ay he was introduced by Thomas
Keeler to a stranger, who went with him to court and signed a paper;
they both went before the judge, who asked the stranger something.
Hefferman signed nothing, said nothing, but kissed a book and came out a
citizen, having taken no oath except that of renunciation and
allegiance."

[Sidenote: Fraud Abundant]

Thus are the sacred rights of citizenship obtained by thousands upon
thousands, not in New York alone, but in all our cities. More than that,
fraudulent use is freely made of naturalization papers. The Italian
immigrant, for example, finds his vote is wanted, and obtains a false
paper. He returns to Italy to spend his earnings, and there is offered a
sum of money for the use of his papers. These are given to an emigrant
who probably could not pass the examination at Ellis Island, but who as
a naturalized citizen, if he is not detected in the fraud, cannot be
shut out. Then he sends the papers back to Italy. It is admitted that
there is a regular traffic in naturalization papers. In every way the
alien is put on the wrong track, and his American experiences are such
as would naturally make him lawless and criminal rather than a good
citizen. He needs nothing more than protection against corrupting and
venal agencies, which find their origin in politics and the saloon.

[Sidenote: The Saloon and the Immigrant]

The foreign element furnishes the saloons with victims. In his graphic
book describing tenement life in New York Mr. Riis shows the rapid
multiplication of the saloons in the slums where the foreigners are
crowded into tenements, nine per cent. more densely packed than the most
densely populated districts of London. In the chapter, "The Reign of
Rum,"[75] he says:

[Sidenote: Testimony of Riis]

"'Where God builds a church the devil builds next door a saloon' is an
old saying that has lost its point in New York. Either the devil was on
the ground first, or he has been doing a good deal more in the way of
building. I tried once to find out how the account stood, and counted to
111 Protestant churches, chapels, and places of worship of every kind
below Fourteenth Street, 4,065 saloons. The worst half of the tenement
population lives down there, and it has to this day the worst half of
the saloons. Up town the account stands a little better, but there are
easily ten saloons to every church to-day.

[Sidenote: Hunting for an American]

"As to the motley character of the t