Conn., there appeared an article, a copy of which I am inclosing to you, which pertained to the visit of representatives of the Manufacturers Association of Connecticult to Washington, D. C., in appearing before the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization of the House of Representatives in an attempt to have what is termed "the letting down of the bars" so that a greater number of immigrants will be permitted to enter the United States.

I personally have no fear that their mission will result in overthrowing our present laws bearing on immigration problems, with the present committee membership and yourself as chairman of said committee.

But I am seriously interested in the effort of these gentlemen from Connecticut to have any amendment to our present laws that would permit unrestricted immigration as of old, and this, in my opinion, is due to many private and public expressions that this is their aim.

Only within the past week a news article stated that employers in Connecticut have given up the idea of further recruiting unskilled labor from southern Europe. I presume that this statement referred to the Italian race in that field.

From my experience in dealing with human beings for a good many years past, I am very much pleased to note of this accomplishment, for to-day, as contrasted with only a few short years ago, the unskilled laborer of the Intalian race is demanding living wages, instead of taking what was handed to him by the greed of unscrupulous employers. He is demanding better living conditions, and his effort to have his children get a better education is seriously noted. This is a great tribute to the man from southern Europe who formerly was handled like a beast, and in this hour of desperation, as is claimed, these gentlemen from the Manufacturing Association of Connecticut are striving to have unrestricted immigration again in our midst.

The fault, Mr. Congressman, at this time is not with an unskilled labor shortage at all, for we have in Connecticut to-day large numbers of men out of employment, but these men positively refuse to go to work for these same manufacturers for an hourly rate of 20 cents which has been offered in many instances to these poor fellows.

To-day it is a known fact that large numbers of the members of the striking railroad shop crafts organizations are working at unskilled labor, and they are glad to work at it, rather than be idle, but these men have refused many employer's assistance to go to work when they were offered 25 and 28 cents per hour on jobs that they are working on now they receive 55 cents.

I wish to convey to you, Mr. Congressman, this impression, that the Connecticut Federation of Labor and all of its affiliated trades unions are not opposed to having any man or woman come into our country who will be a credit to its institutions. We want them to come here and to take advantatge of the progress that has been made, but we are bitterly opposed to permitting a "letting down of the bars" and allow uneducated, underfed people to come here and, due to their physical condition especially, to immediately fall prey to the members of the Manufacturers' Association of Connecticut and kindred associations; and their coming will lower already established standards.

I beg you, Mr. Congressman, to peruse records in the Congressional Library to obttain facts therein to show that these same manufacturers of Connecticut have been the means of having serious labor disturbances in their plants upon refusal to pay wages that would permit of respectable standards for a man or woman, and I am sure that you can have access to the records of the Internal Revenue Department of the United States and there see the enormous totals paid by these same manufacturers in Connecticut for income and excess profits taxes.

I am extremely sorry to have to start writing in this vein at the beginning of a new year, but due to past performances of this set of employers under the banner of the Manufacturers' Association of Connecticut, I know them and know of their attitude to the laborer, and I know that it would be a wonderful thing for them to accomplish to have the present immigration laws amended, either temporarily or otherwise, so that they could further set back the man that works for a daily wage by having 25 men for one job.

Please exert every known thing possible to defeat this effort of theirs, and bear in mind the previous lines that I have written, that we as organized men and women invite our fellow wage earners from any civilized country to come here, but under conditions that they accept American standards as a whole, and not ones of a private character that are established by the Manufacturers' Association of Connecticut.

I extend to you and the committee members a hearty wish for a prosperous new year, and hope that the Divine Creator of man will give His blessings to all, that in their deliberations all will be treated with justice, and I remain, Respectfully yours,

PATRICK F. O'MEARA,

P. O. box 1295, New Haven, Conn.

I have a clipping sent to me from New Britain, Conn., for the use of the committee with reference to the statement of a workman who claims he was blacklisted and unable to secure work on that account. This is from the New Britain Record, of December 28, 1922.

(The matter referred to is as follows :)

66

[From New Britian Record, December 28.]

CLAIMS HE WAS BLACKLISTED "-LOCAL MAN SAYS HE WAS TOLD HE COULD GET NO WORK AT NEW BRITIAN FACTORIES-SOME UNION BOYCOTT SYSTEM. The first man from New Britain to be called to the Nation's colors when the first draft was issued, William George, aged 24, was told to-day at the offices of the Hartford County Manufacturers' Association on Myrtle Street that he couldn't get a job here and that if he didn't like it he could go back to Persia where he was born.

