the Port, then to the
Commissioner-General, and finally to the Secretary[26] of Commerce and
Labor. The steamship lines that brought them have to pay costs of
detention and deportation, which is one means of making these lines
careful.

[Sidenote: Exclusion by Races]

A second table, which shows the exclusion by races, will repay study. It
is given in Appendix A. It not only shows where the bulk of the excluded
belong, but reveals not a little concerning the character of those
admitted who come from the same races. The intention of the present
Commissioner-General is to enforce the laws strictly, yet in a humane
spirit. Comparing the figures for the two years 1903-1904, he says:

[Sidenote: Increase of Undesirable]

"The most significant feature of this statement is the large increase in
the number of idiots, insane persons, and paupers during 1905, which,
coupled with an increase of twenty-five per cent. in the number of
diseased aliens, justifies the Bureau in directing attention to the
flagrant and wilful disregard by the ocean carriers of the laws for the
regulation of their business of securing alien passengers destined for
the United States."[27]

[Sidenote: Fraud of Transportation Companies]

This brings up a point of vast importance in more ways than one. The
official reports charge wholesale deception, evasion, and fraud upon the
great transportation companies. The fact stands for itself that in 1904
they were fined more than $31,000 under the section of the law imposing
a $100 penalty for bringing a diseased alien whose disease might have
been detected by a competent medical examination at the port of
departure. For many years these companies have in doubtful cases
demanded double passage money, so that they might make a profit both
ways if the alien were rejected. The Italian government has passed an
Act giving an alien right to recover the money illegally retained in
this way, showing the practice, and the government opinion of it.

[Sidenote: Artificial Swelling of Passage Fees]

The truth is, the transportation agent has become a figure of
international consequence and concern. The artificial cause behind the
present unprecedented exodus from Europe, according to Whelpley, is the
abnormal activity of the transportation companies in their effort to
secure new and profitable cargo for their ships. In 1900 over
$118,000,000 was invested in trans-atlantic steamship lines, which are
largely owned by