Salt Lake Tribune | 1919-11-25 | Page 6 | Law is Defective

LAW IS DEFECTIVE. Discovery of defects in the present immigration laws alleged to ba responsible respon-sible for the delay in the deportation of radicals now held at Ellis island and prompt preparation of legislation to remedy the handicap are the aims of a house immigration subcommittee whoso members are now investigating naturalization nat-uralization processes in New York. Formal hearings are to begin this morning. morn-ing. During the recent special session of congress the failure of the department of justice to quickly deport a number of revolutionaries ordered sent to their native countries as undesirables or dangerous dan-gerous aliens was made the subject of repeated interrogations and no little amount of adverse criticism. This criticism crit-icism Attorney. General Palmer answered an-swered with the statement that existing ex-isting laws were inadequate to cope with the situation, promising cooperation coopera-tion in any movement tending to buttress but-tress legislation and suggesting that the fault was in the law and not in the administration of the department of justice. It is a matter of fact that, while scores of radicals of degrees varying from parlor Socialists who could not he induced to hurt anybody, even a despised de-spised capitalistic oppressor, to the anarchist an-archist who would not hesitate to engage en-gage in wholesale assassinations to further fur-ther the interests of the proletariat have been rounded up in successive raids with the avowed purpose of shipping ship-ping them to the lands from whence they came, very few have gouc nearer Europe than Ellis island. Manifestly something is amiss nitd awry. That the coming session of congress will strengthen the immigration lnws is entirely probable. There is an insistent public demand that mischief makers shall not be allowed to remain here to breed pernicious doctrines. Enough has happened recently to warrant immediate immedi-ate and positive action by congress, and it is not likely that this demand will be passed without heed. Tho investi gation to begin in Xew York today ought to develop the weak points of csisting laws and suggest the proper remedy. In this connection developments in tlac Xew York probe of radical activities activ-ities in the metropolis arc instructive. It appears that contributions to the propaganda fund of the communist party, which embraces the Russian Workers' union, the avowed soviet or conization, and the more radical Socialist So-cialist wing, have been received from sources which the investigators announce an-nounce would startle the public were the names published. And these contributions con-tributions have been geiw rou.-. Rose Pastor Stokes is mentioned as one of the contributors. Martens, the so-called soviet ambassador in .New York, is one of the prime movers in this propaganda. propagan-da. "People high iu both social and religious circles," declares the state deputy attorney general, "are Bolshev-ists Bolshev-ists to the bottom of their hearts." And they nro for the most part Ameri fan citizens, although usuully of for eign birth and descent. It is obvious that the growth of this anti-American doctrine calVd by vari ous names is general enough and wide spread enough to warrant I he ppre-hensions ppre-hensions expressed by thoughtful pen pie. It constitutes a menace to American Amer-ican institutions which must be liun died with firmness if the United stntcs is to bo spared the demoralization of Its social ami governmental systems.