Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 32.djvu/201

165 NOTES * i6s Two portions of the amendment, being its subdivisions numbered seventh and eleventh, are of interest. The latter provides that no alien enemy may become a citizen unless he can conform to certain condi- tions with respect to the date of his declaration of intention, etc.; or, failing that, unless the President by an act of special grace "upon in- vestigation and report by the Department of Justice fully estabUshing the loyalty" of the applicant, excepts him from the classification of an alien enemy. From a purely practical, non-legal standpoint these are most remarkable provisions. The other opponents of the Central Powers have bent every effort toward squeezing Germans and Austro-Hun- garians out of citizenship rather than toward admitting them into citi- zenship. Certain considerations of policy, particularly concerning the subject races of Austria-Hungary, may well overbalance this considera- tion and also the apparent inadvisability of casting the labor of thou- sands of new investigations upon a Department already bearing the brunt of the war work. When one turns to the legal points, however, difficulties multiply. If a native of Germany naturalized here when the coxmtry was neutral might reasonably expect harsh treatment from his former compatriots, he will surely be doubly damned if he attempts to become an American while war is on between the two nations. Should he be captured in military operations, his fate is certain unless considerations of poUcy stay the execution. There is a British case squarely in point.^ One would not expect more mercy of the Hun. Subdivision seventh of the amendatory act is an overwhelmingly complex and ill-drawn paragraph dealing with everything from a Filipino to an alien seaman, but especially providing for the expeditious naturali- zation during the war of aliens in the military and naval service. This object is thoroughly laudable and it is a pleasure to know that a land- office naturalization business was done in the army camps.^^ The trouble is that a very substantial number of alien enemies have been admitted under this section. It was believed that their admission would save them from treatment as traitors if captured, a risk which they naturally did not care to face. The foregoing discussion leads to the conclusion that such a belief is thoroughly unsound. The grim possibilities of the mis- take, if it is one, are obvious. Fortunately they appear not to have been realized in fact. But there is another difficulty. Subdivision seventh purports to cover "any alien serving in the military or naval service." It must be remembered, however, that for over a century the naturalization of alien enemies has been forbidden and that this restriction is continued with certain specified relaxations by a subsequent subdivision of this very act. It appears not unlikely that Germans and Austro-Hungarians dealt with under subdivision seventh have ac- ^ Rex V. Lynch, i K. B. (1903) 444. The court simply slashed its way through an absolutely unqualified expatriation statute, saying that naturalization itself under the circumstances was an act of treason. During the War of 181 2 the same point came up, and executions of captives were avoided by a hair's breadth. Cockburn, .supra, 70. ^ On the other hand, there appear to have been few if any naturalizations under [subdivision eleventh as late as November i, 1918.