Part 19

===================================================== STATE | RATIO || STATE | RATIO ---------------------+-------++---------------+------ United States | 65.1 || Illinois | 64.4 Wisconsin | 115.7 || Colorado | 64.3 Arizona | 94.2 || Nebraska | 64.0 North Carolina | 93.1 || New York | 64.0 Mississippi | 86.7 || North Dakota | 63.7 Ohio | 78.8 || Oregon | 63.7 Kentucky | 77.5 || Kansas | 62.9 New Jersey | 76.5 || Tennessee | 62.8 Maine | 76.1 || Minnesota | 62.7 Vermont | 75.6 || Iowa | 60.9 South Carolina | 75.3 || Texas | 59.5 Georgia | 74.3 || Delaware | 58.4 Montana | 73.9 || Oklahoma | 58.3 Alabama | 73.0 || Louisiana | 56.4 Maryland | 72.2 || West Virginia | 55.6 Arkansas | 72.0 || Massachusetts | 53.7 Michigan | 71.9 || Alaska | 53.0 California | 71.2 || Florida | 52.5 Pennsylvania | 70.9 || Nevada | 52.4 Connecticut | 69.6 || Utah | 50.5 Rhode Island | 69.6 || Washington | 50.3 Virginia | 69.3 || Idaho | 48.6 Wyoming | 68.1 || Missouri | 45.2 New Mexico | 67.0 || South Dakota | 44.1 District of Columbia | 66.8 || Hawaii | 39.9 New Hampshire | 66.5 || Indiana | 26.4 =====================================================

[note 1: The averages are weighted as per the table above, p. 221.]

The most important question raised by the results of this calculation is whether it is reasonable to expect that more than one out of every three declarations of intention should thus fail of fruition--that thirty-five out of every hundred aliens who declare their intention to apply for citizenship should fail to do so. The answer to this question, and the reasons for the failure, are not discoverable in the figures themselves, nor in any documents to be found anywhere. The reasons are human reasons, hidden in the bosoms and written in the personal experience, of men and women who started out after the privileges of American citizenship, and changed their minds.

We have some illuminating data, first-hand, from some twenty-six thousand aliens who did follow up their declarations, and afford in the process a good deal of extraordinarily interesting and enlightening information, the study of which is set forth in the succeeding chapter of this volume.

VIII

LATER STATISTICS--IN WHICH SOME TWENTY-SIX THOUSAND PETITIONERS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES

When, early in the progress of the Americanization Study, it became apparent that almost no adequate statistical data were available in regard to naturalized citizens, or the really significant aspects of the naturalization process, it was decided to tap the mine of information existing in the original documents lying neglected in the files of the Naturalization Bureau at Washington, and to collate and analyze the significant facts for the latest year of reasonably normal conditions antedating the war. Obviously, that latest year would be that between July 1, 1913, and June 30, 1914.

The consent of the Bureau was readily obtained, with the offer of all possible co-operation. It should be stated once for all, indeed, that at every stage of the Study the Naturalization Bureau, in both its headquarters and field service, has withheld nothing in the way of information and assistance--save only to the extent to which practically all of its official correspondence is characteristically tardy by reason of the short-handed and overworked condition of its clerical force.

It was discovered immediately, however, that the conditions of the files at Washington were such as to prohibit the segregation of the documents for any single year without an inordinate, and in the circumstances impracticable, expenditure of labor and time. The only recourse, then, was to the local courts, where are kept on file, in more available shape and in chronological order, duplicates of the petitions for naturalization and record of the court’s action upon each. But, since this required the examination of the documents in the country-wide offices of the clerks of the courts themselves, it was impracticable to make the inspection complete, as would have been the case had the documents been suitably arranged and available all in one place.

MORE THAN A FIFTH OF ALL PETITIONERS

Twenty-eight courts, with a total of 26,284 naturalization petitions filed during the fiscal year 1913-14, were visited during 1919, with the cordial co-operation of the clerks in charge. And inasmuch as this total number of petitions examined constituted more than one in five (21.2 per cent) of the whole number of petitions for naturalization (123,855) filed in that fiscal year in the whole United States, it would seem to represent a large enough number and a sufficient variety of local, racial, and other conditions to warrant a fair degree of confidence in the representative character of the results.

