PORT OF NEW YORK, N. Y. Kerr Steamship Co.: 1 served, pending__ Vessels boarded Seamen inspected Seamen deserting Alien seamen held on board.. Number 2, 461 262, 967 235 6, 207 924 Number of fine notices served July 1, 1924, to January 6, 1925, for violation of provisions of section 20, act of 1924 Cunard-Anchor Line: 1 served and assessed_ Holland-American Line: 1 served, not yet due bureau__ White Star Line: 5 served 1 assessed 4 pending. Lamport & Holt: 2 served, pending.. Lloyd Braziliero: 1 served, pending_. Munson Line: 2 served, 1 refund, 1 pending National Greek Line: 1 served, assessed_ Involved $1,000 1,000 1,000 11, 000 1,000 1,000 1.000 5,000 1,000 3,000 4,000 Statement of Chinese seamen arriving at the port of New York during the period July 1, 1924, to December 31, 1924 Number Vessels boarded... 171 Chinese seamen inspected.. Chinese held on board___ Chinese seamen reported as deserters_ Assessed in violation of provisions of section 20 (a), $5,090_ 4, 604 1,017 95 1 Number of alien seamen sent to hospital for treatment of veneral dis eases. 31 Fines assessed under section 20 (a) Fines imposed___ $6,000 $8,000 Of the fines imposed, shown next above, $2,000 was imposed between the date the new act was approved, May 26, and July 1, 1924. Alien seamen deserting_ Alien seamen sent to hospital, section 35... Number 374 10 NOTE. Of the 167 alien seamen remanded on board, of the 120 remanded on board vessel during November, 107 were Chinese brought here in transit by a British vessel enroute to the Orient. Mr. RAKER. Have you made an investigation at South Atlantic ports and at New Orleans? Mr. HURLEY. I have just returned from a trip to Jacksonville, North Wilmington, and Savannah. I found conditions down there that are deplorable with respect to German seamen who have been taken on ostensibly as seamen in German ports for the purpose of transporting them to the United States, where they desert and enter the coastwise trade. A complaint was made by a young man born in Florida, who is a member of the American Legion and served throughout the World War. He called at the Jacksonville office while I was there talking to the district director. He came there for the purpose of registering a complaint against the activities of the superintendent of the Seamen's Home at Savannah, who boards all German vessels and induces German seamen to desert and enter the coastwise trade or take occupations on shore. I took a statement from this young man, and although I visited Savannah and was through with my work there, I deemed it important enough to return to Savannah. I interviewed the superintendent of the home, questioning him very closely for more than an hour. He admitted that he made it a point to board all German vessels arriving at Savannah to distribute literature among them, and also to invite them to come to the home on Friday evenings when he provides an entertainment for them. He denied having induced them to desert, but he admitted he had assisted them in finding employment in the coastwise trade. He said he was 100 per cent American and believed in the enforcement of law. When I called his attention to his violation of the law, he said it was something new to him. He said he thought, the men being seamen, they could go into the coastwise trade and that it was proper for him to assist them. He further agreed that he would discontinue his activities in that direction. While I was there, my attention was, by a very prominent man who is interested in the shipping business, and the German consul, brought to the improper activities of a man named Olsen, who was formerly a master at that port. I was told that it is common gossip around Savannah that he served two years' imprisonment for shanghaiing a seaman and that he was formerly the proprietor of a house of ill fame. I tried to locate him, but was unable to do so. I made a number of inquiries of the police. They knew of him, but I could not locate him. I instructed the district director to keep him under surveillance, and I suppose he is doing so. I do not know what the result will be. I would like to invite the committee's attention to this fact, that it is peculiar and significant that every captain arriving at Savannah, insead of going to the legitimate shipping people to recruit his crew and make up desertions, hires men for his crew from Olsen, who receives $15 for each man he signs up. The run will probably go to London or Liverpool, and the men are paid $125 as a minimum and $175 as a maximum for their run. Such high wages are a great inducement for a man to desert. I am satisfied from my own observations and from what I learned from a reliable source that some of those masters are in collusion and connive with Olsen to violate our immigration laws. Mr. RAKER. Have you statistics covering the ports of, say, Savannah, Mobile, Charleston, Jacksonville, and New Orleans like you covered New York, Boston, Baltimore, and Philadelphia? Mr. HURLEY. I did not go there for that purpose. The German consul, on account of heavy desertions from ships of his country, took the matter up with the Department of Labor through the German Embassy here. The CHAIRMAN. You had a complaint from the German consul. Did you learn the number of desertions? Mr. HURLEY. I asked him for those figures, but he said he did not have them on file. He showed me as many as 40 continuous discharge books that he was preparing to send to his home government so that the deserters, if they ever returned to Germany, could be taken into custody and prosecuted. This consul is an American himself and he says he has not been keeping a record of desertions. He apologized because he did not have the record to give me. consul is a citizen of the United States. This Mr. RAKER. Have you any statistics concerning the Pacific coast? Mr. HURLEY. I have not; I am sorry. I have not been out there during the last two years. Mr. VINCENT. How is this "continuous discharge book" handled? How did those books fall into the hands of the consul? Mr. HURLEY. The masters of the vessels, according to the information given me by the German consul and other consuls in New York City, assemble the books before they reach port so that they may have evidence to submit to their governments, through their consuls, with a view to prosecution. Mr. VINCENT. If the men desert, the masters turn their discharge books over to their consuls? Mr. HURLEY. Yes; and they, in turn, send them to their home governments. Mr. RAKER. If a German, say, signs up and comes to the United States, where he deserts, he does not, as a usual thing, return to Germany, because he may be arrested and prosecuted? Mr. HURLEY. Yes; he may be prosecuted. Mr. HOLADAY. Do I understand that the deserters may not be prosecuted under the laws of the United States? Mr. RAKER. He can not