592 
■Ghe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
April 21, 1917. 
Unusual Questions 
A Little Bunch of Troubles 
Naturalization of Married Women 
After 25 years trying to purstiade my, 
husband, who is German by birth, to he-, 
come a citizen of the Gnited States, ho 
stili refuses, and he also deserted the 
(hu man army. Is there any way in | 
which I, as his wife, can become a oiti-1 
zenV I was horn in England of English i 
parents. Would I get any protection in j 
case of war, and also as far as property ■ 
is concerned, it being owned by husband i 
and wife together? My ch'ildreu were' 
all born in the United States. A. P. 
New York. 
Tli<‘ (piestion is whether the alien wife 
of an alien man, both having I'esided in 
this country as husband and wife, can 
become a citizen of the United vStates 
when the husband refuses to act, and the 
.answer is: “No, she may not.” The 
question is quite pertinent at the pre.s- 
ent time, con.sidering that,' for a num¬ 
ber of year.s, the rights of women have 
beam broadened by the various Stales, so 
that, in a niunber of States, they are 
praeti<ally coextensive wath that of the 
man, and also taking into consideration 
the i)resent status of the United States 
the death of one to settle iqt the e.state. 
Right of Lateral Support of Land 
One end of my property is on a hill, 
about 50 feet higher than the i-o.adway, 
but not on the road. My line runs 
through the centre of said hill. My 
neighbor, who owns the other side of hiil 
up to the road, is taking his part of the 
hill away for the sand. 1 omitted to 
state 1 have outbuildings, etc., on my 
part up to my line. My neighbor claims 
he can excavate and cut his part away 
perpendicularly right uj) to the line, and 
if my i)art caves in or falls and my 
I)roperty is damaged tluit is “up to me.” 
lie says in New York (,'ity one caiinot 
excavate below a neighbor's prf)perty 
without .shoring up or i)rotecting said 
neighbor, but need not outside of New' 
York Gity. Is there not some State 
law or laws protecting me. and if so 
can you give the title or numbers of 
said laws? I hate a lawsuit unless it is 
forced on me. and I think if I can slutw' 
him the law I c.an avoid it. >iH.s. J. F. 
New York. 
Your neighbor is wi'ong in his con¬ 
tention and you are right. You are en¬ 
titled to have your land supported. The 
authority for this stiitemeut is the old 
The following cases in New Y^ork sup¬ 
port this proposition : 
Liisola r. Holbrook, 4 Paige (N. Y.). 
Kit). 
11(11/ r. {'ohocs. 2 N. Y'. 151). 
Jladcliffc V. Mayor, 4 N. Y". 105. 
Distribution of Joint Property 
Will you tell me something of the 
Gonnecticut law' about “joint deeds?” Is 
is i)ossible for a man and wife to own 
a house and lot together, and to have 
the deed made out in such a way that 
the survivor would become the sole own¬ 
er at the death of one of the parties, 
without taking the estate to the probate 
court? I low' should the deed read? 
What .share in the estate of her husband 
does the law give a woman when there 
are no children, and no w'ill? The per¬ 
sons I have in mind have been married 
about 25 years. mks. c. n. a. 
Gonnecticut. 
I think this is possible, although where 
7'eal property in your State is deeded to 
a husband and w'ife they take as joint 
tenants and not, as is the ordinary rule, 
as tenants by the entirety. Put as joint 
tenants on the death of either, the sur¬ 
vivor would be entitled to the whole es¬ 
tate without going to a probate court, 
but to make sure of this and so there 
will be no difllculty .afterw'ard yoii 
should consult a good local attorney. 
The deed should be in the regular form, 
except that it should state that they 
hold the ])ropcrty as joint tenants and 
not as tenants in common. If the pai'- 
ties w'ei'e married since Ai)ril 20, 1877, 
on the death of either, without children. 
A New Song of the Shirt 
in regard to some of the warring nations 
in Europe. The present instance is one: 
'I'lie husband refuses to be naturalized. 
In ease of w'ar between this country and 
Europe, it may become necossiiry, as in 
some of the European countries, for the 
alien enemies to be kej)t in detention 
camps in case of w'ar between the coun¬ 
tries. The husband w'ould here be de¬ 
tained, and, unless the wife be natural¬ 
ized, .she must remain an alien, and, hav¬ 
ing the same citizenship as that of her 
husband, she Avould probably be i)Ut in 
the detention cam]) along with her hus¬ 
band, against her inclinations and much 
against her feelings in the matter. 
This matter of naturalization is looked 
upon as a high privilege, which should 
not be granted uj)on a doubtful intenn-e- 
tation of (he law. and, in the j)resent 
state, the law' is somewhat in doubt, but, 
by the decisions of tin* courts, it has 
been squarely held that the alien wife 
of iiii alien hu.sband cannot become a 
naturalized citizen t>f the United States. 
