The full text on this page is automatically extracted from the file linked above and may contain errors and inconsistencies.
4-2215 FE::)EI'...AL WORK S AGSNCY WORK PROJEC'I'S ADMI NISTRAT I ON ~s~• ~ MAR 17 1 For Release Tuesday , March 11 , 1 941 . WPA WILL CHECK BEGIS'IR:\.G.'IOl'J S'.i'A·I'EH.EHT S CF 4 ,700 , 000 ALIEliTS A nat ion- wide projec t to ver::.fy t he recen t registration statements of 4 , 700 , 000 aliens living i n the Un ited States will be i naugurc:,tecl sho rtl y b y the WJ?A in vcrious :9 orts of entr y , Howard. O. Hunte r , Acting Com:ni ssioner of i'lork Projects , announced todo.y . Sponso r ed by the National Defense Commission and cosu onso r ed by the I mrnigrn,t ion ancl 1fatur a lizatioa Service of t he I:e1;r,rtment of Justice, the und.ert aking i s th e newest in n long se r ies o: WPA clerical p r ojec-l:;s w'n.i ch hav e indexed , r •,rn t ored ano. assembled r ecords , relo,ti ng t o the ari· i vnl or na t uraliza tion of nearly 25 , 000 , 000 immigr ::mts . The v erifica tion p roj ec t will utilize these i ndexes to che ck the information regrcrd ing i1rr-,1igrc1tion provided la.st year by the aliens who f illed out for ms covering t he salient points of their :per sonnl h i sto ri es ns required by the Alien Regi strat i on Act of 1 940 . Pr eli minary work h,,s al r ec-d~r becun at El lis Island in Hew Yor~: , through which t l1r ee- quarters of the i m.m i g:rants hav e passed , Mr . Hun t e r said, and. ur.its will be s et up at other po rt s of entr y . Registration paper s will be assembled from a ll ·OD,rt s of the c ountry at the a:p:;;iro~Jri .:1.t e ~ports for comparison with t l10 r e cords of i mmigrr,nt arr i vals . 11 The Immig r at ion and Naturalization offic i a ls conside r t h i s Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 4-2215 - 2 work of grea t importance to substantiate the st9.teMents of tb.e noncitizens who live among us, for their own convenience and lJrotectior. as well e..s for the pr otection of the nation , " Mr . Hunter said . lfAs with the work "v,'PA has alreadJr done on i mmi 6 ration ac1d naturalization records , the verifica tion p roject no doubt will sift som e chrcff from the wheE>, t , but it ~,,ill nl so serve to correct innocent mistakes and. :protect honest al i er,s . n Previous WPA work , covering inc~exi:..:g , r enewal t:.nd c entrc,liza tion of imr.1.i gration anc:1 n"turf'..lizn.tion r Gco:::-cls , h:i.s become es:9ec i all~r importo..nt in r ecant months l:Jeco.use of the ctefonse y.,rogr am , emphasized . 0 :fr. Hunter Its V2,lue l:IBs been enhanced ])c'..rticulo.rl y b;r tho .A.lion Registration Act and the l aw of lc-,st Jun e prohib i tin.~ tl10 orrplo;ymont of aliens on secret , confidential 2nd r os trictod governmen t contracts . Immigra tion ,?..nd Natur al ization offic es havo since boon flooded with inquiries seeking in:forr,10..t:on r eq_uirod for tho registration and by empJ.oyors and employees re q_u iri ng cortific8.tion as to tho logal status of foreigi1-born pe rson s to be O!'!plo;;red in defense industri ,J s . Their status has ooon checkoct with a speed and ccrtc.inty which othenriso would have been imposs ible , Mr . Hunter 8A--pl:i.L10C:. , thus ·_orevon ting instan ces of bottlenecks in defense emplo;ymont . The program to modernize tho record. of L~lion a rrivnl s began with tb o G.ssist~mce of WP.A more than five ye:-~rs '1.r,;o . I ntcx c.?.rds were prepared for per io cls :for vh ich none existed, existinG ic1clexes wero consolidated nncl all were merged. so that i nfor1:1;~tion r eg;·,rciinr;; t he nrrival of c,liens could be locD.ted speedily D? nr1,:.ne r::.thc r t:.1r,n by d2.te Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 4-2215 - 3 - or shi p a t t he majo r p or ts of ent r y . '.::'he v i sas whi ch i mmi g r ants ca rry f or ad.m ittn.nc e a.