Page images
PDF
EPUB

STATION AND EQUIPMENT.

As funds have permitted, we have purchased lumber and paint and made minor repairs to the building. The dormitories are in fairly good condition, with the exception of the toilets, which are far from sanitary. These have been in use since the building was erected and are now in a condition that does not meet the requirements of the Territorial board of health. The toilets in the day detention quarters are as old, and they are subject to the same criticism as those in the dormitories.

The exterior of the building of this station has never been painted since it was erected about 14 years ago, and in some places the paint has entirely disappeared from the weatherboarding, and being on the lee side of a large coal yard, the building presents a very dirty and untidy appearance.

The roof is now leaking in numerous places, and it is only a matter of a short time until an entire new roof will be necessary. The present roof is not worth painting. The floors in the hallways and other places where there has been a great deal of walking are almost worn through. Furthermore, the Filipinos have introduced an ant which attacks the timber, and they have already begun their inroads on this building. A number of the heavy timbers supporting the second floor are being honeycombed by these ants.

The foundations of piles upon which this building rests are rapidly rotting away and in the course of the next year or so it will become imperative that they be removed, or cut off some distance below the surface of the ground and concrete caps placed on them.

With our own labor we have made some repairs which have been necessary to the proper care and reasonable comfort of the aliens in detention. No expenses will be incurred on the supposition that this can be regarded as a permanent structure, because in four or five years a new station will be necessary. The impairment of our present edifice is due to such causes and is come to such a state that the dictates of a practical administration will demand a new building.

PERSONNEL.

The men in the service here have worked well and often overtime. The showing made in regard to seamen and shipping is again respectfully called to your attention to emphasize the need of an officer who can give himself practically wholly to the work of boarding vessels.

A large amount of work has been placed upon us owing to the regulations incident to war conditions.

GENERAL COMMENT.

Our relations with other departments have been cordial and satisfactory. A spirit of harmony and readiness to work together in matters incident to the observation and investigation resulting from war conditions has been manifested on every hand.

TRAVEL PERMITS.

The work done by the officers and employees of this office in issuing travel permits as required by the Executive order of August 8, 1918, was begun on October 30, and from that date until June 30, 1919, there were 2,829 applications for aliens' permits and 1,192 for citizens' permits, granted. Eight applications of hostile aliens for permit to depart were denied, and 4 such applications are now pending. The majority of alien applications were filed by Japanese desiring to go to their homeland for a temporary sojourn. Prior to the Executive order taking effect October 30, a conference was held with the Japanese Hotel Keepers' Union. Orders were explained to them and they were instructed as to the filling out of the application blanks, and usually presented them typewritten, thus greatly facilitating our work.

It is true that the President's proclamation worked a hardship in some instances, especially for passengers coming from Australia or New Zealand to Honolulu, then taking a local steamer for San Francisco; but in other cases where people arrive and lie over merely as tourists for a week or two, they carried passports giving their destination in the United States. During the past winter, a great number of Canadians came to the Hawaiian Islands from Vancouver as tourists, remaining here two or three months. They arrived without passports or papers of like nature; some of them had been examined by the United States Immigration officers stationed at Vancouver and Victoria, and were issued identity certificates and receipts showing that their head tax had been deposited; some would have identity certificates but no receipts for the head tax, and when they arrived their identity certificates were taken up and sent to Seattle.

When they came to secure departure permits, the same would be issued to them if they had a head tax receipt; in case they had not, they were required to secure a passport from the British consul and in most instances this was very hard for them to do, for they were passengers in the city, This inconvenience could have been obviated if they had been required to carry papers from the Canadian Government showing their nationality.

INSPECTOR IN CHARGE, DISTRICT NO. 19, COMPRISING WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA AND WEST VIRGINIA, WITH HEADQUARTERS AT PITTSBURGH.

APPLICATIONS.

