Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-01-29
Criticism of Government When
British Parliament Meets.
ALIEN LAW ENFORCEMENT
Charge That England Affords Sane
tuary for Continental Criminals.
HOME OFFICE INTERESTED
Problem of Dealing With Undesir-
able Glass Regarding as Diff
cult-Report Of Commission.
Foreign Correspondence OF The Star.

Foreign Correspondence OF The Star.
LONDON, January 90, 1911.
When parliament meets Winston
Churchill and the government will be
raked with hot shot from all sides of the
house over the loose administration of
the aliens act. and 1 understand that.
stimulated by popular clamor and the
recent events, the home office has some
rather drastic proposal Of its own to
make.
Those who administer the act are not
to blame The act was never designed to
cope with the sharp-witted continental
criminal who, when he has made Europe
too hot to hold him. flies for sanctuary
to "the land of the free" as England Is
known to him, where his comings and go
ings are unchecked and unfettered. The
aliens act, as passed and afterward whit
tied down by a tender-hearted home sec
rotary, is a very small net, capable OF
encircling only minor fish. and the hu-
man sharks from the continent simply
ignore 1t, even as the real shark would
despise a shrimp net.
Problem Knotty One.
The problem of dealing with the con-
tinental criminal when he steps ashore
in England Is a knotty one, and the
commission, which sat for months thresh-
ing out the whole question Of the future
of the strangers within English gates,
shirked the responsibility of suggesting
vigorous measures. In it's recommends
tions it was stated frankly that it eN-
pected its proposals to be subject to the
criticism that they were not likely to
prove effective in preventing the landing
of undesirables at the ports of the coun-
try" And against this half-hearted adj
mission of failure all the commission had
to say in its own defense was that its
recommendations. if carried out. would
have deterrent effect" and when the
bill embodying the recommendations OF
the commission came before parliament
the sentimentalists who had been raising
their voices against the closing of Eng
land as an asylum of refuge to the OPP
pressed Of other countries We're quick to
point out that it would be a farcical fall
ure as a barrier against the astute inter-
national criminal. Their words have
come true.
The British act is lamentably weak in
the clauses operating against criminals.
and in view of the difficulties of the prob
lem while English sentiment and practice
remain what they are, l should he 10Th
to prophesy that it will be speedily
strengthened Britain's continental neigh
bors can keep track of their criminals
readily enough by their own keen and
close system of registration and by the
powers which the police have of calling
upon any man at any time to produce
his papers, proving who and what
he is.
Effect of Continental System.
If England adopted the continental sys-
tenn of police inquisition every new arrival
in the district would be called upon to
account for himself. But this country
would not tolerate the plan. and ire
mendous howl would greet any proposal
sian subject who wishes to leave the dear
fatherland has to obtain beforehand the
sanction of the mayor, the police chief
and the provincial governor before pass
is issued to him.
The aliens act is hopelessly impotent to
stop the arrival in England of the crimi-
nails of the type of the despcrado5s in the
HoundSditch outrage. because the crlni-
nails provokingly decline to come in the
guise of ''aien immigrants To soothe
the fears OF members of parliament who
clustered in parliament and demanded TO
know whether their sacred selves were
to be challenged when they landed at
Dover after a trip to Paris, a careful def
milton of alien immigrants and immigrant
ships was drawn up.
And if the continental tailbird takes
care to dress respectfully, has the equiva-
lent of a ten-pound note in his pocket
and travels first-claSS on one of the cross
channel boats. he can step ashore with
all the freedom and assurance of a men,
Der of parliament. He is not an alien
Immigrant. He is merely a travelling
foreigner If he were recognized as the
biggest rogue on the continent the police
could do nothing, l believe unless he hap
pened to be wanted abroad for some crime
in which case he could be arrested and held
for extradtion. Otherwise he would be
allowed to pass.
Power of Judicial Authorities.
The greatest boon of the aliens act in
dealing with foreign criminals lay in the
power which it conferred upon the ju-
dicia authorities of ordering the deporta-
tiou of those who have been convicted
here. But this provision is akin to the
legislation which allows a dog one bite.
And it is not very effective. for with
the many avenues OF access which Eng
land possesses, it is more than probable
that the man is back again within a
month plying his unlawful calling in some
other city. There are records of such
cases, and judges and magistrates gnash
their teeth in vain. The pious hopes of
the deterrent effect Of the new legisla-
ton which were expressed by the COM
mission .'cut no ice" SO far as criminals
are concerned.
Sentiment still exercises a wide control
over the everyday affairs OF England, and
the feeling which prompted the English
people to open wide the door for the
Huguenots and other refugees Of bygone
days is averse to do anything moro than
keep it ajar now, and the criminal. being
a very slim person, readily continues to
slip in the unguarded portal.
Change in Anarchist Program.
A great change is observed in the an
archst propaganda in London during the
last seven years. Instead of it being
connected mainly with French refugees
in Islington and Tottenham Court road
it has come to be associated with refu-
gees from the Russian empire. After
the outbreak of the japanese war In 1904
large numbers of young Poles. Let's and
Russians fled from the country to es-
cape CONSUMPTION.
Many of them settled in Whitechapal
and Stepney They have circulated vio-
lent revolutionary literature among their
ellow-countrymen in the East End. The
present anarchists in London are said to
be more determined than those who were
prominent here in 1895.