her may not be lost. IN
situations. state and local. and countless
agencies maintained by the willing gifts
OF tndividuals stand ready TO help the
iaileh woman and secure to her some
opportunity for a new life.
How the Law Works.
Gan the alien fallen woman avail OF
this help? No; because the sovereign
power stretches out its powerful arm.
seises her and casts her out OF the
country. in which her young life was
WRECKED, to fling her into the country
whence she came, so many years before
that to 1t she Is practically an alien.
possibly unable 10 articulate the
simplest phra in Its language, penni-
icsb NV II WdyDt dlOne.
"If such be the wages Of sin for
ths alien fallen woman. the price
Aight be thought higher than that
announced in Romans vi, AZ. It
y certainly startling to And such
. pieco OF legislation upon the
statute books OF a Christian coun-
try. Bu. 1t 10 thore severthc-
hss."
Law Not Retroactive.
Judge lncombc in sustaining the
dennurrers holds that the statute re-
~dutrlng steamship companies to carry
back Mt their own expense undesirable
aliens they brought here when the
cause OF their undesirableness existed
on their arrival. is not retroactive.
mo one disputes" he says, the prop
osition that the ship owners must carry
back at its own expense persons or
the person affiliated with some con-
tasious disease or the prostitute or the
convict. etc, although the most rigid
inspection which 1t might avail OF
failed to disclose the situation when q
brought them here. And there is tn,
like obligation In the case OF a person
found AT any time after landing to be q
public charge from causes existing
prior to arrival. That was the rlsp
which the carrier assumed when unde,
tho statute in force at the time ii IN,
dertook to bring aliens into this oun
try"
The biblical verse mentioned ny
Judge Lacombe-Romans vi, 23-read,
as follows:
For the wages OF sin 10 death,
hut the Gift of God 10 eternal life
through Jesun Christ our Lord.