Speech #650217939

Mr. President. I am In such thorough accord with the views of the Senator from Massachusetts on immigration and on sharply restricting immigration. and in such thorough accord with the general proposition that he has in mind when lie presents this amendment. that I hesitate to differ with him about it. and yet I feel that justice to the department. to the Bureau of Nlturalization. and to the colnmittee that handled this subject requires me at least to state the difficulty that we see in his amendment. I will say that it was considered by the Committee on Immigrationnot in these words. but the proposition was considered by the committeebecause the Senator kindly gave me the benefit of his counsel. and I was much impressed by it. and submitted his.suggestion to the committee. Ill the first place. we must remember that the House bill which we are amending. and which we are passing in the form of a substitute. was a bill which provided that alien enemies who became such by virtue of the declaration of war of this country against the countries from which these aliens came. and who therefore could not prosecute their pending petitions for naturalization in the courts of the land. should be allowed to go oil with their actions at law in the courts. provided the petitions were pending before the declaration of war. The Senate committee thought that was too broad and too dangerous a proposition to adopt without a great many limitations. The Secretary of War. as I remember. protested very earnestly against it. and said that there was very great danger that great harm might be done by it if the bill were passed in the form in which the House of Representatives passed it. So that as a substitute on that one question. for tIe action of the Iouse. the Senate committee has proposed the eleventh subdivision. oms page 10 of the printed bill. which I will read: Eleventh. No alien who is a native. citizen. subject. or denizen of any. country. State. or sovereignty with which the United States is at war .shall be admitted to become a citizen of the United States unless he made his declaration of intention within seven years prior to the exIstence of the state of war. or was at that time entitled to become a citizen of the United States. without making a declaration of Intention. or unless his petition for naturalization shall then be pending and is otherwise entitled to admission. notwithstanding he shall be an alien enemy at the time and in the manner prescribed by the laws passed upon that subject. In substance that would be. without the modification contained in the proviso. the ]-ouse provision. but we put this additional safeguard aroun. it: Provided. That no alien embraced within this subdivision shall have his petition for naturalizatloi called for a hearIng except after the written consent of the Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner of Naturalization shall have been receive(] by the clerk of the court and exhibited to the court. and the petition shall be given no final hearing except !i open court and it the presence of the representative of the Government from the Bureau of Naturalization. whose objection shall cause the .petition to be continued from time to time for so long as the Governsent may require: Provided. howeverThe balance of the subdivision I need not read. We took the House proposition. and we said. "Even if these petitions were pending at the time war was declared. and even if the legal rights of these people had accrued and were perfected prior to the declaration of war. still we will not permit them to become citizens of the United States by the process of naturalization unless tile Government is satisfied of their loyalty and unless the Government has no objection to the proceedings." We thought that was a wise precaution in time of wa r. Now. let us see where the amendment of .le Senator from Massachusetts would lead us. We are informed by the Naturalization Bureau that there are many thousands of these people. so:called GermanAmericans. who are of undoubted loyalty to this country. It is the purpose of the Government to try to separate the loyal from the disloyal. They hlve ample appropriations and an ample force to make inquiries and to ascertain the truth in these cases.