Speech #660099590

It is stated that the requests in Berlin for permission to leave indicate a desire to go to Argentine. Chile. and Peru. and to the United States. I have reports which show that Peru and the Argentine have recently passed laws requiring passports to be held by all who come in. and designed to check immigration. Of course. it is not possible for any considerable proportion of the estimated 10.000.000 emigrants fron Germany to get out in one year or even two years. Steamship accommodations are not available. Nor is it likely that the bulk of that mumber could reach the United States. However. it is interesting to note that so many applications by Italians are on hand for passports from Italian ports and other parts of the world. including tle United States. that all ships available vill be used by Italy and that German emigration will most of it go out via Holland. Reports from London indicate that Bolshevik authorities in Russia are acquiring genuine American passports. intending to use them to send their agents to the United States and elsewhere. British authorities will retain certain control over persons leaving England. The minister to The Hague believes that agitatorsBolsheviks and propagandistswill continue actively at work. It is likely that other countries will try to get rid of these persons and that the worst of them wil I go to the country to which the entry is easiestand where there is the least to explain. Still another report says that hundreds of soldiers from enemy countries. especially those of the reserve who were called into the war from civil life and whose previous occupations are lost by -the war. will if permitted to do so emigrate to America and avail themselves of the opportunity denied to them in their own country. The United States may.be said to have suffered less economically and her labor less disturbed by the war than any other country. She has in part retained her status quo ante. Consequently. unless the countries of Europe prohibit the emigration or unless the United States prohibit tie immigration. we may expect a large influx of aliens whlo should be pro�vided with passports with their photographs attached thereto as now and the continuation of the vis6ing by a United States diplomatic officer at the country where issued. also at the port of embarkation. in order to enable the Government to be sure that the alien seeking admission is the person lie represents himself to be. The return to the United States of enemy aliens or those who have been forced to leave the United States since the beginning of.the war is undersirable. Hundreds of these men are known to our secret service and to the military and naval intelligence bureaus.