the thirty-ninth section that, after said act shall take effect, in order to render a court judgment of naturalization valid the court record must show that the person naturalized complied with all the requirements of that act and other acts relative to the naturalization of aliens, and that every certificate of naturalization issued which fails to specifically recite that the required affidavits of the applicant and his witnesses have been made and duly recorded by the court shall be null and void; and

Whereas many courts, through ignorance of the provisions of said section, issued invalid certificates of naturalization to persons fully entitled to receive valid certificates: Therefore

Be it enacted, That said provisions of said section be, and are hereby, repealed, and certificates of naturalization otherwise lawful but now invalid under the terms of said provisions are hereby declared to be valid.

REGISTRATION OF OLD CERTIFICATES OF NATURALIZATION AND THE NATURALIZATION OF MINOR CHILDREN BY THE NATURALIZATION OF THEIR PARENTS.

The Commissioners report, with much regret, that they are unable to agree as to the necessity, in view of the assumed results of the proposed legislation, of providing for the registration of certificates of naturalization issued under existing law, and as to the expediency of a limitation or repeal of the law naturalizing resident foreign-born minor children as a consequence of the naturalization of their parents. Two of the Commissioners deem these measures so indispensable to an effective reform of our system of naturalization that they feel constrained to submit a report embodying their reasons therefor, to which is appended a minority report of the dissenting Commissioner.

MAJORITY REPORT.

I. Registration of certificates of naturalization issued under existing law.

We are convinced that, in the degree in which the proposed legislation will become effective in preventing the evils of improvident or unlawful naturalization hereafter, efforts will be made to accomplish the same end through the instrumentality of naturalization certificates issued, or purporting to have been issued, under the old law, and that provision should be made, if possible, to prevent the fraudulent use of old certificates by which the legislation herein recommended will clearly be rendered less effective of its purpose. No one who has taken the trouble to investigate the facts will deny that there are now in existence many thousands of certificates of naturalization which have been improperly or unlawfully issued to the persons by whom they are held or which have been secured by persons other than those who are entitled to use them as evidence of citizenship. As such certificates are now issued in various forms and are held either as originals or duplicates, it will readily be seen that the dishonest alien who does not possess the necessary qualifications to become naturalized under the new law will quite naturally be inclined to make use of some old certificate of citizenship as his own. Unless, therefore, some preventive legislation be adopted one of the direct effects of the enactment of a new law requiring higher stand

ards of citizenship will be to stimulate, for a time at least, the fraudulent practices which have been so flagrant and far-reaching under the old law.

We have therefore the honor to recommend a provision prohibiting a certificate of naturalization issued under existing law from being received as evidence of citizenship of the holder thereof at any Congressional or Presidential election or in any court of the United States or by any officer of the United States until such certificate shall have been presented to the clerk of a court having jurisdiction to naturalize aliens by the claimant for citizenship thereunder and his right thereto established and a description of his person indorsed thereupon over the certificate of such clerk. It is suggested that such a law would be retroactive, but there are numerous decisions holding that retroactive laws of such a character are constitutional and valid.

The legal effect of the provision for which we are here contending should not be misunderstood. We do not propose to denationalize any American citizen. The provision suggested simply affects one of the evidences of an alien's naturalization, and renders it more difficult in the absence of registration to establish the fact that he has been naturalized. If the naturalized citizen does not choose to avail himself of the privilege of registering his certificate, he is merely prevented from using it as evidence of his citizenship. The records of the court in which he was naturalized, however, are left unaffected, and can be resorted to for the purpose of proving the fact that he has become an American citizen by naturalization.

It may be proper to state in conclusion that we do not claim that such a measure will absolutely prevent fraud in the use of naturalization certificates issued under existing law, neither do we contend that the scheme of registration which we have proposed is perfect in all its details. We are convinced, however, that it is of vital importance that an effort be made to prevent fraudulent practices in the use of these old certificates of naturalization, and submit this provision with respect to registration as the most efficient scheme which we have been able to devise for accomplishing such purpose.

II. The naturalization of minor children by the naturalization of their parents.

The second point of difference is in respect to the effect of the naturalization of an-alien upon the foreign-born minor children of such alien who may be residing in the United States at the time of such alien's naturalization or who may subsequently come to the United States while still minors.