The only applications for admission to the United States made in this district were at Erie, Pa., and the statistical data with relation thereto were furnished the United States commissioner at Montreal, Canada, and will no doubt be covered in his report. The admission of 20 aliens who for various reasons had gained illegal entry to the United States was legalized and head tax amounting to $160 collected and transmitted to the proper immigration office.

DEPORTATIONS (EXPULSIONS),

There were pending on July 1, 1918, 13 warrant cases, and 115 new cases were investigated during this year. Hearings were held under 84 warrants of arrest; 18 warrants of arrest were canceled; 34 warrants of deportation were executed; 12 warrants of deportation are awaiting execution, and 26 cases are now pending, either before this office or the department. Two Chinese persons were arrested on departmental warrants, and their cases are among those pending. There were no Japanese aliens arrested in this district.

ESCAPE OF ALIENS FROM VESSELS AND STATIONS.

Five aliens ordered deported and committed to the Pittsburgh City Home at May View, Pa., escaped before warrant of deportation could be executed. One Chinese alien released on bond decamped and has not yet been apprehended; also one Italian alien (an alleged anarchist) released on bond, but wanted for further hearing, has disappeared.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

The amount allotted to this district at the beginning of the fiscal year was $4,800. This allowance was subsequently reduced to $3,600. The total expenditures were $4,358.15.

CHINESE ARRESTED BEFORE UNITED STATES COMMISSIONERS AND COURTS.

Very little Chinese work was done this year, other than the usual investigations for admission or departure owing to the lack of sufficient help and to some extent to the great amount of passport-permit work. There is a large Chinese population in and about Pittsburgh, and no doubt there are many who should be brought before a United States commissioner with a view to deportation, but with the available help it has been a physical impossibility to give this important part of our work the attention it should have had. In my judgment our force should be such as to enable one inspector to devote his entire time to Chinese work, as keeping a close check on them and bringing those found illegally in the country before the proper authorities for deportation will certainly have a wholesome effect and tend to eliminate clandestine entry. Two arrest cases remaining from the fiscal year 1918 are still pending.

WRITS OF HABEAS CORPUS.

Four writs were applied for and three granted; one in the common pleas court at New Castle, and one in the county court at Beaver, Pa.; both were dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. One writ was granted, that of Joseph Jackiewicz, by the United States district court at Pittsburgh, but it was subsequently dismissed and the alien remanded for the execution of the departmental mandate. This case has one or two interesting features: Jackiewicz was a native of Russian Poland and had been in the United States

four years when he went to Canada and joined the Polish Legion that was mobilizing under French authority at Niagara on the Lake. After about one month's service he became tired of military life and returned to the United States, gaining clandestine admission; he was arrested and subsequently ordered deported to Canada as a person likely to become a public charge at time of entry and as having entered without inspection. The court raised the point that the department had no right to deport him to Canada and remanded him to the custody of the inspector in charge to afford the department an opportunity to amend its warrant of deportation, so as to send him to Russia instead of Canada. The department stood by its former decision and when the case was again called, the court dismissed the writ and remanded the alien, stating that the court was satisfied that the act of February 5, 1917, gave the department full discretion as to the country of deportation. The alien was subsequently returned to his regiment in Canada.

WHITE-SLAVE CASES.

Three white-slave cases were investigated by this office in conjunction with the Bureau of Investigation, Department of Justice. Indictments were had in two cases and the principal offender in each case was sentenced to a term in the Federal prison at Atlanta, Ga., for violation of the Mann Act. Warrants of deportation were issued in other cases mentioned as pending in my last report.

ALIEN CONTRACT LABOR.

Five cases of suspected violation of the alien contract-labor law were investigated, but no suits were instituted.

MEDICAL SERVICE.

This office depends entirely on the surgeons attached to the Marine Hospital Service and this opportunity is taken to acknowledge their courtesy and consideration. Many times when their own work was most pressing they have set it aside to make examinations for this office. There is nothing of an exceptional nature to report.

SOCIETIES FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALIENS.

