Civilian Boards to Determine Loyalty of Aliens Suggested by James Mcdonald

A proposal that a wide network of civilian hearing boards be set up throughout the country to determine the loyalty of aliens nominally in the “enemy alien” category, was proposed by James G. McDonald, chairman of the President’s Advisory Committee on Political Refugees, in a letter appearing in the New York Times yesterday.

Mr. McDonald, speaking in an individual capacity, suggests that it is necessary that “some method be devised which will remove from those who are loyal any stigma that accrues to them because of their technical citizenship status.” He suggests extension of the present system of civilian hearing boards, which have already been set up by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, so that aliens may appear before them voluntarily and receive some sort of card or certificate attesting to their loyalty to the United States. Cases which these boards find doubtful they could refer to the F.B.I. for further investigation, Mr. McDonald states.

“It is pertinent to observe,” he writes, “that after much trial and error in England the great majority of aliens were found to be completely loyal to the Allied cause and are now engaged in war work, and many have enlisted voluntarily in the armed forces. With the evidence of England’s experience before us we should not be reluctant to reach the same conclusions about aliens resident in this country. If, as the President, our Federal agencies, and those who have intimate knowledge of our alien population believe, and as the experience of the last war demonstrated, we shall eventually be convinced that the great majority of our alien population is loyal, it is but good judgment and statesmanship to reach this decision at the earliest possible moment. Civilian hearing boards are the obvious answer. They should be set up immediately.”

An editorial in the same issue of the Times endorses Mr. McDonald’s proposal and urges its consideration by the Federal officials’ in charge of aliens.