dependable; that when the man stated he lived at 2846 Dorchester Avenue, for instance, on sending an examiner out there it appeared that the number was not correct. At times the residence given was but approximate because he failed to recall the exact street number, so that sometimes the address given was a vacant lot. In many instances the address given was an Italian bank, an employment agency, or a boarding house, where he was accustomed to get his mail. The result of this was that the examiners were frequently making useless trips and it was only possible for an examiner under this system to cover but five or six petitions in a day and we could not possibly keep up with the work. Even where the addresses were correct the person answering the call of the examiner was the wife or some relative of the applicant, and the examiner was informed by the relative that the applicant himself was working at some other end of the city as a mechanic on a building being erected where he could not be readily interviewed, and at times the hours were uncertain so that it could not be readily determined as to when he would be home so as to be interviewed on the second visit by the examiner. We then tried to supplement these day calls by keeping the examiners' office open in the evening and leaving word for the applicants to call there. By this method we were enabled to interview more petitioners.

We later paid attention to the places of employment by sending the applicant a postal card asking him to advise as to where and during what hours he could be readily interviewed by the examiner. and thus we were enabled to assemble and group up a large number of applicants who could be readily seen by an examiner, and the return cards from the applicants were distrbuted among the examiners so that the greatest number could be seen with the least expenditure of time. Experience then resulted in a contact with the timekeepers in the mills and factories and developed easy methods of interviewing factory employees with the least disturbance to them and the great relieving of the examiners, so that at times we were enabled to use rooms in the factories or to make appointments for examinations at clubs and labor organizations readily accessible to the employees in the mills and factories, and thus were enabled to interview still a greater number of applicants with least expenditure of time. There was some danger of possible criticism in going into the clubs or association halls because of possible political connections, and at times we refused to meet applicants at places where they might conveniently assemble, because it would appear that the sercetary of the organization that afforded the convenience was interested politically, so that his efforts would be confined only to those who might become members of some particular political party. Fear of just criticism led us to withdraw from such convenient places of meeting to public buildings and led us to notify all applicants to appear at a room in the post-office building or the customhouse or the county courthouse or even the city hall, and generally we made use throughout the district of the civil-service rooms, and we could, by notifying the applicants of a particular hour or half hour, relieve them from waiting, so that the least possible of their time was required in appearing. This also applied to the witnesses. Still later we made provision for preinvestigation; that is, in the Federal courts we began to examine the applicants and their witnesses before the petition was actually filed, and we were helped in this by the courts, the clerks of which were practically directing the applicant and his witnesses to call up at the examiner office before filing the petition.

In the State, superior, or county courts, because of lack of examiners, we were unable to examine the petitions before filing and had to wait until we could conveniently get to the particular county seat, and then we called in the petitioners and their witnesses for investigation prior to the date set for final hearing, and this is the situation as it obtains at the present time, so that the development of it was practically along the lines suggested by the members of the committee as the proper way to handle the matter, but the differences that I have outlined show that by reason of the large numbers to be examined it was not possible to pursue it in the most desirable way and that we had to find methods of covering all the petitions in an expeditious manner and had to devise means of causing the least disturbance to applicants and witnesses, and it was this consideration rather than ease and comfort of the examiner that developed the present methods.

If I were asked as to whether or not we should return to the old methods if we had adequate force I would certainly not go back as far as the house-tohouse investigations. It was not warranted by the results obtained, and the factory method secured the same results with one fifth the effort and afforded means of readily checking the periods of residence and employment because of easy resort to the timekeeper's records, which in many instances were very

complete, and accessibility of contact with the foreman and fellow workmen, many of whom travel with the applicant from place to place, so that they were able to give information in regard to his character, residence, and employment for periods much in excess of the then employment and residence. In this connection we had always pursued the police records and the local court records in regard to arrests of applicants and had established an information association with the officers who were in immediate charge of the police blotters and the criminal dockets. This is continued at the present time, so that even in small places where we can not make a personal examination of the police blotters and the court dockets we are accustomed to send to the postmaster, the chief of police, or the clerk of the local court the names and addresses of the applicants and ask for a statement in regard to each individual applicant, but generally we handle matters ourselves, and by reason of experience in doing it can readily cover a large number, even with the changes of names frequently occurring on the part of the petitioners for citizenship. Generally, I think that this is the method of examination pursued by examiners in all the districts and it is the result of exchange of information and also exchange of examiners, because some of us have worked in different districts at different times; in fact, I myself have worked in five different districts during my 15 years' experience in the Naturalization Service.

