The Washington times., 1915-12-28
j. S.BUREA[JlFs
WORK. TO END
ALIENISN .EVIE..
Naturalization Agents Carrying
On One Of the Governments )
Greatest Campaigns.
By JUDsoN c. wELL1vER.

by JODOON y. WEIJIIVER. .stf
There are approximately thirteen mil
lions OF unnatUraliZed aliens IN the
United States. ~ n
Of these. about ten millions have been
in this country long enough TO have be-
come citizens, but have failed 20 do so.
There arc about seventeen millions Of 3.
persons of alien birth in this country;
only four millions have become citizens.
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.
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 neces-
sary to acquire IL. ~,
In the olden 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 fat
less inclination in that direcdons>.a -,
The Bureau of Naturalization, which
is an fundamentally of the Depart
ment of Labor, Is engaged in a system
attic organization OF the country. Cor. tIio
purpose, first. OF gettingrthese aliens in
terested in acquiring citizenship; second,
of fitting them for citiZenshID;- thirdi
of making sure that they do, not become.
citizens until they are fitted and, final
ly. of getting them made mtOi citizens
conditions that will aiNeo real sig
niiicance to the ceremony. - y
Some Data Startling.
Some of the data that have been &C
cumulated by the Bureau incident to
this work is startling For instance,
MASSACHUSETTS, has SGI.3SS foreign born
white residents; yet in 1914 only ,6.155
applied for citizenship papers. and only,
1861 applied for first1papersAthattsi sitss
declared their intention g Of beponliRx-
citizens. The vast majority ~ofs ALIENS
in that good old seat, Of patriotic Amor
icanism seem to have no desire to be-
come Americans
New York city last year had 1,9zI,03
foreign-bcrn whites, out of which num-
ber only 1896. or less than one m 100.
became natpralized, and only GS,571 de-
clared their intentiaR OF 1hefomtns citil
The superintendent qf sEy:hbeoSpis Eece.itc'
ly informed tho Burc3u OF NatufaiiSt a.
ton that there are $50, oO9l' people IN NtsS
York who cannot speak any English,
much less read and write It.
Examples of this kind, hardly less iu-
pressiVe, could lie multiplied In Elt
parts of the country. The congestion
Of recently arrived aliens in the large
centers has resulted in making proporr
tlons of non-cltisens abhorfnally large
there; SO that many ~ thn. great
American cities areg in factl FFaptdH
ceasing to be American at all. srss
Alienism an Evil. &
It was to remedy this condition that
the Bureau of Naturalization was 1es-
tablished, less than ten years ago. 1t
was transferred to the Department, of
Labor when that department was cre-
ated; and Is now carrying on one of the
greatest campaigns ever undertaken BY
any arm of the GOVernmentFato end thS
evil of alienism. "..r ...-..af
The abuses of the naturalization laws
which were discovered when this ne w
bureau made its first survey Of the
country preliminary to taking up its big
task, were found to be almest beyond
belief Almost no Federal attention had,
been given to the making of citizens,
despite that the Constitution sglyes Con-
passed, in 1870, dealt with the. subject.
1t was amended from time to time until
in 1924 the law was placed in practical
ly the form in which 1t remained nearly
a century.
This required a declaration of inten-
ton; then, after two years, the taking
of first papers; and after three years
more, final papers; these to he issued
on a hearing I'm a proper court
Under this law all kinds of courts were
authorized to make citizens, and Ill the
most informal way. Until immigration
became large and the political possi-
bilities of Juggling the law were re-
allied, there were few abuses
Politicians Got Busy.
Then the politicians busted themselves,
and scandaIous things happened. In one
city the controlling political party,
through friendly judge, had piles of
blanks issued, which were peddlcd
around on election day among aliens,
who were actually paid to ALL in the
blanks, which were signed and sealed in
advance! Thus simultaneously convert
ed into an applicant for citizenship the
alien was given by the state law the
right to vote. lie might have been
there only a week; might not know a
word of English; but no difference. He
got paid once for taking out his citizen
ship, and again Cor voting .'rikhtH
Some results of this reckless proceed
ure were that the lists of people tlIuS
informally turned into American clt-
zens 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 1t. In one
case the officials who had issued papers
i'm blank in order to got the alien vote
to the polls. being defeated at the elec-
tion, promptly cancelled the grant Of
citizenship!
A Western judge commissioned his
"A 0onntN court
nished him with a heap OF blank nat
uralization. papers duly signed up, and
sent the young man out to corral the
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 i'm which sea captains,
touching here between voyages, became
American citizens while passing through,
I'm order that they might be eligible. to
take command OF vessels under the
American flag. Abuses of this sort
nNppntinnal They