The
steamship companies had to bear the expense of taking them back, but the
padrones have not suffered any penalty, and will go on with their
unlawful work.
[Sidenote: How the Laborers are Engaged]
Mr. Brandenburg learned from an Italian woman that her husband had been
commissioned by a contractor in Pittsburg to go into the Italian
provinces of Austria and engage 200 good stonemasons, 200 good
carpenters, and an indefinite number of unskilled laborers. These people
were to be put in touch with sub-agents of lines sailing from Hamburg,
Fiume, and Bremen, and these agents were to be accountable for these
contract laborers being got safely into the United States. This woman
said many of her neighbors in Pittsburg had come into the country as
contract laborers and held the law in great contempt, as it was merely
a matter of being sufficiently instructed and prepared, and no official
at Boston or Ellis Island could tell the difference.[29] Why should not
the law be held in contempt, not only this one but all law, by the
immigrant who is introduced to America through its violation, and
trained to perjure himself at the outset of his new career? Does not the
Commissioner-General sound a note of warning when he says:
[Sidenote: The Christian Duty]
"It is not reasonable to anticipate that if the great transportation
lines do not respect the laws of this country their alien passengers
will do so, nor can it be conceded that those aliens whose entrance to
the United States is effected in spite of the law are desirable or even
safe additions to our population.
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