The New York herald., 1922-11-14
TOD is WORKING TO
CLEAN ELLIS ISLAND
FavOrs Placing First Class
Passengers OH Basis
With Immigrants.
REVEALS MORE GRAFT
UndeSirables Get Through
Gates by Bribing EN-
ployees, He Says.
WANTS A HUMANE LAW
Would Make 1t Unnecessary to
Separate Alien Parents
From Children.
WANTS A HUMANE LAW

Talking frankly Of conditions AT
Ellis Island that have recently IN
spired cehsorious comment. Commis-
sioner of Immigration Robert e. Tod
said yesterday that he did not mind
constructive criticism" but added
that too frequently only one side of
a case is stated to the public"
II am in favor Of altering the law
to make the child of English or French
or of whatever nationality the same
nationality as their parents. or give
them the option of choosing their
country upon reaching maturity" he
said. This would allow children born
in America of foreign parents to
choose America or the country Of
their parents as their native land.
There Is always a loophole for men
and women to elude the close surveil-
lance of the entrance test by coming
second class. Many immigrants come
this way to escape landing at the island.
and many tickets are sod by steamship
could do so l would make 1t necessary
for first and second class passengers to
come through Ellis Island. This would
make impossible the entrance OF men,
eluding the customs officials or bribing
their way through the guards and Gus
toms men when there are unprincipled
men on the job"
In regard to the charge that he had
been giving too much time to cleaning
up the immigration forces in New York.
the Commissioner said: "If / did not
clean up the service as l am doing II
would leave a loophole through which
hundreds could be smuggled into the
United States. l have placed In the
hands of the District Attorney COM
plants against a number Of immigration
employees, and these cases must take
their turns upon the calendar.
"Only Saturday we had q case of ex-
tortion in which a man was held UP by
three employees Of the service for $3.50
Another case is pending in which $1,000
was extorted by guards and an inter
prefer from a Greek involving the
bringing In of young woman" Here
the Commissioner showed two cancelled
checks of $500 each used in the bribery
"The case Of the three men who helc
up an allen for $3.50 startled me- tho
Commissioner continued, because
thought these men could be depended
upon absolutely. We have $40 en-
ployees in the service here and It still
looks to me as IL the men and womer
as whole are all right. Still you nevel
can tell. l propose to clean out all the
petty grafters upon the ignorance anc
credulity OF the poor immigrants WHIT
in the past have had money extortec
from them. The service pays helper:
from $1,000 to s1.400 a year. and
suppose It IS a great temptation wher
some immigrant through friends ol
relatives, offers to pay out lump sun
of several hundred dollars II the guarjt
will just open a door and let the de
tained person go free
"A second reform I have advocated
and recommended to the Secretary OF
Labor and urged since becoming COM
missioner has been the bringing In OF
10 per cent. OF each nations quota for
the first ten months of the year and
leaving the last two months for clearing
UP doubtful cases. This would greatly
tighten the work and make for more
dispatch in the handling OF Individual
cases"