Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1854-12-31

to be corrected. 1t was never intended by
those who enacted the act for the naturalization
OF aliens that persons who had been transported
for crime, that those who came over here
merely because Europe was too full for them,
but who retained their loyalty of feeling for the
monarchies they had left, should, because they
| remained here for the period of FIVE years, be
entitled to admission to citizenship. The in
tention was to permit those who came here
from abroad seeking permanent home who
| by five years of continuous residence, mani
tested that intention, and by good behaviour
during all that time and an attachment to re-
| publican principles-a good behaviour and an
attachment to republican principles which
could be proved to the satisfaction of court
had shown themselves worthy recipients of the
benefits to be derived from citizenship, and
safe repositories of the powers it confers, to be
admitted to these rights and the exercise of
these powers by an order entered in open
court, after an examination into the facts of
| each case and a judicial decision upon the APP
pication-an examination which should be con-
| Quoted with the same care and q decision which
should be made with the same deliberation and
| solemnity as that which should accompany
every other judicial act. Those courts which,
instead of administering this law, have, by their
negligence and inattention, practically repealed
it, admitting thousands to the rights Of citi-
zenship who want all the requisites to entitle
them to such admission, have been guilty of q
gross violation Of duty, and have made the law
itself odiOus in the public estimation.
| VI the wisdom or propriety of our present
or OF any naturalization laws it is not my bus-
1 ness at this time to speak; my duty now is to
administer the laws as they are. am COM
PEELED, for the reasons have stated, to deny
the prayer of the applicant, and also to forbid
the clerk from in any manner exercising the
power conferred by Congress upon the courts.
This is all that is necessary for me to say in
deciding the case now before the court; but
there are other provisions of the naturalization
laws which are loosely interpreted or wholly
misunderstood. By the act Of May 26, 1924,
the period between the declaration of intention
and granting the certificate of citizenship is
reduced from three to two years; but this in
no manner affects the requirement of five years
previous continuous residence.
| The first section of the same act prescribes
q different rule for the naturalization of aliens
who arrived in this country prior to obtaining
the age of eighteen. 1t IS:
"Any alien, being free white person and
minor, under the age of twenty-one years, who
shall have resided in the United States three years
neAt preceding his arrival at the age oftwenty-
years, and who shall have continued TO reside
therein to the time he may make application 10 be
admitted citizen thereDs may, after he arrives at
the age of twentv-one years, and after he shall
have resided five years in the United States, in
GLIDING the three years of his minority, be admit.
ted citizen of the United States, without having
made the declaration required in the first condi-
ton of the first section of the 10 which this is
an addition three years previous 10 his admission
PrOvided, Such alien shall make the declaration
required therein at the time Of his or her admis-
sion; and shall further declare on OATH and prove
10 the satisfaction of the conr that for three years
such alien to become citizen ofthe United States,
and shall in all other respects comply with the
laws in regard to naturalization
The practical construction Of this provision,
l am informed, is for the clerks to admit aliens
who will make oath they arrived during their
minority, on proof of three years residence.
The true construction is, that it merely does
away with the necessity Of previous declara
ton of intention to become citizen on the
part of those who arrive in the country prior
to attaining the age of eighteen years, but re-
quires, instead of such previous declaration,
the oath of the party and also proof that for
the three next years preceding it has been the
| intention of the alien to become a citizen; but
| in all other respects the act Of 1902 and its
amendments are to be complied with by the
| person who applies under this section.
| The act Of 1902 provided that no person ar
irving after the passage of that act should be-
come citizen unless he had his name, birth
place, age, nation, &C., registered in the clerks
Office where he arrived, and also the place Of
his intended settlement, and required that the
clerk should record this in his office and grant
certificates. In 1910 an act still more strin.
gent in Its requirements as to the evidence in
cases of naturalization was passed and re-
NAMED in force until 1923, when these provi
sions were wholly repealed. There are several
other statutes relating TO the subject Of natu.
ralization which are not formally repealed, but
which have become obsolete for want Of per-
sons to whom they can be applied. The man
who would collect and embody in a single act
the operative portions of the various statutes
on this subject, with such amendments as ex
perience has shown are necessary to their due
and faithful execution, would be public bene
factor. While they are, as now, scattered
through the laws of Congress from 1902 to
l848, it cannot be expected that the Judges Of
the various courts will undertake the task of
ascertaining exactly which section and line or
word is in force and which is repealed conse
quently the administration Of these laws will
be loose and defective until such an act is
passed. And when that is done, and the laws
are administered in their purity, il will be ap.
parent that the faults have been far more in