if entered through a port, the name of the vessel in which he comes.

c. Blank Certificates of Citizenship.

The Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization is to furnish clerks of courts having and exercising jurisdiction in naturalization matters, blank certificates of citizenship, and to require said clerks to account for all such blank certificates. Sec. 12, par. 3.

d. Naturalization Fees.

The law (Sec. 13, par. 4) makes it the duty of the Bureau to pay over to the disbursing clerk of the Department of Commerce and Labor, naturalization fees, which, under the law, clerks of courts are required to account for, and pay over to said Bureau.

4. Commissioners of Immigration.

The Act (Sec. 1) makes it the duty of commissioners of immigration to cause a registry to be made in the case of each alien arriving in the United States from and after the passage of the act, of the name, age, occupation, personal description (including height, complexion, color of hair and eyes), the place of birth, the last residence, the intended place of residence in the United States, and the date of arrival of said alien, and, if entered through a port, the name of the vessel in which he comes.

The law also makes it the duty of commissioners of immigration to cause to be granted to such alien a certificate of such registry, with the particulars thereof.

The certificate of registry here described is to be signed by the head of the Department of Commerce and Labor for the time being; and is the certificate referred to in Section 4, paragraph 2 of the Act as "a certificate from the

Department of Commerce and Labor," which the applicant for naturalization is required to file with the clerk of the court at the time of filing his petition.

5. Disbursing Clerk, Department of Commerce and Labor.

a. Duty as to Naturalization Fees.

It is the duty of the disbursing clerk of the Department of Commerce and Labor to receive from the Bureau of Naturalization and deposit in the Treasury of the United States, rendering an account therefor quarterly to the auditor for the state and other departments, naturalization fees which, under the law, clerks of courts are required to account for and pay over to said Bureau.

b. Bond.

The said disbursing clerk shall be held responsible under his bond for the fees so received. Sec. 13.

(G) Who are capable of naturalization.

1. In General.

All aliens are not eligible to citizenship under our naturalization laws. What persons are capable of naturalization?

In all the acts of Congress on the subject, from that of 1790 down to the Revised Statutes (Sec. 2169), the language is "that any alien, being a free white person, may be admitted to become a citizen." After the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting slavery, and the Fourteenth Amendment, declaring who shall be citizens, Congress, by the Act of July 14, 1870 (16 Stat. at L. 254), amending the naturalization laws, extended the privilege of naturalization to the negro. The language of the Act of 1870, was: "The naturalization laws are hereby extended to aliens of African nativity, and to persons of African descent."

This was subsequently revised and placed in the Revised Statutes, Section 2169 (U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, 1333) so as to read: "The provisions of this title shall apply to aliens [being free white persons, and to aliens] of African nativity, and to persons of African descent." This is the law now in force.

Who are excluded from the privilege of naturalization by the language of the statute? The words of a statute are to be taken in their ordinary sense, unless it can be shown that they are used in a technical sense. Taken in their ordinary meaning, the words of the law exclude all but persons of the Caucasian and African races. From a common, popular standpoint, the races of mankind have been distinguished by difference of color, and they have been classified as the white, black, yellow, and brown. As ordinarily used everywhere in the United States, the words "white person" mean a person of the Caucasian

race.

Ethnologists also consider the color of skin the most important criterion for the distinction of race. Blumenbach divided mankind into five principal types-the Caucasian, or white, Mongolian or yellow, Ethiopian or black, American or red, and Malay or brown. Cuvier simplified this classification into Caucasian, Mongol, and Negro, or white, yellow, and black races.

When the words "white persons" were incorporated in the naturalization laws, in 1802, the country was inhabited by three races-the Caucasian or white race, the Negro or black race, and the American or red race. It is reasonable to infer, therefore, that Congress in designating the classes of persons who could be naturalized, intended to exclude from the privilege of citizenship all alien races except the Caucasian.

Again, in the first revision of the statutes, in 1873, the words "being a free white person" were omitted,

probably through inadvertence, so that the section read: "An alien may be admitted to become a citizen," etc. Under the act of February 18, 1875 (18 Stat. at L. 318, chap. 80, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, 1333), to correct errors and supply omissions in the first revision, this section was amended by restoring these words. In moving the adoption of this amendment in the House of Representatives it was stated that this omission operated to extend naturalization to all classes of aliens, and that it was only proposed, by restoring these words, to place the law where it stood at the time of the revision. 3 Cong. Record, pt. 2, 1081.

Whether viewed in the light of the popular or of the scientific meaning, or of Congressional intent, therefore, the words "white persons" seem to include only individuals of the Caucasian race. Under the statute, therefore, only members of this race and of the Ethiopian race can be naturalized.

The courts have at different times held that neither Chinese, Japanese, Hawaiians, Burmese, nor Indians can be naturalized.

2. Chinese.

The question of the right of a court to naturalize a Chinaman came before the circuit court of the United States in 1878, in Re Ah Yup, 5 Sawy. 155, Fed. Cas. No. 104, and the court denied the application, on the ground that a Mongolian is not a "white person" within the meaning of the term as used in the naturalization laws of the United States.

In an instruction, October 29, 1878, to Mr. Holcombe, United States minister to China, Mr. Evarts, adverting to this case, said: "Although not accepting as a final decision (not having yet been affirmed by the Supreme

Court of the United States), the Department is constrained, on examination of the laws, to believe that the decision is based on a sound appreciation of the law." MSS. Inst. to China.

Some courts having admitted Chinese to citizenship, the Act of May 6, 1882 (22 Stat. at L. 61, Chap. 126, Section 14, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, 1333), in order to prevent such naturalization, and to remove all doubt, provided "that hereafter no state court or court of the United States, shall admit Chinese to citizenship; and all laws in conflict with this Act are hereby repealed."

In the case of Re Hong Yen Chang, 84 Cal. 163, 24 Pac. 156, it was held that a certificate of naturalization showing the naturalization of a person of Mongolian nativity by the judgment of a court is void. To the same effect is Re Gee Hop, 71 Fed. 274. In the first case, a naturalization certificate had been granted by a New York court, and in the latter a New Jersey court had issued the certificate.

In Fong Yue Ting v. United States, 149 U. S. 716, 37 L. ed. 914, 13 Sup. Ct. Rep. 1016, the United States Supreme Court said: "Chinese persons not born in this country have never been recognized as citizens of the United States, nor authorized to become such under the naturalization laws."

And in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U. S. 649, 42 L. ed. 890, 18 Sup. Ct. Rep. 456, Chief Justice Fuller said: "They (the Chinese) have never been allowed, by our laws, to acquire our nationality."

3. Japanese.

In the case of Re Saito, 62 Fed. 126, the United States Circuit Court held that a native of Japan (of the Mongolian race) is not included within the term "white persons," in Rev. Stat. Sec. 2169 (U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, 1333), and hence is not entitled to naturalization.