268 F. 217 | E.D. Mo. | 1920
Turning for a moment to the other phase of the case, which is that which has reference to the obligation of the United States to protect its naturalized citizens wherever they may be found, it is obviously unfair to the other hundred millions of citizens of this country that the obligation of protection should be assumed by the United States, as to the applicant, when such protection might well result in serious difficulties between Russia and the United States; for he does not say that he desires to become a citizen of this country solely because he is attached to its principles, to its institutions, and to its 'form of government, and because he selects it as the best country and government on earth, but in effect he says that he wants citizenship to subserve a purpose of his own, without considering, it follows, whether such purpose may work good or ill to the country to which he offers himself. Thus the appealing sentimental side of the case becomes in my
This is a cold-blooded view, at variance, perhaps, with the much-vaunted land of liberty and home of the oppressed view of our obligations to all humanity. But in the light of the shortcomings, not to say failure, of the “melting pot,” in recent times of stress and danger, and of the necessity of deporting divers immigrants, hastily and improvidently admitted to this country, the trend ought to be toward greater care in selecting proffered citizens, rather than toward a blind grabbing of all offerings. The situation imperatively demands this greater selective care. Boil these reasons among others held in mind, I am convinced that the application of the petitioner ought to be denied.
I reach this conclusion without particularly stressing the fact that this applicant secured deferred classification in the draft for army service, upon his representation that his wife and children, who have never been in the United States, were “mainly dependent on his labor for support.” He made that representation in order to evade induction into the military service of the United States, notwithstanding the fact that he has been, as he now most insistently urges, unable to communicate with his family in any manner whatsoever since the year 1913, and therefore obviously unable to supply any support whatever to them since that date. The obvious inference, his asseverations notwithstanding, is that he is not sufficiently attached to the institutions and government of the United States to make him willing to fight in their defense.
Bet the application of petitioner for citizenship be denied.