12 ALIEN FELONS MENACE Commissioner of Immigration Urges Drastic Changes in the Present Law Would Have Foreign Nations Certify to the Character of Their Citizens Who Seek New Homes in United States fEW YORK.—Crimes of the Black Hand, the murders of the Mafia and the Ca morra, the assassination at the altar of & priest by an anarchist are events of a few oays which point to the need of more drastic methods in keeping away from these shores the horde of alien felons. Bays the New York Herald. Robert Watehorn, commissioner of immmigration at the port of New York, proposes a novel plan by which wherever it is feasible —and it could be *o in the case of Italy—foreign gov ernments would be required to vouch for the good character of every immi grant leaving their dominions. Police Commissioner Bingham, in dignant, over the present condition* with regard to the admission of for eign criminals to this country, in veighs against the immigration au thorities, who, in his opinion, did not deport the wrongdoers as frequently ■as they should when attention was called to them. Mr. Watchorn makes an equally emphatic denial that the charge of Oen. Bingham had any substantial basis, so far as the administration of affairs at Ellis Island is concerned. It is a fact, aside from the contro versy that the depredations of desper ate criminals from abroad, the major ity of whom are Italians, has become a menace to the state. Even admitting that the present immigration laws were enforced at every port with the utmost efficiency the whole system of dealing with the foreign criminal seems weak and ineffective. Jt is a habit of first-class passengers to inveigh against the "offensive idiocy" of the questions propounded to them by the immigration inspectors, such as "Have you ever been in prison?" "Have you ever been an in mate of an almshouse?" and the like. The objection on their part is based on personal grounds because they consider the questions unnecessary. Such questions propounded to the •steerage passenger bent on evading the law border on the futile. The only punishment that can be meted out to the person who perjures himself is ex clusion from the country. He rarely returns to his own land to make an other attempt to gain the ctnreted do main. He knows that the inspector is charged with finding out the very thing which he wishes to conceal and exerts all the ingenuity within his .power to checkmate the attempt to •delve into the past. On Their Own Testimony. Vet the main dependence of the au thorities is Hit' hope that the inspec tors will be able to establish by the testimony of men suspected of being felons the facts which would result in their own exclusion. Practically no efTort was made ten years ago to find out whether a man had a criminal record, and it has only been within the last two or three year* that the authorities have seriously ad dressed themselves to the task of ex cluding the criminal classes that come to this country. Observations made at Ellis Island show that the immigration laws, such as they are, with regard to criminals from other lands seems to be enforced with painstaking fidelity. The inspec tors are laboriously conscientious, as a whole, in their duties and seem to do all they can wKhin the narrow limitation of the atatute to detect criminals. For practical purposes, however, the whole attitude of the present law i 6 against them, to say nothing of the specific provisions which are greatly in favor of the im migrant. All Supposed Innocent. "All immigrants in coming to this country," said Mr. Watchhorn, "are supposed to be innocent, and it is something opposed to the genius of American institutions to suppose that every man is guilty and that he must prove that he is innocent. So the im migrant is welcomed here and the op portunity of citizenship is offered to him. He is supposed to be a man of good character until something devel ops which proves the contrary." Altruistic as is this attitude toward the immigrant, as interpreted by the commissioner, the inspectors within the little latitude which is given to them seek to find out as much as they can. On each sheet of the manifest of the steamship are 30 names, and their owners have answered every in quiry propounded to them. Age, sex, calling and the like are duly set forth and the immigrant is required to state whether or not he is a polygamist, an anarchist, a contract laborer and whether or not he has ever been in prison or been an inmate of an alms house. May Make Few Mistakes. If within three years to come immi grants who have been admitted are found to have been criminals before they came to this country there is a long black mark made against the record of the inspector concerned, and if his errors accumulate he is likely to be dismissed from the service. Under the present law the inspectors who chance their positions on their judgment proceed to a large extent by dead reckoning. Sometimes American CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, APRIL 9, 1908 consuls on the other side or the for eign consuls at thla port send infor mation which is of the greatest value. An alleged embezzler, Schouawe, wai apprehended on the complaint of the Russian consul general, whose de scription and that which the man gave of himself tallied so exactly that he admitted his identity to the immigra tion authorities. Owing to the repre sentations of Commissioner Watchorn a year ago not only immigrants who have been convicted