izing the Labor Committee to make a complete study of labor conditions and employer and employee relationships, which would supply the Labor Committee and Congress with all the facts relating to labor and working conditions, and that rule has been refused. I say that because you have suggested that the committee might address itself "to the formulation of a constructive policy of labor issues,' and so forth, and imply that the consideration of such bills now before the committee is hampering the efforts of the patriotic working men and women of America.

Mr. OWENS. I might say, Congressman, this statement is not made to criticize this committee but we understand that the Labor Committee as a whole, I believe, are very much interested in this. I did not know that the committee had introduced a resolution before the Rules Committee as you have stated.

Mr. KELLEY. That was done some time ago and we were refused the rule.

Mr. SCANLON. Have you any questions, Mr. Day?

Mr. DAY. Yes; I want to ask this: Isn't it your opinion that many of these various approaches, such as financial reports and the elimination of the vote and a half a dozen other things, are really encroachments upon the freedom of the right of the workingmen to strike? Mr. OWENS. That is right.

Mr. DAY. Not a direct attack but an indirect attack?

Mr. OWENS. Yes, sir.

Mr. DAY. And the only indirect attack is involuntary servitude? Mr. OWENS. That is right.

Mr. DAY. You must say either the one or the other?

Mr. OWENS. Yes, sir.

Mr. DAY. And without the right to strike many of these proposals would have to be very carefully scrutinized and that is one of your approaches?

Mr. OWENS. Yes, sir.

Mr. DAY. All of these bills are sort of a gradual encroachment upon and an interference with the right to strike. I mention the fact that if they had reports to show what your funds were and just what you had in the Treasury and what the dues were and what the salaried officers were paid, that in the case of a union just getting started, if they would have to file those statements for that local, the management would know just exactly how strong they were and that would have a tendency to destroy the strike. I got that from your statement.

Mr. OWENS. Yes, if they knew the strength of the organization and how it was built up. Our organization is comparatively new. It is one of the outstanding organizations in the labor movement of the new organization. It is only 10 years old. I was one of the first members of the United Rubber Workers.

Mr. DAY. How large is the United Rubber Workers now?

Mr. OWENS. We have 135,000 members. If at one time such a bill as this had been enacted into law the large rubber corporations would have known the financial status of our local unions, especially of the local of which I was a member and we would not have been able to have gotten a contract, which was the first contract in the rubber industry. Why, we had to go out on strike. We were out on strike for 11 weeks and I would not like to make a statement of

how many members we had and what our financial standing was at that time. But if the management across the street from where we had our office knew how much money we had when we shut down we would never have been able to get a contract and they would have broken the organization.

Mr. LANDIS. Were you affiliated with the C. I. O. then?

Mr. OWENS. There was no C. I. O. then.

Mr. DAY. There was not any C. I. O. at that time. That was the first contract that was ever made in the rubber industry.

Mr. OWENS. Yes, sir; I negotiated it with the Firestone Rubber Co. and I want to say this: That we would never have had a contract if they had found out what our financial situation was.

Mr. DAY. It would not only go to the interference with the right to strike but the right to organize?

Mr. OWENS. We could not have organized.

Mr. DAY. I got that from your statement.

Mr. OWENS. And it has been that way through the years. I might point out that back in 1903-1904. In the mine workers' organization, if the coal operators of this country had known the financial standing of the mine workers' organization, their financial condition at that time, John B. Mitchell would never have gotten us the 10 percent raise that we lost in 1903 when he agreed to a 5 percent reduction. We got the 10 percent back in 1904. We would never have gotten it if they had known the financial standing of the mine workers' organization at that time.

Mr. LANDIS. Of course, you have a little different picture. You have now the protection of the N. L. R. A. and the various protective acts.

Mr. OWENS. Sure, we have got that protection, but these threats that you are trying to put through Congress are the starting of the tearing down of the gains that we struggled to obtain all through these years.

Mr. DAY. That is why you must continue to have the right to strike or you will have compulsory labor and if we do that then we will not be very far off from what Hitler has in Germany.

Mr. LANDIS. I do not think my bill has anything in it that restricts the right to strike.

Mr. SCANLON. Mr. Burchill, have you any questions?

Mr. BURCHILL. Can you tell us what percentage of your membership is composed of noncitizens?

