ON A SPRING DAY in 1923, close to seventy immigrants gathere in the federal courtroom of Judge Robert S. Bean in Portland, Oregon anxiously awaiting their citizenship papers. Sixty-two immigrants fro western and eastern Europe and Canada left the courtroom as America citizens on May 17, 1923. A few petitioners were told by the judge to r turn with their petitions in a year when they had become better acquain with American laws and customs. Three were denied citizenship outrig for having been" draft dodgers" during the world war. Two" Hindus" w denied their final papers in accordance with the recent US Supreme Co decision in US v. Bhagat Singh Thind on February 19, 1923, finding H dus not white and, therefore, within the racial category ineligible for citizenship-a category of exclusion applied to Asians. Also in the cou room were two aspirants, a Syrian and an Armenian, whose whiteness had been challenged by the naturalization officer of the Portland distr They had been directed by the federal official to bring their families court so that the judge could determine if they fell within the ineligib nonwhite category, as the naturalization officer maintained. The Syri a purveyor of soft drinks at a small establishment on Portland's Nort End, had with him his wife and three children. When he was called, T Oregonian reported, the family filed to the front of the courtroom carryin small American flags. The judge dodged the racial issue in the Syrian's case. Saleba Kaiel's petition for naturalization was rejected simply on t grounds of" illiteracy." Upon being told he could not become an Americ Mr. Kaiel proved unable to contain his emotion and broke into tears, t Portland paper said. 1