In the beginning we were in the Department of Justice and under a special assistant United States attorney, who was an assistant to the United States attorney in every State in his district. We were primarily a prosecuting force as well as an examining force and operated on the theory that naturalization was infected with fraud, because that had been the history of it, but as time went on and as naturalization was cleared of the runners and politicians Congress wisely transferred the Naturalization Service from the Department of Justice to the Department of Commerce and Labor and we readily lost the character and mental status of a prosecuting force and developed with the lapse of time from a semihostile disposition toward applicants to a disposition to help and encourage the petitioners rather than to discourage or delay the acquisition of citizenship by them, so that at the present time the disposition of the service is to make it easy for every man of good character who desires citizenship to attain it, and there is no credit accruing to any examiner from any record of dismissals or rejections and he has no incentive to acquire a legal standing as an official hostile to the alien or as an obstructor of citizenship. In this respect he is immediately under the eyes of the courts and is generally closely watched by all political parties and his office has to be just in its dealings with petitioners and be independent in its associations.

The development of the Americanization movement has to have his support and to some extent is controlled by him or it will control him.

From a prosecuting officer he has developed into a leader in Americanization and consequently takes an active part in the education of the alien, so that he has to hold himself available for conferences of educators, teachers, and Americanization directors. He has to address public bodies and sometimes to present school diplomas or certificates to pupils in naturalization classes at public celebrations, so that in addition to his duties of an examiner in making investigations, appearing at hearings in court, preparing briefs and arguing cases and bringing cancellation proceedings he has to prepare speeches and appear at public assemblies in places throughout his district as the representative of the Federal Government in Americanization and kindred movements.

I have taken time to show this development of the examiner's office because I gathered from the questions of the committee members that it was practically in line with their thoughts as to what the examiner's duties ought to be and I wanted to show what led up to the change that had been brought about in the character and duties of the examiner from that of a prosecuting attorney to an official whose office has to a large extent done away with the hiring of attorneys in naturalization proceedings on behalf of applicants and with runners and political assistants, so that the office of the examiner to-day is the best place for an alien to obtain information in regard to naturalization proceedings, and the offices of the examiners are being used as bureaus of information where help may be obtained without expense and with authority from a representative of the Federal Government, which is the Government primarily interested in the naturalization of aliens. It may readily be seen that the Naturalization Service is growing into large contact with the public schools and that it has adopted the public schools as the cooperative agency in conformity with the statute toward a healthful citizenship and that the courts are inclined to look

to the Naturalization Service to make the proper connections that will maintain a constantly higher standard of citizenship.

(Thereupon the committee adjourned to meet at 10 o'clock a. m. Saturday, October 22, 1921.)

COMMITTEE ON IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION,

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
Saturday, October 22, 1921.

The committee met at 10 o'clock a. m., Hon. Albert Johnson (chairman) presiding.

The CHAIRMAN. For some time the committee has been endeavoring to suit the convenience of the Secretary of Labor, Mr. Davis, so he might appear and discuss at length before the committee the plan developed in part by him, and to which he has given a great deal of time and thought, for the registration of all aliens. It was hoped that we might have the Secretary here before we began the actual consideration of the recodification of the naturalization laws, which is before us as H. R. 8727, or before we heard the chief examiners of the naturalization service, but the pressure of business was such in the Secretary's office, owing to the situation precipitated by the prospective railroad strike, that we have not been able to get him here until this morning, and now only for a short time. Therefore, as we can only hear him briefly this morning, it has been suggested that we interrupt him as little as possible. After he has made his preliminary statement this morning, at a later date we will have him here for a close examination as to the machinery necessary in carrying out the proposed registration plan, and as to the size of the fee, if the complete registration plan should be made a part of this bill.

If you are ready to proceed, Mr. Secretary, the committee will be glad to hear you.

STATEMENT OF HON. JAMES JOHN DAVIS, SECRETARY OF LABOR.

Secretary DAVIS. You wish me to discuss this registration of aliens feature? The CHAIRMAN. We thought that we would have you give us a general outline of your plans and ideas covering what you have stated in your public speeches, etc.

