The Oregon daily journal., May 10, 1908, Page 32, Image 32

rv-
PORTLAND, , OREGON, 4 SUNDAY. MORNING, MAY" 10, : 1903
The New Burt
.Foes of Larai
T URGE the state and municipal
i "authorities, not of New York
alone,, but of every 'city and t
section affected ' by alien criminal condi- .
tions, to co-operate with the officials of the , v
Immigration Department in the eradication
of anarchy and the suppression of crimes
and criminal ' modes of, life among those who a
have made this the country of their adop
tion." ' ' , t ' -
In these words, after a long and ap-'
parently futile endeavor to evolve some
method which should reliably repress an-
archy and criminal socialism tn the United
States, Oscar Straus, secretary of the De-
partmcnt of Commerce and Labor, offered
the' germ of a plan of co-operation, by which
all law and all constituted authorities can
unite for the preservation of private safety
and public order. : :;; ;.- 'y-y ' .
' ' 'Alri'ddy qiaiily. eJfictwetyUmosi-
my 'steriously-the police W;ojfidahvandtib 4
leading detective 'wglmthnsloftHe'larg'e
Atfve combined in an organtzdtiori for
Aff overthrow ofo thei: more dangerous ;
among our native. criminals. :" -- -
TVitf mosifagsecing among. the law's i i
guardians are agreed that only by the estab'.'
Ush'mcnt of ; a central, national bureau1 of
crime, endowed with resources commensu- -
rate "with the newly discovered magnitude V
of the task, can the swift, appalling; ava
lanche of thuggery, burglary, blackmail and
anarchy be held in check. ,
They would create some mighty octo '
pus of righteousness, equipped with myriad
arms, operating in noiseless secrecy i with
mechanical accuracy, able to stretch its ten
tacles from border to border and from sea i
to sea, instantly grappltng with the sharks
that prey upon the body social and pplitical,
and paralyzing their powers for evil at the
first, unescapable touch.
Why is so huge an engine of protec
tion needfulsand how, if ever, is it to be
attained?, . " v.v':r-
LJ2T us turn Vgain to Secretary Straus,
. . Well-intentioned head of a cabinet de- .
partmcnt, puzzled man of affairs in the
face of an emergency which the found
ers of the republic never dreamed could ariss.
- Jle-reviewed- the., endeavors. jofCongresa to
guard against undesirable immigrants. But the
immigration Jaw extends for a period of only
three yean subsequent to the ' arrival of; the
alien criminal, and for those crimes only, com
mitted prior to landing, of which the alien has
been convicted or of which he makes confession.
. Anarchists, or persons who believe in' and v
advocate" the overthrow by force" or violence of
this government, or of all government or forms N
of law, can be denied admission. Federal stat
utes make the propagation ! of anarchic doo
trines an offense, and define as a capital crime1
attempts to "' assassinate officials - of certain
classes,
, But, the secretary was candid to admit, w
there is no power in the hands of the federal
government, under the immigration act, to de
port any .alien for crimes committed after he '
Las succeeded in, entering the country. -
To many' the feasibility of the European
passport 8TB tern has made an appeal, as being a
protection presenting ideal features for the
exclusion of the dangerous, and even the un- J
desirable; alien. . " ' , ' .
. ."But," observed Secretary - Strau's' ''wo"
have lound, in tne aamwistrauon of the law
for the exclusion pf the Chinese and in separate
inje810. .inii!iduaA c"f European
ieuo 5'??'v"" V" "jw acauon ;
vi jpaooi ..vu.. vi uic jvncajyurw
. - of aliens who have no criminal records by those
- who have .is a matter of such ease .and' f re-,
X"
I'
quency that o impose, a passport regulation,
would be merely to build up a nourishing tramo ,
j0 passports abroaa. . (-u ..
. "Then, again, we would be infringing on the
right of asylum, which is one of the funda-
wA;-i r.,k: '--Ky
.:.,;::.:- -''. SI I W -r". 2 . A I F !V J Ell
.1
mental principles of the republii . V .
, : Trom our colonial days ,we have been; k
... haven of political rcf nge. ;t In all of our treaties
r with other nations is' embodied the political
-refugee clause maintaining a' principle in com-'
0 c.
.Cm
M.
tCi . I.e.-
mon withiGreat: Britain. Holland 'and Switze
viand.
"If we ; were to make a nasacort reculation
we would prevent all citizens of -foreign- coun
tries who have, como into political disfavor from
k1
s
' 'c ' v"OT :r - I
Si
' exercising this . tight of asylum, because they '
would be unable to obtain the ; passports from
their government, or, as we have already f ound ,
by experience in the immigration department,)
their political enemies would continue to trump:
up " charge involving moral turpitude, . whichj
would throw them back ' into the oppression!
from which they seek to escape."
So the passport system affords no- promise.
Yet, as the secretary emphatically avers, every,
added crime and outbreak enhances the neces
sity for a strong, clean-cut and, withal, sanely
considered movement to stamp out the ferment
of violence that is fastening itself upon that
social structure. . And tho federal government,
single handed, can not cope with it.
But anarchy, startling as is its every mani
festation, from the wanton assassination of
the priest at the sacred altar and the desperate)
attack upon a great city's chief of police in his
own home, to the typical, ' hurled : bomb in
crowded , Union Square, has accomplished far
less actual ruin and has spread far less genuine
terror than a single other imported crime, the
secret dastardlinesa of the Mafia. . :
Anarchists who- dare the practice-of -theitf
1, v'--
; theories' are few in comparison with Black
- Hand thugs, whose livelihood is their readiness
for assassination; the bombs of anarchy, thus
far at least, have played the ludicrous role, of
squibs beside the wrecks of humanity and prop--erty
that call for vengeancc'on the Mafia s'cruet
and cowardly bands- . " ' fi '
All of them together would make' a highly i
' profitable exchange for the aggregate -loot,!
. rapine and murder which.can.be laid at the
door of our own native criminalvastly morei
' numerous as an active offender, vastly more;
daring in his latest guise as the' indomitable',
yegg '. vastly .'more wanton in hia annual destruc
tion of human life and more, costly in the
amount, of property he counts as the: fruit of
his exertions. '
These classes of criminals do not, as a rule,'
amalgamate ; but they " do overlap.- New ;York -
has its unhappy distinction of being a notorious
center for yeggs, Mafia and anarchists; Chicago
has its anarchists and thugs; a state such as
Pennsylvania . holds all three, while , a ' neighbor
like JTew Jersey has anarchy, in the north and
the yegg ubiquitous. : '?i.Vw;'?; -,-:,'
Today, the most complete collection of pho
tographs in any "Rogues' Gallery" of the Unit
ed States is in the possession of 'the -National'
Bureau of- Identification, whose headquarters
"are in Washington. 3 . . 1
Organized some years ago with the police1
departments of the various large cities, - the
great detective organizations ; best exemplified'
. by the Pinkertons, and the national govern-!
ment's officers represented smong its subscribe
ing members and its ; directors, the national 1
bureau has perfected a system of identification,!
specially directed against the native criminal,'
which needs only elaboration and extension to'
render it practically efficient in other directions.
, At irregular, intervals the bureau tondi t a
its subscribers Ai pamphlet containing the por
traits and thtecords. of tho newest recruitu t
the ranks of Burglary; highway roltcry and ell
classesof lawbreaking. which stigmatise, t'.o
tateer of the profe-jsional criminal.
, , There is the native crop of rascals f r an
extended period, handy for the tive i.i t' i
presence of. ai suspect, fairly reliable t3 t ;
(CONTINUED ON INSIDS TAG.: )
1