TABLE 1. Arrests and deportations during six months of 1909... 331 2. Aliens deported as prostitutes or procurers, fiscal years 1908 and 1909. 332 332 IMPORTATION AND HARBORING OF WOMEN FOR IMMORAL PURPOSES. INTRODUCTORY. The importation and harboring of alien women and girls for immoral purposes and the practice of prostitution by them-the socalled "white-slave traffic "is the most pitiful and the most revolting phase of the immigration question. It is in violation of the immigration law and of the agreement of 1904 between the United States and other powers for the repression of the trade in white women. This business had assumed such large proportions and was exerting so evil an influence upon our country that the Immigration Commission felt compelled to make it the subject of a thorough investigation. Since the subject is especially liable to sensational exploitation, the Commission's report is primarily a statement of undeniable facts calculated to form a basis of reasonable legislative and administrative action to lessen its evils. The report was presented to Congress December 10, 1909, and at once received a wide circulation. Steps were immediately taken to amend the immigration law of 1907 to more effectively prevent the importation of women and girls for immoral purposes, and their control by importers or others after admission to the United States. Such a law closely following the Commission's recommendations was approved by the President March 26, 1910.a By the terms of the new law the following were added to the classes excluded by section 2 of the immigration act of 1907: "Persons who are supported by or receive in whole or in part the proceeds of prostitution. Under the terms of the act of 1907, "women or girls coming into the United States for the purpose of prostitution or for any other immoral purpose," and also "persons who procure or attempt to bring in prostitutes or women or girls for the purpose of prostitution or for any other immoral purpose," were specifically excluded from the United States. Under that law, however, there was no specific provision for the exclusion of that particularly reprehensible class of persons referred to in the act of March 26, 1910. The need for such a provision will appear later. с The act of 1910 also amended section 3 of the immigration law by providing additional means for the punishment and deportation of aliens who in any way profit or derive benefit from the proceeds of prostitution. a Prblic act No. 107, 61st Cong., 2d sess. See pp. 732-733. See p. 733. Section 3 of the immigration act of February 20, 1907, and the same section as amended by the act of March 26, 1910, follow: Act of February 20, 1907. SEC. 3. That the importation into the United States of any alien woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution, or for any other immoral purpose, is hereby forbidden; and whoever shall, directly or indirectly, import, or attempt to import, into the United States, any alien woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution, or for any other immoral purpose, or whoever shall hold or attempt to hold any alien woman or girl for any such purpose in pursuance of such illegal importation, or whoever shall keep, maintain, control, support, or harbor in any house or other place, for the purpose of prostitution, or for any other immoral purpose, any alien woman or girl, within three years after she shall have entered the United States, shall, in every such case, be deemed guilty of a felony, and on conviction thereof be imprisoned not more than five years and pay a fine of not more than five thousand dollars; and any alien woman or girl who shall be found an inmate of a house of prostitution or practicing prostitution, at any time within three years after she shall have entered the United States, shall be deemed to be deported as provided by sections twenty and twentyone of this act. Act of March 26, 1910. SEC. 3. That the importation into the United States of any alien for the purpose of prostitution or for any other immoral purpose is hereby forbidden; and whoever shall, directly or indirectly, import, or attempt to import, into the United States, any alien for the purpose of prostitution or for any other immoral purpose, or whoever shall hold or attempt to hold any alien for any such purpose in pursuance of such illegal importation, or whoever shall keep, maintain, control, support, employ, or harbor in any house or other place, for the purpose of prostitution or for any other immoral purpose, in pursuance of such illegal importation, any alien, shall, in every such case, be deemed guilty of a felony, and on conviction thereof be imprisoned not more than ten years and pay a fine of not more than five thousand dollars. Jurisdiction for the trial and punishment of the felonies hereinbefore set forth shall be in any district to or into which said alien is brought in pursuance of said importation by the person or persons accused, or in any district in which a violation of any of the foregoing provisions of this section occur. Any alien who shall be found an inmate of or connected with the management of a house of prostitution or practicing prostitution after such alien shall have entered the United States, or who shall receive, share in, or derive benefit from any part of the earnings of any prostitute; or who is employed by, in, or in connection with any house of prostitution or music or dance hall or other place of amusement or resort habitually frequented by prostitutes, or where prostitutes gather, or who in any way assists, protects, or promises to protect from arrest any prostitute, shall be deemed to be unlawfully within the United States and shall be deported in the manner provided by sections twenty and twenty-one of this act. That any alien who shall, after he has been debarred or deported in pursuance of the provisions of this section, attempt thereafter to return to or to enter the United States shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be imprisoned for not more than two years. Any alien who shall be convicted under any of the provisions of this section shall, at the expiration of his sentence, be taken into custody and returned to the country whence he |