APPENDIX II.

REPORT ON SEAMEN'S WORK.

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR,
BUREAU OF IMMIGRATION,
Washington, June 30, 1921.

SIR: As the special representative of the Bureau of Immigration in the supervision of all work relating to alien seamen, I wish, in submitting my report for the past fiscal year, to devote considerable space to a discussion of the facts, circumstances, and conditions which made it necessary to promulgate special regulations for applying the immigration act of 1917 to the cases of aliens arriving not as passengers but as employees of vessels engaged in the foreign. trade. This seems to me desirable for several reasons. Almost immediately upon the practical termination of the war there arose throughout the country, and especially in governmental circles, a demand for a return to normal conditions and normal methods. The impression seems to have gone abroad to some extent, and even to have prevailed somewhat within the service itself, that the enforcement of special regulations in the case of alien seamen was a wartime measure and, with the close of the war, should be abolished. This impression is not altogether unnatural, since the regulations in question were adopted just about the time that the United States entered the World War; but it is, nevertheless, utterly erroneous. Because the special regulations failed in some respects to accomplish their purposes, due to the fact that they were largely of an experimental nature and had to be evolved gradually through experience into a more complete system, the opinion has been repeatedly expressed that such regulations ought to be abandoned altogether-that they are more trouble to enforce than the results accomplished are worth; that especially useless is that part of the rule which requires that alien seamen shall be furnished with cards of identification. The considerable expense involved in enforcing the regulations has also been cited as a reason why they should be abandoned altogether or materially changed. Other angles of attack upon the regulations might be stated if space permitted.

All of this criticism of the seamen's rules overlooks the fact that there are two distinct laws upon the statute books which directly and importantly affect the cases of alien seamen, and that it is made the duty of the Department of Labor so to enforce one of these laws as to give it the best effect possible and at the same time not to interfere with the enforcement of the other.

The first of these laws, known as the "seamen's act," was intended to encourage the establishment of an American merchant marine by raising the standard of wages and of living among seamen. One of the principal ways in which this was to be brought about under the theory of the law was to make the standard of living and wages obtaining in the United States the standard of the entire world.

This was to be accomplished, the lawmakers said, first by abolishing old laws and treaties under which the practice had obtained of arresting and punishing deserting seamen and compelling them under certain conditions to return to the vessel from which they deserted; and, secondly, by making it possible for all seamen, American and alien alike, to leave one vessel and contract for another, freely and fully, in the ports of this country.

The other law to which I have referred is contained in certain sections of the immigration act, and relates specifically to alien seamen. This law is intended to prevent aliens of the inadmissible classes from using the occupation of seamen as a side door for entering the country, as has been the practice for years, in spite of existing immigration laws.

Congress realized, when passing the immigration act a few months after the passage of the seamen's act, that the situation was one of great difficulty; one which could not be met successfully by legislation passed in advance, but one which would have to be solved in the light of experience. Therefore Congress conferred upon the administrative branch a very broad authority to promulgate regulations. Those regulations became rule 10 of the immigration rules, which have been modified from time to time, in accordance with the teachings of experience. There have also been several amendments to the law itself, and a number of others are still needed to make the system satisfactory. But the point which I wish to make is this: Here are two laws. To a certain extent their purposes conflict, but the two laws were enacted, and of course are to be enforced; and regulations or rules are necessary to assist in giving the fullest possible effect to each law that the provisions of the other will permit, and of reducing occasions of possible conflict to a minimum. When the war got under way and the adoption of passport regulations became an absolute necessity, the Departments of State, Justice, and Labor, working together, found that rule 10 furnished a very solid basis on which to build so much of those regulations as would be applied to seamen. It soon became apparent also that the seamen's occupation was being used, perhaps more extensively than any other channel, to violate the passport requirements and to bring into the United States dangerous enemy aliens. Although the war is over, and although certain laws have been passed having in view the repeal of war time legislation, the Attorney General has recently held that a part of the passport regulations is still in effect, including those requirements of the passport act and regulations which relate to incoming seamen as distinguished from those sailing out of our ports.

