File No. 6807/12.
Ambassador Tower to the Secretary of State.
Berlin, April 30, 1908.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Mr. Bacon’s dispatch No. 814 of the 14th of April, 1908, in regard to the case of Mr. Charles Stoetzel, a citizen of the United States, who was born at Mulhausen, Alsace-Lorraine, and who wishes to be relieved from military obligations to the German Government.
In compliance with the instructions contained in that dispatch, I have this day addressed a note to the imperial German secretary of state for foreign affairs informing him that the United States Government adheres to the position which it has always taken in regard to the United States citizenship of German subjects born in Alsace-Lorraine and afterwards naturalized in the United States, and that the Government dissents from the view expressed by the German Government with reference to Mr. Charles Stoetzel.
I have requested in this note, also, that the case of Mr. Charles Stoetzel may be brought again to the attention of the competent German authorities and that his American citizenship may be recognized.
I have, etc.,