It is a sound policy necessary for the protection of the country to require that only citizens shall administer its government and hold positions of trust and responsibility. As a measure of defense, which is its main justification, it should be _national_. It is no defense against a foreign foe to have it obtain in one state and not in another; in one city and not in another. A state or city that needs protection from a neighboring state or city has not yet attained a national point of view and stands in the way of Americanism and nationalism. It is sound to keep alien workmen off our waterways and water-supply systems and other public works of importance in defense, but we defeat our entire purpose of safety when any alien resident here for a few months can go on those arteries of our defense system with a declaration of intention in his pocket. It is a sound policy that the instruction in our public schools should be by American citizens with an American point of view and loyalty, but compliance with that law, as in California, by granting first papers, will not carry out that policy or give assurance of teaching from the American point of view. Americans regard the possession of a paper as evidence of intent and of qualifications, whereas it is generally regarded by the alien as a technical requirement necessary to earn money in America. In some states there is a modified form of this law, requiring that preference be given to citizens. At this stage it becomes clear that these laws are not national defense laws, but labor preference laws. If Americanism means anything in justice, law, order, or opportunity, such laws should have their purpose expressed and their terms defined in the Federal statutes and due notice should be given the alien before he emigrates to America. Are we a nation dealing squarely with all peoples and honorably with those we admit, or are we a federation of states each dealing with the alien as it sees fit, after the nation has admitted him? All right-thinking Americans must see that we must deal as a nation and not locally with the subjects of alienism and citizenship.