The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-05-10
Frederick { ask1n's Letter
Especial Correspondence Of ArEus1
THE THREE PER CENT LAW

ship lines now have to bear the
! expense of carrying these bewil-
dered people back to their starting
point. The saddest feature of the
whole thing, perhaps, is the fact
/ that these helpless people, who
have looked forward Tor years IN
| coming to this land of promise, IN
I able to comprehend anything about
the whole business, are sent back
to the misery they have tried and
failed to leave behind them.
The steamship companies were
greater offenders under old imni-
grafton laws than they are at pres
ent. That is because under the So
called "3 per cent law" the fine for
bringing to this country every alien
certain to be turned back is the
sum of 5000. Under the old law
the fine was only 500, and the
steamship line could keep the pas
sage money and even make
charge for taking back the aliens
refused admission at American
ports, or ordered deported after
their cases have been examined.
The new law compels tlfe steam
ship companies not only to refund
the passage money originally re
ceiyed, but to take the undesirable
aliens back to the point where they
boarded the ship, entirely free Of
charge. Naturally, with a dead loss
facing them, the lines have been
more careful about how they hll
their Storage spaces with this hu-
man freight.
Many Chinese Cases,
There are other immigration laws
and agreements which furnish cases
for the board of review to handle.
The question of Chinese fmmigra-
ton is always a perpIexing thing.
1t is an open secret that Chinese
laborers are smuggIed into this
country to some extent Many Of
them are stopped, but the depart
ment of labor has not the funds
with which to draw a Gordon tight
enough to guarantee absolute ex-
clusion.
In Chinese cases and in some
others the draft records compiled
during the war are of considerable
assistance, giving a means of infor-
nation formerly impossible. Cases
will come before the board of re-
view. A Chinaman will swear to
being born in Los Angeles. His
oath will be supported by other
Cinnamon. They will swear that
they have known him a long time,
even since boyhood.
The case will appear to be per-
fectly simple. A mistake has been
made, and the Chinaman actually is
an American citizen, having been
born in the United States. It is
at this point that the draft records
come into the situation. 1t will be
found that when he registered un-
der the draft law, this same China
man swOre that he was born n
Canton, and thus escaped military
service under the plea of being an
alien. The boards course is clear
hen, and the Chinaman is sent
pack to his homeland.
The diseased, the criminal, the
undesirable, the physi-
ally unfit, the feeble-minded OF
downright insane, the illiterates,
he deaf and dumb, as well rs
liens in excess of the quota allow
ID the country from which they
anne, continually are knocking al
he once wide-open doors into this
country. Stowaways and those
likely to become public charges ar
i've with their pitiable pleas to be
Flowed to remain. Those already
Iere of the same nationality add
heir fearful pleas and often con
iderabfe influence to the eff lrts of
hese new arrivals to try to break
own the law, which congress in its
wisdom has found necessary for
he protection of America and
american labor.
The board of review. naturally
he point of attack for the bitter
ess engendeTed by disappointment.
as the unwelCOme task of aispOs-
lg of all of these cases. Actually.
he secretary of labor finally acts.
ut he is frank to confess that the
npleasant and heavy task-sOme-
mes 20 or so cases are acted upon
l single day-falls on the shout
ers of this instrument of ths gov
headed by Chairman Robe
arl White. and consisting of T. Y
owderly. once commissioner gen
raj of immigration; A. F. ReitZei,
:. J. Shaughnessy and George Y.
ope.