Mr. Townsend to Mr. Olney.
Vienna, October 14, 1895. (Received Oct. 30.
Sir: I have the honor to present to your notice the case of Salomon Faden, a native of Hungary, born in 1870, emigrated to the United States when 16 years of age, remained there five years and a half, was naturalized before the common pleas court of Hudson County, N. J., on September 17, 1891; left the United States, returning to his native country immediately after obtaining his naturalization certificate and a [Page 23] passport from the Department of State dated September 30, 1891, numbered 33122.
When he obtained the above passport he evidently affirmed his “intention to return to the United States within two years, with the purpose of residing and performing the duties of citizenship therein.” Two years later, when his passport had expired, he applied to this legation and obtained a renewal of the same, October 2, 1893, at which time he again took the oath of allegiance and declared his intention to return to the United States within two years to perform the duties of citizenship. As his passport has again expired, he now applies for a renewal of the same, after having twice failed to adhere to his declared intention of returning to the United States.
After a thorough investigation of this case, I have unearthed the following facts: Salomon Faden belongs to a largely increasing class of citizens of Austria-Hungary who run away to the United States just prior to the time when they are to be called into the military service of their country, remaining in the United States just long enough to obtain a naturalization certificate, returning to the country of their birth, and continuing to reside there for the rest of their lives, their every voluntary act showing a determination to abandon their acquired citizenship, yet wishing to retain and claim the protection of the strong arm of the United States Government, without showing any intention to return the favor by any act of allegiance or support of the Constitution.
It is this class of naturalized citizens, who do not appreciate the high honor and privilege of American citizenship, except so far as they can use it as a means of escaping their duties in their native country, that have brought our citizenship into disrepute, have created a feeling of disrespect to our naturalization certificates among the authorities of this Government, and have thereby subjected the bona fide naturalized citizens of the United States who wish to return to this country for a temporary visit to their families to endless trouble, annoyance, and expense.
Salomon Faden, under my cross-examination, admitted that he had never voted in the United States, did not pay a penny of tax there, owned no property of any kind, had no business connection with any American house, had no domicile in the United States; in fact, had virtually severed all connection with his adopted country, a country which, in the eyes of this class, is good enough to protect them, but not good enough to live in.
Since he obtained his last passport, in October, 1893, he has married here a native girl with some money, has purchased a business in his native town, and practically settled down there to raise a family. He says that “if his business does not go, he may try his luck in America.” In view of these facts I am holding his application for a third passport, subject to instructions from the Department. This case brings forward a question which is growing yearly more and more serious to our naturalized citizens of Austro-Hungarian birth. This country is full of this class of citizens, as well as a large number who contemplate a trip to America with the sole object of avoiding military duty. I have talked to scores of them at wayside inns and in small villages about the country; they knew me only as a tourist, and they have expressed their opinions and intentions freely. It is nearly always the same story; instead of America being regarded as a land of promise for the poor emigrant, a country to grow up in and earn a respectable livelihood, to become good, useful citizens thereof, with all the rights, privileges, and liberties which the term implies, it is looked upon as a land where they can quickly and easily obtain a paper which will allow them to [Page 24] shirk the performance of their duties to their native land, and place them above their fellows who have not been sharp enough to make the journey at a proper age, as a means of obtaining freedom from work and military discipline.
This class of citizen tell me that they can make a better living here than in America, and the secret of it is that they are not working men or laborers, but sharp, shrewd traders, money lenders, and small village storekeepers, who are much too clever in handling the monetary unit of the country for the peasants and farm hands, with whom they have their principal dealings. In America the same class of laborers are less ignorant, better educated, and more intelligent in every way, so it becomes there a question of “Greek meets Greek,” with the advantage in favor of the native American workingman. The crowning disgrace to our citizenship, which I have time and again observed in this class, is that they can neither read, write, nor speak the English language, they having spent their time while in the United States among the members of a foreign colony, where their native language is almost entirely spoken, and they have not the smallest conception of the Constitution of the United States, or the nature of the oath of allegiance which they take every two years with perfect equanimity.
In view of the above facts, am I authorized in renewing the passport of Salomon Faden?
I have, etc.,