drown and the minnow will survive in that environment. Yet is the bull of Bashan none the less the nobler animal? In the environment of Chinese labor our labor could not long survive as we desire it to exist and therefore, by an overmastering instinct our people of the West are determined not to admit Asiatic labor to this country, whether it is Chinese, Japanese, or Hindoo. I think that by and by our working people of the Eastern States will begin to question whether they desire to have Arabs, who I see are planning to come in large numbers, and other people from Asia Minor and the west of Asia, pour into this country. I am not here to argue this question, but merely to call attention to some facts for your consideration, and this ominous fact which I have just mentioned is one.

Many people believe that we should also go a step further in our general legislation and add ignorance to poverty, disease, and criminality as a valid ground for exclusion. Congress passed a bill containing a provision of this sort, which was vetoed by Mr. Cleveland. The same provision has come up again and again and has passed the Senate more than once. Those who advocate it maintain that it excludes in practice, and with few exceptions, only undesirable immigrants. Here, again. I shall not attempt to argue the question with you, but will merely point out the number of persons who would have been excluded since 1896 if the illiterates over 14 years of age had been thrown out. During that period, as shown by the table which I shall give, the illiterates who, by their own admission, could neither read nor write in any language numbered 1,829,320. The figures in detail are as follows:

The only thing I desire to say on this point is that nothing is more unfounded than the statement that this exclusion is aimed at any race or any class. It is aimed at no one but the ignorant, just as the provision in regard to the diseased immigrants is aimed only at the diseased, but it is unquestionably restrictive, and it therefore meets with the bitter resistance of the steamship companies from whom, directly or indirectly, come nine-tenths of all the agitation and opposition to laws affecting immigration.

I have tried in all I have said to lay before you the statistics, the conditions, the facts, and the past results involved in this great question. As I have already said more than once, I shall make no argument and draw no conclusion. I leave it to you to make your own inferences and reach your own decisions. I say only this: That to every working man and to every citizen of the United States, whether native born or naturalized, to whom the quality of our citizenship and the future of our country are dear, there is no question before the American people which can be compared with this in importance; none to which they should give such attention or upon which they should seek to express themselves and to guide their representatives more explicitly and more earnestly.

A COMMUNICATION FROM THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL RELATIVE TO THE TRANSMISSION THROUGH THE MAILS OF CERTAIN ANARCHISTIC PUBLICATIONS.

APRIL 9, 1908.-Read; referred to the Committee on the Judiciary and ordered to be printed.

To the Senate and House of Representatives:

I herewith submit a letter from the Department of Justice which explains itself. Under this opinion I hold that existing statutes give the President the power to prohibit the Postmaster-General from being used as an instrument in the commission of crime; that is, to prohibit the use of the mails for the, advocacy of murder, arson, and treason; and I shall act upon such construction. Unquestionably, however, there should be further legislation by Congress in this matter. When compared with the suppression of anarchy, every other question sinks into insignificance. The anarchist is the enemy of humanity, the enemy of all mankind, and his is a deeper degree of criminality than any other. No immigrant is allowed to come to our shores if he is an anarchist; and no paper published here or abroad should be permitted circulation in this country if it propagates anarchistic opinions.

THE WHITE HOUSE, April 9, 1908.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE,
Washington, March 31, 1908.

SIR: On March 20, 1908, I received from you the following letter:

The DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE:

By my direction the Postmaster-General is to exclude La Questione Sociale, of Paterson, N. J., from the mails, and it will not be admitted to the mails

unless by order of the court, or unless you advise me that it must be admitted. Please see if it is not possible to prosecute criminally under any section of the law that is available the men that are interested in sending out this anarchistic and murderous publication. They are of course the enemies of mankind, and every effort should be strained to hold them accountable for an offense far more infamous than that of an ordinary murderer.

This matter has been brought to my attention by the mayor of the city of Paterson. I wish every effort made to get at the criminals under the Federal law. It may be found impossible to do this. I shall also, through the Secretary of State, call the attention of the governor of New Jersey to the circumstances, so that he may proceed under the State law, his attention being further drawn to the fact that the newspaper is circulated in other States. After you have concluded your investigation I wish a report from you to serve as a basis for a recommendation by me for action by Congress. Under section 3893 of the Revised Statutes lewd, obscene, and lascivious books and letters, publications for indecent and immoral uses or of an indecent and immoral nature, and postal cards upon which indecent and scurrilous epithets are written or printed, are all excluded from the mail, and provision is made for the fine and imprisonment of those guilty. The newspaper article in question advocates murder by dynamite. It specifically advocates the murder of enlisted men of the United States Army and officers of the police force, and the burning of houses of private citizens. The preaching of murder and arson is certainly as immoral as the circulation of obscene and lascivious literature, and if the practice is not already forbidden by the law it should be forbidden. The immigration law now prohibits the entry into the United States of any person who entertains or advocates the views expressed in this newspaper article. It is of course inexcusable to permit those already here to promulgate such views. Those who write, publish, and circulate those articles stand on a level with those who use the mails for distributing poisons for the purpose of murder; and convictions have been obtained when the mails have thus been used for the distribution of poisons. No law should require the Postmaster-General to become an accessory to murder by circulating literature of this kind.

