Speech #530026998

Section 828 of the Revised Statutes of the United States relates to the fees of clerks of the circuit and district courts. There is no provision in this section as it now stands for naturalizatior- fees. The result is. clerks of the United States circuit and district courts. in many places. notably so in Massachusetts. have refused to return as part of the emoluments of their offices fees received for the naturalization of aliens. In Boston as many as 4.000 aliens have been naturalized in one year (the year 1688) and in succeeding years between Presidential elections in no year was there less than 1.000. For the years 1888 to 1891. inclusive. there were 8.280 aliens naturalized in the circuitcourt of Massachusetts. None of the fees charged by the clerks were returned as emoluments. This refusal was put upon the ground that no fees for naturalization had been fixed by any act of Congress. and therefore clerks had the right to retain them. The first section of this bill amends section 828 by adding fixed fees for naturalizing aliens. a fee for first and final papers. This amendment was recommended by theAttorneyGeneral and the officurs of the First Comptroller of the Treasury. The second section of this bill proposes to amend section 833 of the Revised Statutes. which relates to the emolument returns of the clerks of the United States courts. The only amendment proposed requires these officers to include specifically in their returns fees received for naturalization of aliens fixed by the first section of the bill. This section of the Revised Statutes. as it now stands. would appear to be sufficient to cover all fees of every kind received by the. officer by virtue of his appointment. It requires the clerk to make semiannually "a written return for the half year ending on said days. respectively. of all fees and emoluments of his office of every name and character." This language would seem to be comprehensive enough to cover fees charged and received for the naturalization of aliens. yet they arenot included or returned by many circuit or district court clerks. and the Government has lost a large amount of money by reason of this failure or refusal to include. them. The third section of this bill proposes to amend section 847 of the Revised Statutes. That section relates to clerks fees.