PHYSICAL CONDITIONS AND DIGNITY
What is most needed is a better arrangement for taking care of this business—a physical as well as an administrative arrangement. The physical surroundings leave much to be desired. Merton A. Sturges, Chief Naturalization Examiner at New York, thus describes[179] the conditions under which final hearings are conducted in some of the courts.
... In many instances the court-room has a seating capacity for less than half the number of persons notified to appear, and often there is barely space enough to crowd the applicants and witnesses into the court-room in a standing position.... The applicants and witnesses are sometimes rushed through as fast as one hundred cases in half as many minutes. The natural query, especially on the part of witnesses, is, “Why have we been brought here and kept standing in a crowded court-room for hours for no apparent reason?”
Of course, in connection with a small percentage of applications, some question arises which it is desirable to present for determination by the judges, but aside from these few instances there is no good reason for witnesses to appear in court, except that the law requires their appearance....
The oath of allegiance is administered in anything but a dignified and impressive manner. In fact, the whole proceeding is lacking in that solemnity and impressiveness which should be the characteristic of so important a ceremony. Would it be a great innovation to inaugurate and maintain orderly and patriotic ceremonies for the conferring of final naturalization? Invite the applicants to appear in court, accompanied by members of their family; have the certificates prepared in advance; provide an appropriately decorated court-room with seating capacity for as many as are present; call the applicants and their families in groups by nationality before the judge’s bench; have the judge administer the oath of allegiance to each group in a fittingly dignified manner, and present the certificates of naturalization to each new citizen; have the judge, and perhaps one other prominent and esteemed citizen, deliver addresses dealing with the responsibilities and duties of good citizenship.
The tendency in the past few years has been in the direction indicated by Mr. Sturges. Increasingly, all over the country, judges have awakened to the need of a greater solemnity in the conferring of citizenship; a few judges have, at their own expense, furnished a printed address or book of instructions to the new citizens, and even a small American flag which is enormously prized by the recipients. In one court in North Dakota the judge serves upon each declarant, at the time of his filing of his declaration of intention, the following formal notice under seal of the court:
| State of North Dakota | } | ss | In District Court |
| County of Cass | } | Judicial District |
Give this notice your most careful attention and respect. ....................., Take notice:
That your Declaration of Intention to become a citizen of the United States, made this ........ day of ........, A. D., 19.... in this County, Judicial District and State, gives notice to our Government that your intent is to fit yourself for citizenship before the time arrives to make your application for your final adoption. That you will, in good faith, inquire into and acquaint yourself with not only our form of Government, but the intent and purpose of its formation and the duties and responsibilities that will be yours when you are finally adopted. That you believe in, and will at all times faithfully and energetically uphold, the principles of our people and the various government agencies. That you will be prepared, at the time of the hearing of your application for final adoption, to prove to the Court before which the hearing is had, and to the representatives of the Government of the United States then present, that this application is made in good faith and all sincerity and with love and respect for the Government of which you are seeking to become a part.
(Signed) .........................
Clerk of the District Court,
Cass County, North Dakota.
By order of ......................
Judge of said Court.
In this court there is a ceremony just such as Mr. Sturges recommends—a talk by some one selected by the presiding judge, on the history and meaning of the flag and government, and what it means to take on the new citizenship. Then there is offered, and of course taken by all the accepted petitioners, the following pledge, devised by the judge:
OBLIGATION OF FIDELITY
(Taken voluntarily)
I .................., of ................, being this day about to be adopted into the full citizenship of the United States, and believing in a people’s form of government as exemplified by our now common Government, do solemnly pledge myself to devote a considerable portion of my spare time for not less than three years hereafter to inquire into and more fully understand our form of government, its purposes and practices, the method and manner of selecting all public officials in this country, the manner in which and the method by which we can change our laws as changes become necessary, in a peaceful and lawful manner, all of which is for the purpose of fitting myself to become a loyal and useful citizen of this, my adopted country.
This pledge is solemnly taken by me, and is made one of the representations as to my good intent and purpose in asking to become a fellow citizen, with the rights, duties, and responsibilities coming to and depending upon me as a loyal citizen.
Dated at Fargo, N. D., this ....... day of ......, 19...
(Signed) ........................
In many parts of the country it has become a custom to hold public ceremonies, at which the new citizens naturalized within the past year or other definite period are assembled with their families to hear addresses, join in patriotic singing, and otherwise celebrate their adoption into the new fellowship.