Speech #650385486

FaELINOnuVSEN. As I have already remarked. the object of the pending resolution is to place women on the same footing as men so far as the right of franchise is concerned. I am in favor of a constitutional amendment properly drawn which will permit the worthy women of this country ii ho are citizens. either by birth or through the regular and orderly processes of naturalization. to have the right of suffrage. Lut I want that amenduent so drawn that it will protect the worthy women. who should vote. against the unworthy. who should not vote. and I want it so drawn that Congress can hereafter pass laws properly protecting -this enlarged and increased electorate. I conceive it to be our duty. under our oath as Senators. to pass an amendment that will do this. .I do not know who prepared the pending constitutional amendment. but I believe it has been drawn without proper consideration or study of the Constitution and conditions that exist under our naturalization statutes. the careless disregard of them. the abuses that have crept into the making of citizens. and the apparent indifference of some authorities to the grave menace to the institutions of popular government that thus arise. " In giving to this subject that careful study which its gravity demands. my attention has been attracted to two circunistunces in particular. The passage of a resolution of this kind is closely related to the precarious situation in regard to aliens which has been brought about by the war and our pNrticipation in it. Congress has been forced to pass drastic laws at the eleventh hour to protect ltis country against sedition. treason. and deepseated disloyalty. arising from the fact that so many foreigners reside amongst us and that Germany has carried on a surreptitious propaganda here ever since the war and evidently. from latterday developments. even for many years before the war. It is not necessary for me to recite the many outrages. bombings. dynamitings. murders. committed by the disloyal foreigners re-. siding here. The consideration of this amendment conferring upon female citizens the right to vote ecessarily brings up at this critical time the grave question of our immigration and naturalization laws and policies. especially in their relation to and effect upon women of alien birth already here or who may hereafter co. e. "The other particular circumstance was not fully appreciated by inc. in its relation to the constitutional amendment as drawn. umtil I conferred with officials of the Bureau of Immigration and learned its extent and seriousness. It arises fro. the abuses that exist in connection with the traffic in wmnen for immoral purposes. While our immigration iXvs Jave been framed with the object of protecting Qcletly against this traffic. nevertheless many women bvcoi.l citizens of the United States through pro forma Ula.r!Ttges contracted simply for the purpose of giving the tb r. unifertunate women a status of citizenship under our laws and preventing them from being deported. The pimp. the procurer. these vice scavengers of humanity. products of the swill barrel of foreign lands. carry on their immoral. unspeakable practices almost within the shadow of Ellis Island. the vomnen being brought in from Europe. from the Orient. and from the Latin countries. and. except in the cases of Chinese and Japanese. a pro foria marriage contract can be entered into and these women become citizens of the United States and can not be deported unless the Government can showunder the most recent amendncent to section 19 of the immigration act--that the marriage was contracted after the woman became liable to deportation under the law. and heretofore the enforcement of the act has been seriously impeded through the fact that a foreign woman. no matter what her character. can secure citizenship simply by going through with a marriage ceremony. the other party to which is an American citizen. "The foregoing are the two respects in which. it seems to me. the importance of the second part of my proposed amendment is made especially apparent at this time. I desire now to proceed to a more detailed discussion of the matter in its legal as well as its practical aspects. " Generally. married women are regarded as citizens of the country of which their husbands are citizens. This principle is recognized by the laws of the United States. section 1994 of the Revised Statutes providing that"Any woman who is now or nay hereafter be married to a citizen of the United States and who might herself be lawfully naturalized shall be deemed a citizen. " It Is of fundamental importance that in considering this provision of law the fact shall not be overlooked that Congress. in adopting it. was proceeding in pursuance of authority conferred upon the Congress by Article 1. section 8. paragraph 4. of the Constitutionthe authority to establish an uniform rule of naturalization. Therefore the marriage of a foreign woman to an American citizen is. in its effect upon the status of tle woman. a process of naturalization. and it must be borne in mind that the woman who acquires citizenship in this manner is. by virtue of the language of section 1994 itself. as fully naturalized as though she had gone through the court processes of naturalization required in the cases of males and in the cases of unnarried females. and us completely a citizen of the United States as though she had been born here. The Constitution contemplates two sources of citizenship. and two onlybirth and naturalization. said the Supreme Court in the leading case on citizenship. entitled United States v. Wong Kim Ark (169 U. S.. 649. 702). "The procurement of United States citizenship by a foreign woman through marriage to a citizen is not. of course. surrounded with any of the safeguards that are. and have been for ninny years. placed round the procurement of citizenship through the regular court processes provided by law.