The provisions for immediate naturalization turned the “Foreign Legion” into a legion of citizens, and took out of the category of aliens thousands of men of like spirit. As for those of neutral nationality who withdrew their declarations of intention in accordance with the provision made by Congress, and lapsed into purely alien status, the following tabulation from the second report of the Provost Marshal General, although only partially complete, is illuminating:[133] TABLE XXXII NEUTRALS WITHDRAWING FROM THE SERVICE ============================================================== Total neutral alien declarants registered June 5, | 1917-Sept. 11, 1918 | 77,644 Placed in deferred class (66.62 per cent) | 51,726 Placed in Class I | 25,918 Exempted on withdrawal of declaration | 818 ============================================================== In this group only three per cent availed themselves of the privilege. Of the significance and extent of the response to the opportunity for immediate naturalization, the Provost Marshal General says:[134] One test of the spirit of loyalty among aliens may be found in the number of naturalizations applied for and granted to registrants since the United States entered the war. Such action inspires a sentiment of admiration for their readiness to enter the war in the service of their adopted country. The Bureau of Naturalization reports that the total number of naturalizations in the United States between October 1, 1917, and September 30, 1918, was 179,816; and that since the passage of the Act of May 8, 1918, the number of naturalizations accomplished in camp, up to November 30, 1918, was 155,246. And there were only 414,389 aliens placed in Class I up to September 11, 1918 (including declarants and nondeclarants), and as a large portion of these must have gone overseas prior to June, 1918, it is plain that the opportunity for naturalization found a hearty response from the great majority of aliens to whom it was offered. AUSTRIANS WHO WERE NOT FOR AUSTRIA Concerning the technically enemy aliens of the Austro-Hungarian allegiance, the same report shows that when Austria-Hungary became an enemy nation in December, 1917, it affected the status of some 239,000 registrants, and that thereupon the camps were found to contain “thousands of Austro-Hungarian declarants, not deferred on ordinary grounds, and also a large number (probably about 9,000) of Austro-Hungarian nondeclarants who had waived their alienage exemption.”[135]