The various cities in this aistrict are well supplied with societies organized for the purpose of assisting aliens. This is especially true in Pittsburgh and Erie, Pa., and Wheeling and Charleston, W. Va. The writer has long believed that the immigration office should be a general clearing house for all societies organized for this purpose and is convinced that much lost motion and wasted energy would be saved if a plan could be worked out by which the service could be charged with the general supervision of all societies having to do with aliens.

CHINESE PREINVESTIGATION MATTERS.

A total of 27 cases under this heading were considered, 18 return certificates granted, 6 applications denied, and 3 cases are pending. Of the 18 cases favorably acted upon, 6 were natives, 3 were laborers, and 9 were merchants.

INVESTIGATIONS.

Investigations were conducted as follows: Applicants for entry, 93; after temporary admission, 22; after admission under bond, 10; warrant cases, 117; other matters, 45; naturalization cases. 77; Chinese matters, 53.

MEXICAN LABORERS.

Many Mexican laborers were brought into this district by the railroad companies and by the great steel industries in and about Pittsburgh. So far as this office is advised, however, only one company, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co., imported this class of labor from Mexico under the rules promulgated by the department. This company imported 31 Mexican laborers through the border port of El Paso, Tex., and brought them to Piedmont, W. Va., where a branch road was being constructed. They worked for a period of six months, when they were all returned but 3 who decamped and have not yet been apprehended.

The Pennsylvania Railroad Co., probably brought more Mexican laborers into the district than any other industry. They were principally recruited in Texas, although

many residents of Mexico learning of a prospective trip to the north and at the end of the journey a promise of good wages came across the border and offered themselves to the various employment offices at the border points. The employment agents quite readily availed themselves of the opportunity offered, and at once entered them into the service of the company and shipped them north. They were all required to enter into contracts with the company to work a certain period of time at a stipulated wage; and a certain portion of their wages was withheld each pay day until they had reimbursed the railroad company for bringing them here. Under the terms, if they completed their contract they were to be returned to their homes at the expense of the company, or if they preferred to do so they could remain here and the amount deducted would be returned to them. In the meantime the armistice wassigned and the soldiers began to return and demand their places, and it became necessary for the company to dispense with the services of many of the Mexican laborers; many others did not find the work to their liking and quit of their own accord, thus violating their contract and relieving the railroad company legally under the terms of their contract of any further responsibility. Winter came on and many who were out of work became charges on the city and county; many others committed some petty crime and were sent to the workhouse. Representations were made to the railroad company and it relieved the situation by returning to their homes those who had fulfilled their contracts and those who were discharged by the company to make room for the returning soldier before their contracts were complete, but nothing has been accomplished in the way of returning those who quit work of their own accord before their contract was completed and, as this class is in the majority, it will be seen that there are still many Mexican laborers here who should have been returned.

STATION AND EQUIPMENT.

This office was greatly hampered during the year for lack of floor space, notwithstanding the fact that a small additional room was added at the beginning of the fiscal year. To meet this condition, new quarters were procured in the Hartje Office Building, corner of First Avenue and Wood Street, and we took possession of our new home on June 30. By making the change, the service gets twice the space for the same money, and although not quite as near the heart of the city, the officers feel that it is a fair location and believe that the change will prove to be to the best interest of the service, as appertaining to this district.

PERSONNEL.

The personnel of this office is the same as when the last report was prepared, with the addition of a Chinese interpreter, Tom Sing, who was appointed March 21, 1919, and is doing satisfactory work. As to the other officers and employees, the writer has nothing but words of commendation to offer; owing to the great amount of passport-permit work that has gone through the office, as well as an increased amount of immigration work, it has been mandatory that each employee work to the limit of his strength and endurance, and it is pleasant to report that the spirit displayed by those associated in the work is commendable.

GENERAL.

This office is working in the very closest harmony and cooperation with all of the other Government services in the district. The various Government offices and services have never hesitated to render assistance when called upon to do so, and this office has always been pleased to return the courtesy when the opportunity offered.

PASSPORT-PERMIT WORK.

