St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1896-02-15
TO BE CURED BY THE SUE
FRAGE AMEND EMF.

ually citizen.
The iniquity Of thus prostituting
the rights Of citizenship should BE-
a;.parant to all, because to allow
. person who is not a citizen and
who is under no legal obligation
ever to become one, to exercise such
powers is to discriminate against
citizens in favor of an unnaturalized
foreigner.
This shameful abuse OF the most
important rights and prerogratives
which should belong to and be only
enjoyed by actual citizens, is wholly
yalueless outside of Louisiana.
The statutes of the United States
do not recognize any force in this
foolish and unjust provision OF
the Louisiana Constr u,ion. An ex-
ample Of this is given in q case
telsgra: he'd to Mondays Picayune
from New York.
The matter has already been
printed at length in the Picayune.
and it is only necessary for the sake
of illustrat, n, to mention its fea-
lures A young man, subject Of
the Emperor Of Germany, some
years ago came to this country and
married. In order to enjoy civil
4 d political rights and privileges he
went into court and declared his
intention to become citizen.
Under the Constitution Of Lonisi
ana this arty, although in no sense
q citizen, was at once invested in
all the powers, prepogratives an
rights OF citszenship. He wou 4
have been all right SO long as he re-
NAMED in Louisiana, but, desiring
to return to Germany, he applied
to the Cnited States authorities il.
New York for a passport to enable
him to travel as an American in for
eign countries.
The officials in New York having
charge Of the issuing Of passports
for foreign travel, discovering that
this Louisiana applicant is not .
citizen of the United States, hut is
still German subject necessarily
refused to issue papers certifying
to his citizenship. Application was
made next to the German Consul,
but he on learning that the appli-
cant had gone through the form Of
renouncing his German allegiance.
also refused 10 issue passport.
The serious part Of the matter
is that any man within the lnilitar
a-e, who had left Germany before
completing his tour Ut military SER
wee, and then returns tbll her, is Ina
bic to be seized on arrival and then
but mt0-;Ae- army In order to es=.
cape snch . fate it must be clearly
shown that lie has become an
citizen and hat he has
only returned to Germany for q
brief stay, and even then his papers
and credentials must be perfectly
straight.
At this moment there j. an ugly
complication over a German natur-
allied citizen Of Illinois who has
been seized while on a visit to his
old home AMI put in the army.
William SCHNEIDER came to this
country some years ago and was
duly natura lied sc Chicago. l
his certificate his name was spelled
- chwander. or something of that
SOFT. The mistake was not noticed
AID, arm. d with his naturaiizSd
papers, 5 hewder returned 10 Ger
many and was at once seized arc
forced into The army. When he
exhibited the certificate Of Amcri-
can naturalizati n it was pronounced
good as to .Schwander, but not
for .'Schweder," aud SO the un or
tunate man will have to serve his
the in the army, since it IL not
likely that he can get any relief
The United States diplO..f-
acy.
But the most serious feature Of
the Louisian constitutional pro-
vision Is that it invests, with all
the rights an powe OF citizenship.
foreigners ~ho ae not citizens.
his outrage has been finally rec
og lied. and it is TO be RENE :
died by the constitutional amend
ment which Is to be voted GA By
the people Ut this State al the next
general election. BY all means the
ought 10 be ratified BY
. full vote OF all the good Peep! Of
It will cure one Of the
greatest political evi,s il Louisiana
politics-Picavune.