command to get any information in the possession of the State Department which is of value to this committee.

The CHAIRMAN. I received from the State Department a protest of the Rumanian Government, which has been introduced in one of our hearings, the substance of which was that the Rumanian Government protested to the United States on the cutting down of the number of immigrants sent to America because it deprived that nation of the savings sent to them by the Rumanian immigrants admitted here.

Mr. Box. The same sort of protest has been made by Italy. The CHAIRMAN. Since then I have received a protest from a nation, sent up from the State Department, as confidential-personal.

Mr. Box. Besides printing the earlier protest in the hearings, you made a statement of it on the floor of the House.

Mr. BACON. I think if the State Department would be willing to send forward protests on this matter they should also be willing to send forward all reports from our representatives in foreign countries on this very subject.

The CHAIRMAN. I think so, too. The Secretary told me that he was not embarrassed exactly (he did not use that word), but that if he sent these things to us they would be valueless to us without using them, and if we did make use of them it would be embarrassing to him.

Mr. VAILE. Do the foreign governments think the Secretary of State would recommend some alternative which the American people would not approve? Do they think when they make a protest in Rumania that these savings would not be sent over there, that that protest would appeal to the Secretary of State and not to the American people?

Mr. Box. The gentleman's remark in that connection leads to the further suggestion that these matters point out the extreme danger of having this question settled by anybody but the American Congress. If you make it a matter of treaties, you have but one step to go until you make it a matter of "an agreement not rising to the dignity of a treaty." It is the very last thing to which this committee ought to submit.

Mr. BACON. The motion on which I should like to have a vote is to authorize and request the chairman of this committee to use every effort in his power to get from the State Department the data furnished the State Department by the American consuls in Europe on the subject of immigration, and that when this information is secured to have it understood that it will be used for this committee and for the Congress.

Mr. WATKINS. Why do you not get it for the committee? After we get it, then we will use it as we think wise.

(The motion of Mr. Bacon, having been duly seconded, was unanimously adopted by the committee.)

The CHAIRMAN. Without a motion, the chairman will appoint a subcommittee to visit the State Department to examine some of the consular reports.

On a previous occasion when we saw some of these reports, at the time the first great effort was made after the war in Europe to secure real restriction we found that the reports were decoded in the State

Department, and that they were paraphrased, rearranged, and the statements modified so that you can not go behind that. The publication of the paraphrasing of these reports, which was made in a report of this committee on a bill, if you remember, led to some confusion. We asked the other day for copies of applications for visés used by other governments than the United States. Copies were sent us by the British and Italian Governments, and the Netherlands Government has requested its representative in New York to forward a copy, and the State Department has asked other governments for

copies.

I hand to the reporter copies of the British and Italian visés which may be included in the record as follows:

The CHAIRMAN. You will remember that we were examining some Italian papers and having some translations made of them. I have some Italian papers here, and translations of some articles with relation to what was designated as the "Italian Decalogue." Those articles were printed, and I have a letter from the editor of one of the Italian papers in New York claiming that the Italian Decalogue, in which the Italians are advised to be always Italians, and to support their mother country, and not to allow their children to be led away from the fact that they are Italians, etc., was not intended to be used in the United States, but was intended for use in Morocco. I do not know whether it is advisable to put that letter in or not. At any rate, I give you the statement now that they say that it was not meant for distribution or consumption in the United States. Nevertheless, having been printed here, it has its effect, of course.

Mr. BACON. It was used in the United States.

Mr. HOLADAY. Did the evidence disclose that it was used in the United States?

The CHAIRMAN. Yes; but this editor contends that it was printed in Italian papers, just as any other Italian news might be printed, and he is entitled to have that statement submitted.

I have received from the library some further translations of two articles which pertain to the establishment by Italy of an institute for credit and work abroad. These are translations of articles appearing in the Corriere d' American, of February 17, 1924. This is shown to be an article dispatched from Rome dated February 16, 1924, the translation of which is as follows, or this is a digest of the translation. Mr. Box. Pertaining to what, Mr. Chairman?

