The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1919-04-11
MINUTE MEN OF WASHINGTON
ENGAGED IN WORTHY WORK
Organized to Help Worthy Foreigners
TO Become Citizens and Prevent the
Naiatitaozirl randi RTE m
Naturalization of the Undesirables

NataUtaOZlrl fandZ-O RC,.E i m e
Naturalization of the Undesirables
Making good Americans of the un-
naturalized foreigners in this state,
as well as helping to rid the country
of those who are opposed to our in
stitutions and our government, is a
part of he program of work in which
the Minute Men of Washington are
now engaged. Altho primarily organ
lied as a citizens secret service organ-
ization, assisting the department of
justice of the federal government, the
scope of the work has been extended
considerably, since the signing of the
armistice and the Minute Men thru
out the state are taking part in var
ious lines of work of the Americana
zation movement the purpose of which
is to assimilate the foreign population
of the United States and raise the
standard of American citizenship.
For months past the Minute Men
have been assisting the department of
labor in the work of naturalizing for
eigners, by investigating the qualifi-
cations of those who apply for citizen
ship, so that the worthy may be en-
couraged and assisted in gaining citi
zenship and the unworthy may be de-
barred. Hundreds of applicants have
been Investigated and reported upon,
at the request of John Speed Smith,
chief naturalization examiner for the
northwestern district. At present
there are 800 applications referred to
the Seattle headquarters for investi-
cation, and Investigations and reports
are being made at the rate of twenty
per day. Many I. W. w. and others
not qualified for citizenship have had
their applications denied upon the
strength of the evidence furnished by
the Minute Men.
S. j. Lombard, state inspector of the
Minute Men, is extending this work
throughout the state as rapidly as
possible and calling upon American
citizens generally to assist in making
our citizenship 100 per cent American.
'sFor the first time the people have a
voice in determining who shall be ad-
mitted to citizenship and all real
Americans should take advantage of
the opportunity for their own good
and the good of our country" said
Mr.. Lombard. We have 100000
unnaturalized foreigners in this coun-
try. Most of them probably can be
made into good citizens. Many of
them are dangerous to American in
stitutions and should not be allowed
to become citizens and thus be more
dangerous and harder to deal with.
We may draw a lesson from the fact
that the bolsheviki in Russia represent
no larger proportion of the population
than the unnaturalized foreign ele-
ment represents of the population of
the United States. The lesson is that
we must make good Americans of all
of this element that we can and rid
ourselves of those who are opposed to
American institutions and the Amer
ican government"
This great and vital work can not
be accomplished without the aid of the
public generally. The Minute Men
were asked to assist the department
of labor in investigating applicants
for citizenship because John Speed
Smith, chief naturalization examiner
for this district, has four states under
his jurisdiction and a staff of only
eight examiners. Manifestly it is i'm
possible for the department to safe
guard admission to citizenship as it
should be safeguarded, without assis-
tance such as our organization is CIV
ing and, in turn, our own work needs
the cooperation of citizens in general.
Not only should information be sup
piled of attempts of the unworthy to
gain citizenship. but also every Amer
lean should give freely of his time to
help the worthy to become qualified
for citizenship and to appear as their
witnesses, when the applications are
heard"
Promulgated by
THE MINUTE MEN.