Consul-General Iddings to the Assistant Secretary of State.
Cairo, Egypt, December 17, 1906.
Sir: I beg leave to inclose herewith a copy of an application for passport made on November 30, 1906, by Jorge Nelken y Waldberg, born in Argentina, South America, and naturalized in the District of Columbia. He declares, as you will perceive, that he means to return to America, “within a reasonable time,” to resume the duties of citizenship.
On the strength of that statement, and in view of his career in Constantinople and Egypt, I refused the application. In my judgment, Waldberg has no intention of going back to the United States [Page 1078] as long as he finds his present methods of gaining a living successful. In justification of this opinion, I respectfully refer to my dispatch No. 147, of December 16, 1906. Waldberg has said to me that he really had no use for a passport; that his naturalization certificate was a guaranty of protection so long as he lived under the capitulations. I think that this impression is growing among many persons naturalized in the United States but now residing here and intending to remain indefinitely. Awaiting instructions in this case,
I have, etc.,