The CHAIRMAN. To an institute for credit and work abroad. The translation is as follows:

THE INSTITUTE for CREDIT AND WORK ABROAD-OUR INTERVIEW WITH COMMANDER DE MICHAELIS, ROME, 16 (E. A.)

THE PURPOSE OF THE NEW INSTITUTE

1. To finance the undertakings, works, and colonizations abroad in which Italian work may be prominent.

2. To provide sums and securities for the acquisition of working materials for cooperative associations and persons undertaking small businesses.

3. To formulate plans for colonization in the various continents.

4. To promote thrift among the Italians for these undertakings.

The institute will help any Italian undertaking abroad that will increase the prestige of Italian emigration.

GUARDIANSHIP AND SUPPORT OF THE WORK OF EMIGRANTS

The new institute intends to use the savings of the emigrants for the undertakings of the latter. The guaranty of the State furnishes not only security but prosperity.

With the establishment of this institute the competition of private banks will be avoided. The institute will profit in every way from the collaboration of the Italian banks established in America. The commissioner of emigration knows the spirit of abnegation and the patriotism of these banks.

The emigrants and other citizens who intrust their savings to this institute will have perfect guaranty because it is backed by the State. The depositors will receive 4 per cent interest.

THE SAVINGS OF ITALIANS ABROAD

De Michaelis is certain that a very large amount of capital will be furnished by Italians abroad. It will become a personal matter, since the institute will aid all Italian industrial and commercial activities abroad.

De Michaelis declared that he intends to propose himself as director of the institute, entirely disinterestedly.

THE APPEAL OF THE HONORABLE MUSSOLINI

In a letter addressed to Commander de Michaelis, Mussolini appeals to the Italians abroad, as quoted in the other translation. (Corriere d'America, Sunday, February 17, 1924. L. M. Monross, February 26, 1924.)

The other article, which also appears in the Corriere d'America, of February 17, 1924, appears to be another dispatch from Rome under date of February 15, 1924. Perhaps this one should have been read first, because it is a key to the other. key to the other. The translation is as follows:

AN APPEAL FROM MUSSOLINI TO THE ITALIANS IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES

[Our special telegram]

ROME, 15 (E. A.)-The honorable Mussolini, in a letter addressed to the commissioner of emigration, Commander Giuseppi de Michaelis, shows the purposes of the new institute for Italian credit and work abroad, the establishment of which was fixed by the decree published on the 12th in Gazzette Ufficiale.

"It is a question," writes the president of the council, “of substituting the chaotic emigration of the past, a strong and fruitful emigration, accompanying it with Italian skill and capital, the latter being borrowed by the emigrants and guaranteed by the State.

"The work may produce a force which will promote peaceful moral and economic expansion.

"Every Italian abroad should give his support in financing the new institution and thus increasing the dignity of our emigration. The Government is certain of the cordial cooperation of the Italians abroad."

The institute for credit and work abroad is founded, as is known, with a capital of 100,000,000 furnished in part by the Government. The emigrants who intrust their savings to the institute will receive 4 per cent interest.

While awaiting the nomination of the council of administration in which there will be men eminent in finance and in politics, the temporary director of the new institute will be Commander Giuseppi de Michaelis, general commissioner of emigration. (From the last edition of yesterday's Corriere d' America, Sunday, February 17, 1924. L. M. Monross, February 26, 1924.)

Now, the members of the committee will notice that this thing speaks of a decree of the Italian Government which is published in their Official Gazzette. In my opinion, it fits in with statements made here by the Italian emigration commissioners, who are charged to the Italian legation here and who are working all the time for immigration into the United States from Italy. Commissioners representing the Italian Government have been engaged in opposing any effort to enact restrictive legislation by the Congress of the United States, and, in addition, a representative of the Italian Government a short time ago made a speech in New York City in which he bitterly attacked the efforts of Congress to restrict immigration. I am of the opinion that this committee might do well to request the State Department to furnish us what information they can give as to the efforts of the Italian Government in the United States to defeat immigration legislation and to control their people from Italy after their arrival in the United States.