REFUSAL CONFIRMED

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 90, 13 October 1931, Page 9

REFUSAL CONFIRMED

AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP

TWO NOTABLE CASES

(Received 13th October, 10 a.m.) WASHINGTON, 12th October. The Supreme Court refused to reconsider its decision that Dr. Douglas Macintosh and Miss Mario Bland were ineligible for American citizenship.

On 25th May last, as a climax to the long attempt of Dr. Douglas Macintosh, a British subject of Canada, former chaplain with the Canadian and American armies, and now Professor of Theology at Yalo University, to obtain citizenship of the United States, the Supremo Court rendered a decision that he was ineligible on account of his preference to bear arms for the country only in what he considered to be a "just war." Tho case aroused international interest from many angles, among which was the question whether the Court could render a decision involving "freedom of thought," in which the forced bearing of arms by conscientious objectors might bo sanctioned. Representatives of the Quaker Church and a group of Episcopal Bishops intervened in the case, but the Court held that no question of religious scruples against war entered into the discussion. The Court asserted that Dr. Macintosh was ineligible, since '' a citizen must support his country as may be necessary, not as he may desire." However, the Chief Justice, Mr. Charles Hughes, submitted a dissenting opinion, in which he stated tiiat the professor's reservations were in accord with the stand taken "time and time again by statesmen hero and abroad." The Supreme Court at the same time refused to grant citizenship to a former British Army nurse, Miss Marie Bland, who said that she was not willing to bear arms, although she would do whatever else was necessary to aid the army. Prom Newhaven, Connecticut, a message states that Dr. Macintosh, when informed of the Court's decision, said: '' I am not budging from my stand one bit, and I shall make no further attempt to obtain citizenship if my viewpoint is unacceptable."