The President to the Emperor of Austria. [Telegram.] WHITE HOUSE, Washington, September 6, 1902. I cordially esteem Your Majesty's solicitous sympathy. THEODORE ROOSEVELT. STATUS OF NATURALIZED UNITED STATES CITIZENS OF AUSTROHUNGARIAN ORIGIN RETURNING TO THEIR NATIVE COUNTRY-RETENTION BY HUNGARIAN OFFICIALS OF PASSPORT AND CERTIFICATE OF NATURALIZATION OF JOSEF JANCO. No. 19.1 Mr. Hill to Mr. McCormick. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, November 19, 1901. SIR: I inclose copy of a letter from Josef Janco, complaining that upon a visit to his father at Styavink, Hungary, in July last, he was arrested and brought before a court on a charge apparently of evasion of military service. He showed to the court that, though he was born in Hungary in 1869, he had become naturalized as an American citizen. He exhibited his certificate of naturalization and his passport. These papers, in spite of his repeated requests for them, have not been returned to him, although he was by the court discharged and set free. You will investigate this matter and report thereon, and you will ask that the documents of Mr. Janco, referred to above, be returned so that they may be transmitted to him. I am, etc., DAVID J. HILL, Acting Secretary. [Inclosure.] Mr. Janco to Mr. Hay. PITTSBURG, PA., November 13, 1901. DEAR SIR: I write to lay before you a complaint which I have to make against the Government of Hungary for indignities which I, as an American citizen, received at the hands of that Government during a visit made by me last summer. The facts are as follows: I am 32 years of age, and was born January 2, 1869, in Styavink, county of Trencsen, Hungary, where my father, John Janco, still lives. I came to this country in August, 1888, and was naturalized about six years ago by the courts of Armstrong County, Pa. I am, and have been for several years, engaged in the grocery business at Natrona, Allegheny County, Pa.; am married, and have a family. I sailed for Hungary on the steamship Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse on the 23d day of June, 1901, and arrived at Styavink aforesaid on or about July 7, and went to the office of Hahn, a notary at that place, and exhibited my passport, dated and issued some time in June, 1901, and stated to the said authority that I was an American citizen and came as a stranger to visit my father. The said Hahn demanded from me the sum of 50 florins, which he stated was for the use of the military fund. I refused to pay this sum, and three days after was arrested by a gendarme at 4 o'clock in the morning and was taken from my father's house, put under arrest, and compelled to accompany the officer to Velka Bytca. The gendarme insisted at first on my accompanying him over a circuitous route, but on my insisting upon the privilege I was allowed to make the trip direct to the last-named town in a conveyance which I FR 1902, PT 1- 4 engaged and paid for. My treatment by the gendarme was violent, and his language, when I showed him my passport and citizen's papers was to the effect and in substance as follows: The passport is not even good enough to use for a toilet paper. (This was expressed in stronger terms unfit to write on paper.) At Velka Bytca, I was placed in prison and kept there two hours, then brought before a judge named Domanicky and delivered up my passport and citizen's papers. After some consideration the court discharged me, but my passport and citizen's papers were not returned, although I made frequent demands for them, and as a consequence, when I returned to this country, I was compelled to remain for two days at Ellis Island and put to other expense and inconvenience. I make this complaint for the purpose of drawing the attention of your Department to the treatment I received, which is but a fair example of that to which many, if not all, of the citizens of this country who return to Hungary under like circumstances are subjected to. I would like of course to have my papers returned, if possible, and to have any other action taken by your Department which under the circumstances may seem meet and proper to you. If this conduct of the petty officers of Hungary were properly presented to the Hungarian Government, I believe much, if not all, of the inconvenience and humiliation now endured by citizens of the United States in their travels in Hungary would be done away with. Yours, most respectfully, JOSEF JANCO. No. 53.] Mr. McCormick to Mr. Hay. UNITED STATES LEGATION, SIR: Replying to the Department's No. 19, of the 19th ultimo, inclosing a statement from one Josef Janco, complaining of the treatment which he had received at the hands of the local authorities at Styavink (Styavink), Hungary, I have the honor to state that my experience already has demonstrated the importance of informing myself as to the truth of all such statements before presenting to the ministry for foreign affairs the case to which they apply and asking for its intervention. In many instances these statements are grossly exaggerated if not absolutely untrue, and Janco's case appears to fall within the former if not within the latter category, as will be seen from the report made to me by Mr. Chester, our consul at Budapest, who made a visit of investigation to Styavink at my request. This report which I have just received, in substance is as follows: 1. That all persons liable or to become liable for military service who leave the country without having performed such service must on their return to this country report immediately to the local authorities that the facts connected with their case, including that of their naturalization in accordance with the terms of the treaty of September 20, 1870, may be established. This is practically set forth in the Department's circular "Notice to American citizens formerly subjects of Austria-Hungary who contemplate returning to that country" of date February 1, 1901. 