three years which was not apparent at entrance. Or, especially in the cabin examination on board ship, a feeble-minded person may entirely escape detection. These instances illustrate both the need for the law and its effectiveness. It is the second line of defence against unsound aliens, augmenting and reenforcing the first line of defence at the immigration station.
Unfortunately the effect of this deportation law is nullified in many cases by decisions of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor.[1] Certain of these decisions should have the widest publicity and will be a surprise to many persons.
Decision No. 120 of the solicitor of the Department of Commerce and Labor was published on February 8, 1912, for the guidance of immigration officials and others concerned. Within the legal three-year limit, Yittel Goldfarb, a sixteen-year-old Russian Jewess, was certified to be suffering from manic-depressive insanity by a member of the New York State Board of Alienists, an officer of the Public Health Service, and officials of the Manhattan State Hospital for the Insane where she was confined. The unanimous medical opinion was that, while the insanity had developed after the girl had landed, it resulted from causes in existence before landing. These causes were stated to be constitutional psychopathic tendencies and mental instability. It is held by competent alienists that manic-depressive insanity is always based on hereditary tendencies and mental instability. The apparent or immediately pre-
- ↑ The newly established Department of Labor, with Secretary William B. Wilson at its head, now includes the Bureau of Immigration, and it is probable that this policy will not continue.
