Evening star., 1922-09-15

! TT should be Of interest TO every
| girl and woman in the United
States to note that the Senate
finally passed the Gable equal
| citizenship bill last Saturday. The
| bill was adopted without amendment
and is before the President awaiting
: his signature.
! Mss Alice Paul head Of the Na-
! tional Woman's Party has had special
research work done to show how, in
! specific cases of women who have
come particularly to the notice of the
| organization, there has been evidence
of many determinations which are
; now removed by this bill Miss Paul
states:
! "The wording of the bill is that
i the right of any woman to become
naturalized citizen of the United
States shall not be denied or abridse ed
| because of her Sex or because she is a
| married woman The bill also pro-
videS' that a foreign woman who mar
res a citizen does not. as heretofore.
become a citizen merely by such mar
riage. but must comply with the
naturalization laws. except that sh"
| need not file a declaration of inten-
! ton, and that the five-year residence
| required of foreign men is reduced to
| one year in the case of foreign women
married to citizens.
; ANY American woman who mar
red foreigner thereby lost all cit
| izenship rights in this country. Many
members of the National Woman $
party were affected by this inequality
! in our citizenship laws. notably IneZ
/ Milho1lanl who. spite OF her
| brilliant work for suffrage. became
| legally a foreigner through her mar
riage to Eugene Boissevain. a citizen
of Holland.S The former Duchess of
+; Marlborough. Conseulo vanderbilt. a
| daughter of Mrs. Oliver H. P. Bel
mont, president of the womanis party.
| lost her rights as an American when
she married the Duke of Marlborough.
| becoming an English citizen. and
later, through her recent marriage,
becoming a French woman.
| Harriet Stanton Blatch. daughter
of Elizabeth Cady Stanton. suffrage
pioneer. and herself lifelong worker
| for political equality. lost her Ameri-
can citizenship by marrying an Eng
| lishman. and during forty years was
considered by our laws as a foreigner
although she lived in this country
practically all that time. 1t was i'm
possible for her husband to become
an American citizen for business rea-
! sons. since he was engaged in the
management of large estates in Eng
| land.
| the granddaughter of Admiral Bige-
F.; low, famous for his exploits during
| the war of 1872. His granddaughter,
| the descendant of a long line of Amer
can ancestors. through her marriage
| to a German nobleman. at one stroke
became technically German. Dur
| ing the war all of her own property.
| Inherited from her father and grand
| father. was seized by the alien prop
erty custodian, and she was stranded
| in an Austrian hotel. almost a beggar.
In her case a special House resolu-
ton restored her citizenship.
"In many other respects the in
equality in the citizenship laws has
resulted in determinations against
women. In some states a foreigner is
not permitted to practice law. There
are cases of brilliant American girls
thus deprived Though marriage of a
chance to use their own profession.
A young woman: of Boston. for in
stance. whose early career as a law
yer was so brilliant that she was
married an EngIishman of well known
| family. and. although they continued
to live in Boston. she was automati-
cally disqualified as lawyer.
..The sayse injustice has been work
| me embere Of the woman's party. who
kXNekceH eebpcl anA n ltne f0rsA prfns