visions of the preceding section, to national banking associations during the previous month; whereupon the Secretary of the Treasury shall redeem and cancel an amount of the three per centum temporary loan certificates issued under the acts of March two, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, and July twentyfive, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, not less than the amount of circulating notes so reported, and may, if necessary, in order to procure the presentation of such temporary loan certificates for redemption, give notice to the holders thereof, by publication or otherwise, that certain of said certificates (which shall be designated by number, date, and amount) shall cease to bear interest from and after a day to be designated in such notice, and that the certificates so designated shall no longer be available as any portion of the lawful money-reserve in possession of any national banking association, and after the day designated in such notice no interest shall be paid on such certificates, and they shall not thereafter be counted as a part of the reserve of any banking association.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That upon the deposit of any United States bonds, bearing interest payable in gold, with the treasurer of the United States, in the manner prescribed in the nineteenth and twentieth sections of the national currency act, it shall be lawful for the comptroller of the currency to issue to the association making the same, circulating notes of different denominations, not less than five dollars, not exceeding in amount eighty per centum of the par value of the bonds deposited, which notes shall bear upon their face the promise of the association to which they are issued to pay them, upon presentation at the office of the association, in gold coin of the United States, and shall be redeemable upon such presentation in such coin: Provided, That no banking association organized under this section shall have a circulation in excess of one million of dollars.1

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That every national banking association formed under the provisions of the preceding 1 The limitation on circulation was removed by an act of January 19, 1875.

section of this act shall at all times keep on hand not less than twenty-five per centum of its outstanding circulation in gold or silver coin of the United States, and shall receive at par in the payment of debts the gold notes of every other such banking association which at the time of such payments shall be redeeming its circulating notes in gold coin of the United States.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That every association organized for the purpose of issuing gold notes as provided in this act shall be subject to all the requirements and provisions of the national currency act, except the first clause of section twenty-two, which limits the circulation of national banking associations to three hundred millions of dollars; the first clause of section thirty-two, which, taken in connection with the preceding section, would require national banking associations organized in the city of San Francisco to redeem their circulating notes at par in the city of New York; and the last clause of section thirty-two, which requires every national banking association to receive in payment of debts the notes of every other national banking association at par: Provided, That in applying the provisions and requirements of said act to the banking associations herein provided for, the terms "lawful money," and "lawful money of the United States," shall be held and construed to mean gold or silver coin of the United States.

APPROVED, July 12, 1870.

No. 87. Naturalization Act
July 14, 1870

NUMEROUS proposals to amend the naturalization laws came before Congress during the session of 1869-1870, called out in part by the recent election frauds in New York. Bills introduced February 2 and March 2, 1870, by Noah Davis of New York, from the Committee on the Judiciary, were recommitted. A new bill was introduced by Davis June 13, and passed the same day under suspension of the rules by a vote of 130 to 49, 51 not voting. This

was the bill as finally passed, except the last three sections. A substitute was reported in the Senate on the 18th. July 4, by a vote of 21 to 20, amendments extending the privilege of naturalization to African aliens and persons of African descent, and providing for supervisors and deputies in certain cases, were agreed to, and the bill passed, the final vote being 33 to 8. The House, by a vote of 132 to 53, 45 not voting, concurred in the amendments of the Senate. There was strong opposition to the bill in both houses.

REFERENCES. Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XVI, 254-256. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 41st Cong., 2d Sess., and the Cong. Globe. On the election frauds in New York see House Report 31, 40th Cong., 3d Sess. See further Wharton, International Law Digest, II, chap. 7.

An Act to amend the Naturalization Laws and to punish Crimes against the same, and for other Purposes.

