Mr. McCormick to Mr. Hay.
Vienna , December 29, 1901 .
Sir: Replying to the Department’s No. 19, of the 19th ultimo, inclosing a statement from one Josef Janco, complaining of the treatment which he had received at the hands of the local authorities at Styavink (Styavink), Hungary, I have the honor to state that my experience already has demonstrated the importance of informing myself as to the truth of all such statements before presenting to the ministry for foreign affairs the case to which they apply and asking for its intervention.
In many instances these statements are grossly exaggerated if not absolutely untrue, and Janco’s case appears to fall within the former if not within the latter category, as will be seen from the report made to me by Mr. Chester, our consul at Budapest, who made a visit of investigation to Styavink at my request.
This report which I have just received, in substance is as follows:
1. That all persons liable or to become liable for military service who leave the country without having performed such service must on their return to this country report immediately to the local authorities that the facts connected with their case, including that of their naturalization in accordance with the terms of the treaty of September 20, 1870, may be established.
This is practically set forth in the Department’s circular “Notice to American citizens formerly subjects of Austria-Hungary who contemplate returning to that country” of date February 1, 1901.
2. Janco showed his passport to the town clerk, who informed him that he, the town clerk, would have to report his (Janco’s) arrival to the chief sheriff; that otherwise he himself would be liable to a fine of about 50 florins, and that he (Janco) must also report himself to the chief sheriff or be subjected to a similar fine, which statement differs widely from that made by Janco.
3. Although Mr. Chester does not give any reason for, and in his report protests against the sending of gendarmes to take Janco to the [Page 51] head sheriff, it is clear to me that their presence was, and has been in all similar cases, dictated by the apprehension of the officials in small villages, that the object of their action might endeavor to evade presenting himself before the authorities and proving liable to military service, and, escaping beyond their jurisdiction, bring them into trouble with their superiors, and subject them to the fine above alluded to.
4. As to the rough treatment to which Janco asserts he was subjected, I will quote from Mr. Chester’s report verbatim:
I next took the testimony of the father of Janco, who personally appeared before me in Nagy Bittar. The father solemnly declared that he was present when the gendarmes came for his son in the early morning; that they requested him to go afoot to Nagy Bitlei; that his son’s feet were sore, and horses were provided by a neighbor; and his son went without making any resistance; that the gendarmes said his son’s passport was of no avail in Hungary (that is, to relieve the holder of the necessity of appearing before the chief sheriff); that he did not hear and does not believe the gendarmes used any such expressions as the legation quotes in its dispatches respecting the American passport held by Janco.
It would seem that if Janco had been roughly treated by the gendarmes after he left his father’s presence, he would have reported it on his return home, and that he would have repeated the language he states was used with reference to his passport.
On Friday, the 20th instant, Janco’s papers were delivered to his father by the town clerk of Styavink, who had just received them through the official channel from Budapest.
I will make representation to his excellency the minister for foreign affairs with reference to the hardship which the delay in returning Janco’s papers worked upon him, and seize the opportunity thus offered to ask for greater expedition in all such cases, and the prompt return of documents the possession of which is of so much importance to their rightful owners.
An abuse of as long standing as the treatment of American passports, and the at times rough treatment of their bearers, can not be summarily done away with, especially when among the latter are found many who are disposed to abuse the protection afforded by these evidences of their American citizenship, and to flaunt their exemption from military service in the eyes of their former fellow-subjects in a manner most offensive to every representative of the Monarchy, allegiance to which the American citizens formerly subjects of Austria-Hungary have forsworn.
I have, etc.,