The New York herald., 1922-02-13

Department of Justice men know what
am doing. I saw one of them yes
terday, and he accused me. He said
ness and to watch out. because the
Government was looking for me over
in the Gulf ports.
II told him that I knew damned
we'll / was in the business and that
wasn't worried about what he or any
body else knew. And then do you
know what / told him?"
mo, what?"
ITO catch me-"
And when he mad ceased laughing
he added:
And unless / am driven into the
open by a storm in the daylight they
won't catch me-not with the little
force they have working on US now"
Aliens I'm BootIegging Craft.
To again draw from the converse
tons the reporter had with these four
men it is quite impossible to set forth
here or anywhere just how many
aliens have been smuggled into the
States in this manner. 1t can be said
that the number is held down by two
cardinal reasons:
First, the majority of these aliens
are taken from Cuba to America on
relatively small boats carrying liquor.
1t stands to reason that a boat laden
with booze cannot carry a great num-
ber of aliens. 1t is because OF this
that such passage is expensive to the
alien.
In the second place the numbers
are held down because of the indus
trial depression. Friends of the Eu-
ropeans or Asiatics contemplating the
attempt are advising them to hang on
outside America for the present. 1t
causes one to think that if normal
prosperity and industry were back in
the United States this traffic would be
increased enormously.
Conversations with customs and i'm
migration officials at Key West,
Tampa and Pensacola Indicate that
the total captures Of booze carrying
boats bearing aliens will not show the
apprehension Of more tkan 100 aliens.
Besides that" said one customs
man in Florida, 1--WE are up against
another proposition. If you will look
over the immigration laws you will
discover two things that hamper us.
In the first place the recent limita-
ton of immigration law places no
penalty upon the smuggler of the
European into America. All we can
DO is to grab the cargo if we can.
The dummy runner goes free.
For landing these forbidden immi-
grants there is no penalty we can in
flict upon the smuggler. We can de-
port the smuggled alien-at the Gov
ernmeht's expense. But unless your
runner had liquor or habit forming
drugs in his cargo he is not liable.
There is an omission in the law.
Lawful to Harbor Struggled Man.
Furthermore, there is no penalty
for harboring a Chinese once he is
landed We can send the man landing
him to Jail if we catch him, but you
can receive Chinese already landed
and hide him in your home, and the
law can do nothing to you if 1t can
not prove that you are guilty of par
ticipation in the conspiracy to fetch
him here. In other words, we can find
the Chinese in your house, and that
Chinese can admit that he was
smuggled in, but you still are immune
from punishment unless we can prove
that you helped get him in.
1.-THE condition here on the western
coast of Florida is infinitely worse in
this respect than it was on the Mexi-
-. r r
was there. We have sent report after
report to Washington telling them of
all this. We have shown them how
much 1t cost to stop Chinese snug
Cling over the border. 1t took the
United States six years to stop it. It
might have been stopped quickly had
the Government acted at once, but for
six years we paid no attention to the
Mexican border. And in those six
years things became so bad that event.
ually it cost the United States millions
to break up the trans-Rio Grande
traffic.
"I have no idea how many are being
landed along the Gulf of Mexico every
week. Every day we receive reports
that small boats. were observed, the
night before, mere anu
there. Thousands? / can't say. There
is no way for me to tell. I do know
that we have not captured one in one
hundred if all we hear is reliable in
formation"
From immigration and customs off,
cials In Florida and from the dummy
runners in Havana the reporter
sought more intimate details regarding
the personality of the Europeans
crowding Havana seeking passage to
the States on the booze boats. He
learned little.
Might BE Most Dangerous Radicals
How can we tell who they are"
said one of the dummy runners. "Sure,
they may include persons deported as
dangerous radicals from the United
States or they may be radicals run
ming away from their own home coun-
tries. How can we tell? We ask no
questions. We are paid so much a
head and that is all we require"
"Yes," agreed one of the customs
men in Florida, at is quite possible
that a number of communists, official
and unofficial, are getting into Amer
lea this way. It is also possible that
the United States has deported some Of
the very persons who are returning on
the booze boats. But we have no proof