Speech #590088965

Mr. Chairman. I feel quite confident that this bill has been prepared with the subject of naturalization in the cities chiefly in mind. But applying it to the rural districts and the larger Territorial organizations of the West it seems to me it will work a very great hardship upon the class of foreigners who desire citizenship and against whom there is generally no objection. If the provisions in this bill were applied to the metropolis of San Francisco or Boston or New York I would not profess to know enough about the subject to discuss it. but I can see many hardships in the bill as applied to men working in the mines or in the lumber regions or on the ranches at a distance from the county seat. Under the law of California a person must be naturalized at least ninety days before election day. This bill provides that before he can be naturalized he must file his petition or his first papers in the matter ninety days before the final hearingthat is. six months. and it provides that at the time he files the original petition for naturalization he must have been in the State a year. thereby compelling a very large class of people through the West to be residents of the State for a year and a half before they can be naturalized. It provides again for the filing of a statement of such a complex nature that I am satisfied that at least a very large per cent of the people would make fatal errors in prepar ing such a statement if they were not assisted by an attorney. Let us note briefly the procedure required by this bill for 1906.. I gaining citizenship. having in mind a man who is not an attorney or one not accustomed to drawing papers: First. he must make and fill in duplicate a petition In writing and duly verified. in which he states his name. residence. occupation. date and place of birth. the place from which he emigrated. date and place of arrival in the United States. and the name of the vessel on which he arrived. the time and place of declaring his intentions to become a citizen. if married. the names. ages. and birthplace of each member of his family. A somewhat lengthy statement as to his views and citizenship. polygamy. and his intentions as to remaining domiciled in the United States. Whether he has ever been denied naturalization. and if so. the cause. and show that that cause is now removed. "and every factmaterial to his naturalization. and required to be proved upon the final hearing of his application." This long and technical petition shall be verified by two witnesses and who shall state in addition that they have personal knowledge that the alien has resided in the country five years. and in the State or Territory one year. Preceding all this. the alien must have applied to the Department of Commerce and Labor and obtained a certificate of the time. place. and manner of his arrival in this country. and a copy of his "first papers." both of which must be filed with the foregoing verified petition. If he can not prove continuous residence by present witnesses. he may file depositions showing residence for part of the time. "upon notice to the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization and the United States attorney for the district in which said witnesses may reside." Each and all of these provisions appear to be jurisdictional. No wheel can turn until they have been complied with. and the bill does not seem to give the court any leeway in the matter of exercising the nonperformance of these multitudinous conditions. Certainly. here is a great deal of painstaking and technical work.