Americans by Choice

by John Palmer Gavit

HOW DID THESE PETITIONERS FARE?

How did these applicants for citizenship fare? However much they may have desired citizenship, these of the “new immigration” and the “old”—did they get it? Did they pass the examinations? And as regards the reasons for denial of those who were rejected, how did the “recent” races account for themselves in respect of those matters which really go to the questions of moral and intellectual fitness?

Well, to begin with, the percentage of all denials (3,033) among these more than 26,000 petitioners was 11.5—almost exactly that (11.2) of the whole United States during the entire period of eleven years, 1908–18, as shown by the reports of the Commissioner of Naturalization. Here appears a compilation analyzing all the denials during the period 1908–18.

TABLE XVII

Comparison of Causes of Denial for the Years 1908–18 and 1913–19 from Commissioner of Naturalization Reports, and Denials of 26,284 Petitioners Studied

Causes	Denials
	Naturalization Reports				Cases Studied 1913–14
	1908–18		1913–14
	Number	Per Cent	Number	Per Cent	Number	Per Cent
Want of prosecution	33,493	31.2	3,856	29.4	689	22.7
Incompetent Witnesses	28,262	26.3	3,982	30.2	422	13.9
Declaration invalid	9,187	8.5	1,148	8.7	1,296	42.7
Ignorance	11,109	10.3	1,147	8.7	220	7.2
Miscellaneous	6,098	5.7	553	4.2	147	4.8
Immoral character	4,269	4.0	588	4.5	59	1.9
Insufficient residence	3,625	3.3	389	3.0	68	2.2
Petitioner’s motion	2,824	2.6	381	2.9	51	1.7
No jurisdiction	2,934	2.7	291	2.2	12	0.4
Deceased	1,123	1.0	174	1.3	11	0.4
Unable to produce witnesses or deposition	1,090	1.0	196	1.5	12	0.4
Already a citizen	1,200	1.1	150	1.1	9	0.3
No certificate of arrival	1,197	1.1	179	1.4	14	0.5
Premature petition	979	0.9	96	0.7	17	0.2
Section 2169 (not a white person)	84	0.1	3	....	....	....
No information	....	....	....	....	16	0.5
Total	107,474	100.0	13,133	100.0	3,033	100.0
Certificates granted	848,777	....	105,439	....	....	....
Cases disposed of	956,251	....	118,572	....	26,284	....
Per cent denied	....	11.2	....	11.1	....	11.5

A study of the figures covering the reasons for denial of the 3,033 among the petitions of 1913–14 here analyzed illuminated special aspects of this matter, showing, as it does, how large a proportion of the denials are for reasons of a purely technical character, or because the petitioners abandoned their pursuit of citizenship after filing the final petition.

The following table lists the races represented by forty or more petitions, in the order of percentage of denials, and shows the percentages attributable to the six principal reasons, respectively: “want of prosecution,” “incompetent witnesses,” “declaration invalid,” “ignorance,” “immoral character,” and “old-law declaration—held to be invalid.”

TABLE XVIII

Racial Distribution of 26,284 Petitioners Denied, 1913–14, and the Per Cent of the Denials for the Six Principal Causes

		Denials		Causes of Denial—Per Cent
Country of Birth	Number of Petitions	Number	Per Cent	Want of Prosecution		Ignorance		Immoral Character
				Incompetent Witnesses		Declaration Invalid		“Old-Law” Declaration{1}
All countries	26,284	3,033	11.5	22.7	13.9	5.2	7.2	1.9	37.5
Greece	90	27	30.0	48.1	11.1	3.7	....	....	3.7
France	86	19	22.1	15.7	26.3	....	....	....	42.1
Italy	3,591	646	18.0	28.1	11.1	2.9	14.2	1.7	34.2
Turkey in Europe	92	15	16.3	26.6	7.6	26.6	....	7.6	20.9
Holland	139	21	15.1	28.5	33.3	....	....	....	14.0
Scotland	288	42	14.6	21.4	11.9	9.5	2.4	....	31.0
Denmark	200	29	14.5	17.2	27.6	3.5	....	6.9	31.0
England	831	120	14.4	30.0	19.2	4.2	1.7	2.5	27.5
Sweden	616	80	13.0	13.7	13.7	11.3	3.8	5.0	30.0
Germany	2,305	296	12.8	17.2	14.5	5.4	4.7	2.4	47.3
Switzerland	197	25	12.7	24.0	20.0	4.0	8.0	....	36.0
Turkey in Asia	142	18	12.7	44.4	11.1	16.7	5.6	....	16.7
Norway	389	48	12.3	25.0	27.1	14.6	8.3	....	4.2
Belgium	41	5	12.2	40.0	20.0	....	20.0	....	....
Canada	385	43	11.2	30.2	14.0	9.3	....	4.6	20.9
Hungary	2,443	249	10.2	32.2	12.5	4.8	7.6	3.2	24.9
Finland	144	14	9.7	42.8	14.3	14.3	....	....	....
Rumania	569	54	9.5	7.4	11.1	5.6	7.4	3.7	63.0
Russia	7,864	744	9.5	15.1	15.7	5.5	6.2	1.7	46.2
Ireland	1,773	166	9.4	27.1	11.4	3.0	1.8	0.6	46.3
Austria	3,875	347	9.0	21.6	10.4	5.5	7.2	1.4	44.8
Other	201	27	....	....	....	....	....	....	....
No information	23	....	....	....	....	....	....	....	....

note 1: Denied because declaration of intention was more than seven years old.

In this table there are 14 countries listed whose per cent of denials exceeds that for all countries. Of these only four supply the “new” immigration. And of the seven showing a lower than 11.5 per cent denials, five constitute the “new” immigration. This would point to greater success on the part of the new races in attaining their naturalization papers. The qualifying fact here, as elsewhere, is that more than twice as many petitioners belong to the “new” races as to the “old.”

The two causes of denial showing the largest per cents for the country as a whole and for most countries are “want of prosecution” and the invalidity of their “old-law” declaration. That so large a proportion of immigrants have taken the trouble to take almost the last steps toward citizenship and then fail by default is symptomatic of waste somewhere along the line. This condition seems to prevail among both the “old” and “new” peoples.