Speech #650153307

Chairman. the bill which we are considering. H. R. 5667. is short and I shall very briefly call attenIFRj~.1J~y C) tion to wvh.at its purposes are. .lhe first secrimth of tle bill sinliply says: That 0i13 tlien eligible by existing law to become a naturalized .iitizen of tile 1 United Slates. who Is t nathe or subject of aL country that Is eigaged it war with Gerniaty. or with any of the olher central pIowersii Elirot. ulind who but for his allenage would be subject to Ihe seteetive draft under the act of May 18. 1917. or under any subse4uit t Ioiictica iion or change of sthld act. who by luiself or by anyone clie has herctofore claimed. or shall hereafter claim. exemption from said selective draft on account of being an alien. shall forever be dtenieti the right of becoming a citizen of the United States. or of any of its Iossessions. and shall as sn_ a. Iracticable be deported to tile country of which he is a subject or citizen. 1Ir. Chairman. tile nessi5ity for tlis. bill is obvious. The sec|tiol of tle country froit whiih I cotne is not so seriously affecled biy the alien slacker as otther parts of tlte country. WyC :Ire interested in it ini a genleraL way because there Ire 111010 than a ntillion allis in this country. acc ding to tile Statement of tlte War Department. between 21. and 31. years of age that have registere(d. A large majority of these Jaihn the benelit of their exemption. lad tinder Ie new Classification those who claitt it have been pll iii class 5. wi0i0t llteans that they will never 1)e called. The quest ion for us to consider Is whet her that is right anId just to men int America. nItive born and naturalized. who are lighting tile battles. to a great extent. for the very existence Of the coutries front which these slackers come. I understatnd t hat iore than 200.000 Italians alone have been registered who are aliens and not subject to drtaff. So. in a general way. the whole country Is interested. becatise suppose in the next draft we get three or four hundred thousand who have escaped the draft so far. that would malerillly reduce the number of our own people who would ]live to be called. lNow. as to our right to do this: This bill does not conflict witlf tty treaty.