File No. 763.72111/4971
The Assistant Secretary of Labor ( Post) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 4.]
Sir: Alluding to your letter of the 20th ultimo,1 with which you transmitted copy of a petition addressed to the Swedish Minister by a committee of the officers and crew of the Austrian steamers Martha Washington, Dora, Ida, and Himalaia,1 I beg to state (merely for the purpose of completing your record, the fact, of course, already being known to you), that as soon as it became apparent that Austrians were not likely to become alien enemies, in the immediate future at any rate, instructions were given by this Department to handle the cases of all officers and crewmen taken from Austrian vessels simply under the provisions of the immigration law. This course has been followed and as a result all those who could pass the immigration examination, comprising the vast majority of those taken into custody, have been released and admitted to the country.
Respectfully,