Evening star., 1940-08-27
D. Post Office
Registers $50
As Aliens
IS Are Fingerprinted
At Main Station
Before Noon


Mr.. Burke said there was little or
no waiting on the part of proSpec-
tive registrantS. and that the time
required for individual registrations
averaged from 20 to 80 minutes, as
was expected.
Thirty-five of the registrations
were reported at the main post
Office, North Capitol street and
Massachusetts, avenue. Mr.. Burke
has urged that as many persons as
can do so conveniently use the
main Office for registration, since
more complete facilities have been
installed there than were possible at
any of the branch offices.
IS Register at Branches.
Twenty persons were registered at
Benjamin Franklin branch, Twelfth
street and PENNSYLVANIA avenue
NV, during the first three hours,
and IS registered at the U street
branch, 1888 U street NV, in the
same period.
Day to day tabulations are to be
made at the local headquarters in
the main Post Office, it has been
announced. Post Offices in the larger
cities are to report to the Alien
Registration Division weekly, and re-
ports from all other offices are to be
made each month.
. Rules for Refugee Children.
European refugee children must
be registered by their guardians, like
other alien children under IA, the
Alien Registration Division has an
nounced.
Children under IA will not be
fingerprinted and guardians filling
in the forms in their behalf will not
be required to answer questions re-
garding a physical description of
the applicant, organizations in
which applicants have been active
in the previous five years, previous
military service, listing of criminal
record, if any, and description of
the applicants possible activity in
behalf of foreign government dur
ing the last five years.
When refugee or alien children
reach the age of IA they must reg
lister in person and be flngerprinted
within 80 days after their birthday
In the case of children reaching IA
during the registration period it is
suggested that the children wait
until their 14th birthday and then
register. a~-
Officials of the Washington Branch
of the United States Committee for
Care of Refugee Children declared
today that registration of refugee
children now in this country would
be cared for by the individual guard
ians. They pointed out that, under
the Registration Act, children en-
tering the country in the future
must be registered before a visa can
be obtained
Registration of all aliens now in
the country is to be completed by
December 27, but the policy of reg
istering all foreign visitors is to be
made permanent. In the future this
registration will be prerequisite for
obtaining visa to enter the United
States.
The Alien Registration Act of
1910 applies to all non-citizens ex-
cept officials of foreign governments
and members of their families. EN-
ployes of embassies and legations,
such as clerks, cooks and chauffeurs,
must register.
Following a policy laid down by
Vincent c. Burke, Washington post
master, after conference with Post
Office Department officials, the reg
iStration here was made as private
as possible. No newspaper photog-
raphers were allowed, and only gen.
eral information concerning the
registration was released.
Local authorities expect to regis
ter 1000 or more aliens, and the I'm
migration and Naturalization Service
has estimated that there are ap-
proximately 5000 non-citizens in
Virginia, $4,000 in Maryland and
3,600,000 in the United States.
Keep Open Until PM.
The two large downtown post
Offices, together with the Bethesda
and Park road branches, will re-
main open until 8 pm. Monday
through Fridays during the four
month registration period to accom-
odate those unable to come in dur
ing the 9 am. to pm. period that
will be observed in the 18 other local
branch offices. All the offices are
to close at pm. on Saturdays.
Attorney General Jackson ruled
yesterday that steps taken by Amer
lean citizens during the World War
to expatriate themselves became
effective when Congress declared the
war ended on July 2. 1921, and that
such. persons were, in general, not
citizens now
Three Situations Involved.
Mr.. Jackson's opinion was given in
response to request from Secretary
Hull concerning three situations:
Citizens who became naturalized in
a foreign state while the United
States was at war; American women
who acquired foreign naturalization
by marriage during that period, and
American citizens who took q foreign
oath of allegiance during the period.
"a 1907 law provides that mo
American citizen shall be allowed
to expatriate himself when this
country is at war;
In the first case, Mr.. jackson held
that expatriation became effective
when the war ended unless some
affirmative action had been taken to
end the foreign naturalization. In
the. second case, he held that the
American woman lost her citizen
ship If the marriage extended be-
yond July 2, 1921.
In the third case, he said, the
practice was to recognize retention
OF citizenship if the individual re-
turned to this country for perma-
nent residence prior to the con-
clusion of the war and did nothing
to indicate allegiance to foreign
government. However, he said, If
the individual did not return there
was doubt as to retention of Amer