Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President Transmitted to Congress December 3, 1901
Mr. White to Mr. Hay.
Berlin, July 1, 1901.
Sir: Referring to Mr. Jackson’s dispatch No. 1589, of March 30, 1901, I have the honor to append hereto a memorandum report of certain military cases, particularly mentioned below, which have been brought to a conclusion during the past quarter, and which have not heretofore been referred to in the embassy’s correspondence with the Department.
I am, etc.,
1. Sigmund Meyers (Mayer) emigrated from Germany to the United States about nine years ago, and duly became naturalized as a citizen in Philadelphia, on May 29, 1899. On account of his not having appeared for military service, his father (it was claimed), in Bavaria, had been ordered to pay a fine. The case was brought to the attention of the embassy by Messrs. Gutman Klein & Son, of Philadelphia, and under date of February 12, 1901, intervention (F. O., No. 894) was made in Meyers’s [Page 169] behalf to the end that he “be recognized as an American citizen, his name taken from the German military lists, and all proceedings against him on account of his failure to present himself for military service stopped.”
Under date of April 11, the foreign office replied to the embassy’s note, stating that Meyers’s name had been taken off the military lists and that no criminal proceedings had been commenced against him on account of his evasion of military service.
2. Diedrich Ebken was born in Bremen in 1876, and emigrated in 1891 to the United States, where he became naturalized as a citizen at Cincinnati in 1900. In January, 1901, he returned to Bremen on a visit, when he was almost immediately informed that he must leave the country. At his own request, however, permission was granted him to remain until April 5. He was nevertheless arrested soon after and compelled to pay a fine of 200 marks, on account of his not having performed military service. His case was reported to the embassy by the consul at Bremen, and under date of March 19, 1901, intervention (F. O., No. 915) was made in his behalf.
Under date of April 16, Consul Diederich informed the embassy that Ebken’s fine had been refunded (this information being confirmed by the foreign office on April 25) and the money forwarded to him at his home in the United States.
3. Gustav A. Seitz, an American citizen of German origin residing in Zumbrota, Minn., brought his case to the attention of the embassy hi November, 1900. He had emigrated from Baden without having performed military service, and although permission had been granted him to visit his former home, it appeared uncertain that he had been fully recognized as an American citizen. Seitz had addressed a petition to the Grand Duke of Baden, and under date of March 1, 1901, the embassy notified the foreign office (F. O., No. 901) that it desired to give all proper support to the same. Seitz had exhibited evidence of his naturalization in the United States in 1881.
Under date of April 19 the foreign office informed the embassy that it had communicated with the Baden authorities in regard to the case, and that they would communicate directly with Seitz, from whom the embassy subsequently learned that he had been notified that he was at liberty to visit Baden under the same conditions as all other foreigners could do so, and that he was not liable to any military obligation.
4. Louis Wiess emigrated to the United States from Alsace-Lorraine in 1873, after having been drafted for military service. He became naturalized as a citizen in 1878. In March, 1901, he made application to the imperial authorities at Strassburg (as instructed to do by the embassy in May, 1900) for permission to visit his former home for two months, and on April 1 (F. O., No. 921) the embassy addressed a note to the foreign office in support of his request.
On April 29 the embassy was informed by the foreign office that Wiess had been granted permission to spend six weeks at his former home at some time during the current year.
5. (John) Jacob Häberle had been in personal correspondence with the authorities of the Kingdom of Wurttemberg (from which he had emigrated to the United States) and had encountered difficulties in effecting his recognition as an American citizen. He first brought his case to the attention of the embassy in the summer of 1900, and after the required authentication of his papers intervention was made in his behalf (F. O. No. 855) on December 28, 1900. Attention was again called to the case (F. O. No. 911) on March 14, 1901.
A reply was received from the foreign office on May 11, in which it was stated that Häberle had been recognized as an American citizen, and that an attachment placed upon his property on account of his evasion of military service had been removed.
6. Robert H. Just applied to the embassy in person on April 9, 1901, and intervention (F. O. No. 924) was at once made in his behalf. Just was born in Berlin in 1874 and, when 11 years of age, had been taken by his parents to the United States, where he duly became a citizen through the naturalization of his father while he was still a minor. In October, 1900, he returned to Germany for the purpose of studying music, and subsequently he was interrogated by the police authorities and ordered to leave Prussia within four weeks from April 1, or again become a German subject.
Under date of May 13, however, the foreign office informed the embassy that the expulsion order had been recalled and that Just would be permitted to remain in Berlin until further notice.
7. Siegmund Stern, a naturalized American citizen of German origin, informed the embassy in a letter which was received on April 8, 1901, that he had been ordered [Page 170] to leave Prussia within fourteen days, and the embassy at once (F. O. No. 923) made intervention in his behalf, requesting, in accordance with Stern’s wish, that he be allowed to remain until about the 1st of July. Stern stated that he had important business to attend to and that he wished to be allowed to stay at Schlüchtern for two months longer.
Under date of May 23 the foreign office informed the embassy that the Prussian authorities did not find themselves in a position to cancel the expulsion order, as Stern, who emigrated from Germany in 1890 without having performed military service had repeatedly returned and had already been permitted to sojourn in Schlüchtern since July 1, 1900.
It is understood that Stern was not molested pending the final decision of his case, and it will be noted that the decision that he must go was not made until six weeks after attention had been called to the case. He was consequently enabled to remain in Prussia up to within about two weeks of the time when he intended to leave.
8. Max Kuechlin’s case—his arrest, imprisonment, and release, and the ultimate refunding of his military fine in accordance with intervention made by the embassy in April, 1901—has, it is understood, been fully reported by the United States consul at Freiburg, Baden.