Solicitor General Francis Biddle, in an address prepared for delivery over a CBS network tonight, called on the foreign-born population for cooperation in the registration of aliens to begin Sept. 1 and said the registration would serve to protect loyal aliens from persecution.
“There are some foreigners who are disloyal to America, who do not wish to accept our ways and who use our freedom of speech and of the press to foment disunity and sedition,” Biddle said. “These persons we will apprehend, but we will also see to it that loyal American aliens are not unjustly condemned for the actions of a few.”
The Solicitor General told Americans that “the fifth column problem makes it all the more important that all of us exercise the greatest degree of restraint in our attitude toward aliens.” He asserted that “to hold them at arm’s length, under suspicion and harassment, is hardly calculated to make them enthusiastic about our institutions.”
Urging a campaign to educate aliens about the American system, Biddle said that “perhaps in sharing our ideals with them we can give these ideals new content and depth.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