At least this is the story he told Mayor Paonessa this afternoon in city hall, when he called upon the city's chief executive to find out whether he could be "blacklisted" here and not be given employment. George, who used to live at No. 42 Gilbert Street, but who now resides at No. 18 Gilbert Street with his wife, said he has been working at the Stanley rule and level factory as a polisher for four days, but that wearing polishers' glasses hurt his eyes. He quit his work there and sought employment at Russell & Erwin's and was told to return this afternoon. When he came back he was told that he had left his work at the rule shop and that there was nothing for him at the lock shop. He then went with a friend to the employment office on Myrtle Street and the agent at the Hartford County Manufacturers' Association, he says, told him there was nothing doing and then said if he didn't like it he could go back to Persia.

George declared he was the first man called in the draft and that he claimed no exemption, but was rejected because he had flat feet.

Mayor Paonessa is looking into the case and will endeavor to find work for him.

I have a telegram from San Francisco, Calif., which reads as follows:

Hon. ALBERT JOHNSON,

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF., January 4, 1923.

Chairman Immigration Committec, Washington, D. C.:

In revised immigration legislation for 1923, as reported in morning press, understand Australia and New Zealand are included as from British possessions. Will you kindly advise as to this.

L. F. COCKROFT.

Mr. RAKER. That is the gentleman who appeared before the committee previously?

The CHAIRMAN. Yes. I have also a clipping containing a statement made by Secretary of Labor Davis in an address in New York before the Advertising Club, to the effect that there are 70,000 unfit aliens in the United States.

Mr. RAKER. Have you a copy of the address made by the Secretary at the Cosmos Club in this city yesterday?

The CHAIRMAN. I have not a copy of that now, but we will get it and put it in the record also.

(The statement referred to is as follows:)

70,000 UNFIT ALIENS IN UNITED STATES, SAYS DAVIS-URGES NATION-WIDE REGISTRATION AS MEANS TO RID COUNTRY OF UNDESIRABLES-TALKS FOR SAVING WAGE "—ADVERTISING MEN TOLD OF INDUSTRIAL CONFERENCE TO BE TRIED BY GOVERNMENT AT PATERSON, N. J.

66

Registration of aliens in the United States would disclose about 70,000 of them as undesirable and liable to deportation, according to James J. Davis. Secretary of Labor, who spoke at a luncheon of the Advertising Club yesterday

at the clubhouse, 47 East Twenty-fifth Street. Sir Auckland Geddes, British ambassador, was to have been a speaker, but he was unable to attend.

Both the Secretary and the ambassador inspected Ellis Island in the morning, and when the Secretary arrived to talk to the advertising men he was full of the immigration phase of his work. He repeatedly departed from his

scheduled speech on the "living wage in industry.

"In America," said Secretary Davis, "there isn't room for the revolutionist. We are all evolutionists. The man who comes here preaching discontent, hate, envy, and revolution should be shipped out. The sooner we take him to Ellis Island and return him whence he came the better it will be for him and for this country.

"Every alien in the United States should be registered and I would have each one pay a small fee-about $5 or $10-spread over a period of about five years, so that there would be a fund established from which the alien could be taught what this country means and what American ideals represent. Registration also would give an opportunity to make a survey of them and ascertain the undesirable ones. Mr. Burns, of the Department of Justice, tells me that such a survey would disclose about 150,000 who would be eligible to be sent back to the land where they came from. I don't go as high as Mr. Burns, but I do think that close to 70,000 persons have slipped surreptitiously into the United States.

"One of the chief arguments against such a registering of aliens-and we have about 8,000,000-is that it would be unfair to force them to register. Every citizen, however, has to register to vote, and some have to go a long way to register, and I don't see why aliens should not be required to register, so that they could be better qualified for citizenship. There is strong opposition to such a plan. The more than 1,000 foreign-language newspapers published in this country don't want it. There are, of course, some newspapers of this class conducted by men of high ideals that are in favor of it, but the majority of them are against it."

The CHAIRMAN. I have also a statement dated December 28, 1922, Washington, D. C., giving the names of communists and the organizations to which they belong, which I will put in the record. I have also a statement from the Census Bureau, secured by the Department of Labor, carrying a table showing the number admissible under the 3 per cent quota, based upon the census of 1910 and the number admissible under a 5 per cent quota, based on the census of 1890.

(The matter referred to is as follows :)

THINK U. S. REDS MAY SHED BLOOD JUSTICE DEPARTMENT AGENTS SEE MENACE IN PROGRAM, BUT DECLARE IT WILL FAIL-CONFIDENT AGITATORS CAN NOT STIR FARMERS TO REBELLION.

WASHINGTON, December 28, 1922.

