(13) I have

therefrom on

been absent from the United States, having departed from the port or ports of

(dates of departures) upon the following vessels or other means of conveyance: - ; and returned to the United States

(names of vessels or conveyances upon departures)

(dates of return to the United States)

upon the following vessels or other means of conveyance:

(names of vessels or conveyances upon return)

(14) I declared my intention to become a citizen of the United States on

(State)

in the

(name of court)

(State)

Court of

heretofore made petition for naturalization number

at

(city or town)

(name of court)

(county) and such petition was dis

missed or denied by that Court for the following reasons and causes, to wit: and the cause of such dismissal or denial has since been cured or removed. (16) I am not an anarchist, nor a disbeliever in or opposed to organized government, nor a member of or affiliated with any organization or body of persons teaching disbelief in or opposed to organized government. (17) I am attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the United States.

(18) It is my intention to become a citizen of the United States, and to reside permanently in the United States.

(19) It is my intention to renounce absolutely and forever all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, and particularly to of whom (which) at this time I

am a subject (citizen). (20) Attached hereto and made a part of this, my petition for naturalization, are my declaration of intention to become a citizen of the United States (if such declaration of intention be required by the naturalization law), a certificate of arrival from the Department of Labor of my said lawful entry into the United States for permanent residence (if such certificate of arrival be required by the naturalization law), and the affidavits of the two verifying witnesses required by law. (21) Wherefore, I, petitioner for naturalization, pray that I may be admitted a citizen of the United States of America, and that my name be changed to

(22) I, aforesaid petitioner, being duly sworn, depose and say that I have fread

heard read this petition and know that the same is true of my own knowledge except as to matters herein stated to be alleged upon information and belief, and that as to those matters I believe it to be true; and that this petition is signed by me with my full, true, and correct name. So help me God.

(full, true, and correct name of petitioner) Proposed section 331 (a) sets forth the averments which the petitioner for naturalization must make in his application. In accordance with the present procedure, these allegations follow substantially the present requirements, and, as in the declaration of intention, are designed to give a reasonably complete history of the applicant (subd. 2, sec. 4, act of June 29, 1906, 34 Stat. 597; U. S. C., title 8, sec. 379; sec. 27, act of June 29, 1906, 34 Stat. 604-605, as amended by sec. 3, act of May 9, 1918, 40 Stat. 548; U. S. C., title 8, sec. 409; and as amended by sec. 9, act of March 2, 1929, by adding sec. 35 thereto, 45 Stat. 1516; U. S. C., title 8, sec. 380b).

The written petition for naturalization must be in duplicate, must be signed by the petitioner in his own handwriting if physically able to write, and must be duly verified by witnesses.

(b) The applicant's petition for naturalization, in addition to the averments required by subsection (a) of this section, shall include averments of all other facts which may be material to the applicant's naturalization and required to be proved upon the hearing of such petition.

Proposed subsection (b) continues the present requirement that the petition include a recital of every fact material to the applicant's naturalization and required to be proved at the hearing (sec. 4, act of June 29, 1906, 34 Stat. 597; U. S. C., title 8, sec. 379).

(c) At the time of filing the petition for naturalization there shall be filed with the clerk of court a certificate from the Service, if the petitioner arrived in the United States after June 29, 1906, stating the date, place, and manner of petitioner's arrival in the United States, and the declaration of intention of such petitioner, which certificate and declaration shall be attached to and made a part of said petition.

Proposed subsection (c) continues the statutory requirement that a certificate from the Immigration and Naturalization Service showing the date, place, and manner of the applicant's arrival, if after June 29, 1906, and the declaration of intention, shall be attached to and made a part of the petition (sec. 4, act of June 29, 1906; 34 Stat. 597; U. S. C., title 8, sec. 380).

