RADICALS: No Alien, No Citizen

Eugene V. Debs, several times candidate for President on the Socialist ticket, last week planned to spend two months in Bermuda with his wife. But a doubt crossed his mind. If he went to Bermuda would the immigration authorities allow him to return to the U. S.?

During the War, Mr. Debs was imprisoned for violating the Espionage Act. Later President Harding commuted his sentence, but as a result of his imprisonment he lost his citizenship, which was never restored to him. Although he was born in the U. S., he might be debarred as an alien if he left the country and then tried to return.

Last week Victor Louis Berger, Socialist Congressman from Wisconsin, applied to President Coolidge and to Attorney General Sargent to have Mr. Debs’ citizenship restored. The Attorney General was of the opinion that Mr. Debs would first have to make application for pardon. Various opinions:

Mr. Sargent: “Until a man is ready to say he will abide by the laws governing everyone else, it is my informal opinion that he is not entitled to clemency.”

Mr. Berger: “That is like asking a Methodist to seek a pardon for being a Methodist. Debs doesn’t think he has done anything to be pardoned for.”

Mr. Debs: “under no circumstances will I apply for pardon I made no defense when I was tried because I felt that I had committed no crime. If I should apply for pardon it would be in my eyes an acknowledgment that I was wrong when I stood my ground for the right of free speech in the United States.”

Meanwhile W. W. Husband, Assistant Secretary of Labor in charge of immigration, expressed the following opinion:

“Of course no official ruling can be made on the case of Mr. Debs until it is submitted to the department, but I doubt very much whether he would be inconvenienced at any port of entry. Debs is not an alien. He has no other home than the United States and never had any. He may not be a citizen, but he certainly is not an alien. There are lots of people in the United States who were born here and are not citizens. Take the Indians for instance.”