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59th Congress, | HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Report .
1st Session. \ /,;^ , No. 1789.
= - ( Ai'H 19
BUREAU OF IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION.
February 26, 1906.— Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state
of the Union and ordered to be printed.
Mr. Bonynge, from the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization,
submitted the following
REPORT.
[To accompany H. R. 15442.]
The Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, to whom was
referred H. R. 274, introduced by Mr. Jenkins; H. R. 364, introduced
by Mr. Goulden; H. R. 8424, introduced by Mr. Hayes; H. R. 9964,
introduced by Mr. Howell, of New Jersey; H. R. 10857, introduced
by Mr. Waldo; II. R. 12860, introduced by Mr. Howell, of New
Jersey, and. II. R. 15442, introduced by Mr. Howell, of New Jersey,
have had the same under consideration and unanimously instructed
me to report back to the House H. R. 15442, entitled "A bill to establish
a bureau of immigration and naturalization and. to provide for a
uniform rule for the naturalization of aliens throughout the United
States," without amendment and to recommend its passage.
By section 8 of Article I of the Constitution of the United States
power is conferred upon Congress "To establish an uniform rule for
naturalization." The first act passed by the Congress under that
authority was the act of March 26, 1790, which continued temporarily
naturalization laws which had been in force prior to the adoption of
the Constitution. In 1795 James Madison reported a bill which was
enacted into law, and is in effect the law now in force. The law of
1795 was repealed in 1798, but its general features were reenacted in
the law of 1802, and is, with a few amendments, the law as it stands at
the present time.
The authority conferred by the provision of the Constitution above
referred to is "To establish an uniform rule of naturalization." The
present law, which, as has been shown, has been the law practically
from the foundation of the Government, does not 'seek to do more
than to enunciate the general principles which should control in the
naturalization of aliens. No attempt was made at the time the law of
1795 or 1802 was passed to provide by law any uniform, definite, or
statutory proceeding for the naturalization of aliens. It is probable
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