could not be used for the particular purposes named in the appropriations, and therefore were not expended. Had these appropriations been general, the Department would have had difficulty to determine which appeal for assistance had the better right.

In the same connection attention may be called to the need for a readjustment of salaries. Much has been said of a reclassification of the force. What is needed even more is a reclassification of salaries. Really competent men and women are not adequately compensated. Especially in some of the older bureaus, the salaries are based upon conditions that have in every other respect passed into the sphere of historical reminiscence.

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER LEGISLATION.

There are, however, some measures of more or less importance which would materially improve the organization of several branches and to which attention must be called.

(a) Some months ago a commission was appointed by the joint action of the Treasury Department and the Department of Commerce and Labor to inquire into the subject of statistics of imports and exports. The information about imports is compiled chiefly from the original entries filed by the importers and before these entries are verified by the appraisers and liquidators. With respect to exports the information is quite unreliable, because there is no statute which compels exporters to make returns. The commission has made its report and the recommendations are (1) that the collectors, chiefly the one at New York, be authorized to increase their forces in order that the revision of imports may be promptly made for use in the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce; and (2) that exporters be compelled by law to make accurate returns so that statistics relating to exports may be promptly and reliably prepared.

(b) The trade commission which has been somewhat widely discussed, and for the creation of which a number of bills have been introduced, if created, should, in my judgment, be carefully guarded. If it is well defined, it may serve the general purpose of giving large industrial and commercial concerns much needed Federal authority and control. It is possible that by lodging in the commission welldefined discretion an intelligent purpose may be served. But the obvious danger is that such a commission, once created, will soon be vested with further powers. The disposition will undoubtedly be to give it authority to fix prices and conditions of operation, similar to that which the Interstate Commerce Commission now exercises with respect to railroads and their rates. In other words, there is a strong tendency to disregard the fundamental distinction between a public carrier and a private enterprise.

(c) The subject of life-saving equipment and crews on vessels. The general subject of equipment is covered by the new rules issued by the Steamboat-Inspection Service. The same subject has been investigated by a Senate committee, which is now engaged in formulating legislation based upon its report. The subject of crews, in my opinion, needs attention, as I have pointed out in former reports. But with respect to crews on foreign ships it should be borne in mind. that this country has treaties with foreign countries which may be affected by such legislation and which, in some instances at least, embrace other subjects, interference with which may prove embarrassing.

(d) The transportation of dangerous articles on vessels, more especially automobiles on ferryboats, should be more carefully guarded than is possible under existing law.

(e) The sale of publications issued by the Department. The law authorizes the sale of certain publications only. If this provision were extended, publications could be issued in very much larger numbers, demands for them could be readily complied with at comparatively low prices, and the entire operation would be made, in some measure, self-sustaining.

(f) Similarly, the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce should have authority to increase its trade reports. The present limit is 20,000, and that has been reached. Authority to issue a larger number upon condition that a trifling sum be paid for them would enable the Bureau to meet the demand without additional expenditure. No doubt is felt that such a practice would have the approval of commercial bodies.

(g) The Bureau of Lighthouses has been reorganized in compliance with the law of 1910. Nearly all the inspectors in the several districts are now civilians. The compensation provided is, however, inadequate, and a very slight increase would make it possible to retain entirely competent men.

(h) At present the Commissioner of Labor is a member of the board to arbitrate disputes between railroads and railroad men. The work of the latter position has become so absorbing that some relief should be provided. Either the head of the Bureau of Labor should be relieved of the second position, or he should be furnished with a number of assistants in the Bureau with better compensation than is now allowed. But, in my judgment, the time has come. when the law governing these arbitrations should be recast. At present it virtually designates two particular officials to conduct the arbitrations. Obviously these men will in time have to retire, and there is danger that with the retirement of one or both the advantage of the very admirable system which they have built up may be lost. It appears to me that this system should now be utilized and firmly

established. Other men should be associated with the work, in order that they may be familiarized with it in time so as to be in a position to take it up whenever this becomes necessary or desirable. Probably these arbitrations have now reached the point where it will be feasible to create a board of conciliation and arbitration, such a board to be named by the President and confirmed by the Senate.

SUBJECTS OF CONTROVERSY.

The investigation of the Department's administration of the seal herds by the House Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Commerce and Labor, to which reference was made in my last report, has not been formally completed. The resolution of the House calls upon the Secretary for copies of letters, reports and documents, instructions, etc., since January 1, 1904.

Complying with requests of the committee, the Department, at very considerable cost in time and money, furnished copies of all documents called for. The question was suggested whether the committee had authority to compel the attendance of witnesses for the hearing which has been pending for more than one and one-half years. I directed members of the force in the Bureau of Fisheries not to raise this question, but to attend and furnish what information they had. Furthermore, by my direction suggestions were made to the chairman of the committee of persons who by training and experience are qualified to speak upon the subject under investigation, most of them being experts upon whose judgment the Department has relied in deciding upon its course in the management of the seal herds. No report has been made, and the seal treaty as well as the statute to enforce it have in the meantime gone into effect.