-rid shi p passenger li s t s were c ov e r ed i n t h i s t aslz . Pro j e c ts c ov e r ing these t ~.rpes of r e c ord hav e been c onducted a t t he four p ri ncipal :r,io rt s of en try--:i:ali s Is land , St . ,i.lbans , Vt ., Ph iladelph i a and :Boston , thr ou 6 h i,: hich sornc 90 :perc ent of t he i r,rn i g r ant s h2cve en t e r ed. . At New York a lo ne mo r e t han 50 , 000 , 000 ca 1·c,s a nd. napers wer e handled_ by ¼'P.A. wo r kers i n the course of t he wo r k . To fa c il itP-te the checki ng of natur::~l iza t ion , t he 1iaper s of f or e i gn 'c orn citi zens i n Sta t e and Fede r al cour ts t h r oughout the c ount r y wer e i ndexed and. cC1.r ds fil ecl by sounc:. r athe r than b y spelling t o s i mplifJr t he ir l oca tion and. e limi n2- t c d iffi cul t i os n r is i n 6 fro m va rious spel l i ngs . The phonetic i ndex , i n v.rhi ch l ike- s ound i ng n,...,,mes are g r ouped_ , ho, s been c en tra li z ed i n t he offices of tho I J11J;: i[;ration and Na t u r alizati on Se rvic e i n Wash i ng ton , r educ i n 6 t he time fo r v e r i f ying natur a lize t i on i n many in s t an c es f r om wee:::s t o hour s . A t lli r d majo r phase hns b0en t he i ndexing of a ll a li e!1 sc:-tnen who hD.v 0 t ouched at va r ious easte r n 1_, ort s since 1 917 . This i ndex , also phone tic0-ll:.r ar r nngea_ , ass i s t s in the i cior..tifi cntion o f t hos e who r emai n i llegall y i f t hey c ome i n c on t a ct wi t h ru1thoritieR a t some l a t e r da t e . Illu stra ting t he i mpo rt ance o f o r oGiste~ of al i en s ea- men , one w"'s r emo v ed. a t t he ou t b r en,k of the }}r e seat wn.r from a tJ il o t boa t i n an eas t e r n har bo r , who r e ho p r esll.!11obly wD-s sta tioned to c he c!-:: ship 2.r r i v2.ls and dopl,rtu r os . Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 4-2215 - 4 - "The moder nization of these v ital r ecords is of ines timable • value to t:1.e Federa l goyernmen t and to millions of fo r eign- born cit izens , alien re sidents and their children , 11 Mr . Hunter said . 11 The value of such rea d.ily- a ve.ilable rec ords he,s g rown i n tr.e r ecent ye2rs of $Ocial advancement a t home 2.nd :poJ.i ti cal chanees Lbr o2,d.• 11 11 They are often need ed to p r ove 1 egal en try , to v e rif~r deri v :J. t i ve ci tizonshi:p , to es t ablish ci tizonsl::ip in qualify i :1g for Civil Se rv i c e as we l l as def ense posi t ions , to Jro v e l eg~l status for pens i ons and to es t ablish inheritances . ~hey are mo r e i m~ortant now than eve r to t he g overnment in trP.ci r.:.g f ,_ig i ti ves anc1 ur:des ir::-.ble alieis.s . Ana_ no d.ouo t one of the ~_r g r e~. t cst se r v ic es will bo l'.lroviding the O2.sis for verification of a li on rer.;is trations . 11 The v erificati on project has been gro11ped with othe r r oc oris pr oj e ct s which co n tinue the wo rk ulreafy fone for t he Immigration and :Naturalization Service . Together theso projects for m a ma j or unit i n t he brander National Defe nse R.ese['..rch and Recoro.s Assis t ance Project, which was a1Y9rovod. oy t he Pre s iden t with the N2,tio:1[1.l Dcfenso Com1:1irn ion as s:9onsor and an initia l a llotmen t o f $6 , 321 , 5'36 i n WPA fund.s . Unde r t he authoriz.'.ltion , WPA workers may te em:plo~recl on emergency cleric['.l and sta tis ti cal vork with vn.rious go vern,>:e:·! t a.:;encios concer ned with defense activities serving as co- sponso r s in their :pc,rticular fi e ld s . The r e cords assis t ance p roj e ct is unde r the d ir e ction of Dr . Uilton Forster and. the 5 eno r a l supervision of Mrs . Flo ren ce Kerr, Assi s t ant Comm issio ~rn r in cha r ge of Commun ity Service :9r oje cts, and. Harvey E. Becknell , director of r esearch o.nd r eco r cls ? ro 6 rams . Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 4-2215 - Davicl. • s. 5 - Will:i.2.ms , forme rly in ch0.rg e of immi g ration and naturalize,- tio n record.s :proj e ct s i n New York City , is n1.1. ti onal consultant fo r t he verifi ca ti on and rel a ted wo rk . 0 Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
@FedFRASER