The Washington times., 1913-01-31
THE EXCLUSION OF CASTRO AND
MYLIUS.

| II does seem as If the American immigration au
torites had succeeded in breaking all records fo;
asininity in the rulings that have denied to Myus
and Castro the right to enter this country-not as
applicants for citizenship, but as travellers.
| Mylius, journalist was convicted by drumhead
court of libeling King George V, by printing what
everybody seems to understand was true He was
sent to Jail year.
| For that we kept him out!
Now, if the immigration authorities will read the
Declaration of independence, they will see how a
group of distinguished Americans libeled King
George ILL., That declaration was mostly personal
assault on him. 1t was, of course, Ibelous as we'll
as seditious.
Secretary Nagel, on precisely the reasoning that
induced him to exclude Mylius would be compelled
to exclude Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson,
Robert Treat Paine and all the rest of the signers
of the Declaration!
Suppose the courts of France, Holland, and Rus
sa had enforced the Nagel reasoning against Amer
ican ENJOYS in revolutionary times? They were
guilty of exactly the political crime that has
been laid at Mylius' door, If they had been barred
as Mylus has been, there never would have been
French intervention there never would have been
victory at Yorktown, there never would have been
a Government of the United States with the power
to make an ass of itself on sucn occasions these
to the amusement of the world.
Cyprano Castro once President of Venezuela is
ordered excluded on the ground that while he was
President man was killed, and the American au-
torities have been told Castro responsible Cas-
tro has never been convicted of such crime never
tried for it, and if he guilty, it would be polt
ical. crime, which under the law must not be taken
as ground for an exclusion.
OF course, the truth is that Castro not excluded
sc &c ,dod
because pin-headed, narrow-visioned adminstra-
ton of the immigration laws decided, long before he
arrived, to exclude him. He is excluded for reasons
that were trumped up on demand, simply because
there must be some pretext.
1t will be recalled that before he reached these
Shores it was given out that he wouldn't be allowed
to land Various pretexts were tried out, including
the vile nmation that he could be kept out because
he suffered from a loathsome disease! But they
failed and finally recourse was had to the cheerful
expedent of convicting him of murder and barring
him for that!
An exiled Bonaparte came to this country and
was received with open arms. kossuth driven from
his own land, was national hero here. Yet Bona
parte was dethroned usurper, precisely as Castro
is; Kossuth was political offender, exactly as N.Y.
Illus is.
Have we grown so delicate of sensibity, so tre-
fearful OF inJurng the feelings of Some
country where crowns are worn, that we need fall
to quite such sycophancy as this? Is our national
boast about this being the Land of the free" and
the refuge of the oppressed" just plain moonshine,
which, translated into prose, means that we have
the narrowest prejudices, the meanest notions, and
the most provincial Administration on earth?
Castro's exclusion, of course, will make us the
laughngstock of the world 1t is just possible that
Russia might scratch up an excuse to keep him out;
certainly no other country in Europe would He has
travelled all Europe in recent time and it re-
NAMED for the narrow-gauged immigration authori-
ties of the land of the free" to bethink themselves
of such profundy of pharisaism as is expressed in
the decree that he cannot enter here. 1t is enough
% make sef-respecting honest, sincere Americanism
hide its head in shame.
A Lingering Suspicion.