Our Daily News Letter

(Special Correspondence from Meer Grossman)

The British conception of the idea of citizenship differs from that prevailing elsewhere, according to Sir William Joynson-Hicks, British Home Secretary, who explained his position on the questions of immigration and naturalization in the course of a special interview which he granted me.

The impression has gained ground that the Home Secretary who is identified with the more Conservative section of his Party and is a devout Churchman, is in general antagonistic to the alien population in this country, and in exercising his discretion as Home Secretary is discriminating against Jewish applicants for naturalization.

“It is absurd to suggest that I show discrimination against the members of any particular faith and I capriciously delay the naturalization of aliens who have lived here for many years,” Sir William declared. “I am not opposed to naturalization. Almost every day when I arrive at the Home Office I find on my desk a number of naturalization papers which I have to sign. Only this morning I signed about 12 naturalization papers, and judging by the names of the applicants 50 to 60 per cent of them are Jews. We do not, however, investigate whether the applicants are Jews or not. Religion has nothing whatever to do with the matter. All I desire to find out is whether an alien by his residence here and his affiliations here and his conduct here has shown his desire to be a good citizen.

“The position I maintain is, that an alien cannot claim naturalization as a right. British nationality is a gift not lightly to be conferred and is a privilege which may be given or withheld at the discretion of the Home Secretary. Of course, the number of years an alien has resided in this country is an important consideration but the chief test which I apply before I decide to grant a naturalization certificate is whether the applicant has so far as can be judged become English at heart and has completely identified himself with English interests.

“I will give you an example: If two brothers come to this country and one of them settles in a district where only aliens live, continues to speak his native language, marries a woman from his own country, sends his children to a school where only foreign children are taught, keeps his account in a foreign bank, employs only foreign labor, while the other brother marries an English woman, sends his children to an English school, speaks English, employs British labor, keeps his account in a British bank, it is the second brother and not the first who will stand to obtain naturalization.

“The statistics disclose that I have naturalized during the last year more aliens than my predecessor. While in the year 1924, when a member of the Labor Party was Home Secretary, 935 aliens were naturalized, 1,074 aliens were naturalized by me in 1925. Moreover, in 1914, when, it is said, naturalization was easier, only 1,629 applications were received by the Home Secretary; during last year 1,819 applications were received by me.

“I fear that the restrictions against immigration will stand for many years to come,” Sir William went on. “In any case, they cannot be removed while we have more than a million unemployed. It is difficult to judge exactly of the extent to which foreign labor competes with native labor, but it would in any case be unfair to admit without discrimination more workers into a country which is suffering so terribly from unemployment. There are at present about 273,000 aliens registered in the country, and we continue each year to admit a limited number of aliens if we find that it is in the interests of the country to do so. We always look carefully into each separate case, and in many instances, e.g., where family considerations arise, we invite assistance from representative Jewish quarters in the investigation of the case.

“If an alien wishes to come to this country to establish here a business or an industrial undertaking which will give employment to British labor, Sir William said, we, of course, consider the application favorably.”

I touched on the question of deportation, and the Home Secretary said that in practice there are comparatively few deportations.

“I do not deport unnecessarily,” he said. “It is very rarely that I deport unless the man has been convicted of a crime. To suffer deportation, a person must have broken the law of the country or otherwise satisfied me that his continued presence here is undesirable. In some cases,” Sir William added, “we are really unable to deport a man because the country to which he claims or is believed to belong repudiates him.”

The impression I have obtained from my conversation with the Home Secretary is that while on the Continent the idea of citizenship is not identical with the idea of nationality and one may belong to any nationality and still be a loyal member of the State, the policy of the British Home Secretary is governed by a different idea, namely, that to be a British subject means to be primarily an Englishman, that to become naturalized an alien must cut himself off entirely from his old country, and its surroundings, its mode of life, language and ideas. The Home Secretary would issue a certificate of naturalization only to a man who considers himself an Englishman and who has come to England with the intention of staying here permanently.

The new community center and school of Chesed Shel Emeth congregation, Wilmington, Del., will be formally dedicated on April 11. Samson Stern will preside at the exercises.

Rabbi Max Hoffman, of New York, will be principal of the school and Harry Blum, of Wilmington, will be his assistant.