There was also a letter to you of March 19, 1908, from Hon. Andrew S. McBride, mayor of the city of Paterson, in the State of New Jersey, and certain newspaper clippings, two of which contain what purport to be translations of an alleged article in the publication La Questione Sociale mentioned in your letter, and which I understand to be printed and circulated in Italian. The article thus attributed to La Questione Sociale, as translated in the clippings, reads as follows:

We want everybody to be with us. We invite everybody to get together and arm themselves. Seventy-five per cent have only a knife in the house which I will only cut onions.

It will be a good thing for everybody to have a gun. When we are ready the first thing to do is to break into the armory and seize the rifles and ammunition. Then all the people will be with us as soon as they see this. The next thing to do is to get hold of the police station, and when the police see that they are not strong enough the chief of police will ask for soldiers.

Even at that the dynamite is easy to get for us. Twenty-five cents' worth will blow a big iron door down. We don't want to forget that the dynamite will help us to win. Two or three of us can defy a regiment of soldiers without fear. We will start when no one is thinking anything about it. Then we can beat them man for man. At that time show no sympathy for any soldiers, even if they be sons of the people. As soon as we get hold of the police station it is our victory. The thing is to kill the entire force. If not, they will kill us. After we have done this the first thing to do is to look out for ourselves first, and then for the people who helped us.

We must get into the armory; and in case we can not, then we will blow it down with dynamite. Then, when we are ready, we must set fire to three or four houses in different locations on the outskirts, which will bring out the fire department and all the police. Then we will start a fire in the center of the city. This will be an easy thing to do, as the police and firemen will be on the outskirts.

I have carefully examined the law relating to the subject-matter of your letter of March 20, and in accordance with your direction. submit the following report thereon. I must premise, however, by saying I have not sought information as to the accuracy of the translation of the article, nor yet as to the character of the publication itself, and the antecedents or purposes of its publishers, except in so far as these are indicated by the alleged passage in the same article herein before set forth. If this publication does not come within the class of periodicals entitled to transportation in the mails as mailable matter of the second class, for reasons other than the sentiments it expresses, or the illegal or immoral character of its contents, the PostOffice Department has ample authority to deny it admission to the mails, and I am informed that in fact this has been done for reasons altogether independent of the peculiar characteristics of the alleged article called to your attention. Moreover, while it would be appropriate, of course, to ascertain all the material facts respecting the periodical concerned, or the individuals responsible for its publication before instituting proceedings of any kind which might affect their rights or interests, I understand your instructions as directing a report upon the assumption that the alleged newspaper in question, and others of a similar character habitually publish articles substantially similar to the one translated in the clipping sent me. Your

letter asks in substance:

First. Whether the publication of such articles constitutes a criminal offense on the part of the publishers.

Second. Whether this offense is punishable by the Federal courts. Third. Whether such publications are criminal or excluded from the mails by any existing statute of the United States.

Fourth. Whether, if they are not, the Congress can constitutionally enact a law or laws providing for their exclusion and their treatment as crimes.

Fifth. Whether, in the existing condition of the law, the Postmaster-General can be compelled to admit such publications to the mails and transport and distribute them as mail matter.

1. The article in question, supposing it to have been accurately translated, constitutes a seditious libel, and its publication, in my opinion, is undoubtedly a crime at common law. (See Russell on Criminal Law, vol. 1, sec. 1, chap. 28, p. 595.)

In Rex v. Lovett (9 C. &. P., 462), Littledale, J., says:

If the paper has a direct tendency to cause unlawful meetings or disturbances and to lead to a violation of the laws, it is a seditions libel.

Referring to the above-mentioned offense, Professor Greenleaf

says:

This crime is committed by the publication of writings blaspheming the Supreme Being, or turning the doctrines of the Christian religion into contempt and ridicule, or tending by their immodesty to corrupt the mind and to destroy the sense of decency, morality, and good order; or wantonly to defame or indecorously to calumniate the economy, order, and constitution of things which make up the general system of law and government of the country; to degrade the administration of government or of justice; or to cause animosities between our own and any other foreign government, by personal abuse of its sovereign, its ambassadors, or other public ministers; and by malicious defamations expressed in printing or writing, or by signs or pictures, tending either to blacken the memory of one who is dead, or the reputation of one who is living, and thereby to expose him to public hatred, contempt, and ridicule. This descrip