Office of the Historian

File No. 763.72115/3148

The Attorney General ( Gregory) to the Secretary of State

Washington, June 7, 1917.

Sir: Further considering your letter of June 1, 1917,1 transmitting a letter from the French Ambassador,2 in which he requests that people from Alsace be not treated as Germans in respect to the enforcement of the President’s proclamation of April 6, 1917,3 regarding alien enemies, I desire to say that the matter has been given careful consideration by this Department, and I can add nothing further to my letter of June 4, 1917.1

It seems impossible to discriminate between inhabitants of different portions of the German Empire. If Alsatian Germans shall satisfy the United States marshals that they are loyal to this country, and out of sympathy with the country of which they are native citizens or subjects, and if they are, in addition, complying with the law, they will have no difficulty in obtaining permits to leave or be employed or to pass through forbidden areas under the President’s proclamation.

Respectfully,

For the Attorney General:
Charles Warren

Assistant Attorney General
  1. Not printed.↩
  2. Supra. ↩
  3. Ante, p. 165.↩
  4. Not printed.↩