APPENDIX D.

REPORT OF JOEL MARX TO THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE,

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK,
New York, May 29, 1905.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your communication of the 22d instant, asking for a report covering the cases of fraudulent naturalization prosecutions in this district during the past two years, and asking for special mention of those making and issuing forged and fraudulent certificates, and in reply thereto I beg to submit the inclosed tabulated statement of such criminal prosecutions. In addition thereto, through civil proceedings conducted for such purpose, 1,916 fraudulently obtained certificates of citizenship have been canceled through the efforts of this office. The cases of special importance which call for separate mention are those of Robert Bunoro, Joseph Caparelli, Cosmo Rinalli, Camille Buonamano, Dominick Costabile, Saverio Cauro, Costanzo Croce, William J. Cowhig, Antonio Barbetta, Gustave A. Pratt, Melville O. Weir, Sebastian Fasanelli, John Annichario, Gerardo Re, Erastmus Martone, Daniel Cerone, Joseph Sokolowski, Jonas Valaites, Emil Haast, David H. Hunt, and Anthony Mature.

These cases are included in the inclosed tabulated statement, the particulars of which are as follows:

Robert Bunoro and Joseph Capparelli were engaged in making and uttering forged certificates of citizenship, which found ready sale in Italy, to enable immigrants to gain admission into the United States, which upon investigation were found to be forgeries. The entire certificate, including a copy of the seal of the district court of the United States for the southern district of New York, had been forged.

In April, 1903, Bunoro and Capparelli were arrested and the entire outfit for the printing of these certificates, including the forged seal of the United States district court, were captured. They were indicted on June 26, 1903, and upon conviction were sentenced to serve a term of eighteen months in the State prison at Sing Sing, New York. Connected indirectly with these men were series of dealers who purchased these forged certificates and sold them to the applicants direct for sums varying from $15 upward, of whom Severio Cauro was convicted and sentenced to serve a term of six months in the Kings County penitentiary. Camille Buonamano and Dominick Castabile have also been convicted. John Annichario and Gerardo Re are awaiting trial, Gerardo Re having been tried at the past term of court, the jury disagreeing.

Cosmo Rinalli was a deputy State superintendent of elections of the State of New York, and was convicted at the March, 1905, term of court for having offered a bribe of $200 to me and the secretservice operatives assigned to the prosecution of naturalization

frauds in this district and sentenced to eighteen months imprisonment in the State prison at Sing Sing, New York.

Constanzo Croce was convicted and sentenced to a term of one year in the Kings County penitentiary for perjury. One Giuseppe Santilli had been arrested for having used a certificate of citizenship obtained by him in Pennsylvania by perjured testimony, in that he claimed to have arrived in the United States under the age of 18 years, whereas he was upward of 30 years of age at the time of his first arrival in the United States. Upon his examination before the United States commissioner of this district he produced a witness, Constanzo Croce, who testified that he had known Santilli as a boy and had worked with him in Pennsylvania. Upon investigation it developed that Croce was not in the United States himself at the time he claimed to have worked with Santilli, and that the testimony which he gave before the commissioner was therefore false and concocted in toto, for which he was promptly indicted and convicted.

Antonio Barbetta, Daniel Cerone, and Angelo Casalla were indicted for aiding and abetting in the obtaining of certificates of citizenship by means of false testimony, each of them having been witnesses for a large number of applicants thus fraudulently admitted to citizenship. These men have left the jurisdiction of our court and are now fugitives from justice.

Anthony Mature, William J. Cowhig, and David H. Hunt are under indictment, awaiting trial, for the same offense. William J. Cowhig was at the time of his arrest a deputy clerk of the county court of Richmond County, N. Y. He was dismissed immediately upon his arrest. David H. Hunt is a prominent member of the bar of Westchester County, N. Y.