2. Janco showed his passport to the town clerk, who informed him that he, the town clerk, would have to report his (Janco's) arrival to the chief sheriff; that otherwise he himself would be liable to a fine of about 50 florins, and that he (Janco) must also report himself to the chief sheriff or be subjected to a similar fine, which statement differs widely from that made by Janco. 3. Although Mr. Chester does not give any reason for, and in his report protests against the sending of gendarmes to take Janco to the head sheriff, it is clear to me that their presence was, and has been in all similar cases, dictated by the apprehension of the officials in small villages, that the object of their action might endeavor to evade presenting himself before the authorities and proving liable to military service, and, escaping beyond their jurisdiction, bring them into trouble with their superiors, and subject them to the fine above alluded to. 4. As to the rough treatment to which Janco asserts he was subjected, I will quote from Mr. Chester's report verbatim: I next took the testimony of the father of Janco, who personally appeared before me in Nagy Bittar. The father solemnly declared that he was present when the gendarmes came for his son in the early morning; that they requested him to go afoot to Nagy Bitlei; that his son's feet were sore, and horses were provided by a neighbor; and his son went without making any resistance; that the gendarmes said his son's passport was of no avail in Hungary (that is, to relieve the holder of the necessity of appearing before the chief sheriff); that he did not hear and does not believe the gendarmes used any such expressions as the legation quotes in its dispatches respecting the American passport held by Janco. It would seem that if Janco had been roughly treated by the gendarmes after he left his father's presence, he would have reported it on his return home, and that he would have repeated the language he states was used with reference to his passport. On Friday, the 20th instant, Janco's papers were delivered to his father by the town clerk of Styavink, who had just received them through the official channel from Budapest. I will make representation to his excellency the minister for foreign affairs with reference to the hardship which the delay in returning Janco's papers worked upon him, and seize the opportunity thus offered to ask for greater expedition in all such cases, and the prompt return of documents the possession of which is of so much importance to their rightful owners. An abuse of as long standing as the treatment of American passports, and the at times rough treatment of their bearers, can not be summarily done away with, especially when among the latter are found many who are disposed to abuse the protection afforded by these evidences of their American citizenship, and to flaunt their exemption from military service in the eyes of their former fellow-subjects in a manner most offensive to every representative of the Monarchy, allegiance to which the American citizens formerly subjects of AustriaHungary have forsworn. I have, etc., ROBERT S. MCCORMICK.. No. 67.] Mr. McCormick to Mr. Hay. UNITED STATES LEGATION, SIR: With reference to a personal letter which Count Lützow informs me that he wrote to Mr. Hengelmüller a short time ago, asking him to ascertain "unofficially " how the Government of the United States would view the abrogation by the Government of Austria-Hungary of the naturalization treaty between the two Governments of September 20, 1870, I have the honor to report that that letter was the direct result of my efforts, following closely upon those of my predecessor, to arrive at an understanding with the minister for foreign affairs as to the treatment to be accorded to United States passports and their bearers, on the lines laid down and formulated in your instruction No. 59 to Mr. Harris, and bearing date January 5, 1900, as follows: (a) The proper Austro-Hungarian officials shall be again instructed to treat United States passports as prima facie evidence of the citizenship of the bearer. (b) In case reasonable ground appear to suspect fraud in the procurement or use of a United States passport, it may be submitted to the United States legation for examination, with a statement of the ground for suspicion. (c) If, by reason of unfamiliarity with the English language or otherwise, the local authorities of Austria-Hungary may be uncertain whether a presented American passport is in fact such, they may ask of the nearest United States consul his opinion as to its character and purport. In giving such an opinion no indorsement of any kind will be made by the consular officer upon the passport, and no fee will be charged. (d) If the ordinary consular visa be desired upon an American passport, it will be affixed by the proper consular officer upon payment of the prescribed fee of $1 or its equivalent. To the above I added a fifth article as follows When for any reason the local authorities shall consider it necessary to take possession of the naturalization certificate or passport, or both, a receipt shall be given for them wherein shall be stated the reason for such action in my note to the foreign office alluded to below. Mr. Harris had been unable to arrive at any well-defined understanding