File No. 19913/2–3.
The Acting Secretary of State to the Chargé of Austria-Hungary.
Washington, July 23, 1909.
Sir: Referring to your note of the 4th ultimo, in which the department’s attention was invited to an error in the certificate of naturalization issued by the Court of Common Pleas in Fairfield County, Conn., to the former Hungarian subject Victor Vrecenak (or Vreczenyak), whereby he is designated as a “subject of the Sovereign of Austria,” a form which, as you point out, does not take into account the dual character of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, I have now the honor to advise you of the receipt of a letter on the subject, dated the 12th instant, from the Acting Secretary of Commerce and Labor, to whose department a translation of your note was sent with the request that it be brought to the knowledge of the competent authorities, in order that similar errors may not be made in the future.
The Acting Secretary’s letter calls attention to the fact that the said Victor Vrecenak (or Vreczenyak) was admitted to American citizenship on October 18, 1900, or prior to September 27, 1906, the date when the naturalization act of June 29, 1906, which conferred upon the Department of Commerce and Labor administrative control over naturalization matters, became effective in toto.
Mr. McHarg adds that since September 27, 1906, his department has required that in cases of Austrian subjects renouncing allegiance to their sovereign in order to become American citizens the designation in the certificate of naturalization shall be “Francis Joseph, Emperor of Austria,” and in the case of Hungarians,” Francis Joseph, Apostolic King of Hungary.”
The certificate of naturalization inclosed with your note is herewith returned, as requested.
Accept, etc.,