Bessho v. United States

• Decision Date: 01 February 1910
• Docket Number: 924.
• Citation: 178 F. 245
• Parties: BESSHO v. UNITED STATES.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

178 F. 245

BESSHO v. UNITED STATES.

No. 924.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

February 1, 1910

T Catesby Jones, for appellant.

L. L Lewis, U.S. Atty. (R. H. Talley, Asst. U.S. Atty., on the brief).

Before GOFF, Circuit Judge, and BRAWLEY and CONNOR, District Judges.

GOFF Circuit Judge.

The appellant, a subject of the Mikado of Japan, filed his petition in the court below, in which he asked that he might be naturalized and admitted as a citizen of the United States. He claimed that he was entitled to the privilege so sought by him, because of the provisions of an act of Congress approved July 26, 1894 (chapter 165, 28 Stat. 124 (U.S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 1332)), reading as follows:

'Any alien of the age of twenty-one years and upward who has enlisted or may enlist in the United States navy or marine corps, and has served or may hereafter serve five consecutive years in the United States navy or one enlistment in the United States marine corps, and has been or may hereafter be honorably discharged, shall be admitted to become a citizen of the United States upon his petition without any previous declaration of his intention to become such; and the court admitting such alien shall, in addition to proof of good moral character, be satisfied by competent proof of, such person's service in and honorable discharge from the United States navy or marine corps.'

The appellee, answering the rule to show cause why the prayer of the petition should not be granted, contended that petitioner was not entitled to be declared a citizen, for the reason that section 2169, Rev. St. U.S. (2d Ed. 1878)-- U.S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 1333-- limits the privileges of naturalization to free white persons, and persons of African nativity or descent, and that, as the petition admits that the Applicant is a Japanese, his prayer should be denied. To this contention of the appellee, the petitioner replied that the said section of the Revised Statutes did not apply to, nor restrict, the provisions of the act of July 26, 1894, under which his petition had been filed. The court below overruled the objections of petitioner to the return of the appellee, sustained the insistence of the latter, refused the naturalization asked for, and dismissed the petition. From this action of the court the appeal now under consideration was sued out. Other proceedings were had below, and are referred to in the assignments of error; but as they are not essential to the disposition of the real question involved-- the right of the petitioner to naturalization-- we do not deem it necessary to allude to them.

We are to determine whether or not section 2169 of the Revised Statutes is to be construed as limiting the terms of the act of July 26, 1894, so far as it relates to the naturalization of aliens, or whether the broad provisions of the last-mentioned legislation should without restriction be enforced.

A reference to the enactments of the Congress, relating to the admission of aliens as citizens of the United States, will enable us to ascertain the legislative intent, and to properly construe the statutes as they exist to-day pertaining to naturalization. Title 30 of the Revised Statutes has incorporated therein all of the legislation relating to this subject, in force at the time of the revision of 1873, and of the amendments thereto of 1875. That title embraces sections 2165 to 2174, inclusive, of said Revised Statutes (U.S. Comp. St. 1901, pp. 1329-1334). Of those sections is 2169, reading as follows:

'The provisions of this title shall apply to aliens being free white persons, and to aliens of African nativity and to persons of African descent.'

This section, as it was enacted in the revision of 1873, did not contain the words 'being free white persons,' although they had been included in the naturalization laws from the year 1802, down to that date. But in the amendments of 1875, which were intended to correct errors and supply the omissions of the previous revision, those words were restored, and the section now reads as we have quoted it. The attention of the legislative branch of the government was thus particularly called to the point we are now considering, and the action then taken by it is most significant, and clearly indicates that the Congress then intended to exclude all persons of the Mongolian race from the privileges of the naturalization laws.

Counsel for appellant contends that even if this is the proper construction of the laws relating to this subject, after the revision of 1875, that such interpretation must now yield to the unrestricted terms of the act of July 26, 1894.

It must be admitted that the words used in that statute have a wide scope, and that they would, if not considered in conjunction with other legislation, sustain the claim of appellant that the Congress intended to give to 'any alien' who possessed the qualifications described therein the right to be admitted as a citizen of the United States, in recognition of his services in the navy. But for reasons hereafter to be mentioned, we are not at liberty to ignore either the legislation in force when that statute was enacted, or the act of Congress passed subsequent thereto. Counsel insists that the act of 1894 is in no way controlled by section 2169 of the Revised Statutes, and that it should not be construed in connection with that legislation. Suppose we admit that but for the act of June 29, 1906, there would be force in this contention, would we not nevertheless, by virtue of that legislation, be compelled to refer to that section in order to determine what the legislative mind intended should be the law relating to naturalization subsequent to that enactment? That act is entitled 'An act to establish a Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization, and to provide for a uniform rule for the naturalization of aliens throughout the United States.' 34 Stat. 596, c. 3592 (U.S. Comp. St. Supp. 1909, p. 97). By this legislation a new and complete system of naturalization was adopted, all of the details of which together with the...