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Ante, p. 25.

ments to permit the citizen bearer to enjoy therein the rights of a United States citizen as guaranteed by treaty and international law. The passport ordinarily used contains a description of the bearer's person and reads as follows:

"To all to whom these presents shall come, Greeting:

"I, the undersigned, Secretary of State of the United States of America, hereby request all whom it may concern to permit a citizen of the United States, safely and freely to pass, and in case of need

to give

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all lawful aid and protection."

Besides this passport, it has been customary in the Department to issue to officials of the United States and to distinguished citizens going abroad what is called a special passport. The special passport differs in form from the ordinary passport in these particulars: It does not contain a description of the person, and it does give the bearer's official title or other claim to special consideration. A special passport is really a passport and a letter of introduction. The present form of special passport is

as follows:

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'Know ye

that the bearer hereof, give official title, if any).

(here

"These are therefore to request all whom it may concern

to permit him to pass freely, without let or molestation,
and to extend to him all such friendly aid and protection
as would be extended to like
of foreign govern-

ments resorting to the United States.'

It is never

Until quite recently, it contained also a declaration that the bearer was a citizen of the United States. granted, so far as I know, to any person other than a citizen of the United States, and certainly ought not to be granted to any alien. It is a passport within Mr. Dana's description and within the meaning of the statutes; and,

since it conveys impliedly a guaranty of American citizenship, it should expressly declare that citizenship. The special passport is not, to my knowledge, granted to any official or individual who is not a citizen of the United States. We have a large number of alien vice-consuls and consular agents who hold official commissions from the United States, but none of them is given a passport. It is clear to my mind that the special passport is nothing but an ordinary passport, in which the bearer's titles of office and dignity are substituted for the ordinary description of a man. It differs in no essential particular from the passport referred to in the statutes. It is a citizen's passport, and I recommend the restoration to the form of the declaration that the bearer is a citizen of the United States.

PASSPORT FEES.

The act of August 18, 1856 (11 Stat., 60), provided that no charge should be made for granting a passport in the United States. One dollar was allowed when the Ante, p. 25. passport was issued in a foreign country. The internalrevenue act of July 1, 1862, section 89 (12 Stat., 472), fixed a fee of three dollars for "every passport issued in the office of the Secretary of State." The act of June 30, 1864, for the support of the Government, provided, section 106 (13 Stat., 276), that a fee of five dollars should be collected for "every passport issued in the office of the Secretary of State." The act of July 14, 1870, designed to abolish certain internal taxes (section 3, 16 Stat., 257), repealed `previous provisions imposing a tax on passports. The legislative, executive, and judicial act, of June 20, 1874 (18 Stat., 90), fixed a fee of five dollars to be collected for "each citizen's passport issued from the Department" [of State], and by the act of March 23, 1888 (25 Stat., 45), it is provided "that from and after the

passage of this act, a fee of one dollar shall be collected for each citizen's passport issued from the Department of State; that all acts or parts of acts inconsistent with this are hereby repealed."

If you agree with me that a special passport is only a variation in form of the ordinary passport, and that it is a citizen's passport, the fee of one dollar should be collected for the special passport as well as for the ordinary passport.

The question whether officers of the United States whose duty is in the United States and who do not go abroad on public business shall, when they go abroad, be furnished with a special passport instead of an ordinary passport, is not one of law, but is one for the discretion of the Secretary of State. The distinction between the two kinds of passport is one of form and not of substance. It is a regulation, and not a law, which requires the exclusion from the ordinary passport of the bearer's titles and business, and it is also a regulation which permits the inclusion in a special passport of the bearer's titles and other marks of distinction.

As a matter of policy, I see no reason why, when an Army or Navy officer goes abroad on special or private business, he should not take an ordinary passport, which is a certificate of his citizenship and a request for the protection due him as a citizen of the United States while in a foreign jurisdiction, and depend for documentary evidence of his official position at home and his title to consideration abroad upon the letter of introduction or some sort of certificate of his official title given him by his immediate chief, the Secretary of War or of the Navy. this point, however, I have nothing more than a bare suggestion to make. There is no infraction of the law in giving any United States official, civil or military, a pass

On

port describing him by his official title, declaring his citizenship of the United States, and requesting for him the rights and privileges of a citizen of the United States in foreign countries, upon the payment by such citizen of the prescribed fee of one dollar. I do recommend, however, that the present form of special passport be amended so as to make it-what every passport ought to be-a certificate of nationality. There is no express authority in the Secretary of State to grant to any person a passport which is not a certificate of citizenship. The document ceases

to be a passport and becomes a mere letter of introduction; and while the Secretary may, no doubt, of propriety furnish such letters to any person he chooses, they are not official documents and ought not to be under the seal of the Department of State.

Respectfully submitted.

W. E. FAISON,

Solicitor.

PASSPORT FEES.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

May 1, 1897.

Sections 4075 and 4076 of the Revised Statutes pro

vide:

"SEC. 4075. The Secretary of State may grant and issue passports, and cause passports to be granted, issued and verified in foreign countries by such Diplomatic or Consular officers of the United States, and under such rules as the President shall designate and prescribe for and on behalf of the United States; and no other person shall grant, issue or verify any such passport. Where a legation of the United States is established in any country, no person other than the diplomatic representative of the

Sherman's decision.

United States at such place shall be permitted to grant or issue any passport, except in the absence therefrom of such representative.

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'SEC. 4076. No passport shall be granted or issued to or verified for any other persons than citizens of the United States."

The act of March 23, 1888 (25 Stat., 45), provides:

"That from and after the passage of this act a fee of one dollar shall be collected for each citizen's passport issued from the Department of State. That all acts or parts of acts inconsistent with this are hereby repealed.'

The passports referred to in the above enactments can be issued to citizens of the United States only, and they are (1) certificates of citizenship and (2) requests to foreign governments to admit the bearer with the privileges and obligations of a citizen of the United States. Wheaton, sec. 220, note.)

(Dana's

Passports issued to citizens of the United States are ordinary (describing the person of the bearer and omitting titles of office, dignity, or business) and special (omitting personal description and identifying the bearer by his official title or mark of dignity or distinction). Both ordinary and special passports are citizen's passports, and the fee of one dollar prescribed by the act of March 23, 1888, for each citizen's passport must be collected for the special as well as for the ordinary passport.

The special passport, being a citizen's passport, should also contain a declaration that the bearer is a citizen of the United States.

Passports issued to foreign diplomatic officers or other foreigners wishing to travel in the United States are passports of a different nature and are not within the application of the statutes above quoted.

JOHN SHERMAN.

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