When I asked one of these representatives how this was done,
he told me that he paid 'good commissions' to the runner on the other
side of the frontier for each case. When steamship companies and their
agents stop paying commissions to runners for emigrants referred to
them, individuals will only by their own initiative attempt to come to
the United States, and most of those considered undesirable will remain
at their native homes."[28]
[Sidenote: Law in Contempt]
Violations of law abound. Smuggling persons is regarded with much the
same moral leniency as smuggling goods. The law forbids importation of
persons under contract to work. In April last two Italian steamships
carried back to Europe more than 1,000 laborers, who had been brought
over in violation of the contract-labor laws. Commissioner Watchorn had
word from his special investigators abroad that the men had been
collected in the Balkan States to work for padrones in this country. So
back went the thousand Slavs; but it was a chance discovery. The men
admitted that the padrones had paid their passage and agreed to furnish
them work. They said the rosiest conditions had been painted before
their eyes, and they believed "big money" was to be made here.
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