In view of the enormous immigration, much of which is composed of families, it would appear to be a very insufficient reform to exact

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a higher standard, both mental and moral, of the head of a family and at the same time admit all of his children under 21 years of age to citizenship solely upon the ground of their natural relationship, irrespective of their fitness to become such citizens. This situation, however, represents the law as it stands to-day, a situation which the minority report recommends to be continued.

Its impropriety may be demonstrated by countless examples. Thus the foreign-born children of an alien coming to the United States a few months or a few days before the naturalization of their parent, and when they are closely approximating their majority and are wholly ignorant of our laws and institutions and necessarily unattached thereto, or, if informed thereof, perhaps hostile to them, will yet, willingly or unwillingly, become citizens of the United States by their father's naturalization. Another case even more flagrant is presented when we consider that under the existing law a stepson may become an American citizen by the naturalization of his mother's husband. The only qualifications necessary for naturalization in such a case are minority and residence within the United States. The mere statement of such cases is sufficient to indicate the necessity of throwing greater safeguards around the acquirement of the "inestimable heritage of American citizenship." We respectfully suggest that it is unreasonable to expect naturalized aliens to hold in high esteem the privilege or feel bound by the duties of American citizenship when the law itself thus forces citizenship upon the alien regardless of his own will or of his fitness.

We are therefore of the opinion that the existing law should be so amended as to prevent evils which we believe will result from the naturalization, by relationship merely, of resident aliens.

While we are not agreed as to the extent to which remedial legislation should be carried for the purpose of curing this evil, we hold that the law should at least be so modified that no foreign-born child over the age of 16 at the time of the naturalization of the parent and dwelling in the United States should become an American citizen simply by virtue of his father's naturalization.

There are many reasons which may be suggested in favor of such a provision. In the first place, the probabilities are that in almost every case where children are under the age of 16 at the time of their parent's naturalization they have resided in the United States with their parent for a period of five years, or will have resided in the United States for such a period before they reach their majority. In such cases it would, perhaps, be inexpedient to provide that they should not become citizens of the United States by the naturalization of their parent. On the other hand, in many cases where the minor children are near their majority at the time of their parent's naturalization, such children have continued to reside in the country of their nativity

after their parents came to the United States. Such children are manifestly unattached to the principles of our Government at the time of their parent's naturalization. The provision which we propose places children between the age of 16 and 21 on the same footing with children of that age who may have come to the United States without their parents. Such children can not now become naturalized until they reach their majority.

Under the age of 21 the rights of American citizenship are in a sense receptive, while above the age of 21 such rights, when conferred, carry with them corresponding duties which directly and vitally affect the life of the Republic itself. Under the scheme proposed it is believed that no person would ordinarily be permitted to take part in the Government of which he is made a citizen until he had resided in this country for at least a period of five years. It is true that many children during their minority would receive the rights of American citizenship by virtue of the naturalization of their parent, but if they were under the age of 16 when they first received such rights perhaps no especial harm to the State would result therefrom. On the other hand, if such rights were conferred a short time before a minor child attained his majority he would be permitted in a year or two to take part in the Government, although unable to read or understand the English language and unattached to the principles of the Consti

tution.

For these reasons we submit that the existing law should be at least modified, and recommend some provision similar to the one which we have suggested, placing a limitation upon the naturalization of minor children by the naturalization of their parents. Respectfully submitted.

M. D. PURDY,

Chairman, Department of Justice. RICHD. K. CAMPBELL,

Department of Commerce and Labor.

While I have attached my signature to the foregoing majority report, I feel it my duty to state that I have done so in a spirit of concession so far as relates to a mere modification of the provision of law conferring citizenship upon the resident minor children of naturalized aliens. The reasoning upon which the suggested modification is based is not, in my judgment, fully satisfied by any measure short of a repeal of indirect naturalization, even when confined to such minor children of aliens as have resided in this country for five years or more. It is apparently an unwarranted assumption that such residence, of itself, fits an alien for the intelligent and patriotic use of the rights of citizenship. The requirements enumerated in the