Americans by Choice

Table XVIII

Racial Distribution of 26,284 Petitioners Denied, 1913–14, and the Per Cent of the Denials for the Six Principal Causes

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		Denials		Causes of Denial—Per Cent
Country of Birth	Number of Petitions	Number	Per Cent	Want of Prosecution		Ignorance		Immoral Character
				Incompetent Witnesses		Declaration Invalid		“Old-Law” Declaration{1}
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All countries	26,284	3,033	11.5	22.7	13.9	5.2	7.2	1.9	37.5
Greece	90	27	30.0	48.1	11.1	3.7	....	....	3.7
France	86	19	22.1	15.7	26.3	....	....	....	42.1
Italy	3,591	646	18.0	28.1	11.1	2.9	14.2	1.7	34.2
Turkey in Europe	92	15	16.3	26.6	7.6	26.6	....	7.6	20.9
Holland	139	21	15.1	28.5	33.3	....	....	....	14.0
Scotland	288	42	14.6	21.4	11.9	9.5	2.4	....	31.0
Denmark	200	29	14.5	17.2	27.6	3.5	....	6.9	31.0
England	831	120	14.4	30.0	19.2	4.2	1.7	2.5	27.5
Sweden	616	80	13.0	13.7	13.7	11.3	3.8	5.0	30.0
Germany	2,305	296	12.8	17.2	14.5	5.4	4.7	2.4	47.3
Switzerland	197	25	12.7	24.0	20.0	4.0	8.0	....	36.0
Turkey in Asia	142	18	12.7	44.4	11.1	16.7	5.6	....	16.7
Norway	389	48	12.3	25.0	27.1	14.6	8.3	....	4.2
Belgium	41	5	12.2	40.0	20.0	....	20.0	....	....
Canada	385	43	11.2	30.2	14.0	9.3	....	4.6	20.9
Hungary	2,443	249	10.2	32.2	12.5	4.8	7.6	3.2	24.9
Finland	144	14	9.7	42.8	14.3	14.3	....	....	....
Rumania	569	54	9.5	7.4	11.1	5.6	7.4	3.7	63.0
Russia	7,864	744	9.5	15.1	15.7	5.5	6.2	1.7	46.2
Ireland	1,773	166	9.4	27.1	11.4	3.0	1.8	0.6	46.3
Austria	3,875	347	9.0	21.6	10.4	5.5	7.2	1.4	44.8
Other	201	27	....	....	....	....	....	....	....
No information	23	....	....	....	....	....	....	....	....
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note 1: Denied because declaration of intention was more than seven years old.

In this table there are 14 countries listed whose per cent of denials exceeds that for all countries. Of these only four supply the “new” immigration. And of the seven showing a lower than 11.5 per cent denials, five constitute the “new” immigration. This would point to greater success on the part of the new races in attaining their naturalization papers. The qualifying fact here, as elsewhere, is that more than twice as many petitioners belong to the “new” races as to the “old.”

The two causes of denial showing the largest per cents for the country as a whole and for most countries are “want of prosecution” and the invalidity of their “old-law” declaration. That so large a proportion of immigrants have taken the trouble to take almost the last steps toward citizenship and then fail by default is symptomatic of waste somewhere along the line. This condition seems to prevail among both the “old” and “new” peoples.

As Regards “Immoral Character”

For some of the less mechanical causes of denial, let us segregate and arrange the countries in order of percentages. The following table shows denials for “immoral character.”