New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-12-07

all over with similar items about other
people. II is a viva voce cXamina-
uon. The clerk puts his questions win
a manner OF apologize regret which
does him credit; but he puts them ard
again YOU answer them sooner than
make trouble for him and his superiors:
Who knows but the ship might he
seized in port If a single blank were
left untitled?
At the end he hands you your landing
card. but warns you that permission TO
land will only he given after the caid
has been vised by immigration authori-
ties who will come on board at the dock
for the purpose. At the ringing of
bell. the three hundred or five hundred
first class passengers will assemble IN
the great hall on A deck, known as the
Lounge, and there pass in review be-
fore the Rhadamanthus who is to de-
eide their fate. You find Rhadaman-
thus present in the plural; he is Trim
ity: not of three i'm one. but. which IS
the profounder mystery. Of one in
three. Last year | went up late and
found these three gentlemen in sold
lace by themselves; alone; other pas
sengers all dismissed; and had TO ap-
pear alone before the awful Three: OF
whom one, nevertheless. without a word
stamped my card and released me.
This year their duties were divided.
You went before this or that or the
other, according TO the number of your
ticket; and II you applied to the wrong
man or with a wrong number you were
sent sternly away TO a different official.
This time there was no gold lace; no
uniform; or saw none; perhaps from
agitation and terror. But they needed
not these trappings. They were
clothed with the majesty Of the law;
majesty diminished by the chewing Of
gum, but still evident. The hood docs
not make the monk. The livery of 81
lis Island is not needed to convince YOU
that you have TO humble yourself be-
fore three veritable instruments of In
migration: as ii were, three Chinese
!. Mandarins minus their yellow jackets.
They are judges who pronounce SEN
tence, or, at their will, dismiss YOU
from the dock.
A friend tells me that when his turn
came for this ordeal he was required
politely. but required-to state his
name, his age. his place Of birth, and
| IL, In
Have YOU made any change in your
citizenship" He is one Of the best
known men in New York; whose name
and position might be supposed TO be
known even to an immigration official.
When my Mandarin began his inquiries
/ told him I had already answered
them three times over since taking
passage, and answer them again
would not. He smiled blandly and
stamped my card.
ask you, appeal to men of sense
and IF common sense, What is the use
| of this solemn farce; of this succession
OF solemn farces? Is il believed by
these immigration myrmidons, by those
. who framed or by those who execute
the law, that anarchists and escaped
criminals and paupers travel first class
by the Lusitania? That the Unde-
sirable Alien occupies the Regal Suites
at $1,000 apiece? That the sweepings
of European cutters are to be found in
the cabins of "A great Cunard liner? II
not what is the object OF these investi-
cations? is it i'm the interests Of pure
Democracy? Is II Democratic doc
trine that the Idle Rich" are so many
4ailbirds? Is II an American doctrine?
Is wealth crime, and a greater crime
than poverty?
I have read since ! landed accounts
Of proceedings under the new Income
Tax law which seem to imply that in
the opinion OF the trainers Of that law
all persons with an income are dis
honest: conclusion only more re-
markable than the clumsiness of the
T methods devised for the detection OF
the dishonesty. The Income Tax law
is the work of amateurs. If they would
have taken the trouble to look into
| EsDBllSH IiltNilouS' N'''h hN'' 'N~'' 80
} existence for some generations, they
would have found them entirely simple;
, so drawn as TO combine the minimum
Of annoyance to the taxpayer with the
, greatest efficiency in the collection OF
the tax.
They do not in England disturb bank
accounts. or tie up deposits, or suspend
, the payment Of coupons, or derange
, the finances Of the taxpayer in order
TO enable him to meet their demands
more easily. once a year In england
, YOU get form which you all up and
. return. Some months later you get a
statement Of the amount to be paid;
and later again a polite request for
payment, and you pay il. Except that
, the income tax on securities is de-
Quoted automatically at the source,
, which your banker does for you, that
is all there is to ii.
The American law and the American
administration Of the law appear to re-
gard annoyance as the chief object OF
the statute and the revenue an unim-
:, portant detail. The immigration law
and the Bureau OF immigration take
exactly the same view. The maximum