The revolutionary program just adopted by the Workers' Party of America, at its second annual convention in New York City, is a real menace to the American Government and institutions, officials of the Department of Justice declared. While it is not feared a revolution can be accomplished, it is pointed out that much unnecessary agitation and bloodshed in some localities may result.

The Communist Party is divided into two branches-No. 1, the "legal" branch or the Workers Party, and No. 2, the "illegal or underground branch. It was decided at a conference of the Communist Party this summer that in order that the two parties might work together with the greatest degree of harmony the same set of officers should govern both organizations.

That such a policy is being carried out is shown by the following records of some of the officers of the central executive committee, or the national governing body, of the Workers' Party elected Tuesday:

Jay Lovestone, New York. Has been arrested for criminal anarchy. Was a former organizer of the Socialist Party, and has been on program committee of a Communist convention.

29018-23-SER 5-c10

Edward Lindgren, New York. Member of editorial board of Communist Labor Party News and former secretary of central executive committee of Communist Party of America.

Alexander Trachtenberg, New York. Political refugee in the United States. Advocate of direct action. Former member of committee for Third Internationale of Moscow for Socialist Party.

A. Bittelman, New York. Former alternate to Communist Party Internationale.

Ludwig Lore, New York. Organizer for Communist Labor Party.

J. Louis Engdahl, Chicago. Former secretary of Socialist Party in Illinois. and now an organizer. Arrested with Debs and others and convicted under espionage act.

James P. Cannon, Kansas City. Arrested November, 1919, under Lever (food) act, for creating riots during Pittsburgh and Kansas coal miners' strike. H. M. Wicks, Chicago. Formerly on program committee of communist convention.

William F. Kruse, Jersey City. Convicted in Chicago under the espionage law. M. Jakiro, New York City. Member of Communist Party. At a subdistrict committee meeting this summer he proposed that all youths who are members of the party join the military training camps to circulate propaganda among the soldiers and to become militaristic in preparation for the time of the revolution.

At a secret conference of the Workers Party in New York City on July 13 1922, William E. Ruthenberg defined the distinction between the legal and illegal branches.

GOAL OF ILLEGAL BRANCH.

The illegal apparatus is supposed to send men into the Army and Navy to distribute propaganda and to commit other illegal acts. The legal apparatus is supposed to be used for the purpose of obtaining recruits for the movement who would not permit themselves to join with an illegal revolutionary movement.

The communists are clever opportunists. Wherever there is discontentment they believe they can find likely subjects for their propaganda. Tuesday the Workers Party passed a resolution to launch an intensive propaganda among farmers and farm laborers under a national agrarian organizer.

Deprtment of Justice officials are not worried about effect of propaganda on the farmers. They say the farmers are by far too sensible to permit themselves to be moved by preachers of "social revolution."

WOULD INCITE NEGROES TO REVOLT.

The danger lies in the effect of the agitation among the working classes and the negroes. The Communist Party has men in many of the labor unions who are attempting to get control. They are spreading propaganda among the negroes in the hope of inciting them to rebellion.

Secret Service operatives have every phase of the revolutionary movement under close watch. Every movement attempted by the communists to date has been unsuccessful. They failed to stir up the negroes because the blacks in the South refused to accept the "foreigners." They failed to create sympathy for their cause through the production of radical motion pictures because of the large amount of money required. They failed to win labor over to their movement because of the decrease in unemployment. Department of Justice officials are confident the communists will be no more successful in their attempt to stir up the farmers to an American social revolution."

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Number of aliens admissible annually under present 3 per cent immigration law and number who would be admissible on basis of 5 per cent of the population according to United States Census of 1890.

We will also put in the record, not at this place, but as an appendix, the text of a proposed bill which has not yet been introduced, to provide for the enrollment and Americanization of aliens and for other purposes.

(The text of the bill referred to will be found in the appendix to this hearing.)

The CHAIRMAN. I also wish to put in the record a telegram from Mr. D. A. Burt, vice president of the Wheeling Steel Corporation, Wheeling, W. Va., and a letter from the secretary-manager of the Ohio State Foundrymen's Association.

(The telegram and letter referred to are as follows:)

Hon. ALBERT JOHNSON,

WHEELING, W. Va., January 3, 1923.

Chairman Immigration Coommittee,

House of Representatives:

Construction and improvement work at our plants involving millions of dollars has been delayed from three to six months by labor shortage. Operations have been hampered and goods congested in warehouses by inability to secure competent help. Urge strongly enactment of some constructive relief

DEAR SIR: At a recent meeting of our association the question of the prevailing immigration laws was discussed and a resolution adopted as follows: