No. 695.
Mr. Straus
to Mr. Bayard.
Constantinople, August 20, 1887. (Received September 5.)
Sir: I have the honor to submit for the supervisory consideration of the State Department the facts concerning the application of Alexander Hatchdoorian for a passport. I have refused the application, pending your instructions. The facts are the following: The applicant’s father, Serkis Hatchdoorian, a dentist, was born in Turkey and emigrated to the United States, where he was naturalized on June 14, 1854, in the United States circuit court at Boston. In 1856 he returned to Turkey bearing passport No. 14557, dated September 12, 1856. He has resided here ever since, claiming to be an American citizen, and is registered as such at the consulate. The son was born here on January 1, 1865; he has never been in the United States; he claims to be an American citizen and his registered himself as such at the consulate. He says he does not intend to go to the United States to reside, but he intends some time to visit it.
I have examined the law on the subject, sections 1993–1999, etc., of the Revised Statutes, as well as your dispatch, No. 144, “Foreign Relations,” 1886, p. 303, upon a somewhat analogous state of facts.
As a number of similar cases are likely to present themselves at this legation in the course of the next few years, as the sons of naturalized citizens attain their majority, I deem it of importance to obtain your instructions for my guidance in this and similar cases.
I have, etc.,