The purpose of the report is to give as clear a notion as possible of the methods of the agencies actually at work in this field and not to propose theories for dealing with the complicated questions involved.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE
Publisher’s Note[v]
Foreword[vii]
Table of Contents[ix]
List of Tables[xvi]
List of Diagrams[xxi]
Introduction[xxiii]
CHAPTER
I. Of Their Own Free Will[1]
These Are Our Voters![2]
Primitive Attitudes Toward Immigrants3
Legal Position of the Alien[5]
What Is an “American”?[7]
The American Has No Racial Marks[10]
Not Racial, but Cultural[12]
Essentials of “Americanism”[14]
II. New Members and an Old Game[17]
Factors in Immigration[18]
Politics Welcomes the Irish[21]
They Always Have Been Democrats[21]
Early Germans Became Republicans[24]
Effects of the Gold Craze[25]
Vast Naturalization Frauds[25]
First Choice in Politics[30]
The Politician Close to Humanity[33]
Political Aspects of Social Clubs[35]
Politics a Great Americanizing Force[37]
III. Citizenship: Under This Flag and Others[40]
Roots of Political Society[42]
Influence of Emigration to America[43]
The Right to Emigrate[44]
The Subject vs. the Active Member[45]
Essentials of Citizenship: Ancient—and American[46]
Bases of American Citizenship[49]
Common-law Definition Taken for Granted[50]
Concerning Americans Born Abroad[51]
Children Born at Sea[52]
Question of Dual Nationality[53]
Countries Denying the Right of Expatriation[54]
Conditional Recognition[55]
Naturalization Treaties With the United States[55]
Great Britain[56]
Germany[57]
Citizenship Takes No Account of Sex[62]
“A Woman Without a Country”[63]
The American Under Three Jurisdictions[64]
IV. Development of the Naturalization Law[69]
Our “Charter Members”[69]
First Naturalization Laws[70]
Efforts Toward Uniformity[73]
Bars Up Against Alien Anarchists[77]
Various Presidents Discussed Naturalization[77]
Definite Reform at Last[80]
Naturalization Commission Appointed[80]
What the Law Requires[83]
V. The Law in Operation[89]
Restrictions of Race[92]
Limitations Regarding Age[95]
The Declaration of Intention[96]
“Declaration Invalid”[98]
Should Declaration Be Abolished?[102]
Naturalization Judges Favor Its Retention[105]
The Seven-year Limitation[107]
The Certificate of Lawful Entry[109]
The Vexatious Question of Names[112]
The Petition for Naturalization[115]
Ninety Days’ Interval Before Hearing[119]
The Final Hearing in Court[119]
Must “Speak” the English Language[120]
Attached to the Constitution[123]
In the Matter of “Continuous Residence”[124]
The Absurdity of the “Incompetent Witness”[126]
Judges Denounce the Absurdity[129]
Depositions of Witnesses[133]
“Good Moral Character”[135]
The Final Ceremony—Oath of Allegiance[137]
Ceremonies of Initiation[138]
VI. Personal Equation in Naturalization[143]
A Function of Local Courts[145]
“Personal Equation” of the Judges[147]
Bird’s-eye View of the Questionnaire[154]
General Trend of Judges’ Opinions[158]
The Clerks of the Courts[161]
The Question of Adequate Clerical Force[163]
When the Clerk Pockets the Fees[164]
Forms of Petty Graft[165]
“Personal Equation” in the Naturalization Service[167]
A Scrupulously Honest Service[169]
Need of Unifying Influence[170]
“Nothing to Litigate!”[171]
Confused State of the Educational Test[173]
The Craze for “Americanizing” Somebody Else[177]
Extra Responsibilities Self-sought[180]
Enormous Arrearage in Bureau’s Work[186]
The Aliens Support the Bureau[189]
Fitness of Candidates[193]
“Personal Equation” of the Public[195]
VII. Some Statistics Concerning Immigrants, “New” and “Old”[197]
Paucity of Dependable Information[199]
Vast Arrearages in Examinations[202]
Report of Immigration Commission of 1907[204]
Legend of “The New Immigration”[204]
Disparity in Numbers Among Racial Groups[206]
The Factor of Length of Residence[208]
The Factor of Language[214]
Length of Residence and Earning Power[215]
Voting on “First Papers”[217]
What Becomes of the Declarations?[218]
VIII. Later Statistics—in Which Some Twenty-six Thousand Petitioners Speak for Themselves[225]
More Than a Fifth of All Petitioners[226]
From Twenty-eight Representative Courts[226]
In a Reasonably Normal Year[227]
The Racial Groups Are Typical[228]
Relative “Civic and Political Interest”[231]
How Did These Petitioners Fare?[231]
As Regards “Immoral Character”[234]
The Showing as to “Ignorance”[235]
Time-intervals in Naturalization[236]
How Do the Racial Groups Compare?[238]
They Are Young People[241]
Relative Age and “Political Interest”[242]
The Real Racial Distinction[243]
Race and Relative Age at Arrival[244]
At the Beginning of Married Life[247]
As for “Stability of Residence”[247]
Intellectual Equipment and Occupation[250]
General Conclusions[252]
IX. Citizenship via Military Service[255]