Of course the time may come, and perhaps very soon, when all passport requirements will be abolished. But neither that circumstance nor the fact that many of those requirements have already been abolished makes it practicable or desirable to return to a situation in which no special regulations would be enforced against alien seamen. The result, on the contrary, will be simply to place the Immigration Service exactly where it stood when the existing immigration law became operative on May 1, 1917, and the provisions of that law relating to alien seamen must be enforced as fully as possible, while at the same time the operation of the seamen's act must not be unduly interfered with. It is conceded that this is a difficult but not an impossible situation.

CREW LISTS.

In the preceding year administrative fines amounting to $74,560 were imposed on the various steamship lines by reason of the failure of the masters of arriving vessels to present proper crew lists, and for negligence in reporting changes in the personnel of alien crews prior to departure. During the fiscal year ended June 30, 1921, administrative fines imposed on the various steamship lines for violations of section 36 amounted to $45,700.

The decrease in the number of fines imposed during the present fiscal year as compared with the preceding year indicates a marked improvement in the observance of the law and can be attributed largely to the following reasons: (a) The instructions issued by the State Department to American consuls to withhold bills of health until such time as the masters presented crew lists form 680 for visa, this form to contain the names of all aliens employed on board; (b) the additional notation printed on the reverse side of form 680 advising masters that in no instance should the lists be taken from the vessel; and (c) finally, a systematic effort on the part of the various lines to furnish the masters in their employ with all available information regarding the requirements of the law as to the entrance and clearance of vessels to and from ports of the United States.

In view of the foregoing, it is apparent that the steamship companies, realizing that the department intended to adhere to a strict enforcement of the law, found it would be to their interests to insist that the masters of arriving vessels observe the provisions of the immigration law, with the result that the penalties for the present fiscal year have been greatly reduced by their improved cooperation with the officers of the Immigration Service at the various ports.

ISSUANCE OF SEAMEN'S IDENTIFICATION CARDS.

It was recognized from the beginning that means must be found whereby alien seamen who might be entitled under the immigration laws to remain here permanently should be distinguished from those entitled to enter the United States merely in pursuit of their calling and who, if they attempt to remain here permanently, should be arrested and deported if either the immigration or Chinese-exclusion laws are to be given practical effect. Experience repeatedly has demonstrated that the seamen's occupation is a wide-open door through which unlawful entries can be effected. The immigration act of 1917 placed in the law for the first time a literacy test, and it was realized that this feature of the law alone, without considering other additional restrictions, would greatly increase the number of aliens seeking to enter through this wide-open door. Now that the quota method of exclusion is in operation, the temptation to seek the wideopen door is again multiplied. The trouble with the card system does not, it is believed, arise out of any inherent defect, but arises rather from the fact that the method has not been fully applied-that the scheme has not been carried out in its entirety. This has been due in part to the lack of appropriation and an inadequate force of officers, and in part to the fact that the passport regulations were engrafted in rule 10 of the immigration regulations.

With the discontinuance of the passport regulations and with an adequate force of inspectors, the card method can be put into effect

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as originally intended, in which event it is believed that the results will clearly demonstrate the desirability and practicability of this system of seaman control.

The argument in favor of the card system is as follows: Alien seamen who are not entitled to enter the United States permanently are nevertheless entitled to enter temporarily in pursuit of their calling; those seamen must be identified in some clear manner, and their identification must be made a matter of official record if they are to be prevented from doing more than the law allows by remaining here permanently; no other method of identification has ever been suggested or seems feasible; therefore a card of identification bearing a complete description has been used; and a duplicate of that card must be kept in such manner as to be available in the event that the alien holding the original destroys it, hoping thereby to destroy the means the Government has adopted for his identification if he violates the law. It must be obvious to anyone familiar with the immigration and Chinese-exclusion acts that alien seamen should not be allowed to enter this country in pursuit of their calling unless some method is adopted for their identification whereby their cases can be followed up and violators of the law expelled from the country. As soon as someone devises a better method than the identification card system contemplated by rule 10 such method should be adopted, but until it is devised and adopted the existing method should be kept in full force and effect.

