These discrepancies do not prove, however, that even in such cases the groups of petitioners studied are not representative of the foreign-born population, because racial distribution varies considerably from state to state. Fortunately, moreover, it is possible to compile from the census figures to show by country of origin the distribution of unnaturalized white males in the cities covered by the study, and these figures, also included in the last column of the table, show conclusively that the racial distribution in those cities is fairly typical. The percentages do not exactly agree, nor is that to be expected. In the first place, there is a difference of three years between the times represented respectively in the two sets of figures—years during which there was a heavy immigration. The figures given for the unnaturalized are not complete, inasmuch as for those cities the citizenship status of 9.8 per cent of the foreign-born males 21 years of age and over was not reported by the 1910 census. Furthermore, the petitions studied were not all from these nine cities, although nearly nine out of ten (86.8 per cent) of them were. On the whole, the nativity distribution in those nine cities of the petitioners studied coincides remarkably with that of the unnaturalized but naturalizable males.
RELATIVE “CIVIC AND POLITICAL INTEREST”
In [Table X], page 211, the relative numbers and percentages are arranged in the order of magnitude, and this arrangement is illuminating in its display of what the Immigration Commission and the writers who have taken their cue therefrom have interpreted as “civic and political interest” exhibited in relative desire for citizenship. With the exception of Italy the races from the sources of largest recent immigration show a higher proportion naturalized than the proportion they represented in the population. It can fairly be said that the desire to become citizens is as evident among these immigrants of the new races as among those of the earlier, entirely leaving out of consideration the length of residence which operates in favor of the older immigrants.
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 |