The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-09-01
SMUGGLE CHINESE
 AND MAKE MONEY Amendment to Hughes Bill
 Attempts to Stop It
A GROWING INDUSTRY
Not Unusual for Sea Captains to Get as Much as $500 a Head for Get ting Chinese Immigrants
 Across the Border
By JONATHAN WINFIELD

By JONATHAN WINFIELD Washington, August 31.-tSpecial)-An effort is being made through the medium of an amendment tackled by the Senate mon the Hughes bill establishing a com mission on industrial relations, to hunt down the individuals who are making a business of smuggling Chinese into the United States. The Hughes bill which has been made a subject for conference by Congress, in the beginning provided for the appointment Of a commission of nine members at least three of whom shall be employees of labor and these rep resentatives of organized labor, charged with Investigating conditions surrounding the large industries of the country. Their duties were enumerated as being to pay especial attention to the agricultural in dustry; to existing relations beeween em- ployers and employees, to devices and worLingmen and the methods of adjust ing labor disputes and of avoiding labor strikes. When the bill came into the Senate the following amendment was at tached:
 "The commission is to inquire Into the
 
 entry of Asiatics into the United States
 or it's nsular possessions. and of the methods by which such Asiatics have gained or are gaining such admission, and shall report to Congress as speedily as possible, with such recommendation as said commission may think proper, to prevent such smuggling and illegal en- try" That amendment, besides opening up wide and interesting line of inquiry, is the one upon which the conference was called and 1t became whispered about | the capital that the. American Federation l of Labor has had much to do with having l that amendment incorporated in the bill. | The influx of Chinese labor resulted in
 the Chinese exclusion act, since which l time there has been great decrease, but 1 not an absolute stoppage of the entry oi | Celestials into the United 'States. The | American Federation of Labor because
 of the partial failure of the exclusion act | detailed immigration experts to collect
 data upon this condition of affairs and il ! is now said that these men have large | quantities of facts concerning the snug gling of Chinamen across the borders ! irto Anerica.i
 The fact that three of the industrial | commission members must be representa- 1 tives of organized labors lends color tf 1 the report that through this medium the
 labor leaders seek to get their facts and data before Congress. Remunerative Business 1 As a matter of fact the business of | smuggling Chinese has within the last
 few years. especially on the Pacific coast,
 become one recognized for it's remunera- 1 ton, by certain sea captains. as well as men ashore, who hold cheaply the laws of 1 the land and large business has grown | up in the traffic
 | If is said to be easy to collect $500 a | head for each Chnaman who wishes to obtain entry.
 From time to time also there appear in the papers of the country accounts of smuggling expeditions nipped in the bud by watchful immigration inspectors. There is no way of knowing how many of these expeditions succeed. Not many years ago, too, one of the officials of the port of Baltimore was arrested charged with complicity in plot to get Chinamei irto the United States.
 Rumor credits the smugglers with hav- ing used at one time or another every device to obtain entry for their yellow clients. Most of the time small schooners are used But smuggling parties with automobiles as the method of travel and even an aeroplane have been reported.
 This is the situation which the Ameri- can Federation is said to have set itself to combat This is the system, whose teptacIes it is said. are stretched into every port of entry along the Pacific coast, and into many on the Atlantic seaboard
 Attention of Congress
 Another phase of the importation of for ejgn labor has been brought to the att tention of Congress. A month or so ago during the consideration Of the re- rort made by the Bureau of Labor on the Lawrence. Mass strike. Senator Poin- dexter of Washington, called the atten- ton of the Senate to the alleged prevail ence of Cape Verde labor 1n the mills or the Massachusetts town.
 This statement brought an immediate reply from the mayor of Lawrence. who declared that there were not score or the Cape Verde negroes in the mills, and that such as were there were employed at, the hardest kind of manual labor.
 The mayor pointed out. further, that these negroes could not be trained into skjllful mill workers, and that no fear need be entertained that they will eyer cut into the industry and take the places of the French and Irish Canadians who now for the most part make up the mill payrolls.
 This instance, as well as that of the amendment providing for an investiga- ton of the smuggling of celestials. is taken as an indication that before many years have passed the color line will be drawn tight fin the labor world and that American industries for white men will