That the bill for the registration of aliens, introduced in Congress by Representative Aswell, is in reality the preliminary step in the direction of establishing a passport system for everybody in this country, is the opinion of the “Day”, which writes on this matter editorially on Dec. 10.
“How will a detective know” asks the “Day”, “who is an alien and who isn’t unless he stops the person under suspicion and inquires? If that person is an American citizen the only way he can prove it is by carrying a passport on his person at all times, which, in effect, will put him in the same class with aliens in this respect.
“The proponents of the idea to register all aliens are afraid to come out with the full truth, that they are aiming at establishing a passport system for everybody in America. Hence they are endeavoring to achieve their purpose by using the ‘dangerous’ foreigners as a foil.”
ADOPTING THE CZAR’S METHODS
If the bill for the registration of aliens, which has been introduced in Congress by Representative Aswell of Louisiana, were passed it would mean that the methods of the Russian Czars have been transplanted to Ameraca, says the “Jewish Daily New” of Dec. 10.
“If America adopts this law and continues to claim that this is the land of freedom, of equality and justice, the land of Lincoln and Jefferson, it will be the greatest falsehood ever uttered. The Czar’s passport and espionage system cannot very well harmonize with the tradition of the ‘land of the free and the brave’.”
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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.