absolutely and entirely renounces and abjures all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, and particularly by name to the prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of which he was before a citizen or subject; that he will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and bear true faith and allegiance to the same." (U. S. C., title 8, sec. 381.) This provision of the naturalization law has not been changed since 1906. So we find that from the naturalization act of 1795 to the act of 1906, there was no requirement that the applicant take an oath to defend the Constitution and laws of the United States against all enemies. Only since 1906 has there been such a provision. And from 1906 to 1918, no attempt was made by the courts to interpret the word defend to mean physical defense. No case involving this point reached the Supreme Court of the United States until 1929, when that court passed on the Schwimmer case. Since the court in that case decided that" defend the Constitution and laws against all enemies" meant defend by force of arms if necessary, a large number of organizations and individuals who are pacifists on religious or philosophical grounds are looking to Congress to amend the naturalization act by making it clear that it is not the intention of Congress to bar from citizenship aliens who share the nonresistance ideas of Jesus Christ, William Penn, and Leo Tolstoi. Since the Constitution of the United States does not require Congress to exact any oath whatsoever from an applicant for citizenship, and since the word defend has been in the oath of allegiance only since 1906, it ought to be clear that the Griffin bill, if enacted by Congress, would be constitutional. That some such legislation is necessary should be apparent from a review of the naturalization cases decided since the Schwimmer case in which highly desirable applicants have been debarred from citizenship. The flagrant case of Reverend King, who was denied citizenship by a Louisiana State court, will be referred to by other speakers. This committee can lend its weight to preserving the old-fashioned ideal of liberty of conscience by recommending the passage of the Griffin bill with full confidence that the bill is constitutional. PROMINENT CITIZENS INDORSING THE GRIFFIN BILL Jane Addams. Prof. Harry Elmer Barnes, professor at Smith College. Rev. Bernard Iddings Bell, warden of St. Stephen's College. Miss Katherine Devereaux Blake, officer of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. Mrs. Harriot Stanton Blatch, suffrage. Mrs. William Thayer Brown, recently resigned from Daughters of the American Revolution. Rev. S. Parkes Cadman, Central Congregational Church, Brooklyn. Prof. Zechariah Chaffee, jr., Harvard Law School. Rev. Henry Sloane Coffin, president Union Theological Seminary. Mary Ware Dennett, birth control. Dorothy Canfield Fisher, novelist. Arthur Garfield Hays, attorney. Rev. John Haynes Holmes, Community Church, New York. Fannie Hurst, novelist. Mrs. Marietta Johnson, educator. Dr. George W. Kirchwey, former warden of Sing Sing. Julia C. Lathrop, former head of Government's Children's Bureau. Anne Martin, suffragist. Helen R. Martin, novelist. Willy Pogany, artist. Don Seitz, former editor of the New York World. Prof. James T. Shotwell, Carnegie Endowment for World Peace. Prof. F. W. Taussig, Harvard University. Ridgely Torrence, author. Miss Lillian D. Wald, Henry Street settlement. Dr. Harry F. Ward, Union Theological Seminary. Mary E. Woolley, president of Mount Holyoke College. Elinor Byrne, counsellor at law, 21 East Forty-second Street, New York City. Tom Okawara, attorney, 638 East Street, Fresno, Calif. Edward Thomas, patent attorney, Woolworth Building, New York City. Benjamin Doane, appellate' division, supreme court, 25 Madison Avenue, New York City. Abraham Underhill, Ossining, N. Y. Clemens Gerhard, Detroit United Lines, 616 East Bethune, Detroit, Mich. Henry Ware Allen, 603 Brown Building, Wichita, Kans. H. J. Hahn, 23 Calumet Street, Buffalo, N. Y. W. C. Ennis, president Earlham College, Richmond, Ind. Dr. O. O. Miller, Akron, Pa. Rev. Francis McConnell, 150 Fifth Avenue, New York City. Salmon O. Levinson, author of the Kellogg peace pact, 134 South La Salle Street, Chicago, Ill. C. Billings, Long Beach, Calif. Miss Grace A. Woods, 1301 Henry Street, Berkelely, Calif. Charlotte Himor, 1034 West Vernon Avenue, Los Angeles, Calif. William Pestor, 335 East Valerio Street, Santa Barbara, Calif. Erwin T. Mohne, department of German, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Calif. B. L. Wick, Esq., attorney at law, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Clemens Gerhard, 616 East Bethune Street, Detroit, Mich. George R. Taylor, department of economics, Amherst College, Amherst, Mass. Mr. and Mrs. Edwin D. Mead, 19 Euston Street, Brookline, Mass. C. L. Babcock, 298 Piermont Avenue, Nyack, N. Y. C. Boasi, 39 Pearl Street, New York City. J. P. J. Williams, 223 Second Avenue, New York City. Morris C. Cohen, City College, New York City. Helen G. Sahhe, 1088 Park Avenue, New York City. Rev. S. Parkes Cadman, Brooklyn, N. Y. Hermann E. Cohen, Charlotte, N. C. Everett T. Whitford, principal Public School No. 6, Paterson, N. J. E. L. Malone, 10 Brookside Road, Maplewood, N. J. M. T. Horne, 944 Stiles Street, Warren, Ohio. Caroline C. Warren, 432 West Stafford Street, Germantown, Pa. Mrs. F. B. Igley, 4007 Baltimore Avenue, Philadelphia, Pa. Lucy S. Holland, 338 South Twenty-first Street, Philadelphia, Pa. Miss Bertha L. Stover, 31 Westview Street, Mount Airy, Pa. Katherine E. Kirk, Pennsdale, Pa. I am in sympathy with the Griffin bill for amending the naturalization laws, which reads: 66 * * * except that no person mentally, morally, and otherwise qualified shall be debarred from citizenship by reason of his or her religious beliefs or philosophical opinions with respect to the lawfulness of war as a means of settling international disputes." I therefore urge that the House Committee on Naturalization and Immigra tion grant the Griffin bill an immediate hearing. Lola M. Lloyd, 455 Birch Street, Winnetka, Ill. Mrs. H. B. Thomas, 6530 University Avenue, Chicago. Mrs. M. E. Simpson, 1516 North State Parkway, Chicago. Mrs. Ellen Williston, 5423 Kimbark, Chicago. Valley Nelson, 5423 Kimbark, Chicago. Ella D. Weage, 5504 Greenwood Avenue, Chicago. Jacob M. Workenton, 5757 University Avenue, Chicago. W. C. Giersbach. C. Franklin Parker. Eve Watson Schulze, 1330 East Fifty-six Street, Chicago, Ill. Florence Tye Jennison, 800 South Halsted Street, Chicago. May Estelle Cook, 715 North Kenilworth Avenue, Oak Park. Alice H. Scott, 4549 Clifton Avenue, Chicago. Martha Trimble, 203 North Wabash Road, Chicago. Rosa K. Eichelberger, 1036 North Dearborn Street, Chicago. Agnes Jacques, 5480 Cornell Avenue, Chicago. A. Esther Camfield, 535 Lakewood Avenue, Chicago. Minnie B. Levy, 2052 East Seventy-second Place, Chicago. Blanche Goodman Eisendrath, 2322 Commonwealth Avenue, Chicago. Jean A. Blake, 1014 East Sixty-eighth Street, Chicago. Eda S. Beck, 525 Arlington Place, Chicago. Mary G. Vega, 4505 North Troy Street, Chicago. Margaret Bainbrick, 18 North Lotus Avenue, Chicago. Julia I. Felsenthal, 5327 Cornell Avenue, Chicago. Tecla Reinhold Rosenbaum, 5330 Hyde Park Boulevard, Chicago. Rose I. Sussnnac, 1623 Hyde Park Avenue, Chicago. Selma Binder, 2747 Hampden Court, Chicago. Mary G. Schroeder, 6723 North Ashland Avenue, Chicago. Lillian Vent, 6200 Kenwood Avenue, Chicago, Ill. Hope W. Graham, 824 Lawrence Avenue, Chicago, Ill. Mrs. G. L. Robinson, 2312 North Halsted Street, Chicago, Ill. Mrs. J. O. Rydstrone, 3 Park Lane, Glenview, Ill. Harriet C. Goeberde, 624 South Michigan Boulevard, Chicago, Ill. Beatrice Howes, 852 Chalmers Place, Chicago, Ill. Mrs. O. R. Sellers, 846 Chalmers Place, Chicago, Ill. Mrs. W. M. Dawes, 5343 Wayne Avenue, Chicago, Ill. Mrs. Harry Meyering, 3750 Sheridan Road, Chicago, Ill. Anna E. Gilbert, 7110 Eggleston Avenue, Chicago, Ill. Mary McW. Marsh, 5620 Woodlawn Avenue, Chicago, Ill. Maria Bacon (Mrs. C. G.), 2333 Cleveland Avenue, Chicago, Ill. Henry C. Allen, Olin Hotel, Denver, Colo. Clara B. Adolf, Winter Park, Fla. Rev. George B. Badger, First Unitarian Church, Orlando, Fla. Edwin L. Clark, professor of sociology, Rollins College, Florida. Durant Drake, professor of ethics, Vassar College, New York. Elmer Davis, 90 Morningside Drive, New York City. William Floyd, Peace Patriots, 114 East Thirty-first Street, New York City. Milton Handler, assistant professor law, Columbia University, New York City. John Hanna, professor, law school, Columbia University, New York City. Hornell Hart, professor, Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania. Fannie Hurst (telegram), New York City. Robert L. Hale, Law School, Columbia University. Bishop Paul Jones, college pastor, Antioch College, Ohio. Dudley Field Malone, New York City. John Martin, Winter Park, Fla. Harold Marshall, The Christian Leader, Boston, Mass. Prof. Will S. Monroe, Crouching Lion Farm, Waterbury, Vt. Elmer