[NOVEMBER 1925
Page Thirteen
THE UNITED AMERICAN
[they be expected to go in for intensive training for
[American citizenship, in exchange for a two year
[period of grace in which they would be able to earn
[their livelihood in the accustomed way. As the word-
ling now stands, the intent is arrested because the man
[with no preparatory training for citizenship has not
[approached the application stage, hence, he cannot ap
pear in court to be examined, for the purpose of be
coming temporarily rejected, because he is not suf
ficiently informed — as the construction of this phrase
in the law suggests — in order to obtain the creden
tials enabling him to get a fishing license. The amend-
jment to the original Oregon statute, though created
[through good intent, reveals again that there are legis
lators, or men who draft bills for legislators, who ought
[to be otherwise engaged.
*
*
*
The Columbia river constitutes the borderline be
tween Washington and Oregon. For obvious purposes
a concurrent jurisdiction arrangement was some years
Iago set up between the two states. Inasmuch as the
[state of Oregon, by amendment, caused the alien ex
clusion clause to be abrogated, considerable dissension
[and difficulties will, in the future be encountered, on
the point of law and- law-enforcement, on the Columbia
[river, unless the state of Washington, during the
^present special session, takes steps adequately to adjust
the conditions imposed by its present section 5711 of
[Remington’s Compiled Statutes, cited previously in
[this article.
An adequate adjustment should now be made, mak-
ing this section sufficiently broad to remove the stain
—for it is a stain — upon the fair name of the state of
■Washington. As it is, the state stands committed to
Ian intolerant and unfair indictment of its citizenry of
foreign birth and those law-abiding immigrants within
its borders who are citizens in the making. By sub
stituting for the cited section 5711, the following pre
pared draft, the state will stand vindicated in the
eyes of America’s fair-minded and tolerant citizenry,
[whether living in Washington or elsewhere, yet making
it clear to all law-abiding immigrant people that the
state of Washington will henceforth expect from them
that in lieu of the privilege granted them by the state,
it is intended that they lose no time in properly
training themselves for the responsibilities of American
■citizenship within the time limit of the federal statute.
The penal clause attached places a heavy penalty upon
any alien who has entered the country illegally, should
he, through the aid of foreign born friends in possess
ion of their intention papers, cause the state to grant
him the privileges so provided for those foreign born
■who possess credentials of legitimate entry. Every
fair-minded legislator in the state of Washington
should therefore give the following draft a careful and
thorough analysis.
A comprehensive proposal for an amendment of Sec
tion 5711 of the Commercial Fishing Code of the
General Laws of the State of Washington, and
contained in Chapter 90 of the Session Laws ap
proved March 13th, 1923, in amended form to
read as follows:
Section 5711. It shall be unlawful for any person to fish
oi’ take for sale or profit any salmon or other food or shell
-fish in any of the rivers or waters over which this state has
jurisdiction or concurrent jurisdiction unless such person be a
citizen of the United States and has been for one year immedi
ately prior to the time he .makes application for a fishing
license an actual resident of this state; provided, however,
that a boat-pullers’ license may be issued to any alien eligible
to citizenship in the United States, who has obtained his
Declaration of Intention paper, thereby signifying his inten
tion to become a .citizen thereof when the statutory period
of five years continuous residence in the United Sates
shall have expired, and who has been an actual resident
of this state for twelve months prior to the time he shall make
application for such license as herein specified; and provided
further, that until March 1st, 1928, it shall be lawful to issue
a boat-pullers’ license to any non-citizen immigrant of good
moral character, legitimately admitted into the United States
under the provisions of the Immigration Act, who is eligible
to citizenship and has declared his intention to become a citizen
therefore and having been a continuous resident in the United
States for more than five years, when such a person shall
present evidence that "he is diligently endeavoring to qualify
for citizenship by attending public night schools for Adults 6r
by pursuing other means of private instruction and home
study for the purpose of enabling him to pass the naturaliza
tion intelligence requirements within the specified time.
Violations of this act, involving fraud and misrepresenta
tion, shall be punishable by fine or imprisonment or both, the
fine to be not less than one hundred dollars and not exeeding
five hundred dollars, imprisonment to be not less than six
months in the county jail and not more than five years in the
penitentiary,
In reviewing in detail the facts set forth in this
article, as only those know them who have made a
thorough, careful and unbiased investigation, and in
submitting to the Honorable State Senators and Rep
resentatives of the State of Washington a constructive
remedy, The United American feels that it has per
formed a public service of vast magnitude.
INTERIM
By GRACE B. STARBUCK
There is a hush after the even-song
Of birds. There is a quiet when each wave
That beats tumultuously against the quay,
Spent with the battle, silently recedes...
Perhaps the cloistered twilight of the grave
Is but the quiet respite each one needs
After the tumult of the fretted throng—
After the conquest of a weary day.
“THE ALIENS’ CLUB OF AMERICA”
(Continued from Page Four)
be discouraged all around. The aliens are beyond the
child mentality stage, as much as the average Ameri-
can, and the country-doctor idea that a health-produc
ing herb, not strictly palatable, may well be disguised un
der a sugar coating, should be definitely repudiated in
modern American civic housekeeping and relegated to
the storerooms of ideas in antiquity.
The alien registration system, if it is to be insti
tuted, should be handled as a departmental matter of
business, in connection with the Department of Immi
gration, which is now handling the internal immigra
tion checking machinery, and additional funds should be
provided, through governmental channels, to increase
the personnel of that department on the basis of the re
quirements and according to a simple and expedient
method. In the draft of the law great care should be
exercised to avoid the slightest ground for the inter
pretation that the enforcement of any of its provisions
would give room for any persecution of the alien be
cause of his alien status. The draft of the law should