Emil Haast was indicted, convicted, and sentenced to serve a sentence of six months in the Kings County Penitentiary for having loaned his paper, at a compensation of $50, to enable an alien to gain admission into the United States. Haast had been abroad, and made the deal for the loan of his paper to an immigrant whom he met on board the same steamer on which he was returning.

Erasmus Martone in under indictment and awaiting trial in the eastern district of New York for having issued altered certificates of citizenship, the particular certificate and the method of his operations being to obtain duplicates of his own certificate of citizenship and to erase his name therefrom by the use of acids and substitute the name of the person to whom he sold the same.

Jonas Valaites was arrested, indicted, and convicted for having attempted to use a certificate of citizenship of one Joseph Sokolowski, who had sent it to him in Europe to enable him to enter the United States under Sokolowski's name. Sokolowski has been arrested, indicted, and is now awaiting trial for having sent the same to Valaites.

Melville O. Weir and Gustave Pratt were arrested for having procured a certificate of citizenship for Weir by means of false testimony, Gustave Pratt being the witness, and both were convicted. This case is of peculiar significance, because both men were of the highest education and standing, Melville O. Weir being secretary of the Colwell Lead Company, of New York, a large manufacturing corporation, and Gustave Pratt being a civil engineer of standing.

Quite a number of cases of persons who were engaged in selling forged certificates of citizenship and who were engaged in giving

false testimony to enable persons to fraudulently procure certificates of citizenship are still under investigation, and the data has practically been collected which will result in a number of arrests in cases of this character.

I have sent a number of cases for prosecution in the various districts of Pennsylvania and the Western States, where these frauds were prevalent. In one case the clerk and deputy clerk of the court at Macon, Mo., were the witnesses to enable an alien to obtain the certificate of citizenship, the alien having since been prosecuted by me and convicted for having obtained the certificate by fraud and false testimony. He subsequently admitted that the clerk and deputy clerk had not known him, as they testified, when he obtained his paper.

In effecting the cancellation of fraudulently obtained papers in districts outside of New York I have had a large correspondence with the various judges of almost all the States in the Union, and my correspondence with them has resulted in promises of most stringent investigation in the future to prevent, if possible, a recurrence of these frauds.

I trust this gives you the information desired and in the form you
wish it.
JOEL M. MARX,
Special Assistant U. S. Attorney.

Respectfully,

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL,

Washington, D. C.

Statement of cases of prosecution in naturalization frauds from April 18, 1903, to May 27, 1905.

Persons prosecuted for having used certificates
of citizenship procured by them by means of
false testimony, in that the applicant repre-
sented that he had arrived in the United
States under the age of 18 years, whereas in fact
he was over that age at the time of such arrival.
Persons prosecuted for having used certificates
of citizenship procured by them by means of
false testimony, that the applicant had re-
sided in the United States for a period of five
years prior to his application for admission to
citizenship, whereas in fact he had not re-
sided therein for such period..
Persons prosecuted for having used certificates
of citizenship procured by them by having
persons other than themselves impersonate
them in obtaining the same

Persons prosecuted for having used forged and
altered certificates of citizenship
Persons who aided and abetted in the procure-
ment of certificates of citizenship by means
of fraud and false testimony, that is to say,
persons who acted as witnesses and gave testi-
mony on behalf of applicants to procure cer-
tificates of citizenship

Persons who forged and altered certificates of
citizenship..

Dealers in forged and altered certificates of citizenship (other than those who actually forged and altered the same).

Persons who used certificates of citizenship which belonged to others.

Persons who procured certificates of citizenship by representing that they were of full age, whereas they had not yet arrived at the age of 21 years..

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APPENDIX E.

EXTRACTS FROM THE REPORT OF C. V. C. VAN DEUSEN, SPECIAL EXAMINER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, RELATIVE TO NATURALIZATION.

BROOKLYN, N. Y., June 14, 1905.

(1) AS TO THE ELIMINATION OF THE EXCITING CAUSES OF NATURALIZA

TION FRAUDS.

The two most exciting causes of such frauds are politics and socalled labor laws and ordinances which prevent aliens from obtaining employment or following certain occupations. Politics can only be eliminated by making the business of political naturalization of aliens for political purposes too expensive for general practice. This can be done by providing a schedule of naturalization fees, to be uniform throughout the United States, in which the minimum fee for a final certificate should not be less than $5, and the same fee for a certificate of the declaration of intention in those States in which aliens are permitted to exercise political rights under such a certificate.

There are two methods possible for the elimination of labor laws and ordinances in relation to naturalization; the first is an appeal to the courts to test their constitutionality, which course would entail endless litigation and delay; the second, and in my judgment the quickest and most effective method, is for the United States to enter into conventions or treaties with all foreign powers guaranteeing to the citizens or subjects thereof resident in the United States the same rights to such employment and to adopt any lawful calling as are afforded citizens of the United States resident in the respective foreign countries. The fact that the Constitution makes treaties and conventions the supreme law of the land would effectually eliminate the State laws and local ordinances conflicting therewith.

(2) AS TO THE NATURALIZATION LAW.

The present law should be thoroughly revised and the obsolete provisions thereof eliminated.

The present inequitable provisions as to the naturalization of alien soldiers, sailors, marines, and seamen should be amended so that all should be given the same advantages under the law.

The law should require a reasonable educational qualification in the alien admitted as a citizen. He should at least be able to read, write, and speak the English language, and possess a fundamental knowledge of the principles of the Constitution of the United States. The life of a declaration of intention to become a citizen should be limited to five years, and if not used within that time as a basis for

the admission to citizenship by the alien making the declaration he should be debarred from citizenship. This provision would eliminate that large class of aliens who now enjoy all the rights of citizens of the United States, including political rights, who purposely refrain from completing their citizenship in order to avoid jury duty and military duty.

The provisions of section 2167 of the Revised Statutes, known as the "Minor's clause," whereby aliens arriving in the United States under the age of 18 years are permitted admission as citizens without a previous declaration of intention, should be repealed, and all aliens of the age of 19 years and over should be required to make such declaration at least two years prior to admission. A majority of the naturalization frauds perpetrated are committed under the provisions of this section of the law

Either Congress should incorporate a simple and comprehensive code of procedure in the naturalization of an alien or the Supreme Court should be authorized to adopt rules governing these cases, which should be uniform in all courts having naturalization jurisdiction. The code should provide, among other things, that an interval should elapse between the filing of the petition for admission and the final hearing thereon and should limit the number of such cases to be heard on any given day. The code should also specifically set forth the exact proof to be adduced by the alien and his witnesses as a precedent to the admission of the alien. Such proof should include documentary or other evidence of the date and place of birth and a certificate of immigration showing the date of arrival and the port or place of entry of the alien into the United States. Petitions of aliens should be required to contain a full and complete history of the alien and his family and should be required in the application for a certificate of the declaration of intention as well as for final admission. The law should state with particularity the nationalities of the aliens who are debarred from citizenship.

(3) AS TO COURTS OF NATURALIZATION. .

In order to avoid the competition of courts for the fees incident to naturalization and to place such jurisdiction in the hands of the higher class of courts, the naturalization jurisdiction should be restricted to one specified State court having general and original jurisdiction in law and equity in each county in each State, except in the counties in which the Federal courts have their headquarters, and in those counties and in the Territories and Districts the Federal courts alone should possess such jurisdiction. Additional district judges should be appointed in the large centers of alien population, such as New York, Brooklyn, Chicago, and Boston.

All State court judges and clerks acting in naturalization matters should be made by law agents of the United States when so acting. The jurisdiction of the courts should be limited to the aliens resident within their respective judicial districts.

(4) AS TO THE FORMS OF CERTIFICATES AND NATURALIZATION RECORDS. The Attorney-General should be charged with the preparation of the forms of certificates, petitions, and record books to be used in naturalization proceedings, and all other forms issued or used should