New Britain herald., 1917-07-05
WILL HELP ALIENS
 BECOME CITIZENS
Exemption Board Offers to Pro-
 vide Work for Short Time

John W. Allen, chairman of one of the two military exemption boards, in
 a lengthy letter to Mayor Quig1ey to-
 day, pledged himself and five other
 members of the board to see to it that aliens who have not the neces- sary $1 with which to take out natur-
 alization papers and who wish to do
 so in order to enlist in the National
 Guard will be provided for by be- ing given employment for short time in order to entitle them to a $1 fee.~ Since early in the week, wher it developed that a number of aliens
 who wanted to enlist did not have the
 necessary money to pay for their papers, and under statute the clerk was unable to waive this fee, there has been considerable controversy over the matter. When several men came forward and offered to pay these fees themselves some alleged legal technicalities were uncovered which might prevent this. In the ac-
 oompanying letter, MT. Allen appears to have solved the problem and at the same time makes a generous and patriotic offer, together with some interesting observations:
 New Britain, Conn, July 4, 1917. '.Hon. Geo. A. Quigley,
 New Britain, Conn.
 "Dear Sir:-
 1T understand that a city official cannot find a way to get first papers for an alien because he has not got the price, s1.00, although he wants and must have said first papers to enlist and fight for the U s. "Please Officially inform said city official that in case the same cond- tions arise again, I personally will give applicants work, if nothing more than to take them to the municipal farm in an auto. give them $1.00 1 each for hoeing twelve hills of po- 1 tatoes, bring them back in an auto to the clerk of the court and see that said clerk gets the same s100 that will fill the law. Furthermore, I will personally pledge for five others of the Military Exemption board who will gladly do the same thing that we may fill our quota for New Britain ' without asking so many of our young men who are married and who have ! small children to support, to enlist Please read this twice and never for get it. Many and many cases do not claim exemption. "Now I appeal to you to do all pos Eible officially and I know you will of your own option see that the law is compiled with and at the same {iime have the wishes of these aliens granted; they should he honored for It. In this way we will be obliged to send less of our young married men hWho have a double duty to perform one to their country and one to their | zach answer for himself it is so easy
 to answer for the other fellow.
 Can both duties be accomplished Without all doing both? Yes. by hay Ing enough willing to enlist that have no family ties. Therefore, do every lining possible to encourage single men to enlist and do not block them (bv technicalities that lawyers so often
 Invoke.
 "Now. Mir. Mayor I wish to say
 right here, and every time I have a
 chance after this, that I never wholly
 Appreciated how far true patriotism
 extended, but in looking over the
 $500 cards asd seeing what they
 were willing to do even when the U.
 s. soil has not been touched, what
 would happen if the enemy were on
 our soil. Why, every man would be
 pn the Job except a few who signed
 their cards this way: No occupations
 No job. Single. Heart trouble. I
 almost believe we could raise a large
 humber in New Britain to form a good
 siza regiment of women as they have
 lr1 Russia. Certainly our exemption
 board would go out of business and we
 would go to war.
 Every truly yours.
 JOHN w. ALLEN
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