File No. 763.72114/2906
The Assistant Secretary of Labor ( Post) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 25.]
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your letter of September 15 [August 27], propounding three inquiries in reference to German subjects detained under the jurisdiction of this Department. These inquiries are answered as follows:
- 1.
- The interned Germans temporarily detained at Ellis Island, Angel Island, Gloucester City, Boston, and New Orleans, are not governed by military law, nor are they subject to the order of any member or members of the armed forces of the United States Army. Military guard is maintained at Ellis Island and Gloucester City, to guard the exterior property of these stations, but the interned persons are directly under the control of civilian officers of the Department of Labor.
- 2.
- German aliens, who are placed in the internment station at Hot Springs, N. C., are entirely under civilian guard, and are in no way subject to the jurisdiction of the War Department.
- 3.
- Interned Germans at the immigration stations are subject to the discipline applied to all aliens detained at these stations under the immigration laws, and in the absence of accurate knowledge as to the discipline maintained at similar camps under the military authorities, I am not in a position to state how far the restrictions correspond; from the little information at hand, it appears likely that greater privileges are permissible under civilian control than under military direction.
At the Hot Springs internment station, the honor system prevails, and the discipline of the detained men is greatly assisted by the work of a committee, elected by the men themselves. The fact is, that there has been but one escape from the Hot Springs station, and no unsuccessful attempts along that line have been reported. Up to the present time, the greater number of the Germans detained at that place have been ships’ officers, and as most of them are men of superior intelligence, the problem of looking after them has been greatly simplified. The camp for the ordinary crewmen (sailors, etc.) is just being completed, and it is, of course, impracticable to state at this time that the system hitherto followed can be pursued with equally good results, if applied to the proposed tenants of the new camp.
Respectfully,
[For regulations regarding mail of interned aliens in the United States, see memorandum of the Secretary of State to the Swiss Minister, September 24, 1917, ante, page 11.]