Editorial Department

Many Justices have signified a desire for information relative to naturalization. Act of Congress, June 29, 1906, as amended by Sections 16, 17 and 19 of March 4, 1909, and sections 4 and 13 of the Act of June 25, 1910, provides the method whereby an alien may become a citizen of the United States.

The Department of Commerce and Labor establishes certain regulations the latest of which were issued May 22, 1911.

Rule 5 in said Regulations reads as follows:

"Blank forms 'Facts for declaration of intention' (Form 2213) and 'Facts for petition for naturalization' (Form 2214) are provided clerks of courts for the preliminary use of persons making declaration of intention or petition for naturalization, and may be taken away from the office of the clerk in order that the information called for may be obtained in full. When either of said forms is returned to the clerk he shall examine it to see that all the information required is furnished before proceeding to make out a declaration or petition.

"In all cases where aliens have arrived in this country after June 29, 1906, they should be given the form 'Application for certificate of arrival,' Form 2226, at the time they desire to file petitions for naturalization, instead of Form 2214. This application has attached to it the facts required in a petition for naturalization. The application and other blanks on the form should all be carefully filled out by the alien and mailed to the Chief of the Division of Naturalization to enable him to obtain and transmit the required certificate of arrival to the clerk of court for filing with the

petition. The clerk of the court should not commence the Execution of the petition until he has received the certificate of arrival."

Sections 4, 8, 11, 13, 15 and 28 Act June 29, 1906, pro

vide,

"Sec. 4. 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 bona fide his 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: Provided further, That any person belonging to the class of persons authorized and qualified under exsiting law to become a citizen of the United States who has resided constantly in the United States during a period of five years next preceding May first, nineteen hundred and ten, who, because of misinformation in regard to his citizenship or the requirements of the law governing the naturalization of citizens has labored and acted under the impression that he was or could become a citizen of the United States and has in good faith exercised the rights or duties of a citizen or in

tended citizen of the United States because of such wrongful information and belief may, upon making a showing of such facts satisfactory to a court having jurisdiction to issue papers of naturalization to an alien, and the court in its judgment believes that such person has been for a period of more than five years entitled upon proper proceedings to be naturalized as a citizen of the United States, receive from the said court a final certificate of Naturalization and said Court may issue such certificate without requiring proof of former declaration by or on the part of such person of their intention to become a citizen of the United States, but such applicant for naturalization shall comply in all other respects with the law relative to the issuance of final papers of naturalization to aliens.

"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 each child living at the time of the filing of his petition: Provided, That if he has filed his declaration before the passage of this Act he shall not be required to sign the petition in his own handwriting.

"The petition shall set forth that he is not a disbeliever in or opposed to organized government, or a member of or affiliated with any organization or body of persons teaching

disbelief in or opposed to organized government, a polyga mist or believer in the practice of polygamy, and that it is his intention to become a citizen of the United States and to renounce absolutely and 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 he at the time of filing of his petition may be a citizen or subject, and that it is his intention to reside permanently within the United States, and whether or not he has been denied admission as a citizen of the United States, and, if denied, the ground or grounds of such denial, the court or courts in which such decision was rendered, and that the cause for such denial has since been cured or removed, and every fact material to his naturalization and required to be proved upon the final hearing of his application.

"The petition shall also be verified by the affidavits of at least two credible witnesses, who are citizens of the United States, and who shall state in their affidavits that they have personally known the applicant to be a resident of the United States for a period of at least five years continuously, and of the State, Territory, or district in which the application is made for a period of at least one year immediately preceding the date of the filing of his petition, and that they each have personal knowledge that the petitioner is a person of good moral character and that he is in every way qualified, in their opinion, to be admitted as a citizen of the United States."

"Sec. 8. That no alien shall hereafter be naturalized or admitted as a citizen of the United States who can not speak the English language: Provided. That this requirement shall not apply to aliens who are physically unable to comply therewith, if they are otherwise qualified to become citizens of the United States: And provided further, That the requirements of this section shall not apply to any alien who has prior to the passage of this Act declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States in conformity with the law in force at the date of making such declaration: Provided

further, That the requirements of section eight shall not apply to aliens who shall hereafter declare their intention to become citizens and who shall make homestead entries upon the public lands of the United States and comply in all respects with the laws providing for homestead entries on such lands."

"Sec. 11. That the United States shall have the right to appear before any court or courts exercising jurisdiction in naturalization proceedings for the purpose of cross-examining the petitioner and the witnesses produced in support of his petition concerning any matter touching or in any way affecting his right to admission to citizenship, and shall have the right to call witnesses, produce evidence, and be heard in opposition to the granting of any petition in naturalization proceedings."

"Sec. 13. That the clerk of each and every court exercising jurisdiction in naturalization cases shall charge, collect, and account for the following fees in each proceeding:

"For receiving and filing a declaration of intention and issuing a duplicate thereof, one dollar.

"For making, filing, and docketing the petition of an alien for admission as a citizen of the United States and for the final hearing thereon, two dollars; and for entering the final order and the issuance of the certificate of citizenship thereunder, if granted, two dollars.

"The clerk of any court collecting such fees is hereby authorized to retain one-half of the fees collected by him in such naturalization proceeding; the remaining one-half of the naturalization fees in each case collected by such clerks, respectively shall be accounted for in their quarterly accounts, which they are hereby required to render the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization, and paid over to such Bureau within thirty days from the close of each quarter in each and every fiscal year, and the moneys so received shall be paid over to the disbursing clerk of the Department of Commerce and Labor, who shall thereupon deposit them in the Treasury of the United States, rendering an account therefor quarterly