File No. 763.72115/3293
The Attorney General (
Gregory) to the
Secretary of State
Washington,
March 22, 1918.
[Received March 23.]
Dear Mr. Secretary: For your information I
herewith enclose copy of a letter written to me by the French Ambassador
on March 18 and of my reply thereto bearing date March 22.
I also enclose one of the alien registration cards we are using. You will
note the changes which the Ambassador suggested, appearing [Page 207] on pages 2, 3 and 4.1 You will also observe that I have agreed to the change suggested
on page 2 of the card, though it will put my representatives to a great
deal of trouble and will cause the expenditure of considerable
Government funds.
Faithfully yours,
[Enclosure 1]
The French Ambassador (
Jusserand) to the Attorney General (
Gregory)
Washington,
March 18, 1918.
Dear Mr. Attorney General: I beg to
acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 15th concerning the cards
delivered to those friends of the common cause the French
Alsatian-Lorrainers and in which they are described as enemy
aliens.
I have considered with the greatest care the statements and
explanations which you were so good as to supply me with. But, as it
seems to me, the situation really and truly continues to offer the
glaring anomaly and illogism which I had taken the liberty of
pointing out to you.
The card must, of all necessity, be the counterpart of the
registration, and must show the same statements. In the case of
Alsatian-Lorrainers duly provided with a certificate of identity,
countersigned by the proper French consul, you kindly recognized the
appropriateness of having the registration forms altered, so that
they appear there as “French Alsatian-Lorrainers,” which is what
they are, and not as “enemy aliens,” which is what they are not.
It seems impossible to understand how what was legitimate in one case
would be inappropriate or illegal in the other, and how those men in
favor of whose cause the President spoke so clearly and nobly in his
address of January 8 last,2 would have to go about, ever bearing a card
which brands them as “enemy aliens.”
[Page 208]
As is well known, those so-called “enemy aliens” of Alsatian blood
showed at the time when war became imminent in 1914, whose enemy
they were, by crossing the frontier in large numbers and enlisting
in the French Army. Thousands of them were thus received in each of
our frontier cities.
The Germans, on their part, seem to entertain no doubt as to this. On
several occasions, they reminded their troops that when they had
crossed the Rhine, and found themselves in Alsace, they ought to
consider themselves in “enemy territory.” It seems difficult to
believe that this friendly American country, now nobly fighting for
the same cause as ourselves, which, teste the President, includes
the Alsatians, would persist in calling them, by a sweeping
statement, enemy aliens, causing them in many cases, both the
greatest possible humiliation and the loss of their employment.
Is it, on the other hand, a wise policy to oblige those men to
consort with the Germans? to tell them that they are Germans, that
they cannot be trusted? Is this a way to confirm them in their
feelings, or to breed disgust and discontent? The question, I
believe, answers itself.
I beg to commend these facts to your earnest consideration, hoping
that, with the same fair-mindedness which caused you to have the
registration forms altered, [you] will cause the cards to be
similarly modified.
Believe me [etc.]
[Enclosure 2]
The Attorney General (
Gregory) to
the French Ambassador (
Jusserand)
Washington,
March 22, 1918.
Dear Mr. Ambassador: I have read with
interest your letter of March 18, which you delivered
personally.
In the first part of page 2 of this letter you again insist that
French Alsatian-Lorrainers born after 1871 are not alien enemies, and, after all, my dear Mr. Ambassador,
this seems to be your real contention, as it is the contention of
the attorneys who have written the Department on the same subject. I
can only again repeat my statement that under the act of Congress
persons born in Alsace-Lorraine since 1871 are alien enemies, and
that I have no power to change an act of Congress, but it is my
sworn duty to enforce those acts. I have never at any time conceded
that these men were not enemy aliens, but I have most emphatically
stated that by virtue of the act of Congress referred to they were such in the eyes of the law.
[Page 209]
Because of your earnest insistence that they should not be required
to describe themselves as enemy aliens, I agreed that in registering
they might describe themselves as Alsatian-Lorrainers, and further
agreed that a separate list of these persons might be made under the
head of Alsatian-Lorrainers. I cannot acquiesce in your suggestion
that we are compelling these men to consort with Germans. We are not
insisting that they cannot be trusted, but, on the contrary, we have
given you assurances that the utmost liberality practicable will be
shown them, but I cannot take any action which can be construed as
an admission that they are not within the regulations governing
alien enemies or that they will not be dealt with for violating
those regulations in case the necessity for doing so arises.
The certificate proper, appearing on page 3 of the alien enemy
registration card which I sent you, is, to my mind, not subject to
objection, as the holder of the card is merely described therein as
a “registrant” and as “a registered person.”
The note appearing on page 4 is a simple statement that the holder of
this card is subject to the regulations concerning the conduct of
alien enemies. To leave this off would make the card incomplete, and
the taking of it off in the cases of these persons would be a
practical admission that this Department did not consider them so
subject.
As to the change you suggest in this note, the only regulations are
those concerning the conduct of alien enemies. If the note were
changed in the manner you indicated it would state that the holder
of the card was subject to the regulations concerning the conduct of
“said registrant.” You also insist that the certificate should be
changed so as to describe the holder as a French Alsatian-Lorrainer.
As there are no regulations prescribing the conduct of French
Alsatian-Lorrainers, as such, or prescribing the conduct of any
specified registrant, the change you suggest in the note, or the
changes you suggest in the note and the certificate, would render
the card meaningless and confusing.
Having an earnest desire to comply with your wishes as far as
practicable, I have given this matter consideration for the third
time, have discussed it with a gentleman very high in authority, and
am reluctantly compelled to say that I cannot change the form of the
certificate or the form of the note appearing on page 4, and that
this decision is final.
As to the change you suggest on page 2, under the heading “Penalty,”
out of deference to your wishes, and because I think this can be
done without affecting the legal status of these persons, I am
willing to instruct the United States marshals in all districts in
which these Alsatian-Lorrainers have registered to erase the words
“alien enemy “and substitute therefor the word “anyone” on every
card presented by an Alsatian-Lorrainer appearing on the separate
lists [Page 210] of those people now
being made up by the Government. It will be quite a while before all
these lists are complete, as the work is one of very great
magnitude, and it will therefore probably be some 60 days or more
before such an arrangement can be carried out.
I am returning to you one of the cards changed as you suggested.
Sincerely yours,