be prosecuted under the laws of the United States, because he has the right to desert in accordance with the LaFollette seamen's act. Mr. HURLEY. That is true, the La Follette Act abolished imprisonment for that offense. I asked the consul what sentence was imposed upon seamen who had deserted and later returned to their own country, where they were apprehended. The maximum fine imposed, I learned, was about six weeks and that was in Italy. The consul general in New York told me that Germany simply placed the deserter in jail for about a week, if the authorities go after him. He further stated that as a general practice the authorities made no effort to apprehend the men. He said they did not have the time. Mr. RAKER. The deserter is not prosecuted, probably, unless the shipowner insists upon it. Mr. HURLEY. That is it-they let the deserters go unpunished unless the shipowners file a complaint and insist upon prosecution. Mr. RAKER. Of course, you have read subdivisions (f) and (g) of committee print No. 3? Mr. HURLEY. Yes. Mr. RAKER. And you have had many years of experience in the Department of Labor in connection with the seamen's problems and immigration problems in general. And you are quite familiar with the practices on board American ships and the foreign ships that come into ports of the United States? Mr. HURLEY. Yes; I would say that I am fairly familiar with the practices employed. Mr. RAKER. Tell the committee, as a result of your experience, observations, and study, whether, in your opinion, subdivisions (f) and (g) of committee print No. 3 would be workable and practicable. Mr. HURLEY. I am of the opinion that the proposed amendments are both practicable and feasible. I do not know how we can prevent the large number of desertions we have unless you adopt something along the line proposed in these amendments. Mr. RAKER. Would the adoption of these subdivisions promote the better administration of the immigration laws? Mr. HURLEY. In my opinion, they would. Mr. RAKER. Tell the committee, basing your answer upon your experience, observations, etc, whether, in your opinion, the proposed provisions, if on the statute books, would be a hindrance or detriment or hold up the shipping interests of America or of the foreign countries that send their vessels here. Mr. HURLEY. Speaking of American shipping or ships, I have interviewed probably a thousand American seamen and talked to them about these things at various ports throughout the country. Knowing me to be in the Government service, they have come to me and asked, "What are we going to do?" They say, "We go to the shipping commissioner's office in New York for employment, but when the masters come there to employ men for their crews they always pick the foreigners." The masters do that despite the fact that many of the men who desire work-Americans served creditably and honorably in the service of the United States during the World War. Many of them served in the merchant service and were torpedoed and submarined, and had afterwards bought Government bonds liberally. They did everything to help win the war, and now they can not get a job in the coastwise trade of their country if there are aliens to be had. The immigration commissioner of New York told me the other day that he is receiving about three letters a day from American seamen asking why these alien seamen are not taken into custody and deported in accordance with law. The CHAIRMAN. Why are they not deported? Mr. HURLEY. The Immigration Service has not the men necessary to do it. As I have said before, there are a thousand warrants of arrest to be served in New York City alone. The commissioner at Ellis Island had to detail men from the board of special inquiry-a half dozen men-to assist in apprehending deserting alien seamen. 25944-25-SER 2-B-10 When I made the arrests in the anthracite coal region the warrants upon which I did so were then eight months old. It is the old storywe have not got the money, consequently not the men. The CHAIRMAN. That is the answer-you have not got the men or the money? Mr. HURLEY. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. That being the case, why attempt more law or that particular phase of law? Mr. HURLEY. For the just protection of American seaman in the coastwise trade of the United States. The CHAIRMAN. Have you not a law that will purge the coast wise trade of alien seamen? Mr. HURLEY. The act of 1924 provides that if aliens are found on coastwise vessels we may deport them. In connection with that I doubt whether any immigration officer has any authority under this statute or any other statute to board a coastwise vessel and take a man off that vessel who is unlawfully within the United States unless he has a warrant of arrest. If I remember correctly, a certain act-8-5-provides that we may board trains, vehicles, boats, etc., about to enter the United States to make inspections, but the coastwise vessels are already in the United States. If we should find a half dozen illegal men, such as East Indians, down in the Willard Hotel to-day, we could not take them out of that hotel without a warrant of arrest. The CHAIRMAN. You went to Savannah to investigate a complaint filed by the German consul against excessive desertions there, and you found conditions deplorable. Mr. HURLEY. Yes; in the number of men deserting. The CHAIRMAN. You found these illegal people employed in the coastwise trade in violation of law, and the shipping agent was not informed as to the law? We haye no United States shipping commissioner there? Mr. HURLEY. There is a man there in the customhouse who acts as a United States shipping commissioner, because there is no commissioner appointed there under law. The man who was not informed was the head of the Seamen's Home. He is a private individual. The CHAIRMAN. After you learned that alien seamen were deserting and going into the coastwise trade of the United States at Savannah, what did you do? Mr. HURLEY. After I left Savannah I got a telegram from the German consul at Savannah telling me that two German sailors had recently deserted at that port and gone to the United States Coast Guard cutter Yamacraw. I replied to the consul that I would take the matter up with the Coast Guard. The matter was taken up with the Coast Guard, and they told us that such was strange, because under their regulations no alien could be employed or enlisted in their service unless he could show that he had filed a declaration of his intention to become a citizen of the United States. They promised to get busy and take the subject up with the Yamacraw. further requested the consul to get in touch with the local immigration authorities, to wire me the names and nationality of the deserters, and I would take the subject up vigorously upon my return to Washington. I |