Secretary DAVIS. First, in order that the committee may understand me, I might tell you that I am a naturalized alien myself. I came to this country when I was 8 years of age, and started to work at 9. I have lived among aliens all my life, and my best friends are aliens. In discussing this registration bill with aliens took it up with my own father, who was an alien, and who to-day could not have been admitted to the United States if he had been required to pass the literacy test. In discussing this matter with him I asked my father if it would have been worth while for him to have contributed $25 for this purpose if the Government had had a registration plan under which he would have registered every three months, and under which they would have assigned him to some school at the registration office, or under which they would have instructed him to go to some public school and there be taught all that was worth while to know about America, teaching him the Constitution of the United States, what it means, etc. He said to me, "Son, you have known that we have been very, very poor, and that for months at a time there has not been 5 cents in the house; but," he said, "if what you have described to me had been in effect when I came here as a young man 29 years of age, it would have been worth, $100 to me every year. If I had not had the money for one year, and if it could have been so that the debt could have accumulated until I was able to pay the Government for this instruction, it would have been worth it all and more too."

We called in a number of men who lived in the neighborhood where he lives, and every one of them agreed that it would have been the most valuable work that the Government could have performed for them—that is, if they had been able to advance along the lines that I discussed with them in reference to this proposed registration bill. My notion about it is that every alien ought to be registered, and that it ought to be compulsory. I am not for anything voluntary, or am not for a voluntary plan of registration. I say that because I am a product of the voluntary system. In my young days, it was not compulsory to go to school, and therefore I went to work at the age of nine. If you leave it optional with these men or make it voluntary, then I believe you will make

a great mistake, because if you are to get the alien to go to school where he may be taught the principles of Americanism, it must be made compulsory. The way I have been presenting it to the people of the United States is about this, that about every three months the alien shall appear before a registration officer to be assigned to his work and to be checked up on his work. He is to do that every three months in every year for five years, at which time he will make his application for his final papers. At that time the examiner can take the applicant's card and know what progress he has made. Then the examiner could present him to the court. One of the Congressmen presented a picture showing the naturalization of citizens, especially as it is conducted in the larger cities.

I suppose I have helped naturalize 5,000 people in my day. and I do not see how you are going to do it in any other way than the way they are now doing—that is, by presenting large groups of them in the courts, asking them questions, and having them to hold up their hands and take the oath of allegiance. I do not see how you are going to do it any other way other than by a registration system, under which you will follow them through all the five years of their residence in this country. We can then see to it, under such a system, that they know all about this country of ours before they are naturalized.

I think that about covers the subject. I have tried to be as specific as I could in stating that I believed in compulsory registration, in the first place, and, secondly, that I believe they should report at least every three months so that a tab could be kept on the aliens all through the period of their residence in this country. In the third place, let me say that one of the biggest things in the whole proposition, as I see it, is that by this method you would relieve all those aliens who are now taken advantage of. For instance, take the situation in some of the steel mills of the country where a boss alien, as we call him, has 500 aliens under him. They pay this boss alien from $2 to $20 per month to keep them in employment. Not only that, but the owners of the works in some instances say that the boss alien wants an equal amount from them, or he will take the men away from them. I have just had a conference with three prominent citizens of a State of this Union in which there is a coal controversy, and they told me that the leader of the miners had been sentenced to jail for not complying with an order of court. They stated that their men had gone on strike while this leader was in jail, and had refused to go to work. They have been expelled by the conservative leader of an international labor union, and the man who presided over the meeting was an alien enemy. The two leaders or agitators were aliens. They are the ones who are haranguing and urging the men not to go back to work while this man is in jail. They came to the Labor Department for relief. If you will investigate these uprisings, you will find that for the most part the "red" is the man back of it all, with his agitation, and not the good sane and sound foreigner. The "red" is the man, and if we could have this registration it would give us an opportunity to know where every one of them is and who they are, and we could deport every undesirable alien without much trouble.

The CHAIRMAN. That situation you have described is the Kansas coal-mine trouble?