There were three permit offices in the district, viz, Charleston, W. Va., Erie, Pa., and Pittsburgh, Pa. There was a total of 14,935 applications, as follows: Charleston, W. Va., 193; Erie, Pa., 660; Pittsburgh, Pa., 14,082.

Of the total number of applications, approximately 97 per cent were granted, and 3 per cent refused; the aliens whose applications were refused were principally Germans, Austro-Hungarians, Bulgarians, Turks, and Russians.

CAUSE OF MIGRATION.

Various reasons have been advanced as to the cause of this outgoing migration, many being of the opinion that it is caused to a great extent by economic conditions. In order to satisfy himself on this point, the writer made inquiry of many of all nation

alities and has yet to find a single man who is leaving the country on account of lack of work or by reason of an inadequate wage. The reason given is invariably “I am going home to my family, whom I have not seen for five or six years," and in many instances "have not been heard from since the beginning of the European war. The writer is convinced that economic conditions have nothing to do with the outflow of these people; as a matter of fact, there is a shortage of labor in this district at the present time, and if the outward movement keeps up-and there are no indications of abatement-there will soon be a shortage of labor here that may prove dis

astrous.

In conclusion, the writer desires to acknowledge the many courtesies and considerations extended to this office and to him personally by the bureau, all of which have helped to make the work of the district a pleasure and added to the efficiency of the service.

INSPECTOR IN CHARGE, DISTRICT NO. 10, COMPRISING OHIO AND KENTUCKY, WITH HEADQUARTERS AT CLEVELAND.

APPLICATIONS.

The only applications for admission occurring in this district were a few occasional aliens applying at Sandusky or other Lake Erie ports for admission, which arrivals were reported to the United States commissioner of immigration at Montreal, Canada, to be included in the general report for the border.

DEPORTATIONS (EXPULSIONS INCLUDING CHINESE).

In all 202 cases were considered by the offices located in this district; 193 cases were investigated; 123 warrants of arrest were served; 26 warrants of arrest were canceled by the department; 63 warrants of deportation were executed; in 11 cases deportation was prevented owing to war conditions and in 27 it was deferred for other reasons; 27 warrant cases are now pending final decision.

Departmental warrants were served in 10 Chinese cases, in 1 of which deportation has been effected.

No Japanese aliens were arrested, but an investigation was conducted at Piqua, Ohio, by Immigrant Inspector Thomas Thomas concerning 4 aliens of that race, as a result of which it appeared that no material ground for action existed.

SEAMEN.

Not applicable except in regard to the modified arrangement for enforcement of rule 10 on the Great Lakes. Figures already submitted to the bureau in a special report show that during the fiscal year there were 381 seamen's identification cards issued at Cleveland, 15 at Toledo, and 16 at Sandusky. This rule has not been effectually enforced at other ports within this district-Conneaut, Ashtabula Harbor, Fairport Harbor, Lorain, and Port Clinton-mainly because there has been no one available to do the work. Either the rule should be abolished or adequate arrangements made for its enforcement, and in view of the great difference between the situation on the Lakes and that pertaining to the salt-water ports, the writer strongly believes the former course should be pursued, as the results attained would not counterbalance the expense and work involved.

FINANCIAL AFFAIRS.

Head tax for aliens arriving at ports under the jurisdiction of this office is collected and reported by the United States commissioner of immigration at Montreal. This refers particularly to the few aliens manifested and charged head tax during the past year at the port of Sandusky, where there is a weekly arrival of a passenger steamer from Pelee Island, Ontario. Incidentally, however, it may be mentioned under this heading that the offices in this district have collected $432 head tax during the past year in the cases of 54 aliens who entered without inspection, and forwarded the same to the appropriate port of entry.

The sum of $1,250 was assessed in civil suits before the courts.

CHINESE ARRESTED BEFORE UNITED STATES COMMISSIONERS AND COURTS.

Six arrest cases under the exclusion laws are still pending, five in the United States district court, and one on appeal to the circuit court of appeals.

« PreviousContinue »