FROM TWENTY-EIGHT REPRESENTATIVE COURTS

The courts studied included two Federal and three state courts in New York City, having the great bulk of naturalization business; a number of courts in industrial districts, and some smaller ones taking in the business from outlying rural regions. Following is a list of the courts from which the information was derived:

State court, Auburn, Maine State court, Worcester, Massachusetts State court, Bridgeport, Connecticut State court, Middletown, Connecticut State court, Norwich, Connecticut Federal courts, New York City State courts, New York City State court, White Plains, New York State court, Mineola, Long Island, New York State court, Troy, New York State court, Ithaca, New York State court, Rochester, New York State court, Elmira, New York State court, Paterson, New Jersey State court, New Brunswick, New Jersey State court, Easton, Pennsylvania Federal court, Cleveland, Ohio State court, Cleveland, Ohio State court, Akron, Ohio Federal court, Cincinnati, Ohio State court, Galesburg, Illinois State court, Iowa City, Iowa State court, Portland, Oregon Federal court, Seattle, Washington State court, Seattle, Washington

And it is apparent that the courts from which the data were derived are widely scattered through the East, Middle West, and Far West, and are of a varied character as regards nature of racial and other characteristics which might affect the human factors in the matter. It is to be regretted that there are none from the South and Southwest; but there seems no reason to suppose that they would show materially different results.

IN A REASONABLY NORMAL YEAR

Doubtless any particular year selected for the study would present certain special conditions calling for discount of the results. This is true of the year 1913-14. That year chanced to mark the end of the validity of the “old-law declarations”;--that is to say that in that year the seven-year limit upon the life of a declaration of intention to become a citizen, established for the first time by the Naturalization Act of 1906, was declared by the United States Court, 1914,[116] to apply to declarations made prior to the enactment of that statute. Undoubtedly anticipation of this tended on the whole to increase, perhaps materially, the number of petitions consummating those old declarations. On the other hand, there were doubtless many declarants of long ago who were discouraged by the decision from filing petitions at all. We shall observe later the extent to which that decision has been a factor in the rejection of the petitions of a large number of persons otherwise presumably eligible--excluded for that reason alone.

Obviously it was desirable to select a year as recent as possible and at the same time to avoid any period affected by the complications introduced by the existence of the war in Europe. It is felt that the year 1913-14 is sufficiently typical for all practical purposes, and that the applicants for citizenship analyzed herein are sufficiently representative generally of the foreign born who seek to join us; whatever may be said of the great number who were swept into citizenship helter-skelter during and since the war by naturalization of soldiers and sailors on the sole ground of military service.[117]

THE RACIAL GROUPS ARE TYPICAL

Some of the important conclusions supported by these statistics naturally raise the question whether the petitions studied are, in respect of country of origin, really typical of the whole foreign-born population of the country. This question seems to be disposed of by a compilation showing the racial distribution of the petitioners studied, compared with the racial distribution of _all_ unnaturalized foreign-born white aliens 21 years of age or older in the country as a whole, and in the nine large cities covered by this investigation.

TABLE XVI

COMPARISON BY RACES OF (1) A NATURALIZATION PETITIONERS STUDIED, (2) UNNATURALIZED MALES TWENTY-ONE YEARS OR OVER IN NINE CITIES{1} WHERE PETITIONS WERE FILED, AND IN THE COUNTRY AS A WHOLE, IN 1910{2}

