The situation in large ports like New York would be bad enough, but it is difficult to contemplate what the results might be in smaller ports where there is rarely any surplus sea labor. In these ports such a law would almost invite trouble from any disgruntled members of the crew.

During the spring and summer of 1923 the steamship lines were put to very great expense and troublesome delays by the large number of desertions from practically every ship arriving here. Shore wages were high in the United States; men of every class deserted by the score. The American ships in the Great Lakes make a concerted drive for our men every spring. We deplore the condition even more acutely than the Government does, as it is not only expensive but very demoralizing to our forces, and we are anxious to cooperate in every possible way to prevent the practice of deserting and the returning of these men to their home ports. We do not, however, believe that this section would accomplish this purpose, and we are certain that this enactment of this section and the enforcing of its provisions will result in steamers, the traveling public, and foreign mails being delayed hours and at times even days.

At the present time the steamship lines file with the Immigration Service Form No. 689, which gives the name and nationality of all deserting seamen and the other changes in the crew since the ship entered the port, copy of which is annexed hereto. This form gives the Immigration Service the information that they desire. What more could an inspection by an immigration officer accomplish?

The Government officials to-day are aware of the fact that thousands of men are on the water fronts and working inland who deserted and are in this country contrary to the immigration laws, yet nothing is done to arrest and deport them.

The so-called LaFollette seamen's act not only prevents the arresting and returning to the ship of an alien seaman deserting in American ports but requires the ship to pay one-half of his wages due, which, of course, supplies the necessary funds. It is practically an invitation to desert, and the steamship owners and Government officials are absolutely powerless. He can laugh in the faces of the ship's officers and the Government officials on the dock in the very act of deserting.

We are informed by the committee that they are very much worried over the fact that there are thousands of alien seamen in our ports infected with venereal diseases who have deserted ships. If any considerable percentage of the foreigners having venereal disease are in the steward's department, we can hardly believe that the committee would suggest that we deliberately employ such a man for the purpose of handling food.

Our suggestion would be to have a wholesale rounding up of such foreign seamen throughout the United States and cause their deportation. The whole subject is a difficult one requiring careful study and should not be confused with the general question of immigration.

Our recommendation would be to strike out the seamen's sections entirely from this act and the enactment of some legislation that has some teeth in it to prevent the foreign seamen from disregarding entirely the immigration laws of the United States with regard to their entering and remaining in this country.

Section 19 of the original bill, page 19, provides for seamen's landing cards. If the committee does not accept our suggestion to eliminate all seamen's sections from this act and desires to make some attempt to limit the evil of desertions, we believe that the provisions providing for a landing card would be beneficial, provided only that the Government will periodically round up and deport seamen who have expired landing cards or no landing cards. The system will only be of value provided it is enforced by the Government. At the present time a landing card, hereto annexed, is issued to the crew but has no identification except the name. These are thrown away as soon as the men get ashore. We know that continuous discharge books which are issued to a seaman showing his record are destroyed as soon as his record does not redound to his advantage. In the case of these landing cards they will be held by the seaman as long as they have not expired, but as soon as they have expired they will be destroyed. This plan if rigidly enforced, and if the seamen know that it is going to be enforced, will undoubtedly be helpful.

Section 16 provides that no seaman shall be permitted to land in the United States who is excluded from admission to the United States under the immigration laws except temporarily for medical treatment, etc. The term "immigration laws" is defined by paragraph F of section 25, page 34, line 15, as

including also the immigration quota act. We presume that it is not intended that the landing of a seaman shall have any relation to whether or not the quota from his country has been exhausted, and if there is any ambiguity in the law this should he made clear.

66

Section 17, page 22: Line 3, the word "negligently" should be inserted after the word "who." The word negligently "should be inserted after the word "who " in line 7; and at the end of the section 17, after the word "fine," should be inserted the following words, "or of a bond with sufficient surety to secure the payment thereof."

