Mr. Olney to Mr. von Reichenau.
Washington , November 20, 1896 .
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 11th instant, presenting certain inquiries respecting the citizenship of one Josef Georg Surmann.
From the statement contained in your note and the papers accompanying the same, it appears that Josef Georg Surmann was born at Cleveland, Ohio, July 1, 1873; that his father, Karl Surmann, came to the United States in July, 1870, or, according to later statements, in May, 1871; that he declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States before the probate court of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, September 14, 1874, but that the latter part of the same year he quitted the United States, taking his infant son with him. It would seem that the father, Karl, never returned to the United States to perfect his acquisition of American citizenship, but that, after a residence of twelve years in France, whereby he forfeited for himself, his wife, and minor children his German citizenship, he has returned to his native place, Sennheim, in Alsace-Lorraine, where he has resided since 1888.
The son, Josef Georg Surmann, of whom you inquire, has never returned to the United States, and is now over 23 years old.
The certificate signed by the United States commercial agent at Freiburg in Baden, which you submit to me, contains the only statements [Page 183] material to the young man’s case of which the Department has any knowledge. Upon those statements Josef Georg Surmann is, according to the Constitution and laws of the United States, a citizen there off by birth. Conformably to a general rule of international law, followed by this Department in its special rulings in cases as they arise, the young man might, if sojourning in a foreign country, have been required, on attaining the age of 21, to make formal option of allegiance. It does not appear whether he ever made such option or was afforded an opportunity to do so. Were he now called upon to elect American allegiance, and were he to demonstrate his immediate purpose of returning to the United States, here to dwell and discharge the duties of citizenship, a passport might be issued to him by the United States ambassador at Berlin upon being satisfied of the bona fides of the case. Otherwise, following the precedents established for many years, to which you advert, this Department would be constrained to regard Josef Georg Surmann as having voluntarily relinquished his right to continued protection as a citizen of the United States by reason of and during his prolonged and indefinite sojourn abroad after attaining majority. The executive branch of this Government is not competent to declare that any person lawfully born or becoming a citizen of the United States may have forfeited his citizenship for any cause, inasmuch as the laws of the United States make no provision for executive determination of such a case. Were the young man within the jurisdiction of the United States, and were a judicial issue raised involving the question of his citizenship, that would be a matter of fact and of law for the decision of the competent court, either State or Federal, as the case might be.
A copy of your note and of the present reply will be sent to the United States ambassador at Berlin for his information and guidance should Josef Georg Surmann apply to him for a passport under the circumstances above stated.
The original inclosures which accompanied your note are herewith returned as requested.
Accept, etc.,