Case Name: In re PHILLIPS
Court: United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 1924-12-11
Citations: 3 F.2d 79
Docket Number: No. 2854
Parties: In re PHILLIPS.
Judges: 
Reporter: Federal Reporter 2d Series
Volume: 3
Pages: 79–79

Head Matter:
In re PHILLIPS.
(District Court, S. D. Texas, at Houston.
December 11, 1924.)
No. 2854.
Aliens <@=»62 — Conviction of illegal possession of a still held to bar admission to citizenship.-
Conviction of an alien of illegal possession of a still, wbich is made a specific offense by the Prohibition Act, during the five years before bis application for naturalization, held to bar Ms admission to citizenship, though be manufactured no liquor.
Petition by George Phillips for naturalization.
Denied.
Walter Wheatley, Naturalization Examiner, of Houston, Tex., for the United States.

Opinion:
HUTCHESON, District Judge.
TMs case is the same as In re Nagy, just decided, 3 F.(2d) 77, except that in the Nagy Case petitioner had been convicted of the manufacture of liquor. In this case the offense was the unlawful possession of a still. TMs offense the Volstead Act (Comp. St. Ann. Snpp. 1923, § 10138(4 et seq.) denounces as a misdemeanor, and for its violation a flue may be imposed of from $100 to $500.
The petitioner naively declared that he had not .made any wiiisky; that he had tried to, but all he got out of Ms experiment was a little "wormy water"; and be therefore asserted with much vehemence that he ought not to be denied Ms citizenship, since his efforts at law violation had proved abortive. I am not prepared to concede that the failure to commit an offense because of insufficient ability or preparation would advantage an applicant for his "accolade," since it is the man's heart and intent which is here searched, rather than Ms achievements. But it is not necessary for me to so decide, since the law makes the possession of a still, without manufacture, a specific offense.
This being so, the case falls in principle directly within that of Nagy, and the same order will be entered.