of the Citizenship Commission of 1906, designated by the Secretary of State pursuant to the request of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs (Report No. 4784, 59th Congress, 1st Session), enacted the law of March 2, 1907, Section 5 of which provides "that a child born without the United States of alien parents shall be deemed a citizen of the United States by virtue of the naturalization of or resumption of American citizenship by the parent: Provided, That such naturalization or resumption takes place during the minority of such child: And provided, further, That the citizenship of such minor child shall begin at the time such minor child begins to reside permanently in the United States."

By the terms of this law, naturalization of the parent confers citizenship on the foreign-born minor child if the latter is permanently residing in this country at the time of the parent's naturalization, or subsequently to such naturalization, during the minority of the child. This would preclude the naturalization of the son of a naturalized citizen, coming to the United States temporarily just before reaching majority and going at once back to his native country, with the design of escaping military or other obligations there. See pp. 213-15, ante.

By this statute, resumption of American citizenship has the same effect as naturalization upon the status of the minor child. It is understood that this provision. was designed to meet the case of the foreign-born minor child of an American woman who, after the termination of her marriage with a foreigner, resumes American citizenship, in accordance with the provisions of Section 3 of the same Act.

Under this statute, such decisions as Campbell v. Gordon and Young v. Peck, would be impossible.

To give further effect to this provision, the President, by Executive Order of April 6, 1907, amended para

*For the full text of this order see Appendix.

graph 142 of the Instructions to Diplomatic Officers and of the Consular Regulations so as to read as follows:

"Paragraph 142. Children of Naturalized Citizens.The naturalization or resumption of American citizenship of the parents confers American citizenship upon the minor children and such citizenship shall begin at the time such minor children begin to reside permanently in the United States."

C. Mode of Parent's Naturalization Immaterial.

The language of the statute is: "The children of persons who have been duly naturalized under any law of the United States," etc. It does not matter in what lawful mode the naturalization of the parent is effected.

a. By Naturalization of Father by Treaty.

A treaty is just as much a law of the United States as an Act of Congress. Hence, it was decided, in the case of Crane v. Reeder, 25 Mich. 303, that the minor child of one who became a citizen under Article 2 of Jay's Treaty, if residing in the United States at the time, thereby became a citizen of the United States.

b. By Naturalization of Mother by Marriage.

In United States v. Kellar, 11 Biss. 314, where a resident alien woman married a naturalized citizen of the United States, it was held that her 9-year-old son, dwelling with her, became a citizen, by virtue of the provisions of Sec. 2172 Rev. Stat. The mother became "duly naturalized" by her marriage to an American citizen, under Sec. 1994, Rev. Stat. (U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, 1268), which will form the subject of the next chapter. The court said: "The marriage of the defendant's mother with a naturalized citizen was made, by the statute, an equivalent, in respect of citizenship, to formal naturalization under the Acts of Congress. Thenceforward she was to be regarded as having been duly naturalized under

the laws of this country, and her infant son, then dwelling in this country, was therefore to be considered, not an alien, but as a citizen." See, also, People v. Newell, 38 Hun 78; Gumm v. Hubbard, 97 Mo. 311, 10 Am. St. Rep. 312, 11 S. W. 61, and Kreitz v. Behrensmeyer, 125 Ill. 141, 8 Am. St. Rep. 349, 17 N. E. 232, For. Rel. 1900, 527.

In the last case, two children born in Canada of British parents were brought to the United States upon the death of their father; and the mother married an American citizen. Upon an application for a passport, Secretary Hay said: "Under our law the two persons referred to are citizens of the United States. By her second marriage the mother acquired American citizenship by virtue of the provisions of Sec. 1994 of the Revised Statutes of the United States (U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, 1268), which reads as follows: 'Any woman who is now, or may hereafter be, married to a citizen of the United States, and who might herself be lawfully naturalized, shall be deemed a citizen.' Rev. Stat. Sec. 2172 (U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, 1334), declares that 'the children of persons who have been duly naturalized under any law of the United States, . . being under the age of twenty-one years at the time of the naturalization of their parents, shall, if dwelling in the United States, be considered as citizens thereof.' Any possible question whether, by the marriage of the mother, she became duly naturalized is set at rest by the decision of the United States Circuit Court in the case of the United States v. Kellar, 11 Biss. 314, 13 Fed. 82, in which the court held that the mother, an alien, by her marriage to a naturalized citizen of the United States, became 'duly naturalized.' In the

opinion of the Department the persons referred to are entitled to passports as citizens of the United States." For. Rel. 1900, 527.

The minor son of an alien, who has been naturalized under Rev. Stat. Sec. 2172 (U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, 1334), by the naturalization of his father in the United States, has "become a naturalized citizen of the United States," within the meaning of the naturalization treaty between the United States and Württemberg (6 Stat. at L. 735). Actg. Secy. Adee to Mr. White, July 15, 1902, MSS. Inst. Germany.

The language of the statute is: "The children of 'persons' duly naturalized shall be considered as citizens of the United States." Under this section, the naturalization of an alien woman, a widow, confers citizenship on her minor son. Brown v. Shilling, 9 Md.

74.

In Kreitz v. Behrensmeyer, 125 Ill. 141, where a widow, an alien woman, had married a citizen of the United States, the court said: "The children of such a woman, under the age of 21 years, become citizens by virtue of her citizenship."

The same court, in Dale v. Irwin, 78 Ill. 170, which involved the question of the citizenship of an illegitimate child, whose mother married his reputed father, and the latter was afterwards naturalized, said: "His (the son's) case is a peculiar one, and though he may be illegitimate, he came to this country as a member of John Ruckle's family, whose wife was his mother and who was naturalized whilst the son was an infant. John Ruckle is his reputed father, and the husband of his mother. We are inclined to hold, as he was a member of his reputed father's family when his father was naturalized, and he an infant, that, by virtue of the Act of Congress, he became naturalized."

In United States v. Rodgers, 144 Fed. 711, it was held that a minor residing in the United States with his

mother and stepfather became a citizen when the latter was naturalized.

D. Illegitimate Children.

Where the reputed father of an illegitimate child married the mother and was subsequently naturalized, it was decided that the child became a citizen of the United States. Dale v. Irwin, 78 Ill. 170; Van Dyne, Citizenship of the United States, 118.

Opinions of Secretaries of State.-A bastard who is legitimated by the intermarriage of his natural father and mother, the mother being an alien and the father a citizen, becomes a citizen of the United States by virtue of the provisions of Sec. 2172 of the Revised Statutes. Mr. Hay to Mr. White, Mch. 3, 1899, Van Dyne, Citizenship of the United States, 118.

E. Adoption.

Citizenship can not be conferred upon an alien child by adoption. The naturalization laws of the United States contain no provision as to the effect of adoption by an American citizen on the status of an alien minor.

Opinions of Secretaries of State.-A citizen of the United States can not, by adopting a child of foreign nationality, confer on such child the privileges of citizenship in the United States. Mr. Fish to Mr. Rand, Jan. 6, 1872, 3 Moore's Int. Law Digest, 484.

The only mode of adoption by which a private person can confer citizenship upon an alien is that of marrying a female of foreign birth. Mr. Fish to Mr. Morris, Feb. 26, 1870, 3 Moore's Int. Law Digest, 484.

Secretary Frelinghuysen in 1884 expressed the view that a child born abroad of foreign parents is not, by an act of adoption under a state law, brought within any of