======================================================================== | | UNNATURALIZED{3}| UNNATURALIZED | | FOREIGN-BORN | FOREIGN-BORN | | WHITE MALES | WHITE MALES COUNTRY | PETITIONERS | TWENTY-ONE | TWENTY-ONE OF BIRTH | STUDIED | YEARS OF AGE | YEARS OF AGE | 1913-14 | AND OVER IN | AND OVER IN | | NINE CITIES, | THE UNITED STATES | | IN 1910 | IN 1910 -----------------+--------+-------+---------+-------+-----------+------- | Number | Per | Number | Per | Number | Per | | Cent | | Cent | | Cent -----------------+--------+-------+---------+-------+-----------+------- All countries | 26,284 | 100.0 | 437,517 | 100.0 | 2,837,307 | 100.0 Russia | 7,864 | 29.9 | 107,393 | 24.5 | 481,532 | 17.0 Austria | 3,875 | 14.7 | 59,252 | 13.5 | 407,977 | 14.4 Italy | 3,591 | 13.7 | 98,595 | 22.5 | 523,964 | 18.5 Hungary | 2,443 | 9.3 | 31,194 | 7.1 | 200,274 | 7.1 Germany | 2,305 | 8.8 | 35,425 | 8.1 | 219,133 | 7.7 Ireland | 1,773 | 6.7 | 16,453 | 3.8 | 116,613 | 4.1 England | 831 | 3.2 | 14,807 | 3.4 | 112,317 | 4.0 Sweden | 616 | 2.3 | 8,675 | 2.0 | 92,289 | 3.3 Rumania | 569 | 2.2 | 5,778 | 1.3 | 17,498 | 0.6 Norway | 389 | 1.5 | 4,084 | 0.9 | 66,802 | 2.4 Canada | 385 | 1.5 | 9,229 | 2.1 | 176,868 | 6.2 Scotland | 288 | 1.1 | 5,299 | 1.2 | 38,940 | 1.4 Denmark | 200 | 0.8 | 1,881 | 0.4 | 27,045 | 1.0 Switzerland | 197 | 0.8 | 4,039 | 0.9 | 16,942 | 1.6 Finland | 144 | 0.6 | 2,395 | 0.5 | 43,737 | 1.5 Turkey in Asia | 142 | 0.5 | 1,883 | 0.4 | 22,776 | 0.8 Holland | 139 | 0.5 | 930 | 0.2 | 18,116 | 0.6 Turkey in Europe | 92 | 0.3 | 1,650 | 0.4 | 19,546 | 0.7 Greece | 90 | 0.3 | 5,393 | 1.2 | 62,758 | 2.2 France | 86 | 0.3 | 4,116 | 0.9 | 21,457 | 0.8 Wales | 32 | 0.1 | 294 | 0.1 | 6,424 | 0.2 Spain | 23 | 0.1 | 932 | 0.2 | 10,037 | 0.4 Portugal | 8 | .... | 92 | .... | 19,557 | 0.7 No information | 23 | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... Other | 179 | 0.8 | 17,728 | 4.1 | 114,705 | 4.0 ========================================================================

[note 1: Cleveland, New York (Boroughs of Manhattan, Bronx, and Queens); Bridgeport, Connecticut; Cincinnati; Paterson, New Jersey; Portland, Oregon; Rochester, New York; Seattle, Washington; Worcester, Massachusetts.]

[note 2: _United States Census_, 1910, vol. 1, chap. xi.]

[note 3: Includes aliens and those holding first papers.]

Considerable variations will be observed between the racial distribution of petitioners studied and that of the unnaturalized but potentially naturalizable males in the whole country in 1910. For instance, while 18.5 per cent of the unnaturalized persons in the United States were born in Italy, only 13.7 per cent of the petitioners studied were Italians; on the other hand, while 29.9 per cent of the petitioners studied were from Russia, only 17 per cent of the unnaturalized males in the United States in 1910 were Russians.

These discrepancies do not prove, however, that even in such cases the groups of petitioners studied are not representative of the foreign-born population, because racial distribution varies considerably from state to state. Fortunately, moreover, it is possible to compile from the census figures to show by country of origin the distribution of unnaturalized white males in the cities covered by the study, and these figures, also included in the last column of the table, show conclusively that the racial distribution in those cities is fairly typical. The percentages do not exactly agree, nor is that to be expected. In the first place, there is a difference of three years between the times represented respectively in the two sets of figures--years during which there was a heavy immigration. The figures given for the unnaturalized are not complete, inasmuch as for those cities the citizenship status of 9.8 per cent of the foreign-born males 21 years of age and over was not reported by the 1910 census. Furthermore, the petitions studied were not all from these nine cities, although nearly nine out of ten (86.8 per cent) of them were. On the whole, the nativity distribution in those nine cities of the petitioners studied coincides remarkably with that of the unnaturalized but naturalizable males.