The necessity for the certificate of arrival to support a valid naturalization judgment, and the value of the certificate as a contemporary record of the applicant's arrival in the United States, was stated by the Supreme Court of the United States in the following language:

"Section 6 prohibits courts from taking final action upon any petition until 90 days after such notice has been given. That period is provided so that the examiners of the Bureau of Naturalization and others may have opportunity for adequately investigating whether reasons exist for denial of the petition. The certificate of arrival is the natural starting point for this investigation. It aids in ascertaining (a) whether the petitioner was within any of the classes of aliens who are excluded from admission by sections 2 and 38 of the Immigration Act of February 20, 1907, 34 Stat. 898; (b) whether he is among those who are excluded from naturalization under section 7 of the Naturalization Act-for political beliefs or practices; (c) whether he is the same person whose declaration of intention to become a citizen is also attached to the petition under section 4, subdivision second; (d) whether the minimum period of 5 years' continuous residence prescribed by section 4, subdivision fourth, has been complied with. The certificate of arrival is in practice deemed so important that in the regulations issued by the Secretary of Labor under section 28 'for properly carrying into execution the various provisions' of the act, the clerk of court is advised that he 'should not commence the execution of the petition until he has received the certificate of arrival.'" (United States v. Ness (1917), 245 U. S. 323.)

(d) Petitions for naturalization may be made and filed during the term time or vacation of the court and shall be docketed the same day as filed, but final action thereon shall be had only on stated days, to be fixed by rule of the court.

Proposed subsection (d) follows the present law in permitting petitions for naturalization to be filed either during term time or vacation of the court, but requires that final action be on stated days only, to be fixed by rule of the court (sec. 6, act of June 29, 1906, 34 Stat. 598; U. S. C., title 8, sec. 396).

Sec. 332.

HEARINGS OF PETITIONS

(a) The Commissioner or a Deputy Commissioner shall designate members of the Service to conduct preliminary hearings upon petitions for naturalization to any naturalization court and to make findings and recommendations thereon to such court. For such purposes any such designated examiner is hereby authorized to take testimony concerning any matter touching or in any way affecting the admissibility of any petitioner for naturalization, to subpena witnesses, and to administer oaths, including the oath of the petitioner to the petition for naturalization and the oath of petitioner's witnesses.

65495-45- -30

(b) The findings of any such designated examiner upon any such preliminary hearing shall be submitted to the court at the final hearing upon the petition with a recommendation that the petition be granted, or denied, or continued, with the reasons therefor. Such findings and recommendations shall be accompanied by duplicate lists containing the names of the petitioners, classified according to the character of the recommendations, and signed by the designated examiner. The judge to whom such findings and recommendations are submitted shall, if he approve such recommendations, enter a written order with such exceptions as the judge may deem proper, by subscribing his name to each such list when corrected to conform to his conclusions upon such recommendations. One of such lists shall thereafter be filed permanently of record in such court and the duplicate list shall be sent by the clerk of such court to the Commissioner.

One of the most important phases of the naturalization process is that concerning the actual hearing of the merits of a petition for naturalization, at which time the petitioner and his vouching witnesses give their testimony under oath. Prior to 1926, it was required that all such testimony be given before a naturalization judge or judges in open court. This judicial duty, however, became so burdensome upon the Federal courts with their congested dockets that Congress in that year gave legislative relief (subd. 14, sec. 4, act of June 29, 1906, as amended by the act of June 8, 1926, 44 Stat. 709-710; U. S. C., title 8, sec. 299a).

The judges of the United States district courts are authorized to designate naturalization examiners or officers to conduct preliminary hearings upon petitions for naturalization in such courts and to present to the courts findings and recommendations thereon. Such examiners or officers are empowered to take testimony concerning any matter touching or in any way affecting admissibility to naturalization, to subpena witnesses, and to administer oaths, including the oath of the petitioner to his petition and the oaths of his witnesses. The findings of such examiners or officers are required to be submitted to the court at the final hearing upon the petition with recommendations for granting, denial, or continuance, with the reasons therefor.

If the facts are favorable, the witnesses are excused from appearing in open court, the petitioner alone presenting himself in order to take the oath of allegiance. The judge to whom such findings and recommendations are submitted is required to approve, by written order, the recommendations, with such exceptions as he may deem proper. Lists of the petitioners for naturalization whose cases are heard and recommended are required to be filed permanently of record in the court and with the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization.

