Montana labor news., 1933-03-30
URGEPROMPT RE-
MOVAL OF MRS.



removal of Mrs. Anna C. Tillinghast
as immigration commissioner for the
New England district has been urged
upon Secretary of Labor Perkins by
the board of directors of the Ameri-
can Civil Liberties Union, on the
ground that she recently %campaigned
in Connecticut for a state alien reg
istration bill, which had been draft
ed at her direction. DR.. Harry F.
Ward, Arthur Garfield Hays and Rog-
err N. Baldwin signed the petition.
Mrs. Tillinghast has been conspic-
uous for years past as a hard-policy
leader of the man-hunting clique in
the immigration Bureau. Her anti
radical prejudices have been the sub
ject of much complaint in Massachu-
sets, where she repeatedly sent i'm
migration agents to harrass and ar
rest strikers who happened to be
aliens.
The Civil Liberties Union directors
at this time limit their charges
against her to the one of improper Of
fetal conduct in asking to persuade
the State of Connecticut to adopt a
Measure which would make it easier
henceforth to prosecute workers born
abroad.
eff this were an isolated instance
of improper activity by Mrs. Tilling-
hast" they say, 1--WE might refrain
from calling it to your attention. But
it is in line with her whole record of
provocation against aliens and of
tactics far more in keeping with
membership in the D. A. R. than with
her public duties"
They declare that when no alien
registration bill was introduced in
the Connecticut legislature, after she
had induced the Connecticut Unem-
ployment Commission to recommend
it, she came to the State capitol and
insisted on it's introduction. Sen.
Hackett consented to offer it, but
when he understood its meaning he
opposed it at a public hearing. The
judiciary committee to which it was
sent, voted unanimously to kill the
proposal.
"Mrs. Tillinghast promoted this
legislation despite the decision of the
u. S. district court in Detroit per-
manently enjoining such a law in
Michigan" the petition points out.
'The Department of Labor has not,
so far as we are aware, gone on rec
ord in favor of state laws register
ing aliens. We seriously question
whether Mrs. %Tillinghast ever con
suited her superior officers concern
ing this proposed bill"
Commissioner General Hull of the
immigration Bureau, when question
ed as to whether he had authorized
Mrs. Tillinghast to undertake the
Connecticut campaign, was very va
que, but protested that he was OPP
posed to any federal compulsory reg
istration scheme.
Unconfirmed rumors-which SEEM
ed to be justified by Miss Perkins
statement that she would make the
Wickersham Committees report on
the immigration Bureau abuses her
guide-were to the effect that the
new secretary had begun wholesale
dismissals Of immigration agents.
These included especially the long
list of jobholders who have been win
tering in Florida as agents under Sec.
"a of the law, which provides for a
secret service to enforce the alien
contract labor ban.
Of the Labor Department budget
for 1888, amounting to $13,681,2 70,
the immigration Bureau received
$1,000, 900, the Naturalization Bur-
eau 1915, no, the Employment Service
1865, 900, the Bureau of Labor Sta
tistics only S~45O,O00, the Women's
Bureau 100000, the Children's Bur-
eau $375,500 and the Cancellation
Service S205, 900.
Jack Leary, r~eactionary critic of
labor union leaders, was attached to
the Employment Bureau at $500 by
direct order Of President Hoover, this
being a higher salary than that of
Director General Alpine. He was
reported in Florida, but the character
of his work was unknown at head
quarters. Murray Carson, $4,000
agent in the deportation brigade, had
been to Hollywood. Relatives of for
mer Secretary Doak were preparing
to get off the same payroll.