RELATIVE “CIVIC AND POLITICAL INTEREST”

In Table X, page 211, the relative numbers and percentages are arranged in the _order of magnitude_, and this arrangement is illuminating in its display of what the Immigration Commission and the writers who have taken their cue therefrom have interpreted as “civic and political interest” exhibited in relative desire for citizenship. With the exception of Italy the races from the sources of largest recent immigration show a higher proportion naturalized than the proportion they represented in the population. It can fairly be said that the desire to become citizens is as evident among these immigrants of the new races as among those of the earlier, entirely leaving out of consideration the length of residence which operates in favor of the older immigrants.

HOW DID THESE PETITIONERS FARE?

How did these applicants for citizenship fare? However much they may have desired citizenship, these of the “new immigration” and the “old”--did they get it? Did they pass the examinations? And as regards the reasons for denial of those who were rejected, how did the “recent” races account for themselves in respect of those matters which really go to the questions of moral and intellectual fitness?

Well, to begin with, the percentage of all denials (3,033) among these more than 26,000 petitioners was 11.5--almost exactly that (11.2) of the whole United States during the entire period of eleven years, 1908-18, as shown by the reports of the Commissioner of Naturalization. Here appears a compilation analyzing _all_ the denials during the period 1908-18.

TABLE XVII

COMPARISON OF CAUSES OF DENIAL FOR THE YEARS 1908-18 AND 1913-19 FROM COMMISSIONER OF NATURALIZATION REPORTS, AND DENIALS OF 26,284 PETITIONERS STUDIED

====================================================================== | DENIALS +---------------------------------+-------------- | Naturalization Reports | Cases Studied +----------------+----------------+ 1913-14 CAUSES | 1908-18 | 1913-14 | +---------+------+---------+------+--------+----- | Number | Per | Number | Per | Number | Per | | Cent | | Cent | | Cent ---------------------+---------+------+---------+------+--------+----- Want of prosecution | 33,493 | 31.2 | 3,856 | 29.4 | 689 | 22.7 Incompetent Witnesses| 28,262 | 26.3 | 3,982 | 30.2 | 422 | 13.9 Declaration invalid | 9,187 | 8.5 | 1,148 | 8.7 | 1,296 | 42.7 Ignorance | 11,109 | 10.3 | 1,147 | 8.7 | 220 | 7.2 Miscellaneous | 6,098 | 5.7 | 553 | 4.2 | 147 | 4.8 Immoral character | 4,269 | 4.0 | 588 | 4.5 | 59 | 1.9 Insufficient | | | | | | residence | 3,625 | 3.3 | 389 | 3.0 | 68 | 2.2 Petitioner’s motion | 2,824 | 2.6 | 381 | 2.9 | 51 | 1.7 No jurisdiction | 2,934 | 2.7 | 291 | 2.2 | 12 | 0.4 Deceased | 1,123 | 1.0 | 174 | 1.3 | 11 | 0.4 Unable to produce | | | | | | witnesses or | | | | | | deposition | 1,090 | 1.0 | 196 | 1.5 | 12 | 0.4 Already a citizen | 1,200 | 1.1 | 150 | 1.1 | 9 | 0.3 No certificate of | | | | | | arrival | 1,197 | 1.1 | 179 | 1.4 | 14 | 0.5 Premature petition | 979 | 0.9 | 96 | 0.7 | 17 | 0.2 Section 2169 (not a | | | | | | white person) | 84 | 0.1 | 3 | .... | .... | .... No information | .... | .... | .... | .... | 16 | 0.5 ---------------------+---------+------+---------+------+--------+----- Total | 107,474 |100.0 | 13,133 |100.0 | 3,033 |100.0 Certificates granted | 848,777 | .... | 105,439 | .... | .... | .... Cases disposed of | 956,251 | .... | 118,572 | .... | 26,284 | .... Per cent denied | .... | 11.2 | .... | 11.1 | .... | 11.5 ======================================================================

A study of the figures covering the reasons for denial of the 3,033 among the petitions of 1913-14 here analyzed illuminated special aspects of this matter, showing, as it does, how large a proportion of the denials are for reasons of a purely technical character, or because the petitioners abandoned their pursuit of citizenship after filing the final petition.

The following table lists the races represented by forty or more petitions, _in the order of percentage of denials_, and shows the percentages attributable to the six principal reasons, respectively: “want of prosecution,” “incompetent witnesses,” “declaration invalid,” “ignorance,” “immoral character,” and “old-law declaration--held to be invalid.”

