Speech #530056748

Now. what did they do at that time? The election was to come on. The court of common pleas had been the court accustomed to naturalize foreigners into American citizens. about 9.000 a year on an average. There was a very respectable judge at that time presiding over the court. too respectable for Tammany. Therefore. for the first time in the history of New York politics and the New York judiciary. they made use of the.supreme court. with Judge Barnard as its presiding judge. a candidate in that very election for relection. and the other court of the State of New York. with Judge McCunn as its presiding judge. also a candidate for re 51ection in the same election. These two courts started in October 6 to naturalize. and in that month they made over 40.000 foreigners into American citizens with not. twenty days in which to do it. In the supreme court. under Judge Barnard. they naturalized over 2.000 in a single day. I heard a witness testify who was before the court while this process of naturalization was going on-