proper opportunity for representatives of the government to appear. He declared that "avowed enemies of social order" should be denied not only citizenship, but even domicile here. He also adverted to the evils of fraudulent naturalization.

DEFINITE REFORM AT LAST

It was the growing realization of this general condition, of the notorious ease with which naturalization could be acquired; the wholesale issue and sale of fraudulent certificates; the debauching of elections through the manipulation of the "foreign vote," and the general cheapening of the franchise, that brought the subject to a head. It was common knowledge that these frauds were prevalent wherever there were large numbers of foreign-born people, and that both of the great political parties vied with each other in exhausting ingenuity to devise methods for the exploitation of the alien population. Which party excelled in the business depended almost entirely upon which was dominant in any particular community. The situation was a scandal in any event, and the sober sentiment of the nation realized increasingly that something must be done about it.

NATURALIZATION COMMISSION APPOINTED

It was not until the administration of President Roosevelt, however, that definite steps were taken. During the years 1903-05 the Department of Justice became very active in unearthing and prosecuting violations of the naturalization laws. Hundreds of cases of fraudulent naturalization were discovered, and nearly seven hundred convictions were obtained. A special examiner of the Department of Justice, A. C. van

Deusen, made an extensive report on the subject in 1905.1

By Executive Order, March 1, 1905, President Roosevelt created a special commission, consisting of Milton D. Purdy, Assistant Attorney-General representing the Department of Justice, chairman; Gaillard Hung, chief of the Bureau of Citizenship in the Department of State, representing that department, and Richard K. Campbell, attorney for the Immigration Bureau in the Department of Commerce and Labor (now Commissioner of Naturalization in the Department of Labor), "to investigate and report on the subject of naturalization in the United States," and to recommend changes in the naturalization laws.2 The commission's report is invaluable in any study of the subject of Naturalization Law and Procedure.

The average citizen scarcely realizes how completely the Naturalization Law of 1906, which was the fruit of the labors of this commission, has revolutionized the whole business. Whatever may be the defects of the law, or of the practice which has grown up under it, they are in the main due to "leaning over backward" in the honest effort to clean and keep clean the flow of new blood into our citizenship. Generally speaking, it is to be said that the enforcement of this statute has abolished most of the evils of fraud and exploitation which before that were a scandal and a menace in American political life.

By this act the Naturalization Service was established and an absolutely new era initiated. As Mr. Campbell, who forthwith became chief of the Division

1 Extracts from this report may be found in the Report of the President's Commission on Naturalization, Fifty-ninth Congress, First Session, House Document 46.

2 The report of this commission is available as House Document 46, Fifty-ninth Congress, First Session.

of Naturalization in the Bureau of Immigration,1 said in his report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1908, the process of becoming naturalized as an American citizen

has acquired (even after so short an operation of the new system) a formality and dignity which is in some measure commensurate with the importance of the Act and the gravity of its consequences; it is no longer possible to "railroad" aliens in groups to the naturalization courts, in defiance of the law and in disregard of even an appearance of propriety; the courts which have jurisdiction are no longer such as are "devoted largely to the trifling and indecent affairs of the community," and the conferring of citizenship is, in this respect, no longer "ranked with disturbing the peace or keeping an unlicensed dog," as it was expressed by a judge of a court in describing the conditions under the old law.

And in his seventh report, for 1913-14, to the Secretary of Labor, Mr. Campbell remarked that

To those who will take the trouble to compare the chaotic and disorderly conditions which characterized the procedure for more than a century of our national existence with the dignity, uniformity, and regularity of the present system, it must appear to be a matter of inexplicable carelessness that the reform should so long have been delayed.

In the same report, the Commissioner of Naturalization points to one reform embodied at least potentially in the present system, which alone would have justified it:

There is, too, for the person naturalized, a security of title to his political or national status never before enjoyed by him. The title to citizenship is the recorded order of the

1 With the creation of the Department of Labor, in 1913, out of the former Department of Commerce and Labor-Commerce becoming a separate department-the Naturalization Service became a Bureau of that department, headed by a Commissioner responsible to the Secretary of Labor.

court. The certificate is simply the conclusive evidence of such order. If there was no written record made, as was often the case, or if that record was destroyed, as happened not infrequently, the title to citizenship hung by the slender thread of a piece of paper carried by the owner and subject to all the risks attendant upon such possessions. If lost, to all practical intents his citizenship was also lost. Now the duplicate written record, one in the court and one in the Bureau [of Naturalization], is an ample defense against all such accidents.

It would be, indeed; but what if in course of time these records in the Bureau should have come into such condition, owing to inadequate clerical force and increasing absorption of the Bureau in other activities, that the record there could not be traced!

However, any criticism or consideration of the present system, to be intelligent or fair, must take into account, first, the incredibly chaotic conditions which formerly prevailed, and second, the fact that never-not even now-has the naturalization system, as a problem in public administration, received even superficial attention of the public.

WHAT THE LAW REQUIRES

Before we proceed to consider the naturalization process as in action it has affected annually upward of one hundred thousand human beings seeking admission to citizenship in the United States, let us see the principal provisions of the law with which they come into contact. Section 4 of the Naturalization Law1 pro

1 Act of June 29, 1906 (34 United States Statutes-at-Large, pt. i, p. 596), as amended by Act of March 4, 1909 (35 Stat., pt. i, p. 1102), as further amended by Act of June 25, 1910 (36 Stat., pt. i, p. 830), as further amended by Act of March 4, 1913 (37 Stat., pt. i, p. 736), as further amended by Act of May 9, 1918 (Public No. 144, Sixtyfifth Congress, Second Session).

vides that an alien may be admitted to become a citizen of the United States in the following manner "and not otherwise."

First. He shall declare on oath before the clerk of any court authorized by this Act to naturalize aliens, or his authorized deputy, in the district in which such alien resides, two years at least prior to his admission, and after he has reached the age of eighteen years, that it is his bona fide intention to become a citizen of the United States and to renounce forever all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, and particularly, by name, to the prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of which the alien may be at the time a citizen or subject. And such declaration shall set forth the name, age, occupation, personal description, place of birth, last foreign residence and allegiance, the date of arrival, the name of the vessel, if any, in which he came to the United States, and the present place of residence in the United States of said alien: Provided, however, 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.

Second. Not less than two years, nor more than seven years, after he has made such declaration of intention he shall make and file, in duplicate, a petition in writing, signed by the applicant in his own handwriting and duly verified, in which petition such applicant shall state his full name, his place of residence (by street and number, if possible), his occupation, and, if possible, the date and place of his birth; the place from which he emigrated, and the date and place of his arrival in the United States, and, if he entered through a port, the name of the vessel on which he arrived; the time when, and the place and name of the court where he declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States; if he is married he shall state the name of his wife and, if possible, the country of her nativity and her place of residence at the time of filing his petition; and if he has children, the name, date, and place of birth and place of residence of