File No. 763.72114/2769
The Secretary of State to the Swiss Chargé ( Hübscher)
Memorandum
The Secretary of State presents his compliments to the Chargé d’Affaires of Switzerland, in charge of German interests in the United States, and has the honor to acknowledge the receipt of his memorandum of July 5, 1917,2 requesting that the Legation be furnished with a full list of all Germans detained as suspicious aliens, giving, wherever possible, the place of detention and the charges preferred against such persons.
[Page 176]In reply the Secretary of State has the honor to transmit herewith copy of the list in question1 in quadruplicate, showing the names and places of arrest, dates of arrest, present places of detention, and dates of release or parole wherever such release or parole has been made. This list, it is believed by the Department of Justice, is complete and accurate up to the date of July 5, 1917.
The Department of Justice is, however, not in a position to give the details of the charges preferred against such persons, inasmuch as persons whose names appear on this list have all been arrested under regulation No. 12 of the President’s proclamation of April 6, 1917, which is as follows:
An alien enemy whom there may be reasonable cause to believe to be aiding or about to aid the [enemy, or who may be at large to the danger of the] public peace or safety, or who violates or attempts to violate, or of whom there is reasonable ground to believe that he is about to violate, any regulation duly promulgated by the President, or any criminal law of the United States, or of the States or Territories thereof, will be subject to summary arrest by the United States Marshal, or his deputy, or such other officer as the President shall designate, and to confinement in such penitentiary, prison, jail, military camp, or other place of detention as may be directed by the President.
Under this proclamation the Attorney General, to whom the President has assigned the administration of the proclamation, orders arrest whenever it appears that the interests of the United States so demand and on such evidence as satisfies him that the arrest is so required.