Mr. JENKINS. As I understand, section 3 of the act of 1917 is the section that provides against contract labor, but there are in it two or three exceptions, one being the proviso read by Mr. Free which says that if like labor is not employed in the United States and can not be found here, aliens may be admitted to do the work. I gathered from your statement that you do admit people under that law? Mr. HUSBAND. Yes, sir.

Mr. JENKINS. For temporary and permanent residence?
Mr. HUSBAND. Yes.

Mr. JENKINS. If you do that, then why any change in the law? Mr. HUSBAND. Mr. Free's bill does not concern the admissibility of such immigrants. It provides for facilitating their admission by giving them a precedence over those for whom there is no actual demand.

Mr. JENKINS. If you can admit them now for permanent residence, of course, that does not mean you admit them for purposes of acquiring citizenship, does it?

Mr. HUSBAND. Yes.

Mr. JENKINS. If they can come for permanent residence and are entitled to make application for United States citizenship, what is the necessity of the Free bill?

Mr. HUSBAND. The necessity is stated in what I read from the report of the Secretary of Labor. I will be more specific. There is the case of a German manufacturer who wanted to transfer his factory to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I do not remember the exact article he was manufacturing, but it was stated that it was not produced in the United States, being imported from Germany. This manufacturer became dissatisfied with conditions in Germany and desired to bring his machinery and capital and family to the United States. I think he had three skilled workers and their families whom he desired to bring with him. He was ready to buy an abandoned plant in Massachusetts, install his own machinery, and begin the manufacture of the particular article, for the most part employing American labor. I may say in passing that opportunities for the employment of American labor in that particular community were sorely needed. He was ready to come here. The local chamber of commerce wanted him to come. The best we could do for him was to advise that he apply for a visa and have the other members of his group do likewise. We advised that, according to our best information, it would be two years before he would be able to secure a quota visa. Meanwhile we were admitting coal miners from the Ruhr Valley.

Mr. JENKINS. Why not admit him under this law?

Mr. HUSBAND. He had to wait for his turn to get a visa under the quota act.

Mr. JENKINS. Why, if he was actually needed here?

Mr. HUSBAND. The quota law establishes the principle of first come first served.

Mr. JENKINS. How do you admit these men that the gentleman talked about a little while ago?

Mr. HUSBAND. They were admitted temporarily, but this German manufacturer desired to come here for permanent residence.

Mr. JENKINS. Then, is it true that everybody who is admitted to the United States now must come temporarily under this section?

Mr. HUSBAND. No; not if they can come within the quota. Mr. JENKINS. If they come within the quota, you have nothing to do with it?

Mr. HUSBAND. No. Not if they are admissible under the general immigration law.

Mr. JENKINS. How are you admitting them under this section? Mr. HUSBAND. Some wait for their quota turn, if they do not get discouraged.

Mr. JENKINS. If a man comes within the quota, and is otherwise admissible, he doesn't have to ask your department anything?

Mr. HUSBAND. If he is a contract laborer, yes.

Mr. Box. The contract labor law applies to those under the quota. Mr. JENKINS. He could easily obviate that restriction. Why would he have to say he was coming here under contract to work? He could easily thwart that provision.

Mr. HUSBAND. That is not so easily done. We reject as alien contract laborers a good many aliens who hold visas.

Mr. FREE. Is there not another point that has not been mentioned, namely, in many instances these men might come in under the section of the Burnett law, but their families could not come with them, and they will not leave their families and minor children on the other side? One of the provisions in my bill is that the wives and minor children may accompany the husbands and fathers.

Mr. HUSBAND. They should share the same privilege?

Mr. FREE. Yes.

Mr. SCHNEIDER. Under the Burnett Act of 1917 the alien when coming here under the provisions of the alien contract labor law could bring his wife and minor children, but since the enactment of the immigration act of 1924 he is precluded from bringing them here when issued a permit for a temporary stay.

Mr. HUSBAND. They might bring their wives and children in under the Burnett bill. There was no necessity for waiving the alien contract labor law in favor of families.

Mr. JENKINS. When people come to this country two things are involved, namely, to better their own condition and to become United States citizens. If a man comes in under the Free bill, passing all the requirements, he does not have to become a citizen. What are we going to do about it?

Mr. HUSBAND. We can not do anything about it. We can not put him out of the country for that reason.