Position of the Alien Soldier[256]
Revolutionary Legislative Action[258]
Citizens at Heart, but “Enemy Aliens”[260]
All Safeguards Abandoned[263]
All Race Restrictions Removed[265]
Ordinary Naturalization Disputed[265]
Statistics of Alien Registration[267]
Aliens and Military Service[269]
Foreign Born Eager to Serve[272]
Austrians Who Were Not for Austria[274]
There Was Human War-time Psychology[275]
Diplomatic Requests for Exemption[276]
Reciprocal Conscription Among Cobelligerents[278]
Of German Descent, but Loyal Americans[278]
Desertion, Among Aliens and Citizens[279]
War’s Test of “the Melting-pot”[281]
An Old Practice with a New Significance[282]
What Some Judges Thought of It[283]
Here Was “Attachment to Our Principles”![285]
Assimilating the Enemies of Tyranny[287]
Episodes of Military Naturalization[288]
Those Who Went Without Citizenship[292]
A Great Composite Record of Loyalty[294]
X. The Foreign-born Woman, Her Home and Her Children, in American Politics[296]
Regardless of Qualifications[298]
Unmarried Women Have Male Rights[298]
Dangers of “Derivative Citizenship”[299]
Children of Aliens Here American Born[301]
“Derivative Citizenship” Almost Equals the Direct[302]
Woman Suffrage Was Widespread[303]
Applicants Came as Young Married Men[304]
The Mother Must Be “Americanized”[305]
Must Learn Politics by Political Activity[307]
Few Women Seek Naturalization[309]
Some Courts Notice the Wives[311]
Obstacles of Distance and Expense[312]
Woman Suffrage Opens a New Era[314]
Opinions of Naturalizing Judges[315]
650,000 “Derivative Voters” Extant[317]
Largely an Ignorant Vote[318]
Political Indifference Not Peculiar to Foreign Born[320]
Many Were Called, but Few Responded[321]
Foreign-born Women Without Political Experience[323]
They Are Good Material[324]
How the Women Can Be Reached[327]
A Specific Example—It Works[330]
What the Children Did[333]
XI. The Foreign-born Voter in Action[335]
Divided by Racial Traditions[338]
Aliens Not Without Political Influence[339]
There is no “Foreign Vote”[340]
Old Evils Abolished[341]
Corruption Was Not an Importation[343]
Home-grown in Adams County, Ohio![344]
Who Is the Buyer of Votes?[345]
Attempts to Find the “Foreign Vote”[347]
Response to Progressive Ideas[354]
Some Results from Cleveland[357]
“Civic Interest” in Grand Rapids[365]
Municipal Voters’ League of Chicago[369]
Some Other Instances[373]
XII. The Foreign Born in Radical Movements[377]
The Socialist Press[380]
Dues-paying Socialist Members[381]
Racial Groups of Socialists[383]
The Socialist Vote[385]
German Influence in Socialism[387]
Jews in Socialism[390]
Effect of the War on Socialism[391]
The Single-tax and Agrarian Movements[393]
The Nonpartisan League[397]
Ultraradical Movements Nonpolitical[401]
The “I. W. W.” and the Homeless Worker[403]
XIII. Some General Considerations[410]
No Lowering of Standards[416]
A Function Administrative or Judicial?[420]
Physical Conditions and Dignity[422]
Function of the Naturalization Bureau[425]
Appendix[429]
Index[435]

LIST OF TABLES

TABLEPAGE
[1.] Immigration from Ireland and Germany Each Year, 1820–1840[22]
[2.] Aliens Naturalized 1856–1867 in two Courts in New York City[26]
[3.] Applicants for Naturalization in Supreme Court, New York City in October, 1868[28]
[4.] Number of Replies from Judges in Each District[149]
[5.] Appropriation for the Naturalization Service for each fiscal year, 1908–1919[185]
[6.] Receipts from Naturalization fees and disbursements, 1907–1920[190]
[7.] Number of Declarations of Intention and Petitions for Naturalization issued, 1907–1920[201]
[8.] Per Cent that fully Naturalized Male Employees are of Total Male Employees who were twenty-one years of age and over at Time of Coming and who have been in the United States ten years or over, compared with the per cent that Male Employees in the United States ten years or over are of those here five years and over, by race[207]
[9.] Per Cent of Foreign Born Male Employees Reporting Citizenship who have been in the United States each specified period of years, by race[209]
[10.] Present Political Condition of Foreign Born Male Employees who have been in the United States five years or over and who were twenty-one years of age at time of coming, by race[211]
[11.] Average weekly earnings of male employees, by race and specified industries[216]
[12.] Per Cent of Foreign Born of Voting Age having First Papers and also per cent in states Permitting Aliens to Vote on first papers, compared with certain states not Permitting Aliens to Vote on first papers for 1900 and 1910[218]
[13.] Number of Declarations filed each year 1908–1912 with Average Number and Ratio of Petitions consummating in five-year period ending each year[220]
