AMERICAN CITIZENS

Evening Post, Volume XCVII, Issue 38, 15 February 1919, Page 10

AMERICAN CITIZENS

GERMAN AND- AUSTRIAN

RIGHTS.

The' work of admitting persons of German and Austrian origin to American citizenship, which ceased shortly after America entered the war, was resumed in N November, when it was expected-that about 2COO persons of German or Austrian nationality, who announced before 6th April, 1917, their intention to become American citizens, would apply for the final papers. The Chief of the Naturalisation Bureau (Mr. W F. Schneider), who has completed a survey of the naturalisation field, said recently that one result of his survey was to establish the fact that in the last decade or two the Germans and Aiistrians have been the most "tardy," as he expressed it, of all immigrants in seeking American; citizenship. The average German and Austrian, he added, lives in the United States* from ten to twelve years longer than is required by law before taking out citizenship papers. "I believe," said Mr. Schneider, "that the war will result in changes in the law of naturalisation which will add to the value of American citizenship. In the past the United States has demanded too little for the boon of naturalisation. Owing to the fact that citizenship could bo acquired without much expense or trouble, many persons of foreign birth gained the impression that, after all, it was not of much value.

"In times of peace aliens travel about as they please in foreign lands, and return when theY please. , In the future a stricter watch, it is believed, will be kept upon those who live here and who wish to wander abroad. They may go, of course, but their return may be attended by the same discomforts as those which met them upon their arrival. If the authorities should discover any good reason for not admitting them they will be deported, and the fact that their only homes are here will not prevail to. procure admission.

"The impression in many, minds," he concluded, "that a large majority of those who come here as \mmigrante are of the common labouring class is an error. In the' survey I am making, figures show that nearly as many trained mechanics arrive v here as of any class, and that among tlie immigrants are many professional men and women; merchants, authors, and o**n« educated and cultured persons. Viewed as a whole,' the ■immigrants arriving' here representhighly useful and industrious classes, and there is no reason to fear that the quality of those coming in the future will change for the worse."