While hearing under the 1926 Act does not require the examination of the petitioner and witnesses under oath before the court and in the presence of the court, the court may upon its own initiative at its discretion, and if required upon the demand of the petitioner, have an examination of the petitioner and his witnesses made under oath before the court and in the presence of the court. The Report to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union, submitted by the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, shows that for years the Secretary of Labor and the Commissioner of Naturalization had recommended legislation of this character, primarily to relieve the courts in the large cities from the disorderly congestion of the unnecessary number of witnesses with the applicants at naturalization hearings. The Committee stated:

"The naturalization examiners have for years conducted administrative examinations of the applicants and their witnesses and reported the results to the courts. In almost all instances the favorable reports of the examiners are accepted by the courts."

Chief Justice Taft, and United States Circuit Judges Anderson, of Boston, and Learned Hand, of New York, and District Judges Augustus N. Hand, of New York, and Edward J. Henning, of Los Angeles, appeared before the Committee and urged that the courts be given the authority contemplated by the then pending legislation. Chief Justice Taft, under date of May 25, 1926, wrote to the Chairman of the House Committee, stating:

"I have examined Senate bill 4251 as it has been submitted to the House, and I sincerely hope that it will pass, because I think it will very much shorten the time which the Federal district judges have had to take in the matter of naturalization. I could have wished that the necessity for administering the oath by a Federal judge might also have been dispensed with, because in great centers where there are many applicants for naturalization there is much interference with the regular business of the court in criminal and civil matters by the presence in the

corridors and in the court rooms of the applicants for naturalization, their witnesses, and their families. The time of one district judge in some districts for 2 or 3 days in the week is consumed with the hearings of naturalization cases. It can be just as well done by the examiners selected by the senior district judge, as provided in this bill, and the hanging about the court rooms and the court corridors of the applicants and the witnesses can be very largely avoided by requiring them to attend upon the examiners at a different place. If there are to be but few personal examinations by the judges, as this act indicates, the matter of the administering of the oaths of allegiance to those who are admitted can be disposed of in very much less time than under the present system. I earnestly hope that the bill will pass." (Report No. 1328, House of Representatives, Amend and Supplement the Naturalization Laws, May 27, 1926, Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, 69th Cong., 1st sess.)

The records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service show that during the fiscal years from 1927 to 1934, inclusive, 1,355,620 petitions for naturalization were filed in all courts. Of these 838,251 (or 61.8 percent) were in the Federal courts, while 517,369 (or 38.2 percent) were filed in State courts. In the Federal courts, of 791,724 petitions in which naturalization examiners conducted the preliminary hearings for the courts, heard the testimony, and made recommendations to the courts, 782,955, or 98.89 percent, of the recommendations were approved, the courts raising a question in but 1.11 percent of them.

This evidence of confidence on the part of the courts in the action of the naturalization officers who act in a measure as masters in chancery, is believed to justify the extension of this procedure to petitions for naturalization filed in the State courts as well. When it is considered that if this procedure had been extended to the State courts, approximately 1,000,000 witnesses would have been relieved from compulsory attendance in court when the petitioner appeared to take the oath of allegiance, thus saving the witnesses and their petitioners the loss of almost that number of days' time, with resulting inconvenience and expense, including loss of wages, it is believed that the procedure followed so successfully and satisfactorily in the Federal courts should be extended to the State courts.

An additional reason and important one for this extension of the preliminary hearings being conducted by examiners to the State courts, is the greater uniformity in the interpretation of the naturalization law which would follow.

The present statute under which naturalization examiners are designated to conduct preliminary hearings provides that such designation may be made by the judge of any United States district court, or the senior judge of such court if there are more judges than one. In fact, this designation is a formality based upon the recommendation of the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization. In the belief that the judges should be relieved of this routine, the proposed draft of subsection (a) provides that members of the Immigration and Naturalization Service shall be designated by the Commissioner or a Deputy Commissioner of that Service.

Sec. 333.

(a) Every final hearing upon a petition for naturalization shall be had in open court before a judge or judges thereof, and every final order which may be made upon such petition shall be under the hand of the court and entered in full upon a record kept for that purpose, and upon such final hearing of such petition the applicant, and, except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, the witnesses shall be examined under oath before the court and in the presence of the court.

