At Tarpon Springs

Sharp official eyes search the gay streets of the Greek quarter of Tarpon Springs, Fla. Alien sponge divers (TIME, Jan. 21) move aside, shift their glance away. Along the waterfront, among the gaudy antique boats', has gone the whispered warning: U. S. Immigration inspectors are about the town to check smuggling of aliens. Every stranger is a suspect.

For 25 years the Greek colony of Tarpon Springs has had the local deep sea sponge diving industry to itself. Americans were not interested. Then came the immigration quota law. New recruits from Greece fell off. The new generation of native-born Greeks would not fill up the ranks. By dint of much bickering with government officials an occasional batch of 50 Greek divers would be admitted temporarily, for six months.

The sponge boats would go out for a month or two and come back with their fluffy treasures of the deep and, some said, with additional crew members. New faces moved against the bright background, new voiced joined in the native songs.

Were these Greeks smuggled in to dive for the sponge industry? Alert U. S. agents are waiting, watching.