No. 689.
Mr. Fish
to Mr. Blaine.
[Extract.]
Legation of
the United States,
Berne, April 16, 1881.
(Received April 30.)
No. 391.]
Sir: Referring to my Nos. 372, 373, 375, 376, 377,
383, 384, 385, 386, and 387, I have now the honor to inclose herewith copies
and translations of the correspondence between the consul at Basle and the
cantonal governments of Argovie and Basle Ville respecting the shipment of
prostitutes from Böttstein to the United States.
The cantonal government of Argovie state that they had heard of the case
about the middle of last month and ordered an examination; that the result
of the examination confirmed the statements made by the consul, but that
unfortunately they were only able to intervene at a time when the women had
already been sent off. They disavow all responsibility for the action of the
commune, whom they claim is alone responsible. They say that according to a
telegram they had received from the federal department of commerce and
agriculture of April 1, it appeared that the two women would probably be
sent back on the same ship on the 2d instant, and that they have not felt
themselves bound to take any steps to prevent their being sent back. They
express regret at the circumstances of the present case, and say that they
will do their best to prevent a recurrence thereof.
An examination of the note shows that they may have
had knowledge of the case before the women left Havre (March 16); it
certainly shows that, although they knew of the case before the consulate,
they took no means whatever to secure the return of the women, and that when
requested to do so by the consul they paid no attention to his request. I
can but believe that had we not effected the return of the women the case
would not have been heard of, and that the failure to endeavor to obtain
their return was due to a desire that they should be saddled upon the
American tax-payers rather than on those of their native Argovie.
The reply of the cantonal government of Basle Ville states that, the original
contract having been made outside of their jurisdiction, they consider
Rudolf Werdenberg free from responsibility, and that the question concerns
only the Argovie government.
Such is the result of Mr. Mason’s protests. Up to to-day the legation has
received no intimation from the Federal Council as to the result of its
investigation beyond that mentioned in my No. 384.
In the New York Tribune of the 29th ultimo is an account of the arrival of
the women at New York, from which it appears that on the same day there were
landed at New York 111 destitute persons, of whom 45 had sufficient means to
reach their destination, and that the remaining 66 had to be supported by
American charity, and that these people all came from a village in Baden,
whose authorities enabled them to emigrate.
* * * * * * *
The Swiss press has very generally commented on the Böttstein case, and I am
happy to say that, as far as their comments have come under my notice, they
have, with the exception of the Journal de Genève (reported in my No. 387),
unanimously condemned the procedure of the commune council. I inclose you a
file of extracts from the Swiss papers with translations thereof.
[Page 1136]
The first and third of these are from the Nouvelliste Vaudois, published at
Lausanne, which is generally supposed to be the organ of Mr. Ruchounet, the
chief of the federal department of commerce and agriculture. They furnish us
with a sad picture of some of the causes which give rise to the abnormal
exodus from this country to the United States. The latter of these two
articles refers to the Baden correspondence of the Bund, which I sent you in
my No. 386. The Bund, if not the official organ of the federal government,
may certainly be deemed the officious organ, in which its inspirations are
generally first given to the press. The general sentiment of the press is
that the guilty commune should be made to pay for the return of the
women.
I trust that the Department will sustain the views of the Swiss press on this
point, and insist upon the payment of the costs by the commune.
I have, &c.,
[Inclosure 1 in No. 391.]
Mr. Mason to Mr.
Fish.
Consulate of the United States,
Basle, April 13,
1881.
Sir: I have the honor to submit herewith copies
of two notes sent by this consulate to the high cantonal governments of
Argovie and Basle Ville, respectively, under date of March 31, and
likewise copies of the replies thereto of the high contonal governments
above named, which were received at this consulate simultaneously on the
7th of April. I have simply acknowledged the receipt of these replies,
and informed the writers that copies of their communications had been
forwarded through your legation to the United States Government.
I am, &c.,
[Inclosure 2 in No. 391.]
Mr. Mason to the
Cantonal Government of
Argovie.
Consulate of the United States of America,
Basle, March 31, 1881.
