The vexatious technicalities which now seem so unjust to many an applicant for citizenship are, after all, only reaction at the other extreme to the incredible laxity which characterized the process in the early years. The population of what was then New York City was only 515,547 in 1850; 813,669 in 1860; and 942,292 in 1870; but in the eight years, 1860-67, inclusive, more than 67,000 aliens were naturalized in that city alone. The naturalizations in New York City in each year from 1856 to 1867, inclusive, in only two courts--the Superior Court and the Court of Common Pleas--an average of more than 9,000 a year is shown in the following table: TABLE II NUMBER OF ALIENS NATURALIZED EACH YEAR FROM 1856 TO 1867 IN TWO COURTS IN NEW YORK CITY{1} ====================================== YEAR NUMBER -------------------------------------- 1856 (Presidential election) 16,493 1857 8,991 1858 6,769 1859 7,636 1860 (Presidential election) 13,556 1861 3,903 1862 2,414 1863 2,633 1864 (Presidential election) 12,171 1865 7,428 1866 13,023 1867 15,476 ====================================== [note 1: John I. Davenport, _The Wig and the Jimmy_, p. 12.] These figures are taken from a curious pamphlet, published in 1869 by John I. Davenport, who was United States Commissioner and Chief Supervisor of Elections for the Southern District of New York, under the cryptic title, _The Wig and the Jimmy_, which tells in detail the story of the debauching of naturalization by these two courts. The year 1868, however, saw the scandal reach unprecedented heights. Says Mr. Davenport:[10]