as the "War Encyclopedia" of the American Committee on Public Information said, "it would be impossible for a German applicant for citizenship in the United States to avail himself of this section [Section 25 of the Delbrück Law] without committing perjury.'

So far as the "declarant" of any nationality is concerned, it should be added that our Department of State has always sought to maintain that a declarant is in a position different from that of the ordinary alien, has extended a limited degree of protection, and now issues passports under the authority of an Act passed March 2, 1907-provided he has resided in the United States for three years; at the same time protecting itself from imposition by such persons by limiting the validity of such passports to a term of six months, and providing that an extended residence or domicile abroad shall be construed as an abandonment of the declared intention. Moreover, the naturalizing judges and the Bureau of Naturalization examine with great strictness the reasons for any absence whatever from the country after the declaration, and usually construe "intention" with regard to continuous residence with emphasis against the applicant. Many judges permit no absence, however brief, some going so far as to rule against any absence from the very county in which the applicant resides. And during the European War the issuance of such passports to natives of the belligerent countries was altogether suspended.1

The United States was early committed not only by specific utterances and practices, but by the whole psychology and tradition of its being, to the principle

1 The status of declarants in this and other relationships is fully discussed by Edwin M. Borchard, in The Diplomatic Protection of Citizens Abroad, pp. 501 et seq. and 568 et seq., with elaborate footnotes citing authorities and precedents.

of free expatriation; nevertheless, great confusion existed in the interpretation of the right as it related to efforts of American citizens to become citizens or subjects of other countries. The policy was finally crystallized in the Act of March 2, 1907, which provides definitely that "any American citizen shall be deemed to have expatriated himself when he has been naturalized in any foreign state in conformity with its laws, or when he has taken an oath of allegiance to any foreign state." This is the Act which, in the same section, provides for the extension of naturalization by presumption upon two years' residence in "the country from which he came,' or upon five years' residence “in any foreign state." But it is provided that “such presumption may be overcome on the presentation of satisfactory evidence to a diplomatic or consular officer of the United States, under such regulations as the Department of State may prescribe.' It is stipulated, however, that "no American citizen shall be allowed to expatriate himself when the country is at war."

During the Great War many American citizens imperiled, and in fact technically lost, their American citizenship by entering the military service of the various belligerent nations. After the entry of the United States into the conflict this was remedied by the enactment of Section 12 of the Act of May 9, 1918, in which it is provided that

any person who, while a citizen of the United States and during the existing war in Europe, entered the military or naval service of any country at war with a country with which the United States is now at war, who shall be deemed to have lost his citizenship by reason of any oath or obligation taken by him for the purpose of entering such service, may resume his citizenship by taking the oath of allegiance to the United States prescribed by the naturalization law and regulations;

such oath to be taken here or abroad, before

any state

or Federal court authorized to naturalize aliens, or before any United States consul.

CITIZENSHIP TAKES NO ACCOUNT OF SEX

Basic citizenship in the United States takes no account of sex. Every child, male or female, white, black, brown, red, or yellow, "born in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof," is ipso facto a citizen. And every unmarried woman of that nativity is, and continues to be such, as long as she remains unmarried. Upon marriage she takes forthwith, whether she will or no, so far as our law is concerned, the nationality of her husband—even if he be an alien. It is the unbroken tradition of our law, and of the laws of nearly all other nations-in so far as they recognize women as being individual citizens at all-that the nationality of a wife follows that of her husband. Of that tradition was born a section of the law of 1907 which seeks to confer upon any American woman marrying a foreigner the nationality of her husband. When an alien man becomes a citizen of the United States by naturalization, his wife, in ordinary circumstances, becomes a citizen with him; the law says specifically that “ a woman who is now, or may hereafter be married to a citizen of the United States, and who might herself be lawfully naturalized, may be deemed a citizen." But, generally speaking, she must, unless herself American born, be resident in this country. The practice in this regard has not been wholly consistent; the State Department has held repeatedly that the naturalization of a husband does not reach the wife if she continue to reside in the old country; but a very uniform line of decisions is to the effect that her husband's naturalization makes her a citizen wherever she may be, and

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that she remains a citizen even after his death unless she takes action to repatriate herself. The Act of 1907 makes it necessary for such a foreign-born widow resident abroad to register with a United States consul within a year after the termination of her marriage; otherwise her citizenship lapses.

The phrase, “who might herself be lawfully naturalized," has given rise to much controversy, and its significance has not been definitively declared. Some authorities hold it to apply only to the Oriental races excluded as such from citizenship; others hold that it should be interpreted to call for an examination of the wife as to her views on the subject of anarchism, polygamy, etc. But the general tendency seems still to hold that the family is one, and the husband that one; that, therefore, any sort of wife comes into citizenship automatically with the naturalization of her husband.

The nonresident American-born wife of a foreigner may, upon his death or the termination of the marriage in any other legal manner, resume her American citizenship by registration with a United States consul. But what of the woman, born an American citizen, married to an alien who continues to live? The United States statute of 1907 undertakes to expatriate her"any American woman who marries a foreigner shall take the nationality of her husband." But, in absence of specific treaty, or of legislation in the husband's country to that effect, that pronouncement is without force or validity outside of the United States; Congress has no power to confer or inflict the citizenship of any other nation upon anybody. "The operation of this statute might easily deprive a woman of her American citizenship-even if she had it by right of

birth-and leave her with none." 1 It seems rather extraordinary that of all the judges of American naturalization courts replying to the questionnaire of the Americanization Study, whose results are discussed elsewhere in this volume, not one referred directly to this aspect of the citizenship of the American woman.

The person without a country is an alien everywhere his foot may fall-no matter under what roof or flag he may seek shelter. He is subject to the local laws and limitations governing aliens; but he has no homeland whose flag he may call his own; no government anywhere to which he may appeal for protection; he is dependent without recourse upon the hospitality, grace, and mercy of the public authorities and the people of the land where he chances to make his habitation.

THE AMERICAN UNDER THREE JURISDICTIONS

In notable contrast with this dismal prospect, the American citizen, native or naturalized, is quite otherwise. He is subject to three concurrent jurisdictions. This fact is a source of great puzzlement to many an applicant for citizenship, and constitutes one of the stumbling-blocks which beset him in his initial understanding of our system of government.

3

First, the nature of his relation to the United States. In the case of Minor vs. Happerstett, decided in 1875, the Supreme Court of the United States said:

Before its adoption, the Constitution of the United States did not in terms prescribe who should be citizens of the United States, yet there were necessarily such citizens with

1 See Edwin M. Borchard, The Diplomatic Protection of Citizens Abroad, pp. 19, 591.

2 See chap. vi, p. 148 et seq.

321 Wallace, 162.