The undersigned, consul of the United States of America at Basle, has the
honor to bring to the notice of the high cantonal government of the
canton of Argovie, the action of the commune of Böttstein, in Argovie,
in causing to be forwarded to the United States, Fridolina Vögelin and
Theresa Hauser, two of the vilest and most depraved prostitutes, earning
their living by their shameless calling. The records of the meeting of
the electors and citizens of Böttstein for the 30th January, 1881, show
that it was unanimously resolved:
“That Frau Theresa Hauser, born Rheinisperger, of Böttstein, and
Fridolina Vögelin shall, if they consent to the same, be transported to
America at the expense of this commune; if they will not consent to be
thus transported, then, resolved, that the
former, viz, Theresa Hauser, shall be placed in the house of
correction.”
The register of proceedings of the church council of Leuggern, canton
Argovie, vol. 2, page 120, p. 2, furnishes a description of Fridolina
Vögelin. It reads as follows:
“Personally appeared before this council Fridolina Vögelin, illegitimate
daughter of Christina Vögelin, of Böttstein, and made the following
statement: That the husband of her mother, one Gottfried Meier, a tailor
residing in Olten, had for a long period, while she (Fridolina) was
living with her mother, had daily sexual intercourse with her
(Fridolina), and maintained this unlawful intercourse until she left
home.”
These women have been a moral plague and financial burden to the commune
of Böttstein, owing to the fact that they were continually being
arrested by the police, to the cost, shame, and disgrace of their native
commune. Of this fact the high cantonal government can convince itself
from the receipts of the police officials bringing
[Page 1137]
them back as vagrant prostitutes. Six of
those receipts refer to Mrs. Theresa Hauser, and two to Fridolina
Vögelin, all relating to the returning of those two women by the police
within the brief period of a single year.
The president of the commune council, the vice-president of the commune
council, and one of the members of the council have jointly declared
that it was on “account of their shameless course of life, their
harlotry, and total aversion to honest labor, that the two
following-named persons, Fridolina Vögelin, of Böttstein, and Theresa
Hauser (born Rheinisperger), were sent to America, and because they were
frequently returned to their native commune as vagabonds, to the
especial shame and dishonor of the commune of Böttstein,” to which they
added, “that the passage money of the afore-named emigrants, viz, from
Basle to New York, 350 francs, was guaranteed and to each of them was
given besides 20 francs as pocket money.”
In the early part of March, Felix Hüsler, president of the commune of
Böttstein, Fridolin Kalt, vice-president, and Joh Haver Vogelin,
secretary of said commune council, applied to Joseph Frei, an emigration
agent at Klingnau, in canton Argovie, and through him secured the
transportation of said women to the United States. Said Frei, well
knowing the character of these women and not having passports for them,
as this consulate believes is required for the emigration of citizens of
Argovie, took them to Basle, and purchased for them of ah emigrant
agent, Rudolf Werdenberg, of this city, giving him in payment therefor
the guarantee bonds of the commune for 350 francs. The women were sent
by the French railway to Havre, and thence, on the 16th of March, to New
York by the Suevia, reaching New York on the 28th of this month.
Under the instructions of my government, I have the honor to forcibly
protest against the unfriendly, unpardonable, and outrageous action of
the authories of Böttstein in sending to the United States these
notorious prostitutes, who, if permitted to land, must, without fail,
increase the number of prostitutes there, or in their destitute
condition become a burden to the public charity there. It is solely by
reason of the assistance furnished by the commune that they were able to
reach the United States.
The undersigned therefore entertains the hope that the high cantonal
government will take immediate measures by cable to prevent these women
from longer polluting the soil of the United States by their presence,
in case they should have eluded the vigilance of the authorities of the
United States. He also entertains the confident hope that the parties
guilty of this infringement of the comity existing between Switzerland
and the United States, and of the laws of both countries, may be
severely and promptly punished. The United States has seen with regret,
that in foreign countries municipal corporations, private societies for
reforming offenders, directors of almshouses, and even private
individuals have not been restrained by their government from sending to
the United States convicts, or discharged convicts, or lunatics, or
idiots, or imbecile or other paupers, or prostitutes, or cripples, and
persons unfit to maintain themselves, or those who have been a social
plague to the place whence they came. It is therefore hoped by the
undersigned that the high cantonal government will take the necessary
steps to prevent the emigration of any such persons to the United States
in the future.
