Mr. Hay to Mr. Herdliska.
Washington, December 10, 1900.
Sir: The Department is frequently in receipt of information that naturalized citizens who receive passports suppose themselves to be thereby rendered exempt from the operation of the military laws and laws relating to expatriation of the country of their origin upon their return, and occasionally they complain that they were not informed by the Department when they received the passport of the limits of the protection it would afford. Of course, whenever information has been asked, the Department has given such as it possessed, but it has not heretofore furnished this information in advance of a request for it. It has been determined to inaugurate a new system by which no American citizen of foreign birth shall receive passports without being informed of those general provisions of law of the land of his birth which it is important for him to know before he returns to it. He will therefore receive with his passport a brief and easily comprehended statement applicable to his case. Inclosed is the draftb of the notice designed for those of our citizens who were born in Austria-Hungary. You are instructed to examine it and return it with such suggestions as to its correctness and sufficiency as your knowledge and experience may prompt you to make.
It should be borne in mind that the notice must be couched in terms simple enough for a person of imperfect education and limited knowledge to easily comprehend, and that the introduction of unnecessary details and discussions must be avoided.
I am, etc.,
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