Mr. OWENS. I might say a very small percentage.

Mr. LANDIS. How many locals have you in Canada?

Mr. OWENS. We have seven locals in Canada and naturally they are all citizens of Canada.

Mr. BURCHILL. And your percentage of noncitizens would be very small in the United States?

Mr. OWENS. I might say in that connection we had a little difficulty at the beginning of the war with one local union where the population consisted principally of a few old people who had been in the employ of the company for 25 years or more, some of them. Some of them had sons in the armed forces and because one man in particular because he could not sign his own name, he was refused citizenship. Mr. BURCHILL. There is a bill now under consideration in the House to take care of that.

Mr. OWENS. And this man was automatically discharged under a naval order, and we had quite a struggle in getting him back on the pay roll.

Mr. SCANLON. Are there any other questions of Mr. Owens?

If not, Mr. Owens, we thank you very kindly for your statement. STATEMENT OF ABNER GREEN, SECRETARY, AMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR PROTECTION OF FOREIGN-BORN, NEW YORK CITY

Mr. GREEN. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, I am speaking on H. R. 804, a bill introduced by Representative Woodruff of Michigan, and providing "to prohibit aliens from voting in labor organizations or acting as their officers or agents."

I am secretary of the American Committee for the Protection of the Foreign-Born. I wish to voice the opposition of my organization to the bill, H. R. 804, which is intended to bar aliens from holding office or voting in labor organizations. The provisions of this bill are harmful, both in peace as well as wartime. They would affect seriously every section of the American people.

Their effect on more than 12,000,000 members of organized labor is obvious. The will would seriously burden labor organizations and members of trade unions, who would have to produce proof of citizenship.

It is a fact that many American citizens cannot prove the place of their birth, and it would present an impossibility for millions of American citizens, who are members of labor organizations, to prove that they are American citizens.

I feel that representatives of organized labor here today are better qualified to speak for labor. However, I do wish to call to your attention the statement by Philip Murray, in his report to the Fourth Constitutional Convention of the C. I. O., that

* * *

The C. I. O. opposes all legislation which seeks to set alien residents aside for special persecution. The C. I. O. is not blind to the historical fact that the political persecution of certain minority groups is the invariable prelude to the infringement of the rights of other broader groups.

H. R. 804 would seriously affect more than 15,000,000 Americans of foreign birth, more than 10,000,000 of whom have become American citizens by naturalization. The bill legislates against aliens only. But, its passage would unloose suspicion and antagonism against all foreign-born persons, whether alien or citizen. The foreign-born who have become naturalized citizens feel that so-called antialien measures reflect hostility to them as foreign born and not only to the alien. It is impossible to calculate the dangerous effects this bill would have upon the morale of large numbers of workers in our basic war industries---about 60 percent of whom are of foreign stock.

We have not as yet completely rid the country of dangerous aliens and especially those among the foreign-born. They would immediately pick up such legislative measure as this and, of course, they would have tremendous cooperation and support in the fact that a bill like this would create a confusion among the foreign-born and would permit dangerous aliens to spread propaganda of anti-Americanism among this foreign-born group. At the present time we have Chinese, natives of India, and many oriental groups who are barred citizenship and cannot become American citizens.

The foreign-born, as a group, are doing their share for a United Nations victory over the Axis. During the month of April 1943 the foreign-born oversubscribed by $2,000,000 a campaign for $40,000,000 in War bonds for the purchase of 100 PT boats for the Navy. Americans of Czech descent in Chicago have given more than $2,000,000 toward the cost of a new cruiser for our Navy to replace the Chicago lost at Guadalcanal. Last Saturday, Americans of Hungarian birth in New York City donated 10 ambulances to the Army. In Bridgeport and Passaic, Americans of Slovak birth provided the funds to buy three standard Army ambulances.

During the month of December 1942 Czech-Americans in Cleveland subscribed more than $1,000,000 for War bonds; while in Pittsburgh and Baltimore they subscribed more than one-half million dollars each. In a period of 10 days recently Americans of Slovak descent in Cleveland subscribed more than $1,150,000 for war bonds.

In Detroit, John Kovalcik, a Czech-American, works in a war plant. He has five sons in the American army and two others are about to be inducted. John Kovalcik regrets that he is too old to fight. But he is glad that his sons have gone to help rid the world of oppression and want the same oppression and want from which he fled Europe 33 years ago.