The undersigned incloses herewith translations of documents, the
originals of which have been duly authenticated and transmitted to his
government, and which fully establish the guilt of the commune of
Böttstein, whose authorities, with unblushing effrontery, admit that
they thus abused the hospitality of the United States to rid themselves
of persons who were a burden and shame to their native place. While
reserving to his government the further discussion of this case, the
undersigned avails himself of this occasion to express to the high
cantonal government of Argovie the assurances of his most distinguished
consideration.
FRANK H. MASON,
Consul of the United
States.
[Enclosure 3 in dispatch No.
391.—Translation.]
The Cantonal Government of
Argovie to Mr. Mason.
Sir: On the 31st of last month you notified us
that two prostitutes had been sent to America by the commune of
Böttstein, with very little money and under circumstances which appear
highly objectionable under the laws of the government which you
represent. At the same time you ask us to call the offending commune to
account and to take efficient measures to prevent a repetition of such
misdoing. We have to report to you as follows:
We first learned of the present case about the middle of last month, and
ordered an examination into the matter.
[Page 1138]
The result of that examination has been to confirm your entire statement.
Unfortunately our information was received after the women had been
already sent away. The emigration agent, with whom the contract was
made, had forgotten to procure passports from the canton for the two
women, as prescribed by the laws of canton Argovie, and consequently the
government was not able to prevent their departure.
In the mean time the United States minister at Berne had given notice of
the case to the Federal Council, to which we have sent all the
documents. We explained that we could in no wise sanction the action of
the commune of Böttstien, which alone was guilty and responsible for the
consequences, and we further gave assurance that measures would be taken
by us to punish the offenders. Through a dispatch from the Swiss
commercial department we learn that probably the two objectionable
emigrants would be returned on the 1st of April by the same ship that
carried them to America. We have certainly taken no steps to prevent
this return.
These are all the facts, and we have to express our great regret for this
unfortunate occurrence. You may see from the foregoing that we shall do
all in our power to prevent a repetition of such offenses.
Receive, sir, the assurance of our high respect.
For the cantonal government:
The president:
FISHER.
The secretary:
TSCHOKE.
[Inclosure 4 in No. 391.]
Mr. Mason to the
Government of Basle.
Consulate of the United States of America,
Basle, March 3, 1881.
The undersigned, consul of the United States of America, has the honor to
bring to the notice of the high cantonal council of Basle-Ville the
action of the emigration agents, Joseph Frei, of Klingnau, in canton
Argovie, of Rudolf Werdenberg, of Basle, and Wirth-Herzog, of Aarau, in
forwarding Fridolina Vögelin and Theresa Hauser, of Böttstein, Argovie,
from Basle to New York; the said women being notorious and depraved
prostitutes of the vilest sort, earning their living by their shameless
calling, whose journey, with a small allowance of pocket-money, was paid
by the commune. The laws of Argovie requiring, as this consulate is
informed, the production of passports to enable its citizens to
emigrate, the aforesaid Frei, of Klingnau, escorted the women to Basle,
and there agreed with Werdenberg for their tickets from Basle to New
York. Werdenberg, in consideration of the guarantee bonds of the commune
to the amount of 350 francs, undertook their transportation to New York,
and forwarded them by the French railways to Havre, and thence to New
York on the steamship Suevia, sailing from Havre on the 16th and
reaching New York on the 29th of March, 1881.
The undersigned has communicated the facts in like manner to the high
government of Argovie, who have the full evidence of the circumstances
of the shipment, and the admission of the commune officials and of Frei,
that the prostitutes were thus forwarded, and has requested their
immediate action to prevent these women from longer polluting the soil
of the United States by their presence, in case they should have evaded
scrutiny of the officials of the port of New York.
