Evening star., 1942-01-27
Plan for Registering
Enemy Aliens Next
Month Outlined

Forum Speaker Advises
Germans, ItoIions and
Jops to Make Preparations
The regulations governing the Is.
suance Of certificates Of tdentifca-
ton to alien enemies in the United
States were described by Earl g
Harrison, special assistant to the
Attorney General, in q speech last
night on the National Radio Forum
arranged by The Star and broad
cast nationally over the Blue Net
work. The program was heard
locally over Station WMAL.
The text of the address OF Mr.
Harrison, who has charge OF the
alien enemy Identification program
follows:
I want to thank the Washing
ton Star Radio Forum and the Blue
Network for giving me this oppor-
tunity to describe an important plan
of action our Government Is about
to undertake. That action, known
Is the alien Identification require
ment, applies specifically to Ger
mans, Italians and Japanese living
here who are not citizens OF the
United States. Actually, it Is a pro-
gram that ought to have the close
attention, understanding and CO.
operation Of every American.
More Than 100000.
Some OF you, listening this eve
ming, may have parents who are
German, Italian or Japanese ma
tionals. Some Of you have relatives
who come within that category.
That is not surprising when one
considers that there are more than
q million non-citizens now IN the
United States who were born In
Germany, Italy or ia. m. and that
many of them have been here long
enough to have become the parents
and even the grandparents OF
American-bor children. others,
listening, may have good and close
friends who happen to be aliens OF
German, Italian or Japanese ma
tionality. Whatever your relation
ship to any of them may be, you
can do them q friendly service by
understanding the true nature and
intent of this new requirement and
by helping them, where it seems
appropriate, to comply with 1t.
As many Of you know, aliens OF
enemy nationalities-that Is. Ger
man, Italian and japanese non
citizens-living in this country have
been subject to certain restrictions
ever since the United States entered
the war on December 8. Since that
time these non-citizens have been
technically known as allen enc
mics" You will recall that on
December 8 and December the
President issued proclamations Civ
ing the Attorney General authority
to issue regulations affecting the
conduct of all aliens OF German,
italian and Japanese nationality.
These proclamations and regula-
tions, while they take from many
loyal aliens some Of the privileges
which other aliens and American
citizens have, are necessary war
time precautionary measures. II we
were not at war 1t would not be
necessary to impose them on a large
section Of our population, many OF
whom are as loyal as our citizenry.
But we are at war with ruthless
enemies, who use every possible op-
portunity to gain their ends, and all
precautions must be taken against
the disloyal few there are among
us, even at the cost of inconvenience
ing many innocent persons.
Majority Cooperative.
The great majority of German.
italian and Japanese aliens living
in this country understand that and
from all reports they are being
most cooperative in complying with
the regulations affecting them.
On January IA the President is
sued his most recent proclamation
concerning German, italian and
japanese aliens. Essentially, that
proclamation is intended to facill-
tate enforcement Of the regulations
issued by authority OF the three
previous proclamations. It requires
all aliens Of enemy nationalities-
that is, German, italian and Japa-
nese aliens-to apply for and ac-
ouire certificates Of identification,
and authorizes the Attorney General
of the United States to make such
rules and regulations as he NAV
deem necessary for effecting such
identifications." 1t & to describe to
you the procedure involved IN OBJ
tanning a certificate of Identification,
and to tell you about the rules and
regulations that have been issued
by the Attorney General that I am
addressing you this evening.
Like all regulations affecting the
conduct Of aliens Of enemy national
tiles living in the United States, the
identification program will be Under
the supervision Of the Department
of Justice. And. as in the case OF
the alien registration program OF
1910, the identification program will
be conducted with the close cooper
alton of the Post Office Department.
The post Offices of our country did
an excellent job in registering some
5000, 900 non-citizens then, and we
are again using their facilities IN
this Identification program. This
seemed wise in order to avoid the
confusion which might have resulted
from the use of other places.
Aliens of German, italian or jap
anese nationality who have not fully
acquired United States citizenship
and who are IA years of age or older
must apply for certificates of iden-
tification. Each alien who comes
within this category is required to
20 to that first or second class or
county seat post office which is
nearest his home. He must do this
during the period specified for his
locality. At the post office he will
file his application for certificate
Of Identification. Failure to do this
may result in severe penalties, which
include internment for the duration
of the war. You see, even democ-
racy must mean business at times.
In everything we do these days we