The Washington times., 1914-03-10
By KATE WALLER BARRETT.

No sooner was the first convic-
ton secured under the Federal law
,assed to protect the immigrant girl
rom exploitation. than the case
:as appealed and the law was de-
ared unconstitutional. Nothing
aunted, those behind the movement
repaired another bill which was
assed, far more drastic In its pro-
sions.
Now O girl may be deported II she
as been born on foreign soil unless
Ter father had taken out natnraliza-
. ion papers before she Is eighteen
ears old. and anyone contributing
her delinquency can be severely
unished
When this bill became a law. We
cit safe. SO far as the protection
f foreign-born girls was concerned.
tut no sooner had the law gone into
fleet than we found that 1t, too.
ras a weapon In the hands Of de-
igning persons, who might use II to
ave a girl deported because they
;anted to get rid Of her. Several
If these cases have been discovered.
Thousands Held In Fear.
If person has wronged a foreign
,irl. nothing suits him better than
20 see the immigration authorities
:ause her deportation OF course.
he authorities would not lend them
selves to anything OF this kind II
they knew II. and. whenever their
attention Is called to such conditions.
gladly lend all their aid to the girl
in bringing the guilty party to JUS
tice, but thousands Of girls are held
In dread and fear.
Girls are often afraid to tell Of the
guilty person lest the evidence lead
to their own deportation. We think
the newly landed girl is a pitiful
sight, but what shall we say about
the same girl who. a few months or
years later, stands on the same
dock waiting to be deported. dis
graced and dishonored-
In the darkest hours Of her life,
before coming to America, she had
hope of one day coming to this
land of promise and happiness.
But now that she has come, she has
found instead dead fruit.
haze accompanied a number OF
such girls when they left this coun-
try and / can never forget the sor-
row in these lives.
Sometimes the girl is an expectant
mother when she arrives In ono
case the man who was the fatner
OF her child accompanied her TO the
ship. and, presumab y was ni saanS
kours from land. she found that ne
had left the ship at the last mo-
ment. and that she was alone
A girl of this class from Hungary
made her landing without interler-
ence and reached Cleselan Ohio.
When her babv was born soon
after. she took 1t to a street corner
and laid it on the pavement pas 1sv IL nsonis Mas
passed. and in the night a terrible
rain came up and the baby was
read In the morning papers that
the baby's BODY had been found, and
atched every day to see II there
was ANYTHING In the papers about
the mother.
a HungarIan reporter had heard n
woman talking to another on the
street, asking where a certain cor
ner was. and saying that she had
left her baby there and that she was
sorry for 1t. and wanted to nnd
where 1t had been taken so that sne
might calm 1t. for she could not
bear to rive 1t up.
Like Animal at Bay.
Upon this evidence she Was arrest
ed and put in Jail. where / found
her a few hours afterward.
will never forget the look on that
poor girls face when l first saw her.
She was on her knees scrubbtng the
stone floor Of the Jail and her baby
would not have been five days Old
The matron said she was nearly
crazy and the Only thing that kept