Evening star., 1923-02-22
CAPITAL KEYNOTES
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

When is an American not an Amer
lean? When he has had the mis-
fortune to have been born a foreign
er, been naturalized as an American
and then wanders within the turis-
diction of his native country-pro-
vided that that country has made no
treaty with America to recognize our
| naturalization laws.
England fought the war Of 1872
with us over the question of recog-
nizing our American naturalization
laws and now does SO recognize them.
England will never attempt to seize
| a naturalized American citizen, to
impress him into her navy or army.
but France will do so, IL she finds
upon French territory a naturalized
Frenchman who has not done his
military service for France. SO will
Italy, Greece, Austria and Spain IL
the victim ventures within their
| jurisdiction. Such cases are very
| familiar to our State Department
But now comes a case which seems
| to emphasize especially our weak
| ness in protecting our naturalized
| American citizens.
! Rodolph f. de Tolna claims to have
become a naturalized American many
years ago. but that his papers were
! destroyed in the San Francisco fire.
| During the world war the French
seized a chateau in Switzerland and
a yacht belonging to de Tolna. charg-
ing that he was an Austrian. just
| VI
! seize even an Austrian's chateau de-
ponent saith not; but that is not ar
| essential part of the story. At the
| instigation of France, 1t appears tna'
the United States government Is seek
| ing to annul de Tolna's American
citizenship-a most amazing under
taking. The wonder is that America
does not bring diplomatic pressure &c
bear to secure worldwide recogntlon
| that "once an American, by birth OF
\ by naturalization. always an amer
/ lean" entitled to full American rights
of protection. Why should an Amer,
ican court try a claim to cance,
American citizenship against the will
, of a law-abiding citizen?
We honor the soldiers who face
battle without flinching. Who ac-
! claims the personal bravery of offlcers
! of the law who undertake to enforce
the laws against liquor? According
\ to reports of the internal revenue
bureau, 95 per cent of the law
enforcement officers either become
| lawbreakers themselves or are Killed
within the first six months OF their
service. 1t takes far braver man
IN 90 out alone or with just few
lnt nf M 5.
all of whom are armed and desperate
than il does to march with a regiment
into battle.
The statement that many such
officers succumb to temptation anu
make easy terms with the laworeak-
ers only emphasizes the herolsm OF
the men who are big enough. brave
enough and true enough to stand by
their oaths Of office and defy the
dcsperadoes Of the Illicit still. When
we have a casualty list of 95 per cent
of an army in battle we call II
massacre-we erect monuments 10
heroism for both the victims and the
survivors. All honor to the heroes OF
the hootch campaign.
The fury of the fight calls Tor
reinforcements. Bring up the re-
serves where most needed That IS
what reserves are Tor. respect IoT
law enforcement whether we want
the law to be repealed or made more
stringent-law enforcement while it
is law-that sentiment constitutes
our reserves" Public sentiment
must recognize the genuine heroes
upon the firing line. That sort of
backing makes them doubly strong
to do their duty. The time for
sneering at law has gone by. 1t
just is not done any more in decent
society.
For many months Congress has
struggled with the problem of regu-
iating child labor. The Supreme
Court has ruled that Congress has
no power under the present consti-
tutional provisions to legislate upon
the subject, for it is not one of in
terstate commerce, although the prod
ucts of child labor in factories enter
Immediately into interstate traffic.
constitutional amendments were offer
| ed some months ago by Senators Hi
ram johnson, Mckinley and McCor-
mick That of Senator Mccormick
was selected by a subcommittee for
] Investigation and "hearings," but
month after month goes by with no
report What is the compelling in
| fuence that holds up this refogrn? A
million children under fifteen years OF
age are working steadily in factories;
another million are employed part