Evening star., 1940-07-31

ment, which is administering the
new law that was national defense
development, was distributing S.
100000 samples Of the questionnaire
each alien must fill out, and at the
same time speeding up other phases
of the machinery required for the
undertaking.
Consisting of Is questions, the
registration forms were made pub
lie yesterday at a press conference
IN which Earl G. Harrison, director
OF alien registration, and Solicitor
General Biddle, who is co-ordinating
alien control operations at the de-
partment, discussed the project. All
questions must be answered by aliens
over the age of IA; for those Under
that age, parents or guardians must
answer nine.
Affiliations Requested.
Calculated to attract the most at
tention is the last question on the
list, which requires those persons
over IA to state whether, in the last
five years, they have "heen affiliated
With or active in Ca member of,
official of, a worker 4or) organiza-
tions devoted in whole or in part to
influencing or furthering the politi-
cal activities, public relations, or
public policy of a forsign govern
ment." A Complementary question
asks for the lists of "clubs, organiza-
tions or societies" with which the
alien has been identified in the
flve-year period, or with which affili-
alton is intended
Mr.. Biddle said these questions
were not phrased solely to uncover
tie-ups with organizations looked
upon by some people" as "subver-
sive" but re- her to get complete
picture Of the aliens associations.
He added that the five-year limi-
tation was adopted because it was
believed to be reasonable"
Information as to arrests, In
dictments aad convictions also is
called for-the same data, inciden-
tally, demanded of every person
taking civil service examination,
Other Questions.
Other questions ask:
Name - including professional
names, nicknames, aliases, and, for
married women, maiden name.
Address. place of birth, national
lty. sex, marital status, race, pl1ysi-
cal description.
Date of arrival. port of entry, en-
try status-permanent resident, visi-
tor, or stowaway, for example;
length Of residence.
Occupational status, military or
naval service; citizenship status and
list OF relatives in the United States.
The registration will be conducted
at all first and second class post
offices, and at post Offices at all
county seats, a total of approxi-
mately 1900 registration places. The
registration and fingerprinting will
be handled only by postal en-
ployes, and, in this connection, off,
cials again warned against "chis-
elers' who have sought to capitalize
on the law by leading the un-
wary to believe they are author
lied" to perform this operation for
a fee.
Aliens, when registered, will get
receipt. but will not be obliged to
carry 1t around with them.
S500.000 Saving Seen.
The fingerprint file will be kept
by the Federal Bureau of Investi-
CATION, thereby affecting a saving
of about s500,000, according to Mr..
Biddle. When the point was raised
that the files thus would serve the
purpose of criminal Identification
If need arose, although the registra-
ton records are required to be kept
secret and confidential, officials con-
ceded that, but were inclined to
dismiss that particular issue as of no
consequence. It was added that as
a unit of the department, there was
no reason why the Federal Bureau
OF Investigation should not have
access to the flngerprint files. 1t was
emphasized, however, that the per-
sonal data will not be open to the
Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The new records will be used, how
ever, to check against those main
tanned by the immigration and
Naturalization Service to determine
whether each alien registering IS
in the country legally or not, and
review section also will be set up in
the immigration and Naturalization
Service to inspect each return and
determine whether there are indi-
cations that an investigation of par
ticular individuals is advisable.
Again, however, the registration
officials reiterated that there will be
no witch hunt" in connection with
the program.
Declaring there is mo stigma at
tached to this registration any more
than there was when our soldiers
were fingerprinted during the last
war" Mr.. Harrison said most of the
3,500,000 aliens who will be subject
to the law at the outset "are law