of a crime and have served terms in prison may be deported, but those who admit having committed a felony or other crime or misdemeanor Involving moral turpi tude. This is especially effective where immigrants are fugitives from justice. Without friendly suggestions the in spector must depend upon his knowl edge of human nature, his study of physiognomy and other qualities of a Sherlock Holmeß, and even then he may go sadly astray. By dint of prolonged cross-examina tion, if the intuition be keen, he may be able to establish a criminal record for the suspected alien out of his own admissions; but frequently the candi date has been so well coached that he is able to baffle the inspector at every turn. If he is tripped up he can re turn to the land whence he came and try again for admission through some port which is less closely guarded. Dread Foes Her*. The thing which tho habitual crim inal from outre mer dreads most, especially if he be a Sicilian t>r of a race which long nourishes feuds. Is that some favorite enemy has warned the authorities about him in order to even up old scores. It 1b nothing un usual for the enemy to take his re venge in this way. "Can It possibly be," an inspector will ask euavely, "that you have an enemy in this country who would say that you have been in prison six times?" "It is a great He," the response may be. "I swear, crossing my heart, that it has been but twice." That is enough to bar the candidate. It. is not unusual for the noted crim inals to cross the ocean ferry two or three times before their identity is noted. The law provides that any alien felon may be returned to the place whence he came If complaint is made within three years of his landing in the United States. After three years he is beyond the power of the law, and no matter if his record outruns Herod he cannot be disturbed. Italians predominate among the criminal occupants of the detention pen, and most of tHese are from the south of Italy or from Sicily. Swarthy, dark browed, with faces furrowed by the records of evil lives, they are closely watched on the island, al though no special prison is provided for them. They are carefully searched for knives and stilettos. The turning over of many of them to the immigra tion authorities comes through their arrest by the police for some deed of violence- Hard to Make Case. In order to make a case against them it is necessary to have accurate information as to when they came to this country and on what ship. Fre quently for lack of definite informa tion and evidence of previous guilt it is impossible to deport criminals against whom the police believe there is a strong case. The differences be tween the local and the federal views of the matter led recently to the criti cisms made by Col. Bingham against the immigration authorities. Among the occupants of the deten tion pen recently were several immi grants with long records of crime. There was Benedetto Tordini, for in stance, who had stabbed a man in San Francisco six months ago, and in the course of his trial a prison record In Italy had been discovered. He landed originally at thlß port. Many & man who by hook or by crook has entered the country and has taken up his abode in the Italian quarter, ther# to prey on the respectable members of his own race by threats of violence, 19 returned by Ellis island to his native land. The finding of bo many crim inals of this class indicates there are many who get through the meshes of the immigration service net. Always Source of Danger. "Criminals such as these are like the foxes with the brands tied to their tails which caused the burning of the corn. No matter where they are at large they are the cause of damage and trouble, and I never found any foundation for the stories that other governments turned them loose upon the United States. "It is unfair that the 26,000,000 of Immigrants who have come to this country should suffer on account of the ill-doing of a few hundred thou sands. The crimes which have recent ly been laid at the doors of the Italians are committed by only a hand ful of that race, perhaps not more than 600 in all." Mr. Watchorn declared In favor of the utmost vigilance In watching for alien felons, no matter whether they were supposed to be in the steerage or the first cabins of the liners. He declared gifted swindlers and embez zlers and persons of Immoral char acter were as likely to he found in th« saloon as In the steerage. During the administration of Com missioner Watchorn the number of foreign felons returned In a year haa Increased from 34 a year to nearly ten timeß that number and extraordinary vigilance has been exercised, yet there are many who are able to run the blockade with success for all that. Suggests Change in Law. The commissioner of immigration has suggested that the law be so modi fied as to make It possible to deport aliens who commit crimes within three years after their landing in this country irrespective of any prison sen tence they may have served in their native land. This would rid the United States of many who are unfit for citi zenship. He thinks also that the co operation of the foreign governments might be obtained. "There are some nations which is sue what are called penal passports," said he. "Italy has two kinds of pass ports—one which states that the per son bearing it is a subject of the king and yet another which states if the bearer has ever been in prison, and if so the offenses of which he w