He has the honor, in bringing these facts to the attention of the high
government of Basle-Ville, to most forcibly protest, on behalf of his
government, against such shipments of emigrants to the United States,
who are inevitably consigned to the shameless class of prostitutes or to
the public charity of the United States. He confidently hopes that the
high government of Basle-Ville will at once co-operate with that of
Argovie in effecting the return of the women, and that it will severely
punish the guilty parties concerned therein, who may be within its
jurisdiction. The undersigned likewise hopes that efficient measures may
be promptly taken to prevent, in the future, any objectionable emigrants
being forwarded from Basle to the United States. The undersigned avails
himself of this occasion to renew to the high cantonal Council of
Basle-Ville the assurances of his most distinguished consideration.
FRANK H. MASON,
United States
Consul.
Consulate of the United
States of America,
Basle, March 3,
1881.
[Page 1139]
[Inclosure 5 in No.
391.—Translation.]
Cantonal Government of Basle
City to Mr. Mason.
Sir: With your esteemed letter of 31st March we
received your protest against the emigration of two prostitutes from the
commune of Böttstein (canton Argovie) sent away by an emigration agent
of this city, named Rudolf Werdenberg.
We have to report as follows:
After the inquiries made by our police department, we can only see that
the emigration agent above named has done nothing wrong, he having not
issued the first contract. Besides, he has violated no law of this
canton.
In respect to your further complaint about the emigration of prostitutes,
we pray you to observe that the two women alluded to belong to the
canton of Argovie, and we have, therefore, nothing whatever to do with
this case. Your protests should be sent to the cantonal government of
Argovie.
Please accept the assurance of our highest respect.
The president of the cantonal government:
Dr. PAUL
SPEISER.
The secretary:
GÖTTSHEIN.
[Inclosure 6 in No. 391.]
[Extract from the Nouvelliste Vaudois,
Lausanne, April 2, 1881.—Translation.]
Emigration.—The condition of affairs compels us
to touch once more on this topic, even at the risk of tiring our
readers. We announced the passage of large numbers of emigrants through
Zurich, who went to join a band of 800 persons arriving in Basle on
their way North to a port of embarkment. On all sides it is the same
story; everywhere people are closing up their affairs, realizing what
they can, and leaving the country. The propaganda of the press is
bearing its fruits; it could not have been otherwise. The heavy taxes
which weigh on the people, the military and civil requirements, the bad
crops, the hard times, such are the contributing causes which prompt
them to leave without regret a country where existence has become so
difficult. We cannot reproach these people, who, despairing of their
future, do not wish to condemn their children to a life of anxiety and
care. It has been stated in our news columns, from the different
cantons, that during the first two months of the year there were live
hundred failures in the canton of Zurich, and these fall most heavily
upon the agricultural population.
It is unnecessary to dwell upon this fact, which explains many things.
From the canton of Berne the emigration is among the most active; last
Monday a hundred emigrants passed through Thoune; two families alone had
with them 20 children. Is it, by the way, to be supposed that these
young people, who are going to become acclimatized in the United States,
will there keep any recollections of their native land? It is evident
that this is a loss of so much physical strength for us. Moreover the
spring of this year promises other surprises for us; at Zurich the
passage of regular trains of emigrants is announced.
[Neue Zurcher Zeitung, April 8, 1881.—Translation.]
The habit of many smaller communes of sending off their poor people
or otherwise objectionable elements to America would be put a stop
to if the America immigration commissioners would deal energetically
with the question. The authorities over there complain that not only
from Italy and Germany, but just now especially from Switzerland,
all sorts of dangerous elements are being cast upon them, and on
this account the commissioners of emigration of the State of New
York will send back on board the Lessing, of the Hamburg line, the
two prostitutes sent by the commune of Böttstein. They will be a joy
to Böttstein!
[Nouvelliste Vaudois, April 8, 1881.—Translation.]
The Swiss communes, notably those of the canton of Argovie, continue
their exploits in the matter of emigration. The Bund’s Baden
correspondent writes that the so-called emigrants are getting to be
more and more regular runaways or even convicts, infirm persons,
broken-down persons, children or grown-up persons unable to perform
any sort of work, whom they send off by steamships to the promised
land. The correspondent says it resembles the custom of parents who,
having brought up their
[Page 1140]
children badly, see fit to use coercion to correct their faults. We
should say that is not the cause, but rather the members of the
commune, who having become more and more rapacious as regards the
communal funds, get rid at all hazards of those who in any way risk
falling to the charge of the community. It is a renewal of the
doings of 1860, which evoked the indignant report of our
representative in Brazil. We have our hands upon the documents
concerning an individual who was condemned eight times in succession
in the canton of Berne, and to whom these well-beloved members of
the commune tendered 200 francs to get him over the ocean. How proud
our fellow-countrymen in the United States must be to see arriving
this invasion of invalids, mentioned in the scriptures, complicated
by the scum of our prisons!
The period in which a demand for a popular vote on the law of
emigration expires April 8; its provisions will be applicable at
once; nevertheless a delay until May 15 will be granted the agencies
to furnish their guaranty.
[Tagblatt of the city of St. Galle.—Translation.]
Argovie.—The commune of Böttstein (district
of Zurzach) sent in March two women of loose character. After their
arrival in New York on the 29th of March, and upon their occupation
being announced, the immigration commissioners sent the two
“ladies,” on the 31st of March, back to their native Böttstein,
where the commune will have the pleasure of footing the bill for
their trip and board. The Americans in this way exercise their best
method to put the communes out of conceit of assisting objectionable
emigrants to emigrate.
[Extract from the Basler Nachrichten.—Translation.]
Argovie.—The commune council of Böttstein
decided about the middle of March to contract with the emigrant
agent, Joseph Frei in Klingnau, for sending off to America two
notorious, shameless prostitutes, named Fridolina Vögelin and
Theresa Hauser, who have for a long time shed discredit and dishonor
on the commune. They were brought by Frei to Basle, and from thence
were sent to Havre, and embarked on the 16th March. The expenses of
the journey were paid by the commune; moreover, these women were
provided with but 20 francs apiece. Fortunately the consul of the
United States at Basle discovered the matter and reported it to the
American minister at Berne, sending at the same time all the
official documentary evidence to his government at Washington. The
Secretary of State, Mr. Blaine, intervened, and the result thereof
was that the two women had to return. They left New York on board
the Lessing, March 31, and will be back here in a few days. The
government of the canton of Argovie fully acknowledges the justice
of the complaint of the American consul, and must naturally put all
the responsibility on the commune of Böttstein, where it also
properly belongs.
[Extract from the Genevois, Geneva.—Translation.]
A telegram recently announced that two citizens of the commune of
Böttstein (canton of Argovie) had just been sent back to their
native Switzerland by the action of the Government of the United
States, and at the expense of the canton of Argovie. This affais
has, it seems, made some noise in the United States. The police
authorities of New York have received orders to specially watch the
Swiss emigrants;, they have announced the case of the women
Fridolina Vögelin and Theresa Hauser, who arrived at New York on the
Suevia on the 29th ultimo. These unfortunate women, incapable of
gaining their living in the United States, were sent without any
means to the new world by the commune of Böttstein, which thus got
rid of its duties towards its citizens. These poor creatures were
re-embarked on board the Lessing, and should be soon back in their
native canton. We cannot too strongly condemn such procedures. The
cantons and the communes are bound to support their unfortunate
citizens, and to furnish them aid and protection as far as possible.
Those communes which interpret their duties toward their citizens in
the way that Böttstein has done, have a singular way of putting into
practice our national motto: “Un pour tous, tons pour un”—“One for
all, all for one.”
We protest with all our force against such actions, which can but
lower the whole Swiss nation in the eyes of the world.
It is in the administration of the communes and in the institutions
of our towns that there remains within our confederation great
progress to be made and great abuses to be abolished. The day will
soon come, let us hope, in which we shall see the last traces of a
period in which neither equality nor the idea of human dignity
existed disappear from our cantons and municipal institutions.
