In the first place. Mr. President. there is no necessity for this bill in order to enable an Indian to become naturalized. I know of nothing in the naturalization laws that excludes him from naturalization. If he is not already a citizen. as I hold that every man is who does not belong to a tribal organization by force of the fourteenth amendment itself. which. so far as citizenship is concerned. does operate per scif he is not a citizen because of his belonging to some organized tribe. to use the very language of this bill. then he can become a citizen under the naturalization laws as they now stand. He could not until those laws were amended by striking out the word "white ." but that word being stricken out. if my recollection is right. he can become a citizen. unless he is excluded by those laws. I need not take up the time of the Senate in reading the naturalization statute. It is sufficient to say that the word "white." which was contained in the old naturalization law. was left out of the revision. How it came to be left out I do not know. The Senator from California. once called the attention of the Senate to the fact that it was in the laws that were in force on the 1st of December. 1873. and therefore ought to have been in the Revised Statutes. but somehow or other it got out of the Revised Statutes. so as to leave naturalization open not simply to the African. who had been specially provided for before. but to John Chinaman and to every Indian in the whole length and breadth of this country not belonging to a tribal organization. How that thing happened to be done. I refer any one who wants to know to the very interesting speech made by the Senator from California. and which may be found in the CoxGnrssoIOAL RECOnD of that day.
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naturalized naturalization