Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/42

xx in the city of Washington, or that can be described as representing the Government in any executive or semi-executive capacity.

Official Correspondence; Documents

There are no titles known under the laws of the United States as attaching to any of the Federal officers. Custom, however, has established certain rules which it is well to follow. The President should be addressed "The President," but no communication should be sent to him unless absolutely essential. All correspondence relating to the different Departments should be addressed to the heads thereof; as, for instance, "Secretary of War, Washington, D.C. Sir:" The Vice-President is addressed simply as "The Vice-President," but when in his capacity as President of the Senate, the form should be "To the President of the Senate." The Speaker of the House of Representatives should be addressed simply as "Speaker of the House of Representatives." It is not essential to use names, it being customary to address the office rather than the individual holding it. In addressing the purely military or naval bureaus of the War and Navy Departments, the heads of bureaus should be addressed by their names, using specific titles; as, for instance, "Brig. Gen. Henry C. Corbin, Adjutant-General, U. S. A., Washington, D.C. Sir:"

In making applications for documents, requests should be sent to the head of the particular Department or Bureau issuing them. Each Department distributes only its own reports, although members of the Senate and House can usually supply current reports of all Departments. Some of the documents of the Departments and Bureaus, like the decisions of the Department of the Interior, and the charts, bulletins, and monographs of the Hydrographic Office, the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and the Geological Survey, are not furnished gratuitously, but are sold. A complete list of Government publications, with the prices of those which are sold, can be had by application to the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C, and many public documents, the general editions of which have been exhausted, can be obtained by purchase from him, but he is not permitted to sell more than one copy of any public document to the same person. When writing to any Department about publications, it is not necessary to inclose stamp to secure reply.

Rules Governing Applications for Passports

The following rules are prescribed for applications for passports:

1. To citizens only.–The law forbids the granting of a passport to any person who is not a citizen of the United States.–Revised Statutes, sec. 4076.

2. Who are citizens.–All persons born in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States. So are all children born out of the limits and jurisdiction of the United States whose fathers were at the time of their birth citizens thereof.

An alien woman, with certain exceptions, who marries a citizen of the United States acquires his citizenship.

An alien, having complied with the requirements of law, may become a citizen by naturalization before a court having competent jurisdiction.

Minor children, resident in the United States, become citizens by naturalization of their father.