The defect was remedied in the act of February 5, 1917 (39 Stat. L., 874, 889), which gave the Department of Labor power of arrest and deportation" in the case of aliens found to be illegally in the United States. This expedited the disposal of such cases, and resulted in a higher proportion of deportations.

The establishment of the "barred zone" (contained in the same act) affected the Chinese exclusion problem in that it instituted permanent prohibition of emigration to the United States against many Asiatic islands not hitherto excluded but containing a large Coolie population.

Japanese Immigration. The Japanese problem while arising many years later than the Chinese problem, duplicated it in many essential respects. The handling of the two problems differed widely, how

ever.

The general provisions of the immigration laws applied to the Japanese no differently than to aliens from European countries, but by 1906 fears had arisen on the Pacific Coast and the Canadian and Mexican borders that the influx of Japanese laborers would seriously affect labor conditions.

As a result Section 1 of the Immigration Act of 1907 made the following provision (34 Stat. L., 898):

That whenever the President shall be satisfied that passports issued by any foreign government to its citizens to go to any other country than the United States or to any insular possession of the United States or to the Canal Zone are being used for the purpose of enabling the holders to come to the continental territory of the United States to the detriment of labor conditions therein, the President may refuse to permit such citizens of the country issuing such passports to enter the continental territory of the United States from such other country or from such insular possessions or from the Canal Zone.

The Japanese government maintained a policy opposed to the emigration of the laboring classes to the continental United States, but had issued passports for Hawaii, Canada, and Mexico. It was found, however, that these passports were being used to gain entry to continental United States contrary to the stated policy.

Consequently the President took advantage of the provision mentioned above, and on March 14, 1907, issued a proclamation exclud

48 Within five vears after illegal entry.

ing from the continental United States "Japanese or Korean laborers, skilled or unskilled, who have received passports to go to Mexico, Canada, or Hawaii and come therefrom." "

Negotiations were now instituted with the Japanese government through the Department of State and the so-called "gentlemen's agreement" consummated, whereby Japan was to continue the policy of discouraging emigration to the United States, at least so far as the laboring classes were concerned. The arrangement was to be made effective by the coöperation of the two governments.

This understanding contemplates that the Japanese Government shall issue passports to continental United States only to such of its subjects as are nonlaborers or are laborers who, in coming to the continent, seek to resume a formerly acquired domicile, to join a parent, wife, or children residing there, or to assume active control of an already possessed interest in a farming enterprise in this country; so that the three classes of laborers entitled to receive passports have come to be designated " former residents,' parents, wives, or children of residents," and "settled agriculturists." With respect to Hawaii, the Japanese Government of its own volition. stated that, experimentally at least, the issuance of passports to members of the laboring classes proceeding thence would be limited to “former residents " and "parents, wives, or children of residents."

50

99 66

Japan also agreed to exercise a careful supervision over the emigration of its laboring class to territory contiguous to the United States.

The Japanese exclusion thus rested on the mutual agreement and good faith of the nations concerned rather than upon laws and treaties, as with Chinese.

It was officially claimed that the former had worked with a far greater degree of efficiency than the latter. Within a few years, however, abuses began to creep in, the most patent of which was the so-called "proxy," "photograph" or "picture" bride practice. These brides were

women who have been married, under a custom existing and recognized as legal in Japan, to men living in this country whom in many

19 Rule 21-Immigration Regulations of July 1, 1907-outlined the policy and procedure to be followed by immigration officers in giving effect to the law and the proclamation.

50

'Department of Commerce and Labor, Annual Report, 1908, pp. 221-22.

instances they have never seen, the marriage being arranged between the heads of the families of the bride and bridegroom. . . . Passports are given these women on the ground that they are coming to continental United States to join a husband, the arrangement with Japan contemplating that where a Japanese laborer is migrating for the purpose of joining a member of his immediate family the passport may be issued. Most of the women, while they do join the husband, are farm laborers and immediately become colaborers with their husbands on the farms where the latter are employed or which they are conducting. As these proxy" or "photograph" marriages would not, of course, be recognized as valid in any of the States of this country, the men to whom the women are going are required to meet them at a seaport and go through a ceremony of marriage legal in the United States. The performance of this ceremony reduces to a minimum the chances. that the women will become public charges and to a certain extent tests the good faith of the men involved in the transaction. . .

