Bryan daily eagle and pilot. [volume] (Bryan, Tex.) 1909-1918, 1912-01-24
Immigration LAWS
NEED STRENGTHENING
Many Undesirable Aliens Manage to
Sneak In Every Year, Chiefly
Chinese and Mexlcans.
[By Associated Press.l

loy ASSOSkdtSA 1881
Washington. Jan. 24.--Many Chinese
laborers have foiled the United States
immigration authorities within the
past year, gaining admission to the
country in the guise of merchants,
students or teachers, according to the
annual report of Daniel ]. Keefe, COM
missioner general of immigration.
Mr. Keefe calls attention to "the
unsatisfactory condition of the So
called Chinese exclusion laws, and the
necessity for extensive changes in the
system under which 1t is sought to
prevent the introduction of Chinese
laborers into the country, and to make
easy the coming and going Of classes
which the law does not intend to ex-
clude.
The report shows that during the
last fiscal year 1,03O,3OO aliens, of va
rious nationalities, entered the coun-
try OF these 151,573 came for tenn
porary purposes only. During the
same period 51S,215 aliens left the
United States, of whom 222,549 were
temporary departures. The net gain
in population by immigration, there
fore, was 512,OS5.
The commissioner general suggests
that there be applied to aliens coming
to perform labor a physical standard
similar to that required of recruits for
the navy.
1t also is suggested that the law be
made much more rigid with respect to
induced immigration, and that the
penal provisions be strengthened.
! A phase of induced immigration
which has been rapidly increasing
consists of the practice of certain cor
porations in the middle and far West
to employ Mexican laborers. Thou
sands of these laborers are annually
induced to come into the United
States, says the report, not by direct
means which can be made the basis
OF a prosecution, but by indirection
and subterfuge-b disseminating in
Mexico general information to the eff
feet that work can be secured by
crossing the border and applying to
lanata1 tho Amnri-
can side who are engaged in securing
laborers for the railroad companies,
mine operators and others, the cost
of their procurement being deducted
from the first wages earned by this
cheap class of unskilled laborers. Ev-
cry possible effort has been exerted to
control this situation, but with only
fair success.
1t is shown that during the year 1882
Japanese were admitted to the main
land and 2159 to Hawaii. Compared
with the preceding year there was an
increase of 60 per cent for the main
land and Al per cent for Hawaii. Re-
garding Japanese of the laboring
classes to whom the most interest at
taches, only 1872 were admitted to the
mainland and 1740 to Hawaii, while
1881 departed from the mainland and
1889 from Hawaii.
The methods adopted by Chinese to
evade the exclusion law are so extern
sive and complicated as to beggar de-
scription. They extend all the way
from crossing the land boundaries in
sealed freight cars or being packed
away in the holds of vessels and land
ing under cover of darkness.
Two favorite devices for introduc-
ing young coolies consist of the claim
that the applicant is the minor son
of merchant, or was born in this
country, or is the son born abroad OF
a Chinaman in this country and there
fore a citizen; and although the Of
ficers may be morally certain these
claims are false, it is difficult to dis
prove them. OF minor sons" 423 en-
tered during the year, and of natives
1885. Most of these are ordinary
coolies. Regarding those who have en-
tered on claims of citizenship, it is
shown that the average for the past
three years has been 1922 per year
Using these figures as a basis, it IL
calculated that, unless the law i:
strengthened in some manner or pres
ent conditions materially change, the
next decade will witness the entry
to the United States, on citizenship
claims alone, of over $4,000 Chinese.