The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1879-09-11

| tne Commute on tne judiciary, VINO reported
| substitute for 1t.
To some OF the provisions of this substitute,
| which was earnestly pressed for adoption / want
| to call your attention; for of all measures ever
I Introduced into the American Congress hostile to
i the Origu born citizen or denizan this substitute
was the worst Had 1t becomeb law, ts plain ef-
\ feet would have been to greatly diminish, If not
| put end to, immigration to this country. 1t
I would have made naturalization almost an i'm
| possibility 1t would have made the certificate
| OF naturalization, when obtained, almost worth
less. By It's very first section 1t took from every
Slate court the right 10 grant certificates of natur
| aiztti0n, and vested that power IN the Circdit
aud District courts of the United States, and reg
| lSters In bankruptcy, as commissioners, alone
! The consequence of this provision, had 1t become
g law, would have been to compel the person
seeking naturalization to travel possibly hundreds
| OF miles and incur great loss of time aud money
In order to make his first declaration and after
wards his final application. The bill next pro-
| vided that any alien intending to apply for nat
uralizatiOn shall, at least one month before such
application, file or cause to be filed with the clerk
| OF said respective courts, or with the said Com
| missioner (register In bankruptcy, to whom such
application is TO be made, notice that he intends
to apply. which notice shall be verified by the
oath of such alien, and shall state the time at
which such application is to be made, the name
OF the town or place within the State or Territory
! or within the District Of Columbia In which said
| application is intended to be made; also, where
the applicant has resided for the year previous to
such application. his residence at the time, with
the street and number Qu case he resides in place
having streets named aud houses numbered) and
| name and keeper OF the house in which he lives
the name, age, occupation and nationality of the
applicant, together with description Of the ap
| plicant including age, height, complexion, color
of the hair, color OF the eyes and any other dis
ting fishing fact. The object Of this provision,
with all It's particularly To interpOse another
| obstacle TO naturalization by the trouble and ex
pense that the giving OF notice might impose, but
| Hing uuh m auaR
TO interfere and oppose the granting Of the natur
allZatiOD, for the bill went on to provide that the
| application must be heard al the time specified
In the notice. and that any person might cOntes
the application, that no atidavlts should be ad-
mltled and that any attorney -at.l law should be
permitted TO cross examine any applicant or wit
nesses, and to offer counter evidence cOnfOrmably
| to the rules Of law; that for taking and filing a
| declaration of intention 10 become a citizen the
fee should be fifty cents for determining whether
| the alien should or should not be naturaliZed,
| 81 so; and for each days service by any commits
s;Ouer in taking testimony S6; and for authenu
| Gated copies OF proceedings In naturalization the
same fees as in other cases, that is, twenty five
| cents per hundred words. And II further provi.
ded, that the fact OF residence for four years and
| SIX months in this country should, In addition to
| the oath Of the applicant, be proved by citizen
| OF the United States And then, after all, If the
applicant obtaiued his certificate 1t was declared
| that II should not be effective until six months
had elapsed after twas granted. Now, my friends,
| thiuk for moment what man, seeking TO be-
come natuIaliZed, would have to do, had that bill
becou e q law Id the first place, he would have
| TO declare his intention to become a citizen not
| in the State court within q few miles of hk resi-
| dence but in he Federal court, perhaps hundreds
Of miles from his residence. That is the first loss
OF time and money to which he would have been
subjected.
Next at least one month before making his ap.
plicauon to be natur allied he must have filed the
notice Of which have spoken either in court VI
l haEn Oft no mil nf tha nnNNn -
| That light subject him TO another journey and
| further loss of time and money. Then when his
| application came 0n 10 be heard, he would have
bee rtq1iledto prove that he had resided in this
| country tour years and six mouths by the teku.
| mouy ora citizen. He might produce men of he
bisdept character who were not citizens TO prove
the fact their testimony would be rejected. Men
upOn whose testimony man might lose his life,
\ upon whose testimony the most important prop.
erty rights could be decided would have been
utterly disqualified by this dill, had 1t became d
law TO prove the simple fact of how long for
eign born man had resided In the United States.