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This opened the way to the importation of female common labor, and made possible the birth of children of Japanese race who would, according to the law, be regarded as American citizens.

Conditions had become more or less acute by 1913, and as a consequence on February 14 of that year the President issued a proclamation, which was in effect a revision of the proclamation of 1907. The new proclamation read as follows:

WHEREAS, By the act entitled "An act to regulate the immigration of aliens into the United States," approved February 20, 1907, whenever the President is satisfied that passports issued by any foreign Government to its citizens to go to any country other than the United States or to any insular possession of the United States or to the Canal Zone, are being used for the purpose of enabling the holders to come to the continental territory of the United States to the detriment of labor conditions therein, it is made the duty of the President to refuse to permit such citizens of the country issuing such passports to enter the continental territory of the United States from such country or from such insular possession or from the Canal Zone;

AND WHEREAS, Upon sufficient evidence produced before me by the Department of Commerce and Labor, I am satisfied that passports issued by certain foreign Governments to their citizens or subjects who are laborers, skilled or unskilled, to proceed to countries or places other than the continental territory of the United States, are being used for the purpose of enabling the holders thereof to come to the continental territory of the United States to the detriment of labor conditions herein;

I hereby order that such alien laborers, skilled or unskilled, be refused permission to enter the continental territory of the United States.

It is further ordered that the Secretary of (Commerce and) Labor be, and he hereby is, directed to take, through the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization, such measures and to make and enforce such rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry this order into effect."

The "picture bride" practice continued to present a difficult problem. A departmental construction of the immigration law of 1917 with regard to recognizing the validity of such marriages was partially effective but not sufficiently so to stop the practice.

Effective action did not come until 1920. During 1919 the Japanese government announced that February 29, 1920, would be the last day upon which it would issue passports to "proxy brides" and that September first of that year would be the latest date upon which passports so issued would be recognized as valid. This was of great aid in the process of eliminating the latest evasion of the agreement.

The Japanese exclusion process thus stands as an interesting example of restriction or prohibition of immigration by mutual agreement without discriminatory legislation or administrative methods.

The Barred Zone. The barred zone established by the act of 1917 listed among the excluded peoples those of India, Afghanistan, Siam, and the Asiatic Islands, and completed the barriers erected against Oriental immigration. Administratively this law required no new organization or procedure in the Bureau of Immigration, the process of exclusion following in principle and practice that for the Chinese.

Other Excluded Classes. Other exclusion provisions of the law dealt with the individual diqualifications of aliens, though they were grouped by type of disqualification under sweeping classifications. These classifications did not recognize race, nationality, or geographical location of the excluded groups.

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Such classes included " contract labor or “induced " or " aided immigrants, aliens gaining entry by smuggling or surreptitious methods, the physically, mentally, morally, or economically unfit, polygamists, and enemies of organized government.

52 Ibid., 1913, p. 110.

Obviously, ascertaining the facts in regard to such excludable aliens necessitated individual investigation and examination.

On the side of medical examination, the act of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat. L., 1084), had charged the Marine Hospital Service with the responsibility, and this work, despite the transfer of the Immigration Service to the Department of Commerce and Labor and later to the Department of Labor, remained under the supervision of the Treasury Department through the agency of the Public Health Service.

Examinations and investigations of individual aliens for purposes of exclusion because of other than physical or mental infirmities were carried on from the first as part of the general work of the Bureau of Immigration.

Naturalization. The problem of naturalization, vitally connected with immigration, was supervised by the Immigration Service and Bureau of Immigration until 1903, when the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization was established. The work of administering the process of admitting aliens to citizenship was then assigned to the Division of Naturalization, which occupied a coördinate position in the new Bureau with the Division of Immigration.

In 1913, with the formation of the Department of Labor the two divisions mentioned were made coördinate bureaus in the new department, and completely independent of each other. They so exist today.

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Since a separate monograph of this series deals with the history, activities, and organization of the Bureau of Naturalization, further description herein is unnecessary.

Distribution of Aliens. Continued agitation for means of counteracting the concentration of "colonies" of aliens in the cities finally resulted in legislation.

Section 40 of the Immigration Act of February 20, 1907 (34 Stat. L., 898)," provided for the establishment of a Division of Information in the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization as follows:

5 Institute for Government Research, the Bureau of Naturalization. This was repealed by the act of February 5, 1917 (39 Stat. L., 874, 895), the latter providing, however, for a continuation of the Information Division.