The foreign-born have demonstrated their patriotism on the battlefield as well. Who can forget the heroism of the brave Filipino soldiers? Yet, their brothers and cousins in the United States would be deprived of their democratic rights by this bill-and doubly sosince Filipinos cannot become American citizens because of their race. First Lt. Alexander Salvatore, of California, attacked a Japanese supply line from the air in New Guinea, descending in the face of two machine guns firing at him. Sixty Japanese were later found on the spot and this Italian-American soldier was awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in action.

Capt. Frank Bostrom, of Texas, a Swedish-American, won the Distinguished Flying Cross for taking a B-17 Flying Fortress 1,500 miles from Australia to the Philippines-1,500 miles of enemy controlled air, over open seas and through storm areas to get Gen. Douglas MacArthur safely out of the Philippines. Another SwedishAmerican, Lt. Frank Christofferson, has received three awards-the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal, and the Silver Star Medal. These are the children of immigrants. Many of them are the children of aliens against whom this bill is directed. Your committee may not be intimately acquainted with statistics about the foreignborn, since you usually deal with labor rather than alien legislation. The Report on Alien Registration by Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization Earl G. Harrison states that the 4,280,056 aliens in this country, as of December 31, 1942,

represents the lowest percentage of aliens in the United States since the establishment of immigration records in 1820.

Commissioner Harrison points out also that

Even when the relationship is limited to the closest range of family ties by inclusion of spouse only, spouse and child, and children only-61 percent of the alien population are found to have family ties in this country.

Your committee should consider also the fact that many aliens are not as yet naturalized through no fault of their own. There are pend

ing almost 2,000,000 applications for naturalization and many thousands have not applied because they cannot meet the educational and literacy requirements for naturalization. Delays in naturalization are not the fault of the alien but due principally to red tape in the naturalization procedure and to an understaffed Immigration and Naturalization Service.

All aliens except Japanese are subject to selective service. Only citizens of enemy countries are permitted to refuse to serve and forfeit their right to ever become American citizens. Congress has asked the noncitizens to be ready to give their lives in defense of this country, and large numbers of them are bearing arms under our flag. Can Congress now say that they may die for this country but that they may not vote in labor elections or hold office in trade unions?

Only 2 days ago, on May 16, the Nation celebrated I Am An American Day, honoring those former aliens who had become naturalized citizens during the past year. This bill clearly violates the spirit of I Am An American Day, as expressed by Vice President Wallace when he told more than 1,000,000 New Yorkers and the world:

Today we say with pride and humility that we are Americans, knowing in our hearts that Americanism in its deepest meaning stands for the freedom, welfare and brotherhood of the plain people of the world, wherever they may be.

Depriving aliens of their rights affects every American, since it weakens our democracy by creating artificial distinctions based on citizenship. During this war period, this bill is especially dangerous. It is one of Hitler's little helpers. It would disrupt national unity and undermine the morale of large sections of the American people.

We urge that, in the interests of the war effort and the welfare of the American people, your committee report this bill unfavorably and do everything in your power to prevent its enactment.

Mr. SCANLON. Do you want to ask any questions, Mr. Landis?

Mr. LANDIS. It is also a fact that we have some Scotch and French, especially in the coal fields, who are good people, law-abiding and respect the rights of others in the United States, but they have probably been associated with groups and some have been speaking their own foreign language and therefore they are not really able to pass these citizenship examinations.

Mr. GREEN. Yes; I think the greatest difficulty is that it is only within the last 4 or 5 years that we have paid attention to the aliens and have been trying to encourage them to become naturalized. When the bulk of this labor came in they were given no opportunities to become citizens nor were they encouraged to go to school. They were not asked to become citizens. They were completely left to their own volition and as a result many of them did not get an opportunity to become educated or learn to speak the American language and a result is that many of them are set in their ways and it would be almost impossible for them to learn the language at this time and consequently it would be almost impossible for many of them to pass a citizenship examination.

Mr. LANDIS. I know I have very good people in my district who would like to be American citizens but they cannot speak the language good enough to pass the test. I believe it is on record that this year there have been more people who passed the citizenship test than in any other year.