Mr. Storer to Mr. Hay.
Madrid, December 5, 1901.
Sir: I have the honor to report that this legation has received, through the consulate-general at Barcelona, the duplicate application for the granting of a passport to Mr. José Portusach.
[Page 485]The applications, which are for himself, his wife, and his four minor children, have been made out on the theory that the applicant, on account of his having been born in the island of Guam in May, 1859, is now a native-born American citizen.
The applications also recite that his family is temporarily sojourning at Barcelona, and is the bearer of a temporary passport issued by the governor of Guam in the month of August last, bearing the seal of the executive office, and signed by the governor’s adjutant, Pressly.
He desires this for the purpose of traveling, and intends to return to the United States—that is to say, to the island of Guam—within one year. The passport issued by the governor of Guam is inclosed, and also certain correspondence between the governor of Guam, Commander Schroeder, and Major Jones, quartermaster, which fully identifies the applicant.
I am in doubt, first, whether the island of Guam stands under the instruction of the Department regarding the certification of passports or cedulas hailing from the Philippine Islands; second, I am in doubt whether, being born in Guam, he thereby becomes a native-born citizen of the United States.
I respectfully ask the instructions of the Department whether I shall proceed to issue a passport or shall content myself with legalizing in the usual form, by visa, the passport issued by the governor of Guam, and if I am to issue a passport, whether it should be issued to him as a native-born citizen of the United States or not.
I have, etc.,