The Washington times., 1915-12-28

Among the aliens resident here the
tendency not to become citizens and not
to take any interest in the Government
or the opportunities of citizenship, has
in the last two decades become SO
strong that II is regarded by the ma
turalization authorities as a very seri-
Gus matter.
Would Make Them Citizens.
a good deal has been said lately about
hyphenated Americans. But in truth
the problem concerns those who have
not cared even to accumulate. the hy-
phen; who for various reasons do not
take enough interest in our citizenship
to comply with the easy formulas neccs-
sary to acquire it.
In the oldon days of Irish, Scotch,
German and Scandinavian immigration,
the newcomers almost universally took
steps as early as possible toward be-
coming citizens. But the comers from
southern and eastern Europe show faj
less inclination in that direction. :
The Bureau of Naturalization. which
is an instrumenta,ity of the Depart
ment of Labor, is engaged in a system
attic organization of the country for. tlc
purpose. first, OF getting these aliens i'll
terested in acquiring citizenship; second,
of lifting them for CitizenshIp:, third,
of making sure that they do, not become
citizens until they are fitted. and, final
ly, of getting them made into citizens.
just as soon as they are .btted. under.
conditions that will give real ss-
niticanc2 to the ceremony. ..'~
Some Data Startling.
Some of the data that have been ac
cumulatcd ty the Bureau incident to
this work is startling. For instance,
Massachusetts, has GI.2SS foreign BORN
white residents; yet in 1914 only 6.l5S
pTlied for citizenship papers. and only
1861 applied for first -papers---tlls at. si>.7
declared tneiv intention Of becoming
citizens. The vast majority OF = aliens.
in that good old seat Of iatriotic Amcl- .
iCanism seem to have no desire to be-
cone Americans.
New York city last year had 1,ozI,,03
foreign born whites. out of which num-
Der only 1886, or less than one m 1H.
became natrralized. and only GS,571 de-
clarcd their intention OF becoming ctir
zcns. ..-r.-,r - 80,
T6s ntGrmss 'sa saoG e hges s 5sSi
tion, that there are $50, 9of,' people in Vow
much less read and write it,.
Examples OF this kind. hardly less i:u-
pressive. could Lc multiplied In all
parts of the country. The congestion
of recently arrived aliens in the large
centers has resulted in making proper
there; So trat many OF thu great
American cities are. in fact. rapidly
ccasing to be American at all.
Alienism an Evil.
It was to remedy this condition that
the Bureau of Naturalization was es-
tablishcd, less than ten years ago. 1t
was transferred to the Department of
Labor when that department was Gre
atcd; and Is now carrying on one of the
greatest campaigns ever undertaken by
any arm OF the Government to end the
CNli of uliCnlSm.
Tho abuses Of the naturalization laws
which were discovered when this new
bureau made its first survey Of the
country preliminary to taking up its big
task were found to be almost beyond
belief. Almost no Federal attention had
been given to the making of citizens.
despite that the Constitution GlVes Con-
gress full powers. one of the hrst laws
passed, in 1870, dealt with the subject
1t was amended from time to time until
in 1874 the law was placed in practical.
ly the form in which ii remained nearly
century.
This required a declaration of intcn-
tCn; then, after two Years, the taking
of first papers; and after three years
more, final papers; these to he issued
on a hearing IN Il proper court.
Under this law I'll kinds of courts were
authorized to make citizens. and i'll the
most informal way. Until Immigration
6GTnme "rFG ana the he p@'T oW Werp poTr. r.
allied, there were few abuses,
Politicians Got Busy.
Then the politicians busted themselves,
and scandalous things happened. In one
city the controlling political party.
through a friendly judge, had piles of
blanks issued, which were peddlCd
around on election day among aliens,
Who were actually paid to MI in the
blanks, which were signed and sealed III
advance! Thus ;nstantaneously convert
ed into an applicant for citizenship, The
alien was given by the State law the
right to vote. lie might have been
word of English; but no difference. He
got paid once for taking out his citizen
ship, and again tor voting right!
Some results of this reckless proceed
urc were that the lists of people thus
informally turned into American cti-
zcns would frequently not be reported
back to the court and recorded; with
the result that men would believe them
selves. citizens but if they lost their
papers could never prove it. In one
case the officials who had issued papers
in blank in order to got the alien vote
to the polls. being defeated at the clec-
uon. promptly cancelled the grant oE
CitizC nShip!
a Western judge commissioned his
son as a deputy clerk Of court. fur
niShed him with hcap of blank nat
uraliZatiou papers duly signed up, and
sent the young man out to corral tn"
aliens and vote them for the accOmmo-
dating Judge! At some American sea
port towns citizenship was so easily
procured that a number of cases were
discovered in which sea captains,
touching here between voyages, beCam"
American citizens while passing through,
in order that they might be eligible to
take command OF vessels under tn"
American tiag. Abuses of this SOFT
were not rare or exceptional. They
constituted an Important snare OF the
activities Of great political machines. in
MANY cities and States. The moduS
opCrandi was perfectly familiar, too, 10
the country politicians. '' r'' -'n.'S
Tho new law Of 1896 rrspIlFs tn. III"