Be it enacted. That in all cases where any oath, affirmation, or affidavit shall be made or taken under or by virtue of any act or law relating to the naturalization of aliens, or in any proceedings under such acts or laws, and any person or persons taking or making such oath, affirmation, or affidavit, shall knowingly swear or affirm falsely, the same shall be deemed and taken to be perjury, and the person or persons guilty thereof shall upon conviction thereof be sentenced to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years and not less than one year, and to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That if any person applying to be admitted a citizen, or appearing as a witness for any such person, shall knowingly personate any other person than himself, or falsely appear in the name of a deceased person, or in an assumed or fictitious name, or if any person shall falsely make, forge, or counterfeit any oath, affirmation, notice, affidavit, certificate, order, record, signature, or other instrument, paper, or proceeding required or authorized by any law or act relating to or providing for the naturalization of aliens; or shall utter, sell, dispose of, or use as true or genuine, or for any unlawful purpose, any false, forged, ante-dated, or counterfeit oath, affirmation, notice, certificate, order, record, signature, instrument, paper, or proceeding as aforesaid; or sell or dispose of to any

person other than the person for whom it was originally issued, any certificate of citizenship, or certificate showing any person to be admitted a citizen; or if any person shall in any manner use for the purpose of registering as a voter, or as evidence of a right to vote, or otherwise, unlawfully, any order, certificate of citizenship, or certificate, judgment, or exemplification, showing such person to be admitted to be a citizen, whether heretofore or hereafter issued or made, knowing that such order or certificate, judgment, or exemplification has been unlawfully issued or made; or if any person shall unlawfully use, or attempt to use, any such order or certificate, issued to or in the name of any other person, or in a fictitious name, or the name of a deceased person; or use, or attempt to use, or aid, or assist, or participate in the use of any certificate of citizenship, knowing the same to be forged, or counterfeit, or ante-dated, or knowing the same to have been procured by fraud, or otherwise unlawfully obtained; or if any person, and without lawful excuse, shall knowingly have or be possessed of any false, forged, ante-dated, or counterfeit certificate of citizenship, purporting to have been issued under the provisions of any law of the United States relating to naturalization, knowing such certificate to be false, forged, ante-dated, or counterfeit, with intent unlawfully to use the same; or if any person shall obtain, accept, or receive any certificate of citizenship known to such person to have been procured by fraud or by the use of any false name, or by means of any false statement made with intent to procure, or to aid in procuring, the issue of such certificate, or known to such person to be fraudulently altered or ante-dated; or if any person who has been or may be admitted to be a citizen shall, on oath or affirmation, or by affidavit, knowingly deny that he has been so admitted, with intent to evade or avoid any duty or liability imposed or required by law, every person so offending shall be deemed and adjudged guilty of felony, and, on conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to be imprisoned and kept at hard labor for a period not less than one year nor more than five years, or be fined in a sum not less than three hundred dollars nor more

than one thousand dollars, or both such punishments may be imposed, in the discretion of the court. And every person who shall knowingly and intentionally aid or abet any person in the commission of any such felony, or attempt to do any act hereby made felony, or counsel, advise, or procure, or attempt to procure, the commission thereof, shall be liable to indictment and punishment in the same manner and to the same extent as the principal party guilty of such felony, and such person may be tried and convicted thereof without the previous conviction of such principal.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the provisions of this act shall apply to all proceedings had or taken, or attempted to be had or taken, before any court in which any proceeding for naturalization shall be commenced, had, or taken, or attempted to be commenced; and the courts of the United States shall have jurisdiction of all offenses under the provisions of this act, in or before whatsoever court or tribunal the same shall have been committed.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That in any city having upwards of twenty thousand inhabitants, it shall be the duty of the judge of the circuit court of the United States for the circuit wherein said city shall be, upon the application of two citizens, to appoint in writing for each election district or voting precinct in said city, and to change or renew said appointment as occasion may require, from time to time, two citizens resident of the district or precinct, one from each political party, who, when so designated, shall be, and are hereby, authorized to attend at all times and places fixed for the registration of voters, who, being registered, would be entitled to vote for representatives in Congress, and at all times and places for holding elections of representatives in Congress, and for counting the votes cast at said elections, and to challenge any name proposed to be registered, and any vote offered, and to be present and witness throughout the counting of all votes, and to remain where the ballot-boxes are kept at all times after the polls are open until the votes are 1 Repealed by act of February 28, 1871, section 18 (post, p. 261).

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