The New York herald., 1922-05-21
Educating Aliens.
Alice Stone Blackwell opposes the
Registration Bill in Congress.

To THE NEW YORK HERALD: Seldom
have more bad features been combsisS
in one measure than are found In the
ninety three page bill introduced in Con-
gress by Representative Johnson OF
Washington in regard to the naturaliza-
tion and registration of aliens (H. r.
10S6O).
A warning against it has been issued
by the executive committee of the Inter-
state Council on Immigrant Education.
The council is made up of men and
women prominent in that line of work.
with the Massachusetts State Super
visor of Americanization at its head.
They point out that the bill would take
away the control of immigrant educa-
tion from the State and local educa-
tional authorities and give despotic
power over it to an official of the Fed
eral Department Of Labor.
The bill requires every alien to regis
ter every year, paying SIS every time
with SO additional for each child and
fines him $25 if he fails to do so. The
money thus raised is to be matched with
an equal sum by the local school au-
thorities and used to train aliens in
American citizenship under the direction
of this Federal officer.
Mrs. Frederick p. Bagley and other
Americanization workers object on the
ground of the bitterness it would cause
among our immigrants. We cannot tax
and fine an alien into loving the United
States. The entire foreign language
press of the country is opposed to the
measure.
| One object of the bill is to make it
easier for the Government to keep track
| of alien radicals; but where 1t would
enable the authorities to locate one
really dangerous alien it would arouse
disaffection toward the Government in
| the breasts of thousands who now have
no such feeling.
Citizenship training for aliens is very
desirable. but the proposed method would
be like forcing the poorest of our public
school children to pay for their own
education 1t would work especial hard
ship at this time of widespread unem-
ployment.
| The bill also proposes to refuse or re-
woke naturalization in the case of any
person "who believes in the unlawful
assauting of any officer or officers or
any organized government because of
their official character" We have
right to take measures against any one
who tries to upset our own Government.
but why should we penaizc an alien for
sympathizing with an attempted revo-
luton against some foreign government
which may richly deserve to be over
thrown? You can hardly have revolu-
tion without assaulting government off,
cias This bill would have punished
every Italian sympathizng with Carl
baldi, every Hungarian sympathizing
with Kossuth, every Irishman sympathiz-
| ing with Sim Fein or the Irish Republic,
every Armenian who believes in ress-
tance to the unspeakable Turk.
The same penalty is to be imposed
upon anybody belonging to a society or
group which favors this or any one OF
long list of other things. The word
group is indefinite. and would make it
possible to deport almost any alien who
had friends in sympathy with any rev.
olution anywhere.
The bill gives enormous and vague
powers that would readily lend them
selves to purposes of persecution. II
has other bad points as we'll
The Shortridge bill in the United
States Senate tS. 34O3) is much the
same, only worse, as it would make the
annual registration fee for aliens s2i
instead of s5.
Opposition to these bills is growing.
and will increase as their provisions be-
come better known.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL
| DORCHESTER. Mass. May 10.