New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-11-21
The End of a Farce

Inc End or ThCe
The government has at last walked up
to the need of ending the farce of enemy
alien immunity. The Presidents procla-
nation of last spring excluding German
subjects from specified war zones and
areas of military activity was good enough
as far as it went. But its enforcement
was joke. 1t was left to enforce itself.
And German enemy aliens are the last
people in the world to react in magma
ton to that sort of law enforcement
We gave notice that we expected Ger
man subjects here to be prudent in their
behavior and exemplary in their daily walk
and conduct. We told them what not to
10, and then trusted to their good inten-
tons and sense of propriety to restrain
them from doing it. That showed COM
plete ignorance of German psychology.
The only restraint which German of to-
day recognizes is the restraint of force.
The government warned aliens TO keep out
of the zones and reservations created by
the Presidents proclamation. But having
n not unreasonable suspicion that they
wouldn't keep out, it offered to issue en-
trance permits to all who cared to apply
for them. Most of the intruders didn't
even take the trouble to ask for passes.
They went in and out of the closed zones
at will, and practically all the government
has done for months past has been to wink
at their defiance Of its authority.
The execution of the proclamation in
this city was left to United States mar
shals who had no force at their command
to keep the barred districts clear To po-
lice those districts properly would require
many regiments of soldiers. The marshals
had only handful of civilian deputies.
The Germans knew this and contemptuous-
ly made the barred zone edict dead let
ter. The feeling of most of them was IL
Illustrated by the action of one in Marshal
McCarthy's Office the other day. Accord
ing to a report in "The New York Times"
q German taxicab driver, becoming an
noyed at the failure of the marshal to get
him job, impudently pulled out his pass
and tore it up, saying: "Just to show you
that don't care anything about this old
enemy alien pass, am going to tear it up
right now"
1t is time to put all such Germans under
military guard. We shall have to come
sooner or later to the policy of general
internment. The Administration is not
willing to 90 that far just now. But its
new order is a step in the right direction.
We hope that it will not break down, as
the first order did, from lack of genuine
compulsion behind it. The barred zones
must be policed by soldiers if German
subjects are to be kept out of them. The
moral suasion method has been an abso-
lutte failure. Employers doing government
work still employ enemy aliens; thou
sands Of them still have access TO the
waterfront and thousands Of them arc
still engaged in espionage and sabotage.
The more stringent regulations aim at
completer control of our enemy popula-
ton. But that control can be assured
only through the employment of large
bodies of troops in this city and in every
other centre in which enemy aliens have
congregated and military work is being
carried on.
Another thing. Espionage, incendiar
ism and sabotage cannot be stopped until
enemy ally aliens are treated on the same
basis as the Germans. Austrians here
have all along cooperated with Germans
in plotting the destruction of shipping
munitions plants and food stores and in
collecting information for the use of the
enemy They pay no attention to the
diplomatic fiction under which peace re-
lations are still supposed to be manifested
between the United States and Austria
Hungary. That fiction inures to their
benefit. 1t gives them freer hand to en-
gage in hostile enterprises here. They are
for it to that extent. But it doesn't act as
& bar on their enemy activities.
The government will soon have to lump
all enemy aliens together-Austrians,
Hungarians, Bulgarians and Turks, as
well as Germans-and treat them with
equal rigor. Every week brings its record
Of new losses due TO our go-as-you-please
policy Of leniency. 1t is time to turn a
new page-to declare war on all our act
ual enemies and to put their nationals
here into internment camps. At large
they will always furnish a nucleus for
conspiracy and be menace to our pro-
gramme Of military preparation.
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