No. 514.
Mr. Cramer
to Mr. Frelinghuysen.
[Extract.]
Legation of
the United States,
Berne, January 23, 1883.
(Received February 12.)
No. 33.]
Sir: Referring to my note to the high Federal
Council of the 14th of last November (a copy of which I transmitted to you
with my dispatch No. 18, of the 16th of the same month, and which you had
been pleased to approve in your No. 16, of December 6 ultimo) in relation to
the shipment to New York by the town authorities of Woelflinswyl, canton of
Aargau, of a certain Conrad Hort, a pauper and a drunkard, I have now the
honor to inform you that this legation received a note from said high
Federal Council, dated January 16 (a copy of which, with a translation
thereof, is herewith inclosed), in reply to my note of November 14 last,
informing me that an investigation had been made into this matter, the
result of which is alleged to be that said Hort is not such a bad character
as stated in my note, and that the town authorities of Woelflinswyl did not
ship him to New York, though they confess that they had agreed to give him
200 francs for the purpose of emigration. In support of the vindication (?)
of said town authorities voluminous documents used in the investigation were
submitted to my inspection.
In order to show that this legation has not acted unadvisedly in this matter,
nor depended solely upon newspaper reports, I take the liberty to make the
following observations: (1) According to the statements of Consul Byers, of
Zurich, in his letter to this legation of November 11 last (a copy of which
was transmitted to you in my dispatch No. 18), said town authorities
admitted that they “did send this man to America in violation of the laws of
Switzerland and of the United States;” and that they “had shipped numerous
other persons to the United States in order to get rid of them.” During the
investigation they denied the admissions they had made to Consul Byers. The
plain inference is that they have told untruths either to Consul Byers or to
the cantonal authorities making the investigation. (2) That the admissions
they have made in this matter to Consul Byers are true is evident from a
letter addressed to this legation by a Mr. Naef, editor of the Zo-finger
Tagblatt, near Woelflinswyl, in which he, from personal knowledge, confirms
the statements of Consul Byers.* * *
I do not know that the note of the Federal Council concerning this matter
needs a reply.
I am, &c.,
[Page 807]
[Inclosure in No.
33.—Translation.]
Federal Council to Mr.
Cramer.
With the note of November 14, 1882, the legation of the United States of
America communicated to the Federal Council that it had come to its
knowledge that the commune council of Woelflinswyl, canton of Aargau,
had shipped, through the agency of Viucenz Ursprung, of Herznach,
subagent of the emigration Arm of Schnee-beli & Co., at Basel, a
citizen without means, named Conrad Hort, who was regarded as a drunkard
and weak-minded. The legation perceives in the action of the commune
authorities of Woelflinswyl and of the subagent, Ursprung, a violation
of the laws of Switzerland and of the United States, and desires that
the Federal Council should cause the guilty parties to be punished, and
especially the withdrawal of the concession of the emigration agent,
Ursprung.
The Federal Council did not fail to cause an investigation to be made
into this matter, and has now the honor to transmit herewith the reports
relating thereto. From these it will be seen that Hort is neither
weak-minded nor a drunkard, and that he himself made the contract for
his journey with the emigration ageut, and that therefore he was not
shipped by the commune authorities. It is true that the latter had
agreed to pay him 200 francs for the purpose of emigration, but, not
taking this into account, he had never asked for assistance, and has
never received any. It is further declared that Hort was the manager of
a bakery, and that he gained his support during ten or eleven years as a
baker’s journeyman, among other people, which could not have been the
case if he had been weak-minded.
Supported by this report of the cantonal authorities of Aargau, the
Federal Council has to decline to cause the punishment of the commune
authorities of Woelflinswyl or to interfere with the agency of
Schneebeli & Co., at Basel.
The Federal Council is willing to assist the authorities of the United
States in their endeavors to prevent peisons from emigrating whom the
laws of the United States prohibit from landing, and for this purpose
said Council has caused the introduction of regulations into the federal
laws of December 24, 1880, relating to the operation of emigration
agencies (Art. 10, No. 4); but it is of opinion, and the legation will
be convinced by the inclosed reports, that the measures proposed by the
legation in this case can only be adopted upon an official examination,
and not by reports of newspapers.
The Federal Council avails, &c.,
- L. RUCHONNET,
President of the
Confederation.
- RINGIER,
Chancellor of the
Confederation.
