The Washington herald., 1907-05-28
FIFTY WOULD Be CITIZENS
Applicants for Naturalization Have
All Lived Here Ten Years.
One Arrived In America in 1860 and
Ten Landed During the 'TO's.
Irish I'm the, Majority.

Fifty-three candidates for the honor Of
American citizenship. most Of whom first
landed In this country many years ago
and many OF whom are said TO be In the
employment Of the government, are
awaiting their turn of examination as TO
their fitness for the great privilege. be
fore the justices Of the District Supreme
Court.
The law prescribes that the names Of
the applicants be exhibited In public for
a certain period of time in order 20 give
those who object % their admittanCe as
citizens an opportunity 20 file their pro-
tests with the court. This regulation OF
exhibiting the names Of the aspirants IN
public is complied with in this city by
placing the names. the birthplace, the
time Of their arrival in this country. and
port Of entry, their present residence, as
well as the names Of two witnesses, IN
glass-covered cases in the corridors OF
the City Hall. near the door leading 10
I the Offices Of the clerk Of the court.
OF the ffty-three candidates. thirteen
claim Ireland as their native country;
eight are from the realms of the Kaiser,
. the same number are from sunny Italy
/ FIVE give England as the lend Of their
/ birth. four are from Sweden. and four
/ from the domains If the Russian Car.
/ Turkey Syria, Scotland. Belgium, Switz-
/ erland. and Holland are each represented
/ by one candidate for citizenship honOrs.
/ All claim 20 be residents Of the District
and most Of their names may be found in
7 rHHzr
/ have been residing here for a length OF
/ time
/ The most surprising feature about these
/ Applicants is the fact that not one Of them
/ Is what is commonly called "a green
! horn." that each one. according 20 his
own statement. has lived I'm this country
quite a number Of years. There Is one
who arrived in this country way back IN
1853. ten landed in the '70's, fifteen in the
sos while the rest first saw the Stars
and Stripes fin this country in the ten
/ years following Not one OF them Is 4
newcomer. not one of them having ar
rived within the last three years.
Being asked in reference TO this matter,
an official Of the District Supreme Court.
who is well informed on matters pertain
ling 10 the naturalization Of foreigners.
gave il as his opinion that large number
Of the applicants are employed by the
/ government. that they are afraid to con-
tinue their allegiance 20 their native land
and at the same time draw salary from
Uncle Sans treasury, for fear OF some
one discovering the fact that they arc
not entitled to hold position in the gov
ernmept unless they are citizens Of the
United States.
''Then. I believe" continued the official.
There are some among the candidates
who intend to apply for government posi-
tious. and they have evidently decided 20
apply for citizenship before they try for
employment in the public service. Il is
for selfish reasons that many Of the appli-
cants petition for naturalization, but. of
course there are some who are sincere
In their intentions and declarations, and
g,ho ask for the right 10 claim the Stars
and Stripes as their national emblem be-
cause they are convinced that this is
the best country ever"