The bill was an insult to every man of foreign
birth for 1t assumed that In case of naturaliZa.
tiOn the oath OF an alien could not be trusted
His testimony might be taken In a case of MUIR
der, it might be taken IN the greatest property
trial in the courts, but in case of naturalization
II should not be taken, Such was the provision
of this bill. It's inevitable effect would have been
to make 1t impossible in many cases for an appli-
cant to prove the fact Of his residence He could
prove IL by the men VINO came with him to this
country easily enough, but how could he be eX-
pected 70 prove II by citizen of the United States
when he was total stranger to all our citizens
at the time he landed on our shOresH But there
was a still more deadly blow at naturalization
| contained IN the bill which provided that affida.
Wits should not be received Now there is no stat
ute In the Uni ed States providing for taking de-
| positions In cases of naturalization, but IL has
always been the practice OF the courts 10 receive
properly authenticated afidavits to prove any
| II fonf q 90 tho lanufh nF ~
| this country, or the like There is nothing novel
In this for 1t is the common practice of courts to
receive aliidavits on the hearing of motions, and
an application for naturalization Is q motion to
be admitted to citizenship. But by fOrbdding
the use of affidavits, the bill would In vast mul.
titnde OF cases. have made 1t practically impossi.
be for an applicant to prove the length Of his
. residence. The only person by whom he could
prove when he came to the United States might
live In another and d slant State. II he could
not use their aftidavis, he could not procure his
naturalization unless indeed he could procure
their personal atel dance at cost OF hundreds oil
miles Of travel and of their reasonable compen-
sation But this was not ALL The applicant
} might be ready and have his witnesses in attend.
. auCe when any one might interpOse and contest
the application. Any pettifogging lawyer EN-.
poyed by a Know-NothiUg lodge or moved by
his own indicative feelings, might 90 to work tC
} examine and cross examine the applicant and
for the purpose OF continuing such examination
, and taking of testimony, the commissioner might
adjourn the hearing from day to day receiving
six dollars for every day he sat- ItWas estimated
by some Of the senators In the debate on the bill
that the average cost of naturalization should the
bill become law, would not be less than one
hundred dollars a case. But let us suppose the
applicant successful and his certificate granted
and the six months which were 10 elapse before
1t would be effective, Expired. Then you would
think all his troubles were ut an end but not at
all; for the bill provided that at any time there.
after District Attorney of tine United States
l irht HFan nj fha
cause why his certificate should not be revoked
Now II may be asked, why do dwell so much
upon this bill, or rather the substitute Of the Seu-
ate Judiciary Committee, since that substitute
failed TO become law2 do so for two reasons
First to show what kind Of measure a large
number Of the most distinguished Republican
leaders were anxious to adopt; and in the next
place. to show that the election laws OF which we
complain and this Know. Nothing and antl.nRtu
ralization bill were twin brothers, for then you
will be better able to comprehend how 1t is that
In the execution Of the election laws, they have
turned principally sgainst the naturalized citi-
Zens,
Having failed to destroy naturalization by the
bill to which have referred, they now seek, by
a corrupt and tyfauniCal execution Of the elec.
tiOn laws, to throw every possible obstacle In the
way of the naturalized citizens right to vote.
The purpose to use election laws disclosed itself
the moment the substitute bill OF which have
spoken was defeated. That, as l have said, was
proposed as an amendment to the House bill. AS
soon as 1t was voted down, the Senat who had
1t in charged moved two additional sections TO IL (;
one providing for Supervisors Of Elections, and
the other providing as follows: And be It fur
ther enacted, that in any city having upward of
twenty thousand Inhabitants, IL shall be lawful
for the Marshal OF the United States for the dis.
trict, to appoint as many special deputies as
may be necessary 10 preserve order at any elec.
tion at which Representatives In Congress are TO
Le chosen; and said deputies are hereby author
zed to preserve order at such elections, and to ar
rest for any oifense or breach Of the peace COM
mitted In their view"
The BILL thus amended passed both Houses,
and was approved by the President July IA, 1870.
This bill was the entering wedge for the enact
ment Of the voluminous Congressional election
laws that have since been pa'ked 1t introduced
the United States Deputy Marshals upon the
scene under the pretense OF preserving order at
elections, but 1t stopped far short Of the powers
conferred upon them by the subsequent acts to
which will shortly refer.
At the next session of Congress the Radical
| Fpturnpd In the pharua and nv the act an.