Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President Transmitted to Congress December 7, 1903

Mr. Tower to Mr. Hay.

Embassy of the United States,
Berlin, June 5, 1903.

No. 118.]

Sir: I have the honor to report to you that in reply to the request which I made of the Imperial German Government under the instructions contained in your dispatch No. 31, of the 11th of March, 1903, that permission might be granted to Jacob Roos, of Dallas, Tex., to return upon a visit to Germany, I have received from the ministry for foreign affairs a note in which this request is granted. A translation into English of this note is herewith respectfully inclosed.

1 beg leave to call to your attention the fact that this particular case gives evidence of the unwillingness of the Government of Germany to admit that the territory of Alsace-Lorraine is included in the provisions of the treaty of 1868 with the United States, and that therefore the articles of the treaty relating to naturalization do not apply to German subjects who emigrate from those provinces. This note of the foreign office informs me, in the first place, that it will be impossible to release Roos from his obligations, but adds at the same time that, in view of the intervention made in his behalf by this embassy, the authorities of Alsace-Lorraine are willing, upon payment by him of the fine imposed upon him, to discharge him from his duties as a German subject, and thereupon to grant him the permission which he requests, to return to Germany upon a visit.

I return to you, herewith inclosed, the documents which you sent to me in your dispatch of the 11th of March, namely, the certificate of naturalization of Jake Roos before the district court of the county of Dallas, in Texas, on the 24th of February, 1903; a copy of his certificate of birth, dated at Ettendorf, the 13th of January, 1891, and the reisepass, No. 180, issued to him by the authorities of Alsace-Lorraine on the 17th of June, 1891.

I have, etc.,

Charlemagne Tower.

[Inclosure.]

The foreign office to Mr. Tower.

[Translation.]

Berlin, May 27, 1903.

In reply to the notes of the 24th of March and 12th of May, Nos. 63 and 94, repectively, the foreign office has the honor to return the inclosures sent therewith and to inform the embassy of the United States that according to information received from the authorities of the interior, Jakob Roos is still a subject of the German Empire. If he should return to his native land the judgment entered against him in 1895 in the Imperial courts at Strassburg, i. e., on account of his having evaded military service, would be put into execution and he would be compelled to serve in the German Army.

In view, however, of the intervention of the embassy, the authorities of Alsace-Lorraine have declared their willingness to release Roos from his allegiance to Alsace-Lorraine upon his making such request and paying the fine imposed upon him. He would then be permitted to return to Alsace upon a visit.