Page images
PDF
EPUB

66

by step, just what proportion each occupation is of the total in the industry or establishment. Now, we feel that if we do that for boots and shoes as an industry, then any city where there are boot and shoe factories has got the information for that industry; if we do it for automobiles, the information as to that industry is available for any city. Tremendous pressure comes upon us from young men and fron parents as to what training is necessary in the automobile business and how it can be secured. They write to an automobile factory and are told to come on "; then they are thrown into the industrial hopper to see where they will come out. We feel that every industry ought to be vocationally and occupationally surveyed, so that a man going into an industry will have a chart of his job, but that it does not pay to make these surveys in little whirlpools here and there; that it ought to be done as a national question, and then the various cities can use the material so secured. That distinction between local surveys and national surveys I am glad to have had an opportunity to state.

Mr. BYRNS. The statement which you have submitted, and which will be printed in the hearings and read by each member of the committee, takes up these other activities?

Mr. STEWART. Yes, sir.

Mr. BYRNS. In detail?

Mr. STEWART. Yes, sir; just as they appear in the bill. In a summary we have ventured to state which ones appear to us to be more important, in case you do not feel as though we ought to have them all.

Mr. BYRNS. In regard to your office force, are there any details to or from your bureau?

Mr. STEWART. We have one man detailed to the Secretary's office. Mr. BYRNS. What is his salary?

Mr. STEWART. $1,600.

Mr. BYRNS. Are there any details to any other bureau.

Mr. STEWART. I should say not. Do you mean from our bureau to some other bureau?

Mr. BYRNS. Yes.

Mr. STEWART. No, sir.

Mr. BYRNS. Are there any details from other bureaus or from the Secretary's office to your bureau?

Mr. STEWART. I have not seen anything coming that way.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1916.

BUREAU OF IMMIGRATION.

STATEMENTS OF MR. ANTHONY CAMINETTI, COMMISSIONER GENERAL OF IMMIGRATION, AND MR. ROGER O'DONNELL, SPECIAL IMMIGRANT INSPECTOR.

Mr. BYRNS. You are asking for certain increases both in salaries and force?

Mr. O'DONNELL. Yes, sir.

INCREASE IN SALARY, ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER GENERAL.

The first increase is a proposed increase in the compensation of the Assistant Commissioner General. It was considered by the secretary, in submitting this estimate, that the duties and responsibilities of that position are worth something more than $3,500; that the Assistant Commissioner General, who is, next to the Commissioner General, the chief executive officer of the Immigration Service-should receive as much compensation as we pay to most of the commissioners of immigration, whom he is called upon to supervise and direct. Most of those are receiving $4,000, and some a greater amount, and the estimate was, therefore, submitted upon the basis of giving this officer an equivalent sum.

LAW EXAMINERS.

The next request is for two law examiners, which request was also submitted last year. The idea of these two positions is this: It is desired to have two men attached to the bureau in Washington, preferably lawyers, and who when here will take charge of reviewing warrant records and appeal cases and other legal matters, involving, among other thing, the prosecution of importers of labor and other offenders against the immigration laws; and, then, men who can go out into the field and look after these cases and assist the district attorneys in handling the cases-that is, not handling them in court or in prosecuting them, but in preparing them for the district attorneys to take into court. These things are more or less specialized, and obviously we can not get expert service along that line unless we have men who are by practice and experience able to go out into the field and prepare cases for presentation in court. That is the purpose of these two law examiners, and it is proposed to fill them with lawyers or men skilled in law work. Attention is called to the hearings last year on the same subject.

ADDITIONAL CLERKS.

The next proposition involves one clerk of class 4 and one of class 3. The idea of these positions is that these men will be assistants to those law examiners in the bureau and be particularly engaged in reviewing warrant and appeal cases. Hence salaries of $1,800 and $1,600 appear to be justified. At the present time this work is being done or carried on by stenographers and clerks in the office who have come up from the ranks. We have done the best we could under the circumstances with the help at our command, but it is hoped to get a little more expert assistance by the creation of these positions. Moreover, these men are needed to further the independent work of the proposed law examiners.

NUMBER OF IMMIGRANTS.

Mr. BYRNS. Do vou anticipate that there will be much immigraon in the year 1918?

Mr. O DONNELL. We anticipate quite a considerable immigration. For instance, in the fiscal year 1916 the immigration aggregated 366,748.

Mr. BYRNS. That is about one-third of what it was before the war? Mr. O'DONNELL. That is about one-third of what it would be at flood tide when there was no war. Of that total immigration, there were 18,687 debarments, which is a rather high percentage, showing that the class of immigration is obviously not of the best. The men have been kept at home, and the trying situations that have been presented to us to decide would tax the wisdom of a Solomon, involving in many cases women and children. The women and children's situation, the refugees' situation, and all those elements have entered into the problem. Not only that but every case now coming along requires special consideration in a good many ways, both at the ports and here, in connection with appeals; and I might say that a larger percentage of the cases are appeals in proportion than would have been the case in normal times, because the aliens have tried to get their cases here and to get in the country by hook or by crook. Another point is that deportation is now a serious problem. People will come here, for instance, from England, who are Finlanders, and if excluded the proposition of returning them to their own country becomes a matter of special consideration. It has not been the policy of the department to send people back under circumstances that might endanger their lives, and we have had, therefore, to weigh and determine many points of importance at this time that would have been trivialities in normal times.

