Salt Lake Tribune | 1917-09-15 | Page 6 | Will Draft Aliens

WILL DRAFT ALIENS. The senate has passed a bill for the drafting of aliens. In the house a similar simi-lar measure was temporarily blocked by a Wisconsin representative, but . there is little chance that the congressmen with foreign-born constituents will be abie to defeat it. The proposed law is drastic enough for the purpose for which it is intended, as the alien slackers slack-ers in this country will discover when it is applied. AU aliens who have been in the United States more than a year who have not declared their intention to become citizens are declared subject to the draft. In caso they claim exemption ex-emption on account of existing treaties, and their diplomatic representatives! waive their treaty rights, they will be given ninety days to leave the country. This clause should be made a little stronger, and this class of slackers should be deported to the lands whence they came, in order that they may be made to perform the duties of citizenship somewhere. The foregoing applies to aliens from neutral countries. In case of alien enemies, ene-mies, it is proposed that the president draft them for non -military purposes. This would compel thousands of Germans. Ger-mans. Austrians, Turks and Bulgarians to work for the United States government govern-ment during the war. and would prevent them frsm engaging in strikes and in other attempts to block the wheels of industry while the loval citizens of the country are sacrificing their lives and fortunes in the great struggle for t i e emancipation of the world from military domination. Under the i;esent draft law on! v cit i.ens of the United States arc forced to take ' up arms, while the aliens, neutral and enemy slackers alike, get the jobs vacated va-cated by those called to the front and are paid the best of w-agea. This is a manifest injustice both to the native-born native-born Americans and those who have become naturalized. When we consider the fact that there are more than l,0u'),-OijO l,0u'),-OijO citizens in the navy, regular army and national guard, the feeling that injustice in-justice :s being done is accentuated. In ordinary wars action of the kind contemplated by congress would not be necessary, but this is a world-war into which the United States has cast its man-power and national resources, and the burd-m must be borne by all classes alike. Xo alien of the-proper age who will not fight or work for the triumph of the, United States is entitled to the protection of our laws, and we hope congress will pass the law making it. mandatory to draft aliens, even though there be protests from Milwaukee and other centers of population where the foreign element predominates. i