OCR Text |
Show THE CITIZEN ' j JPASSPORT SYSTEM INVOKED TO BAR i Jt aVe ,U POLITICAL REFUGEES ' - importing the slave customs of Europe in war times and .ging to them in times of peace our state department finds itself a Situation which is bringing it into contempt among upstand- Americans. The passport system was introduced in this country to keep out my.aliens and to prevent enemy aliens in this country from going ajoaJd;to work us harm. eUl.We have been at peace with all the world for two years but Propf; passport system is still with us and the state department is jn an eflport to deport Lord Mayor OCallaghan of Cork, i s , in-Japai- p.-t :r? Uifd! edoit 1 it is e 5 We believe we are justified in saying that no attempt to deport ' .. OCallaghan would be made were not the British government ?cngirig some kind of pressure to bear on our state department. Mr, OCallaghan, who is the regularly elected chief executive eone of the chief cities of Ireland, applied to the proper authorities JaParDu6iin for permission to embark for the United States. He was ured to apply to the police, but inasmuch as he had been threatened .h arrest he knew that he would be cast into jail if he applied to m ai English authorities. He had been invited to visit America to uftify before the committee of One' Hundred and could find no way get to this country except by shipping as a stowaway, dipla 0f his predecessors in the office of mayor were, as Senator i roiii elan of California puts it, victims of the English policy of exter-natio- n and reprisal. Moreover, Mr. OCallaghan believed his jov4i life to be in danger and he considered it madness to put his lzend into the lions mouth by applying for a passport to proceed on ia mission which the English government would deem hostile to its e Berests. Consequently he stowed away on a vessel sailing for :aus(nerica a.n(i was detained by the United States immigration authority's because he did not have a passport.. ant pUrpose of the law being to exclude alien enemies he could e't be regarded as coming within its provisions, but Assistant Secre-r- y Davis, evidently responding to secret pressure, began to insist ssueat he be deported. Such a demand on the part of our government violates the spirit rlct our traditions and customs since the time we secured our own :edom and independence. Never before have we denied refuge to , r grie seeking asylum in the name of human liberty. Many of us herein recall that during the Boer was distinguished envoys me to us from the South African republics and were greeted with the- length and breadth of our land. ly cnor everywhere throughout E Benjamin Franklin, in revolutionary days, visited Ireland and was w(;corded high honor by the people and the notables who might be the Irish people to longid to represent them. It did not occur to mceirrender Franklin to the English enemy. In France, too, Franklin his efforts that the army paas welcomed1 and it was due mainly to Lafayette came to the rescue of the disheartened Washington which finally brought victory to the colonies t fid gave him that aid id made it possible to establish the greatest republic of the ages. "'Lord Mayor OCallaghan is a distinguished citizen of Ireland J 1 1 id just at present he represents, as truly as did Franklin, a people ltro!ruggling to establish a republic. Instead of granting him 'that cluserty of action which it has been the custom of our government to s kcord the eminent representatives of peoples struggling for freedom because of an oppressive passport system, is j,arie state department, jlJ, the unenviable attitude of playing policeman for a foreign power. is permitting the British our . In the final government analysis ,j Dvernment to dictate whom we shall receive as political refugees. ask Ve are as much as saying to the political refugee that he must l;ee government that is oppressing him, or that he thinks is oppressing iricm, for permission to escape to the. United States, wlr We have heard it argued that the intention of OCallaghan to turn to Ireland takes him out of the class of political refugees. We consider the contention an absurdity. Franklin intended to return to his country. General Kronje we believe it was Kronje no doubt intended to return to the republic in South Africa, but it was swept into the British empire. We should say that a political refugee, who did not purpose to return to his native land and give it all possible help in its struggle for freedom would be a mere pretender in the role of patriot. It is amazing that our government should concern itself with the movements of Mr. OCallaghan. We dare say that in London today they are scores of proscribed men claiming asylum as political refugees and that the average Englishman would be ashamed to hear that the' foreign office contemplated turning them over to their enemies. WILSON AND ARMENIA 1 - 8,( One is tempted to suspect that the epistle of President Wilson to the head of the League of Nations is an attempt to withdraw gracefully from a difficult business. . It may be that he regrets the haste with which he plunged into the Armenian affair and sees the impossibility of achieving the goal he set out to attain. Most of us will sympathize with the general principles expressed in his note. He wishes to obtain from the powers a solemn promise to mend their ways and their policies in Europe and Asia Minor. There has been no change iri the situation in Armenia since the day when the president took upon himself the task of bringing peace to a persecuted people and securing for them the benefits of freedom and independence. At that time, if our recollection serves us, the Bolsheviki had penetrated into Armenia and were in control of the . country. One can appreciate the difficulty of trying to adjust the fight. It would be a disheartening task to find a basis of settlement as between the Turks and Armenians even if there were no three-corner- ed soviet element to deal with. Whether the president understood the difficulties at the beginning of negotiations may be doubted, but with the information and able advise supplied by Mr. Morgenthau he has come to the conclusion that the allies themselves are to blame for the aggression of the Turks upon the Armenians and for the occupation of Armenia by the Russians. He sees in the treaty of Sevres so many injustices that he can quite understand the savage attack of the Kemalists on Armenia to obtain territorial compensation. He perceives that the aggression of the allies on Russia and their tacit support of Kemalist activities are responsible for a problem whose solution the guilty are trying to shift to America. The aggressions of the French and British upon the soviet government of Russia and the border wars in which the new nations have participated impel the soviet government to retaliate and the invasion of Armenia and the establishment of a soviet form of government in that country are the results. The president demands a solemn engagement, publicly expressed, that the European powers will stop all aggression upon soviet Russia and thus test what he is pleased to call the good faith of the Lenine government. It is just here that the weakness of the presidents policy appears, although most of us will agree that all other policies have been tried and have failed. The soviet rulers of Russia may possess such a thing as good faith, but they have been at much pains and have committed many acts to demonstrate that it is a quality which the new revolution does not hold in high regard. A solemn engagement by the soviet government to do certain things might or might not have value. If we are to judge by the program of the Third Internationale we shall say that such an engagement is worthless. Lenine, in his appeal to communists all over the world, has out- - |