[14.] Yearly Number of Declarations Filed 1908–1912 and Number of final Petitions for Naturalization Assumed to have been based upon those Declarations[221]
[15.] Ratio of Declarations of Intention to Petition for Naturalization by States[223]
[16.] Comparison by Races of (1) Naturalization Petitioners Studied, (2) Unnaturalized Males twenty-one years of age or over in nine cities and in the country as a whole, in 1910[229]
[17.] Comparison of Causes of Denial for the years 1908–1918 and 1913–1914[232]
[18.] Racial Distribution of Petitioners Denied 1913–1914, and the Per Cent Denials for six Principal Causes[233]
[19.] Per Cent of Denials due to “Immoral Character,” by Race[235]
[20.] Per Cent of Denials due to “Ignorance,” by Race[236]
[21.] Average Time Elapsing between Arrival and Declaration of Intention; between Declaration and Petition and between Petition and Naturalization[237]
[22.] Average Interval before filing Petition after Attainment of twenty-one years, for those arriving at ages, 1–14, by Race[239]
[23.] Average Interval before filing Petition after Arrival at Ages 16–20, by Race[240]
[24.] Average Interval before filing Petition after Arrival at Ages twenty-one or over, by Race[241]
[25.] Number and Per cent of Petitioners for three age groups[242]
[26.] Racial Distribution of Petitioners for the age periods “over twenty-one” “15–20” and “1–14”[246]
[27.] Number of Declarations made in “Other” States[249]
[28.] Principal Occupations Represented in Petitions for Naturalizations filed in seven Cities 1913–1914, ratio between Number of Petitioners and total of Foreign Born White Males in those Occupations in those Cities in 1910[251]
[29.] Number and Per Cent of Petitioners in Each Occupation[252]
[30.] Allegiance of Aliens Registered under the Selective Service Act[268]
[31.] Fitness for Service of Alien Registrants[269]
[32.] Neutrals withdrawing from the Service[273]
[33.] Diplomatic Requests for Discharge of and Total Registration of Aliens by Country of Birth[277]
[34.] Comparison of Reported Desertions of Alien and Citizen Registrants[281]
[35.] Years in which full and partial Suffrage was Granted to Women, by States[303]
[36.] Maximum Enrollment in Citizenship and English classes, in United States in 1919[322]
[37.] Per Cent of New York City Vote Cast for McCall in 1913, Dix in 1910 by Voters of Native Parentage[350]
[38.] Per Cent of New York City Vote Cast for McCall in 1913, Dix in 1910 by Russians and Austrians[350]
[39.] Per Cent of New York City Vote Cast for McCall in 1913, Dix in 1910 by the Irish[351]
[40.] Per Cent of New York City Vote Cast for McCall in 1913, Dix in 1910 by Germans[352]
[41.] Per Cent of New York City Vote Cast for McCall in 1913, Dix in 1910 by Italians[352]
[42.] Per Cent of Socialist Vote in New York City in 1910 and 1913 by Nationality[353]
[43.] Distribution of Dominant Nationality in ninety-two precincts in Cleveland[358]
[44.] Distribution of Democratic and Republican Votes in Cleveland in 1913–1915 among Certain Racial Groups[361]
[45.] Per Cent of Certain Races Exercising Second and Third Choice[362]
[46.] Vote Cast in precincts of Varying Racial Make-up in Three Wards of Grand Rapids, 1918, 1919[366]
[47.] Per Cent of Women Registered in thirteen Michigan cities[368]
[48.] Number of Socialists paying dues each year from 1903 to 1915[382]
[49.] Ranks of Race Groups in Relative Socialist Strength[384]
[50.] Socialist Vote for President from 1880 to 1898[385]
[51.] The Socialist Vote for President by States from 1900 to 1920[386]
[52.] Per Cent Circulation of the German Press in nine states[388]
[53.] Socialist Vote for President in nine states from 1900 to 1916[389]
[54.] Membership of the Nonpartisan League by states in December, 1918[398]
[55.] Distribution of Petitions Studied, by Courts[429]
[56.] Sex and Marital Condition of Petitioners[430]
[57.] Petitioners’ Children Under twenty-one years of age[431]
[58.] Age of Petitioners at Arrival and Time Elapsing between twenty-one years of age (or later arrival) and Petition, 1913–1914[432]
[59.] Number and Per Cent of Petitions Denied for each Cause, by CourtsFacing[432]
[60.] Number of Petitions Denied for each Cause, by Country of BirthFacing[432]
[61.] Distribution of Petitioners, by Country of Birth and CourtsFacing[432]
[62.] Distribution of Petitioners, Length of Time from Arrival to Petition, by Country of BirthFacing[432]
[63.] Distribution of Petitions, by Occupation and Courts[433]
[64.] Average Number of Years from Date of Arrival to Date of Petition, by Occupation[434]
[65.] Number of Petitioners, by Country of Birth and OccupationFacing[434]
[66.] Ratio between Naturalization Petitions filed in 1913–1914 and Total Foreign Born White Males ten years of age and over in 1910, by Occupation for seven citiesFacing[434]