Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1934-05-14
EQUAL R|GHTSb|LL
FLAWS EXPLAINED
Stars Account Enormously
Attributed Faults to Present
Bill That Had Been Removed

The National woman's party has
called attention to two errors in a
story appearing in yesterdays Sum-
day Star dealing with the equal
rights bill" to give to mothers the
same rights Of transmitting citizen
ship to children born abroad as now
possessed by fathers.
One statement was that the bill
will make it more difficult for chill
iren born abroad of American parents
to become American citizens than
those of alien parents; the other was
that 1t left the child born abroad Of
two American parents in no better
situation than the child of one Amer
lean and one alien parent.
These flaws, it was pointed out,
existed in a previous form of the
bill, but not in the one which was
finally passed and is now before
President Roosevelt for signature.
They were quoted from State De-
partment report, which was directed
to the bill in its former condition.
A"V Ia We SOAhoS uSSOhs
AS it stands, the National Woman's
party feels that there are two flaws
in its construction, neither of them
sponsored by the party.
As the bill stands, a child of one
American and one alien parent, born
abroad, does not become fully a citi-
zen Of the United States until the
child is 81 years of age, has taken the
oath of allegiance and has resided in
this country five years prior to his
eighteenth birthday. On the other
hand, child of two alien parents.
born abroad, becomes a citizen as
soon as his parents have become nat
uralized and as soon as he has resided
five years in this country. Thus, a
child of two alien parents may be-
come a citizen of the United States
long before a child Of a citizen and
an alien.
The other flaw conceded Is that
pointed out by Senator Thomas of
Utah in his attempt to get the
bill amended. Senator Thomas
said that as to children of half
American parentage born abroad,
"the present bill would seem to
provide that the rights Of citizenship
shall descend when the child reaches
his 21st birthday. AS the bill is
drafted, 1t is rather impossible to tell
with any certainty whether the child
during his first 81 years is an alien
or citizen"
Not Backed by Feminists.
Speaking for the Woman's Party.
however, Mrs. Helena Hill Weed. Of
its Legislative Committee, said that
the five-year residence requirement
or the lack of it was one which had
not been put forward by the feminists,
but that it had been inserted by the
House Committee on Immigration.
The Woman's Party, she said, would
have preferred to see the bill pass
without this encumbrance. However,
it could do no harm for IS years after
the bill became law, in which time
there would be ample opportunity to
argue the five-year residence require
ment on its own merits.
She said that the Woman's Party
would have had no objection to Sena-
tor Thomas amendment. which would
have clarified an admittedly doubtful
point, but that the amendment would
have made a conference necessary and
would have imperiled the passage OF
of the bill. 1t was considered better
to have the bill passed as it stood
rather than to take the chance OF
losing the equal rights legislation al
together. If the amendment had
been offered, she said, when the bill
was in hearings before the House
Committee on immigration it would
have been accepted by the Wom-
ans Party.
The party, she said, was anxious to
give equal rights to women in the
matter of transmitting nationality by
law before the Montevideo equality
treaty comes before the Senate for
ratification