_But should he move during this period from one judicial district to another within the same state, he must file a new petition_ and pay an additional _fee, as the court will not transfer its original records_. As a result, an applicant who removes to New York City after filing a petition and paying the fee in Buffalo must go through the same process in New York City. And unless he can afford to bring his witnesses twice from Buffalo to New York City he must wait another year until two other citizens can verify his year’s residence in New York City. The two witnesses must accompany the petitioner at least twice--when the petition is filed and at the hearing in open court. If his case is not reached and adjournments are made, the applicant frequently appears not only the minimum four times, but may appear as many as six or eight times, and his witnesses as many as four or five times. Every day in court means the loss of wages and the cost of transportation to and from the county seat for himself and witnesses whom he must reimburse for their losses. The applicant and his witnesses are in constant fear that their enforced presence in court during ordinary working hours may result in the loss of their jobs. Of what possible value can state and district lines be in a national citizenship matter? Are we a nation or are we a conglomeration of states and districts? If we need so cumbersome a machine to prevent frauds, by which the alien pays the entire cost, then the reduction in fraud is at the high cost of citizens. It is estimated that 10 per cent of all aliens who try to become citizens fail in their final examination because of technicalities, and most of them never come back, though no fraud was alleged. When we set this highly specialized Federal machinery in motion in 1906, it was on the theory that citizenship was a national, not a state matter. In 1889 when the enforcement of the immigration laws was transferred to the Federal government, it acquired all powers of admission and exclusion, but all the protective features of the Board of Emigration Commissioners of New York state were dropped and a series of exploitations immediately arose. This is precisely what happened when our naturalization laws were transferred. We took the authority, but we neglected to establish standards, facilities, and protection for the alien. We did not settle the states’-rights question and we did not consider sufficiently our international relations.