Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-03-24

end even proxy weddings dor suit
able fee.
=. Accomplishing the same result
by merely going along with an
American in the guise OF wife.
10. Walking up to the railros d
ticket Office, which books passengers
for the channel ferries. posing as an
American. buying a ticket for the
home town and boarding the boat
for Key West.
IL this last process is too trouble
some il is possible for one to hand
the head porter Of his hotel couple
Of small bills and the porter will at
tend to the matter forthwith. BY
this process II Is necessary only to
scribbfe the name, age and supposed
American birthplace OF the traveller.
The porter has clips for these in
scriptions and the next day hands
over all the papers necessary for
convenient transit-railroad ticket.
boarding cards and the declaration
blank which must be filed in to iden-
tify and classify baggage.
a foreigner posing a s an American
at the ticket ONCE may he put to the
necessity of explaining that he is al
ready an American citizen and is
lust going back" He Will encoun-
ter difficulties unless he has learned
his lesson well and can talk United
States" Granted that facility and
the gumption OF a 1o-year-old child
to corrotorate lie he need not ex-
pect much trouble.
Both the ticket Office clerk and the
checker at the dock have to depend
on sixth sense" TO detect fraud
Cuban natives are permitted to en-
ter the United States for six months
as visitors without documents Those
who wish to remain longer must pro-
duce birth certificates to show they
were born In Cuba. But how deter
mine which are Cuban and which are
not? Racial lines are becoming more
and more blurred. Colors blend. Ac-
cretions in population have come from
every quarter OF the world. The ef-
fort ito check the use of the United
States as a melting pot" has had the
effect OF turning much Of the over
flow Of migratory humanity into this
island.
The immigration inspe CT ors at Key
West like the railroad clerks at Ha-
vena have to depend largely on that
sixth sense" To distinguish between
the eligible and the ineligible.
Left Big Leophoie.
Here then il a remarkable situa-
ton. The Congress at Washington
put in months studying the immigra
tion needs Of the country and in con-
structinE law that would close the
Nations gatewsys against newcom ers
Of nonassimilsble or inferior types.
But the Government neglected to pro-
vide adequate means for carrying out
the intent OF the law. There is a hole
in it big enough to sail a feet of
ships through.
&c In hiv,c
are small, to be sure. but they sail
frequently between Cuban ports and
the American coast Vessels under
20 tons are not required to have
clearance papers in sailing from Ha-
vana. They may put to sea, as often
they do, ostensibly on fishing expedi-
tons. but in reality loaded with boot
leg whisky or narcotics to be unload
ed in Florida.
Smuggling of aliens along with the
liquor and opiates has been part OF
the rum-runnins business. OF late
indeed. the American Coast Guard has
made it so hot for the liquor traders
that many of them are said TO be
going into the immigrant smuggling
exclusively.
For example, certain opticfan s
store in one OF the principal streets
of old Havana has long been recog-
nized as place where an alien wish
ing to be spirited into the United
States could make satisfactory ar
rangements. The arrangements" may
consist OF paying the agent-or, rath-
er. his bagents-a deposit Of $50
The smugglers agree to land the alien
safely on the American mainland and
out of reach of the immigration au-
| thorities. If the trick succeeds the
newly installed American citizen
| must pay his guides an additional
500 or $500 according to the agreed
price for the job.
Sometimes, according to stories
here, aliens who have not the full
amount of the entry price are al
| lowed to get jobs in the States and
work out the price as soon as pos
sible. Those who thus go into the
States by stealth live under the
! threat that if they fail to make good
| their pledges they Will be exposed
to immigration officers and deported
! In this way the smugglers use the
very law they are violatin as a club
to keep from being swindled
Often the immigrants are badly
| cheated by the men they trust tc
transport them across the channel
case on record has to do with q
group of 20 Germans. Austrians and
Rumanians who sought to slip into
| the United States through the back
door" They complained to the port
authorities at Havana that they had
paid "Dr. Jamison" here to get them
| into the States. They were trans.
ported to Batabano, a port on the
south coast OF Cuba, reached by auto.
| mobile from Havana. At Batabano
| they were put aboard a sailing yes.
sci, and, after a voyage of much
mystery, they were put ashore al
! night. assured that they were in the
United States, and compelled to pay
| the balance of the transport money
they had agreed upon-s15o a head
| in this case. y
The complaint they later made to
! Cuban authorities was that they had
been put ashore, not in Florida, but
| in Yucatan. From Yucatan they were
deported to Cuba Here they de.
| manded a return of their passage
! money. A announcement" or com.
! plant, was made by the Cuban secret
police against Jamison. Meanwhile
a representative of DIR. Jamison Wis
tied the immigrants and promised
that IL they would sign receipts the
amount each had paid would be re.
funded. They signed, but received
nothing and later discovered that tn,
's1-rss-at sr-
81 q o.