File No. 365.117/384
The Acting Secretary of State to Ambassador Page
Washington, July 25, 1916.
Sir: The Department has recently had correspondence with Mr. G. Giomi, of 407 North Fourth Street, Albuquerque, New Mexico, concerning the impressment into the Italian army of his son. With a letter of July 14, 1916, Mr. Giomi sent to the Department a certificate of naturalization issued to him April 4, 1892, by the Second Judicial District Court of the Territory of New Mexico, the baptismal certificate of his son, Hostilio, which states that he was born at Albuquerque, New Mexico, December 31, 1889, and an affidavit in which he states that his son resided continuously in the United States with the exception of a short visit of about nine months duration to Italy in the year 1910; that in August 1914 he left the United States with his wife and two children to go to Lucca, Italy, for the benefit of his health, and that he was subsequently impressed into the Italian army.
[Page 424]The Department desires that you present this case to the Italian Foreign Office and request that Hostilio Giomi be released from the performance of military service and allowed to return to the United States with his family. In presenting this case to the Foreign Office you will call particular attention to the fact that Mr. Giomi has resided nearly all of his lifetime in the United States and has, by his continuous residence in this country, made a practical election of American citizenship.
I am [etc.]