It is the same way with reference to deportation of people already here who have become public charges and otherwise amenable to deportation; but, in spite of the handicaps, we deported 2,906 of that class of persons in the last fiscal year, and we have at the present time over 3,000 warrants outstanding which we can not execute because of war conditions in Europe. We have not deemed it advisable because of that war condition to suspend activities along the line of getting jurisdiction over those people, because when the war ceases it will be necessary for us to relieve this country of the tremendous burden of public charges that has been thrust upon it. These insane and other inmates of public institutions have therefore been put through the process of arrest and given a hearing, precisely the same as they would have been in times of peace. Warrants of deportation have also been issued, the object of that being that our jurisdiction over these people will then continue and we will be able to relieve the States of what would otherwise be a great and continuous burden after the war is over. You will see from the statement I have made, therefore, that the reduced immigration instead of easing our problems here in Washington, in the bureau, has enhanced them, because of these many difficult questions, humanitarian and otherwise, that have entered into it. Furthermore, many of these cases that in normal times would be handled here and deported as a matter of course have afforded opportunities for a multiplicity of work in connection with efforts made by the friends of the aliens to assist in accomplishing their release. The fact that they are still here apparently gives hope in the minds of their friends and those interested in their welfare that they may secure their release from custody under the immigration laws, and the result has been that we have been bombarded with petitions and requests in behalf of these people that in normal times would never have been

heard from at all. I have answered your question at some length to show you what the real conditions are.

CHIEF OF DIVISION OF INFORMATION.

To continue with our estimates, however, there are three increases asked for in connection with the Division of Information. The salary of the chief is estimated to be increased from $3,500 to $4,000, very much for the same reasons as those applicable to the estimated increase in the salary of the Assistant Commissioner General, which I have already mentioned.

ADDITIONAL CLERKS.

To meet the great increase in work caused by the growth of the employment service there are two additional clerks asked for one of class 4, at $1,800, and one of class 3. It is intended also to utilize these positions by the use of persons who will look after employment and information work in connection with the placement of women and children. At the present time that work has to be handled in the bureau along with other work, but it is fast becoming specialized, and, as the system is becoming general and its usefulness is increasing, it is believed that it would be good administration to form a subdivision with these two positions, with the occupants thereof engaged in looking after this woman and child employment work. It does not necessarily follow that these should be women officers.

To give you an illustration of how that work has progressed I will state that during the fiscal year 1915 this division of information, through its field-distribution service, placed 11,817 persons; during 1916 they placed 75,195, and during the first four months of this fiscal year they have already placed 76,968. For the year we anticipate that the number placed will be from 200,000 to 250,000, and it will probably be nearer 250,000. Obviously that work has increased the work of the bureau here in Washington to a considerable extent, which can be seen, for example, from the fact that the bureau proper, which formerly used some of the clerks of the Division of Information who could be spared because of the somewhat reduced activities there, has been obliged to return those men to the Division of Information, and they are there where they belong and where they are appropriated for. I might say, in addition to this, that a cooperative system has been inaugurated between this division in the bureau and many of the States of the Union. In fact, cooperation may be said to exist with all the States, but with quite a number of them active cooperation is an accomplished fact. We have been able to work right in with them, hand in hand. The Commissioner General tells me that there are 27 national organizations of women that are cooperating in this employment work in seeking opportunities for women and girls, with good results. As they have a membership of over 7,000,000 persons, all of whom are manifesting a great interest in this work, it is obvious that this distribution feature authorized by the immigration act has come to stay if the means of carrying it on are provided by the Government. This increased work caused by this cooperation is taxing the division; thus these extra clerks are seriously needed.

Mr. BYRNS. Have you any details to or from your bureau?

Mr. O'DONNELL. No, sir; we had some details up to the 1st of July to the department, but they were returned pursuant to the action of Congress in appropriating for places in the Secretary's office to replace them.

Mr. BYRNS. You have no details, either to or from your bureau? Mr. O'DONNELL. No, sir.

Mr. BYRNS. What about the work in this bureau-is it current? Mr. O'DONNELL. We have managed to keep it substantially current-that is, we have hit the high places, if I may use that expression, and have omitted the details that we were not able to do because of the shortage of help-but the absolutely necessary work has been kept current.

Mr. BYRNS. Do your clerks do overtime work?

Mr. O'DONNELL. Yes, sir; and the average during this fiscal year has been four days overtime for every employee in the bureau. Mr. STAFFORD. In what length of time?

Mr. O'DONNELL. During the 11 months of this calendar year. Would the committee like to have us submit any further statement at this time in regard to the employment work?

Mr. BYRNS. Your statement is very full, very clear, and concise. Mr. O'DONNELL. I thank you.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER, 2, 1916.

BUREAU OF NATURALIZATION.

STATEMENT OF MR. RAYMOND F. CRIST, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER.

Mr. BYRNS. You are asking for a considerable increase here, amounting to eight in force and $12,700 in the appropriation. You also ask two increases in salary.

COMMISSIONER OF NATURALIZATION.

Mr. CRIST. The first estimate is an increase in the compensation of the Commissioner of Naturalization, which is again included at the direction of the Secretary of Labor, in order to make the compensation of the head of this bureau the same as that of other bureaus in the department, namely, $5,000.

DEPUTY COMMISSIONER.

The next is an increase in the salary of the Deputy Commissioner of Naturalization, which was inserted at the rate of $4,000 a year at the instance of Secretary Wilson.

CHIEF CLERK AND ADDITIONAL CLERKS.

The next one is the creation of the position of chief clerk in the bureau at $2,500. That position is very much needed in the bureau. The work of supervision, the assignment of the work, the assignment of men to the work, the redistribution of the work and of the men,

« PreviousContinue »