Rice, Hotel Ansonia, New York City. Benjamin Rockwell, 100 William Street, New York City. Eugene R. Shippen, Winter Park, Fla. Edward Thomas, Esq., Woolworth Building, New York City. Oswald Garrison Villard, editor The Nation, New York City. Dr. Mary E. Wooley, dean Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts. Mrs. Lola Maverick Lloyd, Winnetka, Ill. (At present Paris, France.) (Statement sent from Paris). Miss Emily Marx, 225 Broadway, New York City. Mrs. Helen Tufts Bailie, Cambridge, Mass. EXHIBIT XIV EDITORIALS AND PRESS NOTICES [Brooklyn Times, May 31, 1929] DISFRANCHISING PACIFISTS Because of larger problems before Congress there is little likelihood of the enactment of a bill introduced by Congressman Griffin of this city which seeks to amend the law governing naturalization so as to permit the conferring of suffrage on pacifists whose consciences revolt at the notion of war. The issue, grave and important a dozen years ago, had grown more or less out of popular recollection until it was revived by the decision of the United States Supreme Court in the case of Mrs. Rosika Schwimmer. She had been an alien resident of Illinois for eight years and sought citizenship. In answer to a question from the court she declared she would not take up arms in defense of the country in the event of war. The United States Supreme Court, by a 6 to 3 vote, declared her ineligible to citizenship. Mr. Griffin's bill would amend the naturalization law to the effect that no person otherwise eligible “shall be debarred from citizenship by reason of his or her religious beliefs or philsophical opinions with respect to the lawfulness of war." As pointed out by Justice Holmes, of the United States Supreme Court, one of the dissentients, the case against Mrs. Schwimmer lies equally against Quakers, but no one has had the hardihood to propose that these estimable citizens be disfranchised because of their views on war. Congressman Grif Justice Holmes was a gallant soldier in the Civil War. fin headed a company that saw good service in the Spanish-American conflict. On the ancient principle of being more royalist than the king, our fiercest militarists never set a squadron in the field, and, indeed, conduct all their operations on the typewriter in the cloistered seclusion of an office. [The Washington Daily News, March 11, 1930] HOOVER'S GRAVE RESPONSIBILITY No greater responsibility is given a President of the United States in peace time than the appointment of justices of the United States Supreme Court. In the case of President Hoover the responsibility is all the greater because of the probability that his appointees will constitute a majority of the court. Coolidge appointed only one; Hoover may appoint five. In the sudden naming of Charles Evans Hughes to succeed William Howard Taft as Chief Justice, the President stirred up an unexpected opposition in the country. That opposition was reflected immediately in the Senate, which conducted an historic though unsuccessful fight against Hughes as a lawyer more concerned with corporate interests than with the public interest. Now Hoover must name a successor to Justice Sanford, who died Saturday. It is clear that the next nomination will be examined with unusual care both by the country and by the Senate. The Senate debate last month, and the wide publicity given that discussion, assures another similar debate on the powers of the court as well as on the fitness of the nominee. That is as it should be. For two reasons. First, because the court has become the most powerful of our Federal institutions. Second, because it has become a policy-making agency in which members vote their opinions on economic issues. Through its assumed power to declare laws of Congress unconstitutional and through its occasional abuse of that power, the court can and does defeat the purposes of popular representative government. The court by a 5 to 4 majority can and does set aside the very Constitution itself-or what has always been interpreted as the constitutional guarantees of civil liberties-as when the court majority violated the Bill of Rights in the decisions in the Schwimmer citizenship case and the Seattle wire-tapping case. In cases involving economic issues the court can and does go far beyond either the Constitution or the laws of Congress to create a new law of its own from which there is no appeal-as in the recent Baltimore street-car fare decision, supporting the company and its inflated valuations in violation of public rights. |