Secretary DAVIS. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Are those aliens who are active in conducting the protest strike of the Kansas coal miners appealing to the Department of Labor for help? Secretary DAVIS. The aliens are not, but the citizens of the community are. Three of the leading citizens of Kansas called on me yesterday afternoon and asked us to go out there and see if we could not get them to go back to work. The CHAIRMAN. And the strikers out there are being led

Secretary DAVIS (interposing). By one alien enemy and two aliens who do not care to become citizens of the United States, I am informed. Mr. CABLE. Are the strikers aliens?

Secretary DAVIS. A large number of them are aliens. They do not understand our country, and they hardly know what they are here for. I had an experience in Detroit sometime ago, and I will relate it in order to show why I am so strongly in favor of the registration of aliens, although that is only one of a hundred experiences of like character that I have had: During the war there was admitted under bond the wife of an alien. War was declared, and she remained in the country. It was up to us to deport her. As I have said she was here in this country under bond, and since she has been admitted she has had

three children. Her attorney had arranged to bring her to the hall where I was to speak that night, and I suppose there were 3,500 people who went by and saw her and her family. They thought that they were children that were to be sent to an orphan school of which I am one of the leading members. The attorney introduced me to the woman and introduced me to her husband. Her husband had been here eight years, and he could not quite understand me. He knew nothing at all about America, and she could not understand me. I had to have an interpreter in order to converse with them, and she could not even write or read English and could not understand a word of English. Yet, three children had been born to her while she was here under bond during the war. We could not send her back. There were 8 other children, or 11 children in all. There was a husband and wife and 11 children in that condition. The oldest boy was a very bright young fellow who could talk English fairly well. He had learned English while in the war, for which he volunteered. He was a really good boy, and, as I say, could talk English, but as for the rest of the family we needed an interpreter in order to talk with them. If I remember correctly, this boy himself had been here eight years. Now, would it not have been worth the small registration fee to that man if he had been taught to read and write the English language, so that he would have known what he was here in America for? I asked him, What are you in America for?" He said, "Me work; that is all me know; me work."

I could tell you story and story along that line illustrating the need for this service.

Mr. VAILE. Tell a few more. They are very interesting.

Secretary DAVIS. I could take you to communities where children born in this country can not read or write the English language.

When you carry

The CHAIRMAN. They are citizens of the United States? Secretary DAVIS. Yes, sir; citizens of the United States. on this work of the registration of aliens and the Americanization of aliens, you will not have so many children who were born In America that can not read or write the English language.

Mr. CABLE. That condition is chiefly in the large cities?

Secretary DAVIS. Yes; in the large cities, but, also, in some of the small towns in the country.

Mr. RAKER. There is another consideration, and that is that you would be able to take them out of the rat holes where they live and carry them out before the public once in a while, where they could see what was going on.

The CHAIRMAN. If everything on the side of the proposed required registration of aliens is good, why do so many of the alien people, including naturalized aliens, and so many of the foreign language newspapers and leaders of aliens oppose registration?

Secretary DAVIS. Most of the foreign-language newspaper editors and leaders of aliens that I have come in contact with are in favor of the registration of the aliens. Those leaders that I have conme in contact with are taking the unselfish view, and say that they want to do something for their people.

The CHAIRMAN. And for American ideals?

Secretary DAVIS. Yes. The editor of a foreign-language paper at Youngstown, a man who had three foreign-language papers, called upon me, and I prepared for him an article on the subject of the registration of aliens. He commented on the article editorially, and said that it was a thing of real value for those people. He said, "It is the real thing for our people," or I think that is the way he expressed it.

It is my notion about it that you will want a reasonable fee for the registration. You would then have money enough to advertise well and to have men to look after the aliens and to educate the aliens. If you do not get a reasonable registration fee, you will not have enough money for it, unless the Government provides large sums for this work. I do not know of anybody that ever got anything free that appreciated it, unless it was from a dear friend. When they go around now and get this leading citizen or that leading citizen to give $1,000, and particular organizations have their committees out helping to do this Americanization work, the agitator tells the boy, "Do not become Americanized in that way, because they will put a uniform on you, and you will have to do this, that, or the other thing." He preaches that sort of gospel to them, saying that it is simply another crumb from the capitalistic table; but if the alien pays for it himself, he will appreciate it.

The CHAIRMAN. But you think he will not voluntarily pay for it? Secretary DAVIS. No; he will not voluntarily pay for it, but it must be compulsory. You must make him pay for it. There ought to be enough power or