We respectfully submit that if we take every possible precaution to prevent the persons included in this section from leaving the ship, we should not be subject to the very severe fine mentioned in the section. We have shown by the preceding parts of this letter that desertions are absolutely against our best interests and that we do everything in our power to stop them. The steamship lines should be required to take every precaution possible, and if they do not they should be fined, but they should not be expected to do the impossible, as one member of the committee stated at the hearing on Saturday: "You can not make your ships floating prisons.'

In conclusion, if the points here stated are not clear or if there are any further matters in which the lines can be of any assistance to the committee, they will be only too glad to serve in any way possible.

Respectfully submitted.

G. T. RAVENEL,

On Behalf of the Steamship Lines.

LANDING CARD USED BY MEMBERS OF THE CREW OF WHITE STAR SHIPS

This card to be presented upon arrival to the immigration authorities.

STATEMENT OF MASTER OF VESSEL REGARDING CHANGES IN CREW PRIOR TO DEPARTURE U. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR,

IMMIGRATION SERVICE,

PORT OF

19__.

S. S.-.

I, master of the..

from port of

(Nationality.)

hereby certify that the following is a com

plete record of all changes in the personnel of the crew of said vessel since

arrival at this port:

Total crew at time of arrival__

Number of seamen discharged--.

Number of seamen signed on at this port

Number of seamen deserted__
Seamen left in hospital (or died)
Total crew this date_.

The above-named vessel arrived at this port....

consigned to___

and is expected to sail.

via United States port of

this voyage was-

19_-,

First port of call in United States

Following is a detailed and accurate statement of all changes in crew:

Name

Deserting seamen

Age Nationality

When and where signed on

I acknowledge this reference to section 36 of the immigration act of February 5, 1917, printed on the reverse side of this sheet, imposing a fine of $10 for each change in crew not reported by me. I certify on honor that the foregoing is a complete and accurate report, and that, should any additional changes in crew occur before my vessel sails from this port, I will report such changes to the immigration authorities.

EXTRACT FROM IMMIGRATION ACT OF FEBRUARY 5, 1917

Master.

SEC. 36. That upon arrival of any vessel in the United States from any foreign port or place it shall be the duty of the owner, agent, consignee, or master thereof to deliver to the principal immigration officer in charge of the port of arrival lists containing the names of all aliens employed on such vessel, stating the positions they respectively hold in the ship's company, when and where they were respectively shipped or engaged, and specifying those to be paid off and discharged in the port of arrival; or lists containing so much of such information as the Secretary of Labor shall by regulation prescribe; and after the arrival of any such vessel it shall be the duty of such owner, agent, consignee, or master to report to such immigration officer, in writing, as soon as discovered, all cases in which any such alien has illegally landed from the vessel, giving a description of such alien, together with any information likely to lead to his apprehension; and before the departure of any such vessel it shall be the duty of such owner, agent, consignee, or master to deliver to such immigration officer a further list containing the names of all alien employees who were not employed thereon at the time of the arrival but who

will leave port thereon at the time of her departure, and also the names of those, if any, who have been paid off and discharged, and of those, if any, who have deserted or landed; and in case of the failure of such owner, agent, consignee, or master so to deliver either of the said lists of such aliens arriving and departing, respectively, or so to report such cases of desertion or landing, such owner, agent, consignee, or master shall, if required by the Secretary of Labor, pay to the collector of customs of the customs district in which the port of arrivals is located the sum of $10 for each alien concerning whom correct lists are not delivered or a true report is not made as above required; and no such vessel shall be granted clearance pending the determination of the question of the liability to the payment of such fine, and in the event such fine is imposed, while it remains unpaid; nor shall such fine be remitted or refunded: Provided, That clearance may be granted prior to the determination of such question upon deposit of a sum sufficient to cover such fine.

(After informal discussion as to further procedure:)

Senator HARRISON. Mr. Chairman, will you hear Mr. Dever now? The CHAIRMAN. Yes.

STATEMENT OF MR. S. H. DEVER.

Mr. DEVER. Mr. Chairman, your committee to a very large extent, as I understand it, has to do with ways and means. My interest here is not to tell you how to do things, but merely to call your attention to what this all means to the cotton-producing section of the South.

