In re Schrape

• Decision Date: 08 October 1914
• Docket Number: 2447.
• Parties: In re SCHRAPE.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Washington

217 F. 142

In re SCHRAPE.

No. 2447.

United States District Court, W.D. Washington, Northern Division.

October 8, 1914

John Speed Smith, Chief Examiner.

NETERER District Judge.

August 14, 1914, petition for naturalization was filed under the act of Congress approved June 30, 1914. The petition was brought before the court September 12, 1914, and on the hearing it was shown that the petitioner came to the United States as a seaman in 1909, deserted his ship at the port of New York came to Seattle in an American schooner, enlisted in the revenue cutter service of the United States May 4, 1910, and completed four years in that service and was discharged therefrom on May 4, 1914, with recommendation for re-enlistment, and has not re-enlisted and does not intend to do so. The Chief Examiner objected to the petitioner's admission to citizenship under the provisions of the act of June 30, 1914.

The question for decision is: May the petitioner at once, without the usual notice, be admitted to citizenship upon his discharge, without submitting further evidence of moral character and shore residence? The act under which this petition was filed reads as follows:

'Any alien of the age of twenty-one years and upward who may under existing law, become a citizen of the United States who has served or may hereafter serve for one enlistment of not less than four years in the United States Navy or Marine Corps, and who has received therefrom an honorable discharge or an ordinary discharge with recommendation for re-enlistment, or who has completed four years in the Revenue Cutter Service and received therefrom an honorable discharge or an ordinary discharge with recommendation for re-enlistment, or who has completed four years of honorable service in the naval auxiliary service, 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 without proof of residence on shore, and the court admitting such alien shall, in addition to proof of good moral character, be satisfied by competent proof from naval or revenue cutter sources, of such service: Provided, that an honorable discharge from the Navy, Marine Corps, Revenue Cutter Service, or the naval auxiliary service, or an ordinary discharge with recommendation for re-enlistment, shall be accepted as proof of good moral character: Provided, further, that any court which now has or may hereafter be given jurisdiction to naturalize aliens as citizens of the United States may immediately naturalize any alien applying under and furnishing the proof prescribed by the foregoing provisions.'

To correctly understand this act and the motive prompting its enactment, other provisions of the naturalization laws should be considered. Act July 26, 1894, c. 165, 28 Stat.page 124 (U.S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 1332), provides:

' * * * 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 term of enlistment in the Marine Corps at the time of the passage of this act was five years, but the Naval Appropriation Act of March 3, 1901 (31 Stat. 1132, c. 852 (U.S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 1095)), provides:

'That hereafter the enlistments into the Marine Corps shall be for a period of not less than four years.'

Act June 29, 1906, c. 3592, 34 Stat. 596 (U.S. Comp. St. Supp. 1911, p. 528), established the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization, and provided a uniform rule for the naturalization of aliens throughout the United States, but did not disturb the exemptions in favor of the special classes. The act of June, 1914, adds the Revenue Cutter Service and the naval auxiliary service, and the excepted classes already provided, and changes the term of enlistment in the Navy from five consecutive years to a term of not less than four years, and also supplements the requirement of an honorable discharge by extending it to include those receiving an ordinary discharge with...