on the subject, and Mr. Herdliska, who followed it up while acting as chargé d'affaires during my absence last summer, was equally unsuccessful. I made use of the case of Josef Janco, covered by my No. 53 to the Department, as the ground upon which to raise the question so long at issue, viz, the prima facie evidence of a passport as to the nationality of its bearer and the respect to which that document is entitled, maintaining in a conversation which I had with Count Lützow the position so clearly and well set forth in the instruction above referred to that "it (a passport) must be assumed to be prima facie valid until shown to be otherwise," and that local officials should have such instructions as would lead to a clear knowledge on their part as to the character of this document and of the treatment to be accorded to it and its bearer. Count Lützow frankly acknowledged the first part of my contention, and as frankly stated as to the second part that the attitude of the department of military defense stood in the way of the issuance of instructions on the lines laid down in your No. 59 above referred to, and for the first time formulated and put forward as a basis for the desired instructions to local officials in my note, copy of which I inclose herewith for your information. In the course of our interview Count Lützow asked if some method could not be devised by which this Government could be officially notified of the naturalization of its former subjects when they availed themselves of the right to take that step accorded by the treaty. My reply was that in my opinion any method that could be devised would prove too cumbersome in practice to be at all satisfactory, which opinion I repeated in a memorandum of January 28, copy of which I also inclose herewith, adding that "in discussing such a method we are getting away from the real issue, viz, the prima facie evidence of the passport as to the citizenship of its bearer, and the rights to which he is entitled thereunder," as well as "leaving a simple method of procedure the one suggested in my note-which would, if adopted, decrease the number of cases giving rise to correspondence between the ministry for foreign affairs and this legation to a minimum, and in no way injuriously affect the position of the Imperial and Royal Government in individual cases not falling unquestionably within the terms. of the treaty." I added: It seems to me also that after the lapse of thirty years local officials should be informed as to the provisions of a treaty which has a direct bearing upon the discharge of their duties, which duties, when they apply to citizens of other countries, cease to be purely local in their nature and must be performed with due respect and consideration for the rights of citizens of other countries whether these rights are obtained by specific treaty enactment or otherwise. The attitude of the department of military defense is the crux of the situation, and it has stood between this Government and the full and proper execution of the terms of the treaty ever since that document nominally took effect. This is proven by the "circular," translation of which was sent to the Department by Mr. Herdliska, while acting as chargé d'affaires, in his No. 12 of July 30 last, and which was based upon a law passed July 27, 1871, within one year after the signing of the naturalization treaty. In other words this "law" contravening the terms of the treaty has been in existence throughout the life of the treaty, and stands between the ministry for foreign affairs and any agreement on the lines of the Department's instructions and of my note and memorandum. In my opinion this is a favorable time to gain at least a radical modification of the procedure of local officials and the abandonment of actual banishment except in extreme cases which present good ground for that action in themselves should it prove wise, after further discussion, not to insist upon the letter of the treaty and the issuance of instructions in full accordance therewith. This is a favorable time because it follows closely upon the newspaper discussion of the attitude of the various European Governments just previcus to and immediately following the outbreak of the SpanishAmerican war, and this Government does not now wish to be behind its neighbors in its manifestation of friendship, as it has already proven in a way which I had the honor to formerly make known to you a short time ago. I have, etc., [Inclosure 1.] ROBERT S. MCCORMICK. Mr. McCormick to Count Goluchowski. UNITED STATES LEGATION, Vienna, January 7, 1902. YOUR EXCELLENCY: I have the honor to call your excellency's attention to the case of Josef Janco, a naturalized American citizen, of Austro-Hungarian birth, the long detention of whose certificate of naturalization and passport taken from him by the authorities at Styavink, Hungaria, resulted in great hardship to him and narrowly escaped having more serious consequences. Mr. Janco arrived at Styavink on a visit to his parents on or about July 7, 1901. He immediately reported his arrival to the local authorities, thus evincing a desire to conform to all that the law required, and to establish the fact that his naturalization had been secured in conformity with the terms of the treaty of September 20, 1870. He claims that one Hahn, a notary, to whom he exhibited his papers, demanded the sum of 50 florins, which he, Hahn, stated was for the use of the military fund. This sum he refused to pay, and three days later was arrested at his father's house at 4 o'clock in the morning and compelled to accompany the gendarme |