The gentleman from the Carolinas gave you some information this morning. He dealt very largely with the cotton situation as a whole. I come from the center of the Mississippi Delta, which produces half of the long-staple cotton grown in America. In the past five years we have lost about 19 per cent of our labor by migration to northern centers. We have had practically no replacements, other than by robbing other sections of the South.

In other words, the agricultural sections of the South as a whole have had no replenishment of their labor. We are 53 per cent developed as far as tillable lands are concerned, and we find that in three years we have lost 19 per cent of our labor. We still have our investments. We still have our bond issues to meet.

So

There is no way in the world that we can conceive to check the migration of the negro. To my way of thinking, personally, I have no desire to check it. I think it is a natural movement. I have come to ask that in the consideration of this measure you will not lose sight of the fact that we must have more and betterand especially more intelligent-labor in the South, in this cotton area, to protect that which we now have as an investment.

Senator REED of Pennsylvania. Will Mexican labor suffice?

Mr. DEVER. I am a native of Texas, Senator. The States that border on Mexico will absorb all of the labor that Mexico can possibly send out.

Senator COPELAND. What is your suggestion, Mr. Dever?

Mr. DEVER. We must do something to produce agricultural labor, Senator; labor that will come into the agricultural sections. Just what it is, I will not undertake to say.

Senator COPELAND. Were you here this morning?

Mr. DEVER. Yes, sir.

Senator COPELAND. I have tried for a long time to get the Depart ment of Labor to recognize farming as skilled labor, so that when

you have a problem like this and you make a demand for persons who are skilled in the soil you can get them. But they have taken the view up to now that farming is not skilled labor. You want to have a way of requisitioning the labor that you need to carry on your cotton industry?

Mr. DEVER. Senator, in requisitioning labor from the cities of the North, I will say that 10 laborers picked out from the city of New York, for instance, and sent to me to grow cotton in the South would do me no good. It is a profession, so to speak. They must learn it, just as a competent wheat farmer learns to grow his wheat. As an illustration, with 84 negro families and 22 Italian families, my 22 Italian families have concentrated their land and their efforts on producing cotton

Senator HARRIS. How much more do they cultivate than the negro labor?

Mr. DEVER. A negro man and his wife with an average of 15 acres of tillable soil will produce a maximum of 10 bales of cotton. Senator HARRIS. What about the Italian family?

Mr. DEVER. An Italian man and his wife will work 21 acres and produce from 14 to 15 bales.

The CHAIRMAN. I did not understand your answer to Senator Reed's question. Do the Mexicans supply this labor want at all? Mr. DEVER. No, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Why not?

Mr. DEVER. The States that border on Mexico will absorb all of the labor that Mexico can possibly furnish.

Senator KING. Before coming to the Senate I often visited Arizona and New Mexico in a professional way. I discovered that the Mexicans who came to work in the mines returned to Mexico. It was hard to retain them and no matter what wages were paid, they preferred after obtaining a few dollars to go back to Mexico. There seems to be no disposition on the part of the Mexicans to migrate to the United States, notwithstanding the high wages paid here.

Senator WILLIS. How do you explain the fact that there are 2,000 of them in Gary right now?

Senator KING. As to what has occurred in the last five or six years I do not express any opinion.

The CHAIRMAN. The testimony before the committee at our hearings two or three years ago was just what Senator King has said. It was estimated that between 80 and 90 per cent of them returned. That may have been a high estimate.

Mr. DEVER. I will say, Senator that in the month of December when I was making a trip to learn the agricultural conditions in the Central and Southern States I encountered the immigration and labor agents of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. They moved some 400 Mexicans about that time from southwest Texas to Ohio and Pennsylvania points, and they only work six or seven months on an average and then return south. They will not remain.

Senator KING. Is it you idea that there should be a provision in the law that the skilled agriculturist might be permitted to come in? Mr. DEVER. Yes, sir.

Senator KING. The preference given to them?