Proposed section 333 (a) continues in effect the present provisions by which final hearings upon petitions for naturalization must be in open court before a judge or judges (sec. 9, act of June 29, 1906, 34 Stat. 599; U. S. C., title 8, sec. 398). The validity of this provision has been upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States in deciding that the hearing held in the judge's chambers adjoining the courtroom was not in compliance with the law. This provision in section 9 of the Naturalization Act of 1906 was referred to by the court as follows:

"Section 9 requires a final hearing upon the petition in open court. The term 'open court' is used in contradistinction to a judge sitting in chambers (Bouvier's Law Dictionary). The whole statute indicates a studied purpose to prevent well-known abuses by means of publicity throughout the entire proceedings. Its plain language repels the idea that any part of a final hearing may take place in chambers, whether adjoining the courtroom or elsewhere" (United States v. Ginsberg (917), 243 U. S. 474–475).

Another requirement of this proposed subsection, that every final order upon a petition for naturalization shall be under the hand of the court and entered in full upon a record kept for that purpose, is in accordance with the present law (sec. 9, act of June 29, 1906, supra).

The proposed code follows the present law in requiring the examination of the petitioner and witnesses under oath before the court and in the presence of the court, except in those cases where designated officers of the Immigration and Naturalization Service conduct preliminary hearings upon petitions for naturalization and make recommendations to the court (sec. 9, act of June 29, 1906, 34 Stat. 599, as amended by subd. 14, sec. 4, act of June 29, 1906, as amended by the act of June 8, 1926, 44 Stat. 709-710 (pt. 2); U. S. C., title 8, sec. 399a).

(b) The requirement of subsection (a) of this section for the examination of the petitioner and witnesses under oath before the court and in the presence of the court shall not apply in any case where a designated examiner has conducted the preliminary hearing authorized by subsection (a) of section 332; except that the court may, in its discretion, and shall, upon demand of the petitioner, require the examination of the petitioner and the witnesses under oath before the court and in the presence of the

court.

The scope of proposed subsection (b) has been described in part in subsection (a) of this section immediately above. The only requirement under present and proposed law as to the appearance of the petitioner before the court upon the final hearing, is that in those cases where the witnesses are satisfactory, he appear and take the oath of allegiance (sec. 9, act of June 29, 1906, as amended, as amended by the act of June 8, 1926, supra).

(c) Except as otherwise specifically provided in this chapter, no final hearing shall be held on any petition for naturalization nor shall any person be naturalized nor shall any certificate of naturalization be issued by any court within thirty days after the filing of the petition for naturalization, nor within sixty days preceding the holding of any general election within the territorial jurisdiction of the naturalization court.

Proposed section 333 (c) prohibits (with certain exceptions specified in this chapter) the final hearing upon a petition for naturalization or the issuance of a certificate of naturalization by any court until at least 30 days have elapsed after the filing of the petition. In most cases an interim between the filing of the petition and the final hearing must necessarily be provided in order to afford the Government the opportunity to arrange the calendars and the records for the final hearings in the court, and to make further inquiry as to the eligibility of the applicant and the competency of his witnesses where required. In the extreme case where this period would not be sufficient for the necessary investigation, a motion would be made to the court to extend the time. On the other hand, the reduction of this waiting period from the present requirement of at least 90 days would make possible the prompt naturalization of a very large percent of all the petitions filed (sec. 6, act of June 29, 1906, 34 Stat. 598, as amended by sec. 2, act of March 3, 1931, 46 Stat. 1511; U. S. C., title 8, sec. 396). The exceptions to the required waiting period include those special groups of cases the circumstances of which require or justify the waiver of the usual delay. (See proposed secs. 316, 323, and 324.)

The present law prohibits naturalization or the issuance by any court of a certificate of naturalization within 30 days preceding the holding of any general election within its territorial jurisdiction (sec. 6, act of June 29, 1906, 34 Stat. 596; U. S. C., title 8, sec. 396). Proposed subsection (c) extends this prohibitory period immediately prior to general elections to 60 days. It is believed that this suggested requirement is a desirable one, as it will tend to reduce to a minimum attempts to influence naturalization in connection with political campaigns.

(d) The United States shall have the right to appear before any court in any naturalization proceedings for the purpose of cross-examining the peti-tioner and the witnesses produced in support of the petition concerning any matter touching or in any way affecting the petitioner's right to admission to citizenship, and shall have the right to call witnesses, produce evidence, and be heard in opposition to the granting of any petition in naturalization proceedings.

Proposed section 333 (d) continues the present provision which establishes the right of the United States to appear in naturalization proceedings for the