Carrying out a suggestion in last year's report, it was provided by rule this year that no seal under 3 years should be killed. The question was regarded as one of economy purely. Since the risk of loss by pelagic sealing has been eliminated, it seems wise to reserve all seals until the skins attain the highest value. Necessarily the number of skins taken this year will be greatly reduced for that reason.

IMMIGRATION.

The administration of this branch of the service has been the subject of less comment than was the case in the previous year. The conditions at most of the ports have been substantially improved; at others the improvements are near completion. Nevertheless, conditions, especially at the New York port, are still unsatisfactory. The quarters are inadequate, and this situation can not be met until larger appropriations are made.

That the general purpose of the law is carried out is made to appear from the percentage of rejections and the number of deporta

tions. That the immigrants admitted represent as good a type as was the case in any recent year is hardly subject to doubt. Private. aid societies state that the demand for assistance to newly arrived. aliens has been substantially reduced. The statistical showing that more immigrants receive assistance to come in may safely be accepted as an evidence of greater confidence and corresponding frankness.

Published reports are liable to create a false impression about the character of our immigration. We hear much of those who stop in a few congested cities, and this condition does present a question deserving of serious consideration. We do not, however, hear of those who go into the interior, and who in a few States at least constitute the majority of the farm owners. Furthermore, the fact is overlooked that, for illustration, in the last fiscal year 333,262 aliens departed from this country as compared with 838,172 arrivals. Finally, it is undoubtedly true that the postal savings banks now influence many aliens to keep in this country the savings which they heretofore sent abroad.

The trend to congested centers has been resisted by a vigilant enforcement of the contract-labor clause, while the Division of Information has afforded every proper encouragement to go to the farms.

In one respect, however, there is ground for just complaint. The authorities of several States insist that their eleemosynary institutions have too large a percentage of alien inmates. Although it seems that the larger contribution of these alien inmates was made by immigrants of earlier years, the complaint appears to be well founded even now. Investigation shows that the chief difficulty lies with the system of primary inspection. Admissions upon appeal constitute a relatively small proportion of these inmates. A certain proportion of such mistakes is unavoidable; but it is believed that substantial protection can be secured by strengthening the primary inspection force, especially the medical staff. This situation has been made the subject of a recommendation by the Treasury Department and the Department of Commerce and Labor for an increased appropriation. A larger medical staff, with more alienists and the allowance of more time for examination, would, in all probability, relieve the chief difficulty under which the service now labors in this respect. It has been the general policy to administer the law strictly to exclude willful offenders, but to use the discretionary authority which the law confers to relieve in cases of mere misfortune. Especial consideration has been given to those cases in which incoming aliens sustain immediate relation to persons already admitted. Such immigrants represent in some degree the rights and interests of persons who have been naturalized or who have acquired a domicile. It is 73861°-0 & L 1912—2

impossible to pass upon the cases of such immigrants regardless of the family relations which attach to them.

The law itself recognizes the propriety of this policy. It provides in terms that when an alien has declared his intention to become a citizen his immigrant wife or children suffering from a contagious disease shall be admitted, if it is determined that the disorder is easily curable or that they can be admitted to land without danger to other persons. Obviously no medical examiner will assume the responsibility of giving an affirmative certificate that any contagious disease is easily curable or that admission may be granted without danger to other persons. It is, therefore, the accepted policy, for illustration, in cases of trachoma and other similar diseases, to permit detention upon condition that proper hospital treatment without cost to the Government be secured by the execution of a bond.

The law is silent with respect to the families of aliens who are domiciled here but who have not yet filed a declaration of intention to become citizens. Where the intention to remain here has been clearly established, and other conditions have been shown to be favorable, it has also been the policy to detain such contagious cases for treatment, with provision for proper protection against danger and cost.

In a considerable proportion of cases the necessity for ultimate rejection has not been avoided. But it is believed that the readiness to relieve and the success in the greater number of cases does much to inspire the persons immediately concerned with confidence and ready submission to the controlling purpose of the law.

The immigration law is also silent with respect to the foreign-born children of naturalized citizens. The practice had been to regard them as immigrants without claim to special right or consideration. This resulted in the anomalous situation that the foreign-born children of aliens who had merely declared the intention to become citizens received the protection for which the law provides, while the children of naturalized citizens were denied all protection. Still further, while few States provide for the segregated treatment of such diseases as trachoma, naturalized citizens were not even permitted to provide for the treatment of their dependent children in hospitals. Manifestly no such result was intended. An examination of the statutes bearing upon the question has led me to the conclusion that the immigration law was not intended to apply to the minor foreign-born child of a naturalized citizen; but that under the naturalization statute such child is in a position, by taking up residence in this country, to perfect the inchoate right of citizenship which has been created for it by the naturalization of the father. The law says that the naturalization of an alien shall confer citizen