This is only a new use to which this "first paper" (an instrument which is peculiarly an American institution)1 has been put. If this were the only use to be made of it, it would justify its continued existence. As it is, it is used and interwoven into the administrative fabric of the Government in its contact with aliens throughout the United States. It is a means of identification by which the alien makes known his right to take up Government land; by which he may secure employment in municipalities and in State improvement work; by which membership in many organizations may alone be secured. It is the indication of the announced purpose of the alien to forswear his allegiance to his sovereign and to choose the Constitution of the United States as his new allegiance. It is woven throughout the warp and woof of our national laws and our social and economic organizations.

NATURALIZATION JUDGES FAVOR ITS RETENTION

Of 323 judges of naturalizing courts all over the United States who answered definitely on this point the questionnaire of the Americanization Study, 241 opposed, more or less emphatically, the abolition of the declaration of intention, only 82 favoring its abolition on one ground or another, but principally because they were aware of no good purpose served by it.

One United States district judge rather picturesquely described its function:

This country cannot afford to have it said that we are urging citizens of other countries to renounce their allegiance and take up citizenship with us. That would be wrong from every standpoint. On the other hand, if they do want to become American citizens, it is our duty... to help them fit themselves. If you take away the declaration of intention you will destroy our opportunity in that regard. The young lady who meets a young man and likes him, would be

1 Mexico appears to be the only other country in which any such preliminary declaration and extended period of probation is required.

very much out of place if, without any other tie between them, she began to tell him what she wanted him to do, what she wanted him to study, and how she wanted him to study, what she wanted him to drink, and how she wanted him to dress. It would be very immodest and impolite, to say the least. If that young man had made her a proposal of marriage, and she were considering it, these suggestions from her would be entirely proper, and she would be performing her duty to the young man and to herself. This illustrates, I believe, the proper limits within which our country can guide, advise, and direct aliens who through the declaration of intention have made, as it were, a proposal of marriage, with reference to preparation for citizenship.

Sound objections to abolition of the declaration appear also in connection with the property rights as regards homestead entry and other matters under both Federal and state laws-a complicated matter in addition to the great confusion existing by reason of the laws of those states which conferred the right to vote upon holders of so-called "first papers." With the removal of this right, much of the objection to the declaration of intention disappears. As it was, under such laws, an alien might file a declaration of intention every seven years as they expired seriatim, and, without any proper inquiry, judicial approval, or supervision whatever, retain his right to vote-citizenship for all practical purposes.

Many of the judges would permit no renewal of a declaration after the expiration of the first; some would substitute registration upon entry, annual, or even more frequent reports by the alien regarding his whereabouts and behavior, and constant governmental espionage.

The declaration of intention, particularly if it be properly guarded and solemnized, puts everybody, at least constructively, upon notice that a new member is applying, and requires the declarant himself to keep that application in mind for two years. He cannot

suddenly decide, by reason of some special condition or inconvenience, to apply for citizenship and consummate the process in three months, as he could do if the declaration were abolished without extending the interval between petition and certificate. The defects in the present system are found in the fact that he can file his declaration anywhere at will, in a form so defective that two years or more later it nullifies his petition; he can be grafted upon and bled ad libitum by all manner of exploiters claiming to be able to assist him. However valuable in theory, in practice it is far too hit-or-miss.

The declaration should be surrounded by a very much greater degree of care and solemnity than at present. Not only should it be made under oath and on properly guarded printed forms; when it is filed it should be scrutinized and accepted as to substance, and by no means be subject long afterward to rejection because of clerical or other technical errors which ought to have been detected at the outset.

The St. Louis office of the Naturalization Service has taken a long step in this direction, by securing the co-operation of many of the courts in that district in the establishment of a custom by which the declaration is accepted for filing only after it has been viséd by the naturalization officers. This has no authority in law, but it nevertheless is a wholesome practice, chiefly in the interest of the alien declarant; incidentally it goes far to put out of business the various kinds of parasites who exploit the ignorance and helplessness of the aspirant for citizenship.

THE SEVEN-YEAR LIMITATION

The law of 1906 limited the life of a declaration of intention to seven years. Prior to that there was no

limit, and even after the passage of that Act it was held in practice that it did not apply to declarations made previously. But in 1913 the question was raised, in the United States Court in New York City, whether it was not the intent of Congress to apply the seven-year limitation to all declarations. In 1914 the court ruled that it was. The effect of that decision was to invalidate all declarations made prior to September 27, 1906, notwithstanding the express provision in the law that "no alien who, in conformity with the law in force at the date of his declaration, has declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States, shall be required to renew such declaration."

This decision was soon affirmed by the United States Circuit Court of Appeals; but even then it was not uniformly observed, until January, 1919, when the United States Supreme Court put an abrupt stop to the practice of accepting "old-law declarations" by affirming the decision of the District Court at New York..

The effect of this final ruling by the highest court in the land was tragic. Hundreds, if not thousands, of pending petitions, of aliens altogether fit from every other point of view, forthwith became invalid simply because based upon "old-law declarations" blighted by the newly applied seven-year restriction. In one session of the State Supreme Court in New York County a batch of more than seventy otherwise acceptable petitions was denied for this reason alone. The question of the effect of the decision upon certificates of naturalization granted theretofore between its date and September 27, 1913, was met by Congress in the Act of May 9, 1918, by the following provision:

Section 3. That all certificates of naturalization granted by courts of competent jurisdiction prior to December 31, 1918, upon petitions for naturalization filed prior to January

31, 1918, upon declaration of intention filed prior to September, 27, 1906, are hereby declared to be valid in so far as the declaration of intention is concerned, but shall not be by this Act further validated or legalized.

THE CERTIFICATE OF LAWFUL ENTRY

Assuming, now, that our alien is of the proper racial descent, the accepted age, and that his declaration of intention will pass muster; that he has lived in the United States for at least two years since the declaration was filed, and at least three years besides that—a total of not less than five years in all, including the final fifth year in the state what must he do, and what may be done to him, when he comes up at last with his request for admission to Active Membership?

If he arrived in this country since June 29, 1906, he must produce a Certificate of Arrival. In theory, at least, all arriving aliens are registered at the port of entry by the Immigration Service of the Department of Labor. Under existing law they cannot get in at all if they are of certain excluded races and classes; if they are under contract to get a particular job; if they are insane or afflicted with certain diseases; if they are recognizable as anarchists, polygamists (or believers in either anarchy or polygamy), criminals, or, in the opinion of the immigration authorities, likely to become a public charge-a burden upon the community. They must, with certain exceptions for age and family relationship, be able to read and write in some language.

Aliens may properly enter the United States only through some officially designated port of entry, designated by the Commissioner of Immigration; if an alien enters elsewhere along our enormous border line he is deemed to be "unlawfully present," is subject