Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-02-19
LANSING URGES
EXEMPTION FOR
NEUTRAL ALIENS
IntimateS in Letter to Chair
man Dent That CompIica-
tons Might Follow Forcing
Them in Army

! WASHINGTON, Feb. 16.-Amend-
/ ment of the select service law so as to
exempt citizens or subjects of neutral
countries who have declared their In
tention to become American citizens IS
proposed in a bill prepared by the war
department in conjunction with the
state department and introduced today
| by Chairman Dent, of the house mill
tary committee
Secretary Lansing advised Mr.. Dent
that the two departments ARE strong
| ly of the opinion that, from the stand
point of international relations, it is
highly desirable that the existings law
should stand, unmodified as evidence
of disregard of treaty obligations or
even a supposed rule of international
conduct heretofore observed by other
governments"
Secretary Lansings estimated that
counting out citizens or subjects Of
! treaty countries, who, it is assumed,
should be exempted, the proposed
amendment would exclude about 10000
men, of whom not more than so per
cent and Sprobably not more than 80
per cent, would be. found eligible for
military service" Of the 10000, he
estimated that one-half are citizens of
Mexico and about 40 per cent are sub
| jects of Scandinavian countries.
| Secretary Lansings letter revealed
that many neutral countries already
have made insistent protests against
conscription of their nationals, causing
embarrassment to the government; that
.he president has found it expedient
for international reasons to discharge
from the army neutral nationals under
certain circumstances, and that the pres
ent law has been used abroad as a me-
dunn of irritation by enemy propagan-
dists
Secretary Lansing said the loss of
man power involved seemed to him Gin
consequential in view of the other con-
siderations at stake in our foreign re-
| lations."
"All aliens Except alien enemies)
who had declared their intention to
become American citizens, were by
the selective service act, made liza
BILE to military service in the same
manner as citizens of the United
States" said the secretary's let
ter.
The act contained no provisions
providing the treaty stipulations by
which this government had become
obligated to exempt the nationals
of Argentina Costa Rica, Hondu-
ras. Italy, japan, Paraguay, Ser
bia, Spain and. Switzerland from
military service in the United
States. 1t made the declaration of
intention the determining factor of
such liability, although this govern
ment is party TO several treaties
which specifically stipulate that the
daCla NJ N shall not of
itself affect in any way the ma
tionality of the declarant- And it
is the rule of law in the United
States supported by the supreme
court of the United States decisions,
that a declaration of intention does
not confer American citizenship
upon the declarant, or release him
from his prior allegiance. Appar-
emily there never has been any in
tention on the part of the govern
ment to regard such persons, gen.
orally otherwise than as aliens.
Requests for Discharge
1t was not to be unexpected
therefore, that the department of
state should receive numerous and
insistent requests from the diplo-
matte representatives of neutral
countries for the discharge of their
nationals who had been conscripted.
PRESIDENT w llSOn, dS
in-chief of the army, the letter
added, had found it possible to meet
the requests by discharging aliens
after they had been indicted into
the military service.
Such inductions, however, which
is a necessary prerequisite to dis
charge by the president, the letter
said, constitutes in reality a viola
ton of the treaty obligations and
the accepted international prece-
dents upon which the protests of
foreign diplomatic officers have
been based, and does not afford an
adequate solution of the question
involved, because, though discharg-
ed from the army, neutral aliens
were nevertheless liable under the
selective service act to military
service and therefore subject to
all the restrictions and conditions of
persons liable under the act in re-
| spect to further service if requested,
departure from the United States,
and otherwise.
| Moreover, the act as it now
stands has given rise to the report
abroad that this government is i'm
pressing neutrals into it's armed
! forces, a report which has apparent
| ly been seized upon and advertised
| by enemy propagandists with a
view to irritating the sensitive feel
ings Of certain foreign governments
The war and state departments
therefore concur in recommending
! the passage of the proposed amend
ment.
A total of, 134, 395 nationals of neu-
! trail countries are registered, and of
these $3.50 have declared citizenship
| intention and therefore under the pres
ent law are liable for service.