Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-01-20
Disposition OF The
Enemy Aliens

1t is history tnat long before 1StV
Prussia had flooded France with
itary officers who accepted any serv-
ice available that promised to be
helpful to them in obtaining infor-
nation about the inner life Of the
country granting them hospitality;
that the Prussian spies were employed
as walters, janitors, BARRIERS, me-
chanics, musicians, and SO on, all over
that section Of the country lying be-
tween the Rhine and the Seine; that
there were thousands Of them in
Paris, and that, when Prussia was
forced" into war by Napoleon III,
they quickly reported back to Berlin
with maps, charts, and miscellaneous
information invaluable to an invading
army.
The French government learned all
about this later., French historians
told about it, French writer's of f1c-
ton made use Of it; the Prussian
espionage side of the war of 1870 was
familiar to all readers of French lit
erature long before the beginning of
the war Of 1914. 1t might reasonably
have been expected that France
would have profited by her experience
and have taken steps to prevent the
recurrence of such perfidy. But no.
EAdCSAy IAAO o0AAO AICIlAOAo W AAdnO
the invasion Of France simple were
taken by the Germans, with Prussia
at their head, during the years follow
ing the var Of 1870, and DIP to and
after the outbreak Of the war Of 1914,
Tens of thousands of Germans en-
ployed in France up to almost the
very hour of mobilization in the lat
ter country lad, while o%stensibly pur-
suing ordinary yocations, beer acting
[as spies for the pronounced enemy OF
that country. AS before 1870 they
had, by every possible means. wormed
their way into the confidence Of the
ed, in the later years. upon the hos
pitality and good nature. of the Brit
ish and American peoples; but this
time, in France, they had taken ad-
vantage of new inventions and new
mechanical processes, and had
stretched telegraph and telephone
wires underground, built cement gun
emplacements, and made other mill
tary preparations secretly for The
Day when the German armies should
overrun, subdue, and enslave Europe
France, although grieved beyond
words over the results Of the war OF
1870, had forgiven the individual o.
the enemy country and once more ad.
mitted him to equal opportunities
with her wi people. : But she had
gone beyond forgiving; she had made
the mistake of forgetting a valuable
lesson. She assumed her enemy sat
isfied with the great wrong he ha6
done; she overlooked an enemy whose
appetite for such deeds had only beer
whetted.
Great Britain and the United States
can forgive in 1919 quite as easily a.
France forgave in 1871, but the ques'
ton is, Will they be so quick to for
get? Taking the case of the United
States specifically, the time has ar
rived when the disposition Of the 8,
900 or 1000 interned enemy aliens ii
the country has become a question
A few Of these, it is presumed, are ne
longer dangerous. perhaps the ma
jority of them, if granted freedom ant
permission to remain in the country
would for the present be harmless. I
Is doubtful If any among them would
do any serious mischief to the natiol
now.
But this is not the point. The boin'
Is that practically every one of then
has been pronounced treacherous, o.
likely to be so, to the republic; tina
every one Of them has violated tn
law Of hospitality and the law O.
friendship; that every one Of then
has given evidence that he is unfit TO
the enjoyment of the privilege Of liv
ing in a democracy;-ahd, measured b!
past behavior, it would be the yer.
height of folly to restore any one o
them to a position in the natioI