I.

NATURALIZATION.

BY I. M. SACKIN.

A Guide to Applicants for Citizenship.

GENERAL STATEMENT AND PRACTICE.

A. WHO CAN BECOME A CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES AND WHO CANNOT?

(1) All free white persons and those of African nativity and African descent can become citizens of the United States.

(2) Chinese, Japanese, Malays, etc., are excluded from naturalization.

(3) The following persons are also excluded: Anarchists, criminals, illiterates, polygamists and persons who cannot prove good moral character.

B. WHAT STEPS MUST BE TAKEN TO OBTAIN FIRST PAPERS? (Declaration of Intention)

(1) First papers may be obtained at any time after arrival in the United States, the only condition being that the applicant must be at least 18 years of age.

(2) The applicant must go to the court house in the city or county where he resides and the clerk of the court authorized by law to do so, will prepare the necessary certificate for him.

(3) The legal fee for first papers is one dollar ($1.00). (4) The applicant must be prepared to supply the following information: (a) Place and date of birth; (b) Place at which he boarded vessel which brought him to the United States; (c) Name of such vessel and place and date of its arrival in the United States; (d) Place of last foreign residence. No other information is necessary.

(5) No witnesses are required.

(6) The first papers or the Declaration of Intention cannot be obtained by applying through the mails; the applicant must appear in person.

(7) It is important that the applicant furnish the clerk of the court his true name, and if he has ever been known by or used any other name, also to advise the clerk of such fact.

(8) It is the duty of the court to furnish the applicant with a certified copy of the Declaration of Intention, and it is important that the applicant carefully read the certificate before leaving the court house, and that he immediately call the attention of the clerk to any mistakes which might have crept into it.

C. WHAT STEPS MUST BE TAKEN TO OBTAIN SECOND PAPERS?

(1) When application may be made: As soon as the applicant has lived five years in the United States and two years have elapsed since the taking out of the first papers. But he must not wait until his first papers are more than seven years old, as the first papers are good only for seven

years.

(2) The Petition: Before making out the Petition for second papers it is important that the applicant determine whether the case comes under the new law or the old. The following persons come under the new law:

All persons who have arrived in the United States since June 29th, 1906, and all persons who have taken out their first papers since September 27th, 1906.

A. UNDER THE OLD LAW.

The applicant goes to the clerk of the court in the county where he resides and brings with him his first papers and two witnesses who are citizens of the United States. The clerk will hand him an application blank which he must fill out. His witnesses must make oath that they have known him for the past five years and that he is a man of good moral character.

B. UNDER THE NEW LAW.

The applicant must go to the clerk of the court in the county where he resides and obtain a blank form of application for a certificate of landing. This must be filled out and sent to the Department of Labor at Washington, D. C. Upon receipt of this at Washington, the said certificate will be filed and recorded and a copy returned to the clerk of the court. The clerk will then inform him by letter that such certificate has been received. Upon receipt of this letter, the applicant should go to the clerk's office with his two witnesses and make out a petition for second papers in the same manner as under the old law.

(3) After the petition is filed: Upon the acceptance of the petition by the clerk, the applicant will receive a card or a certificate with the number of his petition printed thereon. This card should be retained as it may be useful for future reference. He will next be called before the United States attorney in his district who will question him and his witnesses with regard to the statements made by him in the petition. He will also be required to answer questions about the Constitution and Government of the United States.

(4) The Final Hearing: The final hearing is in open court. The Judge examines the applicant as to his knowl

edge of the Constitution of the United States and that of the State where he resides. He also examines his witnesses as to their qualifications and questions them as to his reputation and character. At the conclusion of the hearing the Judge either orders his admission to citizenship or denies his application.

II. IMPORTANT RULES AND DECISIONS.

1. It is a felony to make a single false material statement under signature in any of the proceedings in connection with naturalization, or for a witness to swear falsely that he has known the petitioner for at least five years.

2. The following persons do not require first papers: A person under twenty-one years old who has been honorably discharged from the United States army, or has served five years in the United States navy, or one enlistment in the marine corps of the United States.

3. A person who has taken out his first papers and has afterwards served three years on a merchant vessel of the United States, and can produce a certificate of good conduct, may be naturalized without proving five years residence in the United States.

4. A woman citizen of the United States loses her citizenship if she marries an alien.

5. Women may apply for citizenship if single, widowed, or divorced, provided they are otherwise qualified.

6. The wife of an alien cannot be naturalized during the lifetime of her husband.

7.

An applicant for naturalization must be able to read the English language and sign his own name.

8. The minor children of aliens who were born or have resided out of the United States at the time of the naturalization of their parents, and now dwelling within the United States, become citizens by such naturalization.

9. The naturalization of the husband, naturalizes the wife and their children under 21 years of age.

10. A woman and minor children can obtain second papers on the first papers of the husband should he die before becoming a citizen.

11. A petitioner for naturalization may compel his witnesses to come to court to testify by serving them with subpoenas which may readily be obtained from the clerk of the court.

MEANING OF THE CONSERVATION MOVEMENT. BY GIFFORD PINCHOT.

A man who has a suit of clothes is foolish if he tears it needlessly, gets it soiled without cause, and by carelessness wears it out before its time. A farmer who owns a farm is foolish if he exhausts the soil, destroys his woodlot, and lets the farm run down from the lack of skill and foresight in handling it. A State is foolish if it allows its roads to be gullied, its bridges to grow unsafe, and the State property and institutions to deteriorate for the lack of proper maintenance and care. A Nation is foolish which permits the great natural resources, the foundations of prosperity, the raw materials of clothes, food, and shelter to be needlessly wasted and destroyed for the lack of organized intelligent foresight.

Conservation means nothing more than the application of common sense and the long look ahead to the timber, coal, iron, the streams, and the soil, with the idea of protecting them from needless waste and injury, and of getting out of them for the benefit of all the people the best service they are capable of rendering.

Conservation means the use and development of our natural resources first for the benefit of us who are now on the earth, and secondly for the benefit of those who are to come after us.

One of the most important things that can possibly be done for those who come after us is to prevent the creation of giant monopolies which will fatten upon them. Many or most of such monopolies, like the Steel Trust, the Standard Oil Company, and the Copper Trust, are based on the control of natural resources. Among those great trusts which are not yet completely formed, but are rapidly forming, is the Waterpower Trust, the most dangerous of them all, for whoever controls waterpower controls mechanical power, and mechanical power is at the bottom of transportation, manufacture, and all the industries of the Nation. It is good for us and our descendants that our waterpowers should be developed, but it is not good that they should be monopolized.

Here is what Conservation stands for, and what the Conservationists have been fighting for,-the right of all our people now and hereafter to their fair share in the benefits which the natural resources of this rich continent can be made to confer.

INDEX.