ITS 



CONGRESS. (IMMIGRATION POSTAL MATTERS.) 



land* most be sent for to join the immigrant here. 

 What fonnalitv is necessary to constitute this pn- 

 requisite, and bow are th. < lationship and 



that the rvlative i *. astabUshad f Are 



the illiterate relatives of n. who have 



come here under prior law* mtitlM to ih.-adtan- 

 tajp of these exceptions! A husband who can read 

 and write and who determines to abandon his 

 illiterate wife abroad will find hen- under th 

 an absolutely safe retreat. The illiterate relatives 

 mrniiooed mu* h im- 



migrant roost be capable of supporting them when 

 they arrive. Thb requirement proceeds upon the 

 assumption that the foreign relatives coming here 

 arr in every case by reason of i*. \crty liable to be- 

 am* a public charge unless the immigrant 

 pabU of their support. Theoontrai ften 



true. And yel, if unable to read ami write, tbovgfa 



al.le and willing to support themselves and 

 their relatives here besides, they con 1.1 not be ad- 

 mitted under the provisions of 'this bill if the im- 

 migrant wa* iin|xvrrished, though the aid of his 

 fortunate but illiterate n ' be the means 



of aving him from pauperism. 



The fourth suction nf this bill provides "that it 



nhall be unlawful for any male alien who has not 



in good faith made his declaration before the proper 



n to become a citi/.en of the 



1 States to be employed on any public works 



irly or ha- 

 bitually into the I'nited States by land or water for 

 the purpose of engaging in any mechanical trade 

 or manual labor for wages or salary, returning from 

 time to time to a foreign country." The fifth 

 tiiiii that it shall be' unlawful for any 



person, partnership, company, or corporation kn<>w- 

 nploy any alien coming into the I'nited 

 Stales in violation of the next preceding section of 

 thi* act." 



The prohibition against the employment of aliens 

 u|wn any public works of the United States is in 

 line with other legislation of a like character. It is 



a different thing, however, to declare it a 

 crime for an al - regularly and habitually 



into the I'niteil States for the purpose of obtaining 

 work from private parties, if such alien returns 

 from time to tim- to a foreign country, and to con- 

 iy employment of such alien a criminal 



Wh sider these provisions of the bill in 



connection with our long northern frontier and the 

 boundaries of oar States an<l Territories, often l>ut 

 an imaginary line separating them from the I'.ritish 

 -.and recall the friendly intercourse be- 

 tween the people who are neighbors on either 



i aliening them must be 

 regarded as illiberal, narrow, and un-American. 



The residents of these States and Territories have 

 separate and especial interests which in many cases 

 make an interchange of labor between their | 

 and I heir. \>n mo^t important, frequently 



with the advantage largely in favor of onr eir 

 This sajmts the in. i '. dernl intcrfer- 



with these conditions wlien not neres^rv to 

 correction of a *ub*tantial evil affecting the 

 welfare. Surh unfriendly legislation as is 

 could hardly fail to provoke retaliatory 

 to the injury .f manv .,f .-ur citizens who 

 id emplouneM on adjoining foreign M.il. 

 uncertainty of construction to which the 

 revisions is subject is a serious 

 objection to a statute which describes a on . \n 

 important element in the offense sought tolM-rreated 

 by these sections is the coming " regularly or habit- 

 ually into the I'nited State*." The*- "words are 

 impossible of definite and certain oonMn, 

 The same may be said of the equally important 



Tl, 



words, "returning from time t.. time to a foreign 

 A can-fill examination of this MH has <-on\ b 



i: for the reason- j;i\en and others not 

 .y >tateil, its pro\ixj,,n> arc unncc -->aril v 

 . ami that il> dcfcct> in 



traotfam WOttld cause vexation, and it> operation 



\\.-uid r. Mill in harm to our cit i 



GROVEB CLEVKI \ i 

 KxirtTiv HANSION, March t, 1897. 



I) It. the House reconsidered the measure Mild 



passed it o\rr the pre-idential vi-t.. U a v..ti- ..f in:. 

 yeas to 87 nays: but in the Senate t fie siil.jcct was 

 im-rely referred to the rommiMi-e on Immi^ratiitn. 



I'oxtal Matters. 



viding for limited indemnity for 1.-- of n-i-t.red 

 mail matter was called up in the lloii-. 

 fllows: 



. That Md '.!;. 



- ' .tt ut cs be amended so u- 



.itn- srciirity of valnalile 



mail matter the I'o>r neral may e>tallish 



a uniform -\>tcm <.f r. -i-trati.n. ai rt of 



such system' he may provide rules under which t he 

 sender fir-t-cla-- d matter 



shall le indemnified for l>ses thereof in the mails, 

 the indemnity to he paid out (.f the j 

 but in no case to exceed $10 for any one 

 pieec. or the actual value thereof when that is less 

 than $10, and for which no other compensation or 

 reimbursement to the lo-er lia> been made: /'///////. 

 That the Post Office Department or its i, \, nu.x 

 shall not be liable for the loss of any other mail 

 matter on account of its having been registered." 



In Mipport of the measure the arirumeni of the 

 i-ter-General for such a policy was n ad : 



" In the report of last year, submitted by my j : 

 cessor, attention was called to the expediency of a 

 law authorixing the payment of an indemnity, not 

 exceeding $10 in any case, for losses of regist 

 matter in the mail-. 



" I beg leave to renew this recommendation. It 

 is part of the system of registration in most of the 

 leadim: countries of the world, and would add t-.the 

 tiopularity of our own system if adopted. It s. 

 I, but equitable that after matter has : 

 put into the mails, at an iner- ordi- 



nary matter, and with a special \iew to it< s,., -urity. 

 the Government should, to a limited extent at li 

 guarantee its safety. In addition to this. I am of 

 the opinion that such a modification of the s\-tem 

 would prove so popular that in a short time nearly 

 all valuable matter to be sent through the mails 



Would red. so that but few 1OS8C8 Would 



be likely to occur, and these could be much more 



satisfactorily investigated and located than is the 



case when losses occur in the ordinary mails. The 

 saving to the Government in the h n of 



such losses would probably more than r- : 

 the amount expended for indemnity. 



"This is a matter that will noooubl be br<>i. 

 before the Postal I'liion Congress, which is to ; 

 in this city in 1K>? ; but before that time a law 

 should be enacted niithori/.ing the introduction of 

 this reform into our dome-tic postal system. 



Ml two hundred and eighty com- 

 plaints pertaining to the registered mail wer 

 reived during the year. of this number 'J.~lo 

 alleged the rifling of abstraction of the contents of 

 the letters or packages, and 2.:{02 announced the 

 entire loss of the letter or package and contents. 

 Only 10 complaints of carelessness by postal em- 

 ployees were received. 



44 A comparison of the office records for the last 

 two fiscal years shows that the total number of com- 

 plaints affecting the registered mail during the fiscal 



