The Nome nugget., 1940-09-18
MEMBER OF ASSOCIATED PRESS


 have never adopted the unwise policy of forcing citizenship upon anyone. We have never set a time limit and said to them, You must become citizens or get out" Partly it is due to ig- norance. Partly 1t is because, es- pecially in times like these, the orderly process of granting citi- zenship by court procedure af- ter care1ul investigation is not geared up to accomodate large onrushes of applicants. There are thousands of aliens in this coun try who have declared their in- tention of becoming citizens, and who are patiently awaiting their turn.
 But whatever the reason may be. the fact remains that we have with us this large number of aliens. For the most part, they are here legally and most of them have been admitted for per manent residence. There can be little doubt that the overwhelm- ing majority of them are decent, loyal, hard-working, respectable people, from whom this nation has nothing whatever to fear.
 But program of national de- fense must be adequate and com plete. Nothing can be overlook ed or neglected. We still have before us the tragic picture of those hapless nations who under estimated the dangers which lurked behind their lines. This Government must know every thing it can learn about every alien within our borders. It must find out how many there are, who they are and where they are. It must know why they are here, and what they are doing. A Government to protect its own can do nothing less.
 And it must do so too for the protection of the aliens themselv es. These are dangerous days. Emotions run high, and good judgement and sound reason are apt to be overridden by rash ness and impetuous enthusiasm. Hysteria must be kept down, and race hatred and prejudice must not be permitted to hold sway. This Government cannot allow the harmless, laW-abiding, loyal alen to be harrassed or persecut- ed by those who would act in i passion and haste under a gen. ulne but mistaken sense of pat rlotlSm. And it can best protect and safeguard those from other lands who live here, if it knows all there is to know about them.
 Thus all must agree that the Congress acted wisely and well, in the interest of our national se- curity, when it decided last June that every alien must be register ed and every alien over fourteen years of age fingerprinted with in the four months period begin hing August 27th. It will be not ed that the statute applies to ev cry alien. This means, generally speaking, every foreign born man woman and child in the United States and its possessions who has not been naturalized. All aliens over fourteen years of age must register in person; children under fourteen must be registered by their parents or guardians. When a child reach es the age of fourteen, he must then register in person. More over, after he has registered, an alien must report every chan ge of residence within five days after he moves.
 And let me emphasize that ev- en though one has declared his intention of becoming a citizen and has received his so-called first papers," he is still an alien In the eyes of the law and must register
 Registration is compulsory. Ev cry alien MUST register. The ! law provides a pana a1tU in the