========================================================= YEAR | DECLARATIONS | PETITIONS | CERTIFICATES -----------+---------------+---------------+------------- 1907{2} | 73,723 | 21,094 | 7,953 1908{3} | 137,229 | 44,029 | 25,963 1909 | 145,794 | 43,161 | 38,372 1910 | 167,226 | 55,038 | 39,206 1911 | 186,157 | 73,644 | 56,257 1912 | 169,142 | 95,627 | 69,965 1913 | 181,632 | 95,186 | 82,017 1914 | 214,016 | 123,855 | 105,439 1915 | 245,815 | 106,317 | 96,390 1916 | 207,935 | 108,009 | 93,911 1917 | 438,748 | 132,320 | 94,897 1918 | 335,069 | 110,416 | 151,449 1919 | 346,827 | 107,559 | 217,358 1920 | 200,106 | 166,925 | 125,711 -----------+---------------+---------------+------------- Total | 3,149,419 | 1,283,180 | 1,205,170 ========================================================= [note 1: _Annual Report of the Commissioner of Naturalization_, 1919, p. 16.] [note 2: Nine months only.] [note 3: First full year of 12 months.] The annual reports of the Commissioner of Naturalization, like those of many other government bureaus, are written not so much to afford information to the public as to extol the work of the Bureau, pointing out the remarkable extent of the ground covered, the great number of letters written, and of cases handled by a force grievously and increasingly inadequate since the very beginning of the service, and so on. They are, however, most unsatisfactory as a source of sociological information; particularly barren are they of any hint of information regarding the various races whose representatives seek citizenship; their relative promptness in seeking and success in getting it; their respective standing as regards the various reasons for denial. They do show voluminously how many declarations and petitions are filed annually in each state and subdivision; increase or decrease in totals; how many clerks of courts are delinquent in sending in the government’s share of fees, and other more or less significant _minutiæ_ of the routine work of the field and clerical force and the courts. VAST ARREARAGES IN EXAMINATIONS