Mr. SCHNEIDER. He came in as a technician. He came for the purpose of seeking lucrative employment and he may have had no intention whatsoever of ever becoming a citizen of the United States. He comes here for the money there is in it. As soon as he is discharged or probably works for 20 years and never becomes a citizen of the United States, he goes back to the other side, whereas if he comes here voluntarily without having a contract for his labor, he is much more apt to stay here and become a citizen.

Mr. DICKSTEIN. We have allowed Great Britain the greater part of the immigration quota. Of the 150,000 aliens allowed to come here about 80,000 come from Great Britain and of them only about 40 per cent become citizens of the United States.

Mr. ESTERLY. Let us change that.

Mr. SCHNEIDER. I should like to ask about another phase of immigration, namely, the admittance of those who come on temporary

visits and at the same time have a contract labor agreement with an employer to come in. You admit aliens that way, I believe.

Mr. HUSBAND. If the alien contract law is waived as provided in section 3 of the act of 1917, aliens may be admitted under the provisions of section 3 of the immigration act of 1924, which permits the the admission of nonimmigrants coming here for business purposes.

Mr. DICKSTEIN. Under section 3 of the immigration act of 1924 a person who comes here for business may stay here for all time provided he continues to carry on business, I believe?

Mr. HUSBAND. No; temporarily only.

Mr. DICKSTEIN. If there is a treaty of commerce between two countries a person may come here for business purposes and remain here indefinitely, as I understand?

Mr. HUSBAND. That is another matter.

Mr. DICKSTEIN. I believe we have a treaty with more countries than China.

Mr. SCHNEIDER. The department interprets that section of the act of 1924 so that they may admit mechanics who seek admission for the purpose of setting up intricate machinery as coming in for business purposes?

Mr. HUSBAND. Yes.

Mr. DICKSTEIN. How does this line up with the Jay treaty as recently interpreted by the Supreme Court of the United States?

as

Mr. HUSBAND. The word "business" as construed in court decisions over and over again, has a very broad meaning. Anything that a man does to gain a livelihood is "business" under some definitions and decisions. We have never gone to that extent of course. There is a question of whether the Supreme Court decision of last year limited to some extent or to a considerable extent the construction the department had put on the term "temporarily for business" used in the act of 1924. The Supreme Court said in effect that in the meaning of the immigration act of 1924, "business' means purely commercial transactions," and "commercial transactions," as I understand it, means to buy and sell goods. If that decision were applied in the narrowest sense, it would mean, I think, that for example, the Metropolitan Opera singers who come here every year would not be permitted to come unless they entered for permanent residence. Under the quota law, anyone who came to the United States to earn money in any capacity would have to come permanently rather than temporarily.

Mr. SCHNEIDER. The Secretary has practically answered my question by saying that the interpretation put on the immigration act is that one may come here temporarily and be permitted to perform work of any kind.

Mr. HUSBAND. Not labor of any kind; no.

Mr. SCHNEIDER. One who works for wages or a salary.

Mr. HUSBAND. Unless it can be shown that like labor unemployed can not be had in the United States, the alien contract labor law steps in.

Mr. Box. In that connection does not your rule 86 limit those employed in the United States to a certain degree, and much more than the general definition of "business" would permit?

Mr. HUSBAND. In order to clear that point-the waiver in connection with the alien contract labor law-I will put in the record our rule 8 covering the admission of alien contract laborers, which will enable the committee to see the classes that are exempted from the operation of the alien contract labor law. It reads as follows:

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, BUREAU OF IMMIGRATION, WASHINGTON Rule 8.-ALIEN CONTRACT LABORERS

SUBDIVISION A. CONTRACT LABORERS DEFINED

PARAGRAPH 1. Contract laborers are aliens "who have been induced, assisted, ecouraged, or solicited to migrate to this country by offers or promises of employment, whether such offers or promises are true or false, or in consequence of agreements, oral, written, or printed, express or implied, to perform labor in this country of any kind, skilled or unskilled," or "persons who have come in consequence of advertisements for laborers, printed, published, or distributed in a foreign country," section 3, act of February 5, 1917.

SUBDIVISION B. CLASSES EXEMPTED

PARAGRAPH 1. Aliens falling within the foregoing definitions may be admitted to the United States, however, upon presenting satisfactory evidence that they

are

(a) Professional actors.

(b) Professional artists.
(c) Professional lecturers.
(d) Professional singers.

