The Hawaiian gazette., 1916-02-18
Nothing Ia Law To Prevent Nat
ufalizatioh Adds Attorney
General
He QUOTES OPINION OF
FORMER FEDERAL OFFICIAL
Believes Brown Brothers May
Become FuII-FIedued Voters
II They wish

Within the next two or three years
there will be approximately l4,O0O
Filipinos in the Territory with tho
| right to take out naturalization papers
and become full Pledged voters, If tho
opinion given yesterday afternoon by
Attorney General I. NJ. Stainback, and
based upon an opinion of former
United States Attorney General Bona
I'arte as wen as certain decisions of
the courts, is proved correct.
1t is possible, added the attorney
general, that there have been recent
statutes which modify this opinion,
Ind il is certain that should the So
called Jones Bill pass the lower house
! and become law, that the status of
the Little Brown Brothers. in these
Islands will undergo, a radical altera.
! ton, but Mr.. Stainback believes thut
he has the law and the au,hJ. tics o.
his side in biz stataal, Mt that thcrr 3
nothing to Prevent TIC T..piDos hero
from applying 70? tic!r natI. riikI >. Il
! papers and obtair.&g then.
Ffl.p.nos As Gu4r -JEaen w.. q
The question of the admission Of FL
ipinos to the national guard OF Hawaii,
1 recently brought up, was the cause for
the investigation IF the law books by
the attorney gencral, which led to the
announcement of yesterday.
| 1.-THE question, it is true has not
been submitted to me officially" said
| GNna, "a 4
looked into it for my, own satisfaction,
and i find nothing in the law that
would forbid me stating positively that
the native of the, Philippines, now re-
siding in this Territory or any .thrr
States, is eligible to citizenship, an
as such eligible to membership in tho
national guard.
Quotes MIR. Bonaparte .-~
- Attorney General Bonaparts, when
be was Roosevelt 5 attorney general,
handed down the opinion upon which
base mine. He referred TO Section 80
of the act of June 80, 1906, in dealing
with the question of naturalization OF
a Filipino. He finds that that act pro-
Vides for the naturalization of q native
| born Filipino, who may be living in n
State or Territory of the United States.
Mr.. BOnaparte also refers to other
l'ws particularly the naturalization
laws and adds that it is my opinion
that these acts authorize the natural
zatlon of native Filipino, who has
otherwise complied with the laws.
/ "Personally agree with the former
United States Attorney General, who 3
pretty good company for a lawyer to
, be found in. Some time ago it was de
cided by this Office that a Filipino WIS
eligible for employment upon publ"
works, which was tantamOunt TO de.
Gliding that he was eligible to citizen
ship, as the law eXprC ssly states that
only citizens or persons eligible ~
citizenship shall be employed upon
such works.
Before Federal Court
This opinion of the Territorial at.
tOrney general of course does not af-
| feet the fact that the same question
Is now before the Federal couN here,
and is to r. decided soon. Further
more the United States department of
justice is Interested 1T the matte. and
has asked for ruling as speedily as
possible. Some time ago Foster Davis,
clerk of the federal court received a
letter from the department of justice
referring to the fact that he had re,
ported the filing by twenty,One Fill
pinOs of their intention to become cit
liens and asking if the federal judges
| here had ruled on this. or if they hal
looked into the law. The letter asked
very pointedly if it was considered
that the natives of the Philippines d.d
not come under the ban, which shuts
out all persons not ''frce white per
sons, or Africans or persons.Of African
descent
These last cases have not as yet
come before the court as they are but
declarations of intention, but in two
cases the question is squarcly up to
Judge Clemens.
Results Far Reaching ~. b, 81.
The political consequences of the al.
miss on Of the Fthpinos in the Terri
tory to full rights as citizens of the
United States, with votes, viii be far
reaching. In his last report, Governor
Finkh ham gave some figures that are
most interesting in view Of the state
pent by Mr.. StainbacE yesterday.
| The registered voters of the Terri
tory In 1914, the last general election,
Numbered II 500. OF these there wer,
10,3os Hawaiians, 2,3l7 Portuguese,
654 Chinese, ll2 japanese, 5000 Amer
cans and. 1888 British and German.
The same report gives the number
CT Fihpinos in the Islands Juue 80,
1915. as 1920. The number of these
TsImders however, has steadily IL.
creased since that time, as their i'm
rortation by the sugar planters und'r
the law in the case has gone ahead, So
that a moderate estimate would put
their number at between sixteen aud
seventeen thousand. OF these prartic.
ally four.ffthB are males of voting
age, and would it is believed become
voters at the 'a"Iiost possible moment.
should the legal decisions throw down
the bars to their admiss ON to c.t.acm-
shin