Another beneficial result of the identification card system is the simplification of examination under the immigration law of alien seamen. It was believed when the system was adopted that the vast majority of seamen coming regularly to ports in this country would carry upon their persons the identification cards and could be passed by the immigration inspectors instantly on board the vessels. The abnormal conditions arising out of the war have interfered somewhat with the realization of these expectations. With the return to a normal situation now being effected there is no reason why a continuance of the system should not produce the effect mentioned. When the great majority of seamen coming to our ports hold identification cards, the labor of issuing cards will be confined practically to seamen entering the vocation for the first time. The writer has suggested in previous reports that supplies of blank cards be placed in the hands of American consuls for delivery to masters of vessels at the time of clearance so that much of the detail preparation of cards and photographs might be attended to before the vessel arrives in the United States.

In view of the fact that a doubt existed as to whether the act of March 3, 1921, repealing certain war-time measures, included within its scope the act of May 22, 1918, and the Executive order of August 18, 1918, the Attorney General rendered an opinion, reading in part as follows:

While neither passports nor permits are required for the departure of aliens from the United States, executive regulations governing the entry of aliens which were prescribed pursuant to the act of May 22, 1918, are in force, including the provisions of section 10 (a) of the Executive order of August 8, 1918, concerning the issuance of identity cards to alien seamen entering the United States

It is therefore obvious that the practice which now prevails should be continued.

REMOVAL OF DISEASED SEAMEN TO HOSPITAL FOR TREATMENT.

Earlier in this report it has been shown that the law is in some respects not adequate to meet the serious possibilities for evasion and violation of the immigration regulations through the use of the seamen's occupation. The law has already been amended in one very important respect, to wit, with regard to the removal and treatment of diseased alien seamen at the expense of the vessel on which they are employed at the time of arrival. This was accomplished in the act of December 26, 1920. This act provided the service with the absolutely essential authority to compel the hospitalization of alien seamen who by reason of their physical condition are a menace to the public health.

It is just as much a menace to the health of this country for diseased aliens to land even temporarily from freight vessels as it is for them to land from passenger vessels. An alien who enters the country unlawfully in the guise of a seaman is just as obnoxious as one who enters in any other unlawful manner, and the methods of accomplishing and the time allowed in which to accomplish his arrest and expulsion should be the same as in the cases of other aliens. The only exception relates to such cases as are apprehended within the period of three years from the date of their entry on the ground of entry without inspection, which should be handled in the special manner indicated in paragraph (a) of subdivision 9 of rule 10. Since the passage of the act approved September 26, 1920, the department and the bureau have experienced no serious difficulty in applying the provisions of the act in cases of vessels of American registry, except those operated under the control and direction of the United States Shipping Board. But if these vessels are to be excepted diseased alien seamen may sail in and out of ports of the United States with impunity, while the medical examination of such seamen will serve no sufficient purpose and may as well be abandoned. The department has construed the act in question as applicable to all vessels that are engaged in foreign commerce, and neither shipping-board vessels nor vessels of American registry privately owned are exempt from the payment of all hospital expenses incurred on account of diseased alien seamen employed on such vessels at the time of arrival. The broad and inclusive language of the act so indicates and the Acting Solicitor of the Department of Labor has recently rendered an exhaustive opinion on the subject, his conclusion being that the act applied to all aliens who are seamen, the registry of the vessel on which the alien arrives being wholly immaterial. It is to be noted also that the department's construction of the term "alien seaman" has been upheld in two recent decisions of the United States District Courts. The department's construction is in effect that the term applies to alien seamen employed on vessels of American registry as well as those employed on foreign vessels.

But, after all is said, we can not escape the conclusion that the proper and satisfactory enforcement of the law is contingent upon two factors, to wit, the provision of adequate hospital facilities at the various ports, and the employment of a sufficient number of medical officers to permit of the visual inspection of all arriving alien seamen. These are the conditions which must be met if the law is to have reasonable force and effect. That the public welfare demands such enforcement of the law is not to my mind open to question.