(e) Professional nurses.

(f) Ministers of any religious denomination.

(g) Professors for colleges or seminaries.

(h) Persons belonging to any recognized learned profession.

(2) Persons employed as domestic servants.

(j) Otherwise admissible skilled labor, if labor of like kind unemployed can not be found in this country and the Secretary has granted permission in advance of the migration of such skilled laborers for their importations (secs. 3 and 5, act of Feb. 5, 1917).

(k) Exhibitors and employees of fairs and expositions authorized by Congress.

SUBDIVISION C. APPLICATION TO IMPORT SKILLED LABOR

PARAGRAPH 1. Applications for permission to import otherwise admissible skilled labor in accordance with sections 3 and 5 of the act of February 5, 1917, and paragraph 1 (j) of subdivision B hereof shall be submitted by the person, company, or corporation seeking such privilege to the immigration official in charge of the district within which it is proposed to employ such skilled labor. The application shall be in the form of an affidavit, drawn in triplicate, and shall state clearly all facts and circumstances material to the case, including (a) the number and sex of the persons whom the applicant desires to import, (b) a nontechnical description of the work which it is intended they shall perform, (c) whether the industry is already established or is new in the United States, (d) the approximate length of time required for one to become skilled in the trade, (e) the wages paid and hours of labor required, (f) whether or not a strike exists or is threatened among applicant's employees or there is a lockout against such employees, (g) what city or cities, if any, constitute the center of the trade in this country, (h) whether or not there are any journals specially devoted to the industry, and (i) the nature of the efforts, if any, made to secure the desired labor in the United States and the results of such efforts. The application shall be supported by such affidavits (also in triplicate) as the applicant can furnish. The applicant shall also furnish or agree to furnish at a later date the names, ages, nationality, and last permanent foreign residence of the aliens whom he desires to import, and the name of the port at which and of the vessel by which they will arrive, and the date of the proposed arrival.

Mr. SCHNEIDER. If the department interprets "business" to include the work of a skilled bricklayer or other skilled mechanics as "business," then is the interpretation of the word "business" in the temporary permit case to be interpreted differently and so that the bricklayer can not work when he comes here on a temporary visit?

Mr. HUSBAND. Under the department's practice, if there was need for bricklayers in the United States and no bricklayers unemployed could be found, the contract labor law might be waived in their behalf and they might be admitted temporarily for business. But that never happens, because there are plenty of bricklayers in the United States, and I can hardly conceive of the time when it could be honestly said that there was a shortage of bricklayers or any other kind of skilled labor in the established trades.

Mr. JENKINS. I have a letter here from the Relay Motors Corporation, of Lima, Ohio, in my State, in which they raised the question and I wanted to ask your opinion about it while we are considering this matter-of what would be the proper disposition under the Free bill of those skilled mechanics who are alredy in this country.

Mr. HUSBAND. I did not catch that.

Mr. JENKINS. Here is an instance: They have in Lima, in a motor company, in their employ, a man who has been with them some little time, who is in under the proper regulations already

Mr. Box. Temporarily admitted?

Mr. JENKINS. Yes, and he wants to become a citizen of this country and wants to stay here, and if the Free bill is passed and it would apply to him-now, what would be your notion of an amendment to this bill which would read something to this effect and I am reading it to get it into the record:

Any alien now in the United States, and lawfully admitted under the provisions of the immigration laws at the time of such admission, shall be permitted to remain permanently in the United States by the Secretary of Labor. Application shall be by the employer of such alien, but admission shall not be until after full hearing and investigation of the facts in the case and the Secretary of Labor determines that the employment is bona fide and that such services are essential to the employer and that persons so trained and skilled can not be found unemployed in the United States.

Mr. HUSBAND. And this individual, as you understand, is temporarily in the United States?

Mr. JENKINS. Yes.

Mr. ESTERLY. That would be retroactive.

Mr. HUSBAND. It would make very little difference in the administration of the law whether the particular individual went out and came back under the new conditions or whether his status in the United States was adjusted to conform to the new conditions which had arisen under an amended law. Of course, he would be subject, you must understand, to the quota restrictions of the country of which he is a native, and it would be necessary to waive visa requirements in order to permit temporary visitors to remain as permanent residents.

Mr. Box. They would have to wait their turn under the quota requirements, or could they stay in regardless of the quota if they are already in?

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