TABLE 1. Number of alien seamen deserting at the ports of New York, Phila- 2. Number of deserting alien seamen reported to consuls at the port of New York, July 1 to September 30, 1907, by country from which 3. Number of deserting alien seamen reported to immigration authori- 5. Number of stowaways reported to the immigration authorities and 359 360 362 364 ALIEN SEAMEN. The problem of alien seamen is one of the most annoying and perplexing with which the immigration authorities have to deal. Because of the necessities of commerce and navigation alien seamen are not within the operation of the immigration law controlling the admission of aliens into the United States. They are not subject to the rules governing the manifesting of incoming immigrants nor to the provisions requiring an inspection of such immigrants by the immigration officials. After the vessel has docked, the alien seaman may go on shore on business for the ship, or to take the shore leave to which he is entitled, without undergoing any inspection by the immigration authorities, and with no power on their part to exclude him, even though he may be suffering from a loathsome or contagious disease, or be a criminal or a person likely to become a public charge, or come within any other of the excluded classes of aliens. Once on shore he may do as he wishes; he may return to the ship or he may not. If he neither returns nor reships on some other vessel, and is an alien coming within one of the excluded classes, he is, of course, liable to deportation. Practically, however, he is beyond the reach of the immigration officials. Masters of vessels no longer furnish the immigration authorities with lists of deserting seamen, and there is no provision of law under which they may be compelled to do so. The alien's chances of discovery are, therefore, comparatively slight. Moreover, even when discovered and arrested the owner of the vessel is not liable for the expenses of the alien's deportation, nor for the head tax on his account, unless the master or other officer of the ship knew of his intention to desert and failed to notify the immigration authorities or to take the necessary precautions to prevent his landing. The authorities at every important port where alien seamen land are convinced that a large proportion of deserting seamen are persons who would be excluded from landing under our immigration laws; that is, are persons who have adopted this means of entering the country in order to escape inspection, either because they are criminals, are suffering from a loathsome or contagious disease, are likely to become public charges, or for some other reason would be refused admission. This loophole in the immigration law has been repeatedly pointed out in the reports of the Commissioner-General of Immigration. The following extracts from these reports for the years 1905-1909 show the seriousness of the situation as viewed from the standpoint of the immigration authorities: [Report of the Commissioner-General of Immigration for 1905, p. 77.] Legislation should be adopted to check violations of the immigration laws by professed seamen, thus taking advantage of their status acquired under one law to escape the operation of another. Such legislation should impose a suffi |