Mr. Blaine to Mr. Phelps.
Washington , November 27, 1889.
Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch No. 12 of the 4th ultimo, transmitting passport returns for the quarter ending September 30, 1889.
In this relation, it is proper, as a matter of precaution, to call attention, among the large number of applications transmitted, to a few in which the statements in regard to citizenship are thought to be defective.
The first of these is No. 2169, in which the applicant, Otto King Friedrich, born in Hongkong, China, in 1873, is said to have been brought to the United States by his father in the following year, 1874. He claims citizenship through a declaration of intention made by his father, who died in San Francisco in 1877, before completing his naturalization. Section 2168 of the Revised Statutes provides that when any alien who has made a declaration of intention dies before he is actually naturalized the widow and children of such alien shall be considered as citizens of the United States and shall be entitled to all rights and privileges as such upon taking the oath prescribed by law. The object of this section is to place the widow and children of such an alien in the same position in respect to citizenship as the alien himself occupied at the time of his death. It does not appear that the applicant in the present case has ever complied with the provisions of the section in question.
In case No. 2198 it appears that Aaron Frank was born at Shreve-port, La., in 1863, of a father who emigrated to the United States in 1854 and was naturalized in the district court of Caddo Parish, at Shreve-port, on the 25th of April, 1859. In July, 1868, almost immediately after the settlement of the naturalization question as between the United States and the North Germany Union, the applicant, who was then 5 years of age, was taken abroad by his father to Germany, where he has since resided; whether the father is still alive does not appear, and it is not stated that after his departure from the United States in 1868 he ever returned.
The circumstances render the case one of doubtful character. The applicant discloses no tangible intention of ever returning to the United States, in which he resided only during the first 5 years of his infancy.
In case No. 2219 the applicant, Charles Maddern, was born in Alsace on the 3d of November, 1855. He emigrated to the United States in 1872. In 1878 he was naturalized before the probate court at Cleveland, Ohio, and 2 months subsequently in the same year obtained a passport and went abroad. His occupation is stated to be that of a tinsmith. Since 1880 he has continuously resided at Strasburg, his native place, where he has married and had a child born to him. The facts in this case seem to negative any intention ever to return to the United States.
[Page 298]In case No. 2223 the applicant, Isaac Gutmann, was born in Germany in 1832 and came to the United States in 1850. He was naturalized before the criminal court at St. Louis, Mo., on November 3, 1856. On the 9th of October, 1871, he obtained a passport and went back to Germany, where he has since resided continuously. He now obtains a passport for himself and wife and four children, whose ages range from 2 to 18 years. Obviously, all of these, with the possible exception of the eldest, were born in Germany. The facts now before the Department appear to indicate that the claim of American citizenship in this case grows solely out of the desire on the part of the applicant to escape, with his children, the duties of citizenship in Germany.
In case No. 2245 the applicant, William Gottlieb Henry Taaks, swears that he was born in Brooklyn in 1861 of a father who was naturalized as a citizen of the United States before the court of common pleas of the city and county of New York on the 16th of August, 1855. The applicant left the United States in 1872, when 12 years of age, and has since resided out of this country. He is now 25 years of age and has manifested no intention whatever to return to the United States to perform the duties of citizenship.
In case No. 2270 the applicant, Thomas Killilea, claims citizenship by naturalization, but fails to produce any certificate. The mere statement of an applicant that he has been naturalized is insufficient to warrant the issuance of a passport.
In case No. 2276 the applicant, Friedrich Neumann, fails to make any statement in regard to his intention to return to the United States, which is in all cases necessary.
In case No. 2281 the applicant, Charles Reeb, swears that he was born at Strasburg in 1854 and emigrated to the United States in 1872, when 18 years of age, and therefore about subject to military duty. He resided in the United States until 1879, during which time he was naturalized. He then went back to Strasburg and has resided there since September 30, 1879. The circumstances indicate that he is residing there permanently and has no bona fide intention ever to return to the United States. His occupation is that of a druggist.
In case No. 2310 the applicant, Rudolph Gritzner, was born in Paris in 1849. His father emigrated to the United States in 1850, was naturalized in 1858, and was appointed United States consul at Oldenburg in 1862. The applicant returned to Europe in 1859, when 10 years of age, and has remained there ever since. He is now over 40 years of age, and no reason is suggested for his long residence abroad other than that indicated by the circumstances detailed, viz, a mere preference for foreign residence.
I am, etc.,