TABLE XVIII

RACIAL DISTRIBUTION OF 26,284 PETITIONERS DENIED, 1913-14, AND THE PER CENT OF THE DENIALS FOR THE SIX PRINCIPAL CAUSES

(Part One) =========================================== COUNTRY | NUMBER | DENIALS | OF | OF +--------+------+ BIRTH | PETITIONS | Number | Per | | | | Cent | --------------+-----------+--------+------+ All countries | 26,284 | 3,033 | 11.5 | | | | | Greece | 90 | 27 | 30.0 | France | 86 | 19 | 22.1 | Italy | 3,591 | 646 | 18.0 | Turkey in | | | | Europe | 92 | 15 | 16.3 | Holland | 139 | 21 | 15.1 | Scotland | 288 | 42 | 14.6 | Denmark | 200 | 29 | 14.5 | England | 831 | 120 | 14.4 | Sweden | 616 | 80 | 13.0 | Germany | 2,305 | 296 | 12.8 | Switzerland | 197 | 25 | 12.7 | Turkey in | | | | Asia | 142 | 18 | 12.7 | Norway | 389 | 48 | 12.3 | Belgium | 41 | 5 | 12.2 | Canada | 385 | 43 | 11.2 | Hungary | 2,443 | 249 | 10.2 | Finland | 144 | 14 | 9.7 | Rumania | 569 | 54 | 9.5 | Russia | 7,864 | 744 | 9.5 | Ireland | 1,773 | 166 | 9.4 | Austria | 3,875 | 347 | 9.0 | Other | 201 | 27 | .... | No information| 23 | .... | .... | ===========================================

(Part Two) ==================================================================== | CAUSES OF DENIAL--PER CENT COUNTRY |--------+--------+-------+--------+-------+---------- OF | Want of Ignorance Immoral BIRTH |Prosecution Character | Incompetent Declaration “Old-Law” | Witnesses Invalid Declaration{1} --------------+--------+--------+-------+--------+-------+---------- All countries | 22.7 | 13.9 | 5.2 | 7.2 | 1.9 | 37.5 | | | | | | Greece | 48.1 | 11.1 | 3.7 | .... | .... | 3.7 France | 15.7 | 26.3 | | | | 42.1 Italy | 28.1 | 11.1 | 2.9 | 14.2 | 1.7 | 34.2 Turkey in | | | | | | Europe | 26.6 | 7.6 | 26.6 | .... | 7.6 | 20.9 Holland | 28.5 | 33.3 | .... | .... | .... | 14.0 Scotland | 21.4 | 11.9 | 9.5 | 2.4 | .... | 31.0 Denmark | 17.2 | 27.6 | 3.5 | .... | 6.9 | 31.0 England | 30.0 | 19.2 | 4.2 | 1.7 | 2.5 | 27.5 Sweden | 13.7 | 13.7 | 11.3 | 3.8 | 5.0 | 30.0 Germany | 17.2 | 14.5 | 5.4 | 4.7 | 2.4 | 47.3 Switzerland | 24.0 | 20.0 | 4.0 | 8.0 | .... | 36.0 Turkey in | | | | | | Asia | 44.4 | 11.1 | 16.7 | 5.6 | .... | 16.7 Norway | 25.0 | 27.1 | 14.6 | 8.3 | .... | 4.2 Belgium | 40.0 | 20.0 | .... | 20.0 | .... | .... Canada | 30.2 | 14.0 | 9.3 | | 4.6 | 20.9 Hungary | 32.2 | 12.5 | 4.8 | 7.6 | 3.2 | 24.9 Finland | 42.8 | 14.3 | 14.3 | .... | .... | .... Rumania | 7.4 | 11.1 | 5.6 | 7.4 | 3.7 | 63.0 Russia | 15.1 | 15.7 | 5.5 | 6.2 | 1.7 | 46.2 Ireland | 27.1 | 11.4 | 3.0 | 1.8 | 0.6 | 46.3 Austria | 21.6 | 10.4 | 5.5 | 7.2 | 1.4 | 44.8 Other | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... No information| .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... ====================================================================