'I'liere is no specific provision of the 
Naturalization Statutes which permits 
the naturalization of the alien wife of 
an alien husband. On the contrary, the 
general trend of the law has been con- 
.stantly tow'ard the recognition of the 
proi»o!<ition that the husband is the 
h('ad of the family and that his w'ife 
and minor children took his citizenshij), 
it being inconsistent w'ith the theory of 
our laws that the wife shall be a citizen 
and the hu.sband an alien,i and wice 
versa. The nearest analogy covered by 
the law is that any American w'oman 
wdio marries a foreigner shall take the 
nationality of her husband, and, as long 
as the marriage relation continues, she 
remains a foreigner, but, at the termin¬ 
ation of the marriage relation, slu' may 
resume her American citizenshii). Of 
course, if the alien woman who marries 
an alien man. in the absence of any 
specific law covering the subject, could 
become naturalized, she would be given 
a greater right and privilege than is ac¬ 
corded to an American w'oman who mar- 
.ries an alien, .and this interpret.ation of 
the law cannot be presumed, as it would 
be wholly inconsistent with the spirit 
of naturalization legi.slation to permit an 
alien to acquire rights which are de¬ 
nied to a citizen. If you had been an 
American citizen w'hen you married your 
husband, you w'ould immediately have 
become a Geimian citizen, and w'ould he 
such today, with no i)ower to change 
your citizenship until the m.arriage rela¬ 
tion is terminated by death or otherw'ise, 
so, while it seems harsh in your case 
and in probably a great many similar 
cases, until the naturalization laws are 
broadened giving married women .great¬ 
er naturalization rights, she must be 
bound by the status of her hu.sband. 
Disposal of Property by Will 
1 read in Ttiic R. N.-Y'. that the wife 
has only one-third right to her share 
in real estate. I am growing on in age 
and have worked very hard to ke(>p the 
little we have. I have no children, but 
I am signed to the deed. M'ould it pro¬ 
tect me if my husband and I made u 
will? K. ir. 
New .Tersey. 
It would be all right for your hus¬ 
band to make a will leaving all his real 
and i)ersonal property, to you, and for 
you to make a will leaving all of your 
property to him, and then there woiild 
1)6 no question whatever of the dis])osi- 
tion. and it would be just as e.-i.sy on 
common law which has Ix'en iiassed uixui 
by decisions in N('w Y’ork St.-ite. 'I'lu' 
best stattnnent of the Law is found ni 
Reeves on Keal Property at iiage 2S7, 
which reads as follows: 
“'J'here exists by nature the right of 
evei-y landowmu- to have his soil sup- 
j)ort'ed Laterally, in its natural state, by 
the soil or structure of the neighboring 
])roprietor. AN’hi'n, tlnu’efore. one mak(‘s 
!in excavation ui)on his own land, in smdi 
a manner that the sand, clay, oi'_ other 
material of the adjoining land will fall 
into the i)it or be disturlnHl if not ar¬ 
tificially sui)poi‘ted, and thei'c is no spe¬ 
cial contract or statute authorizing him 
to so dig. he must shore up or otherwise 
siqiiiort the other’s soil, so as to retain 
it in its natural condition; or he wall 
be liable in damages for the resulting in¬ 
jury. And this is true regardless of 
the location, contour, or constituent ma¬ 
terials of the neighboring L'.nd, in so far 
as the.se exist in a state of nature. Thus, 
the lower owner upon a hillsidi' must 
su|(port the soil of the upper owner, to 
as great an I'xtent as is ni'cessary to 
retain it in its natural and undisturbed 
condition. And. whether the properties 
be on a hill or a plain, the amount of 
Hindi support reipiired will depend, of 
c-ourse. iqion the ipiality of the soil.— 
grading from nothing or almost nothing 
in rocky .sections to a heavy burden in 
])laces where the .soil is sandy or from 
any other c.-iuse readily movable. This 
right to the lateral siqiport of natural 
soil is ab.solute. unh*ss ri'stricted by con¬ 
tract or statute; and when it is inter¬ 
fered with, all that its owner needs to 
jirove, in ordi'r to establish a cau.se of 
action, is that he has sutli'red damage 
hecau.se of such disturbance. He need 
not show that the ('xcavation which 
caused his soil to cave in was doin* in 
any c.areless, negligent, or unskilful 
maiiniu'.” 
or representatives of children, the sur¬ 
vivor Would be entitled to absidutely all 
of the property of the deceased, real and 
per.sonal, to the extent of .$2,0(K) and one- 
half absolutely of the remainder of the 
estate. 
Muzzling the Rooster 
Gan you tell me how to muzzle a 
rooster to keep him from crowing? Our 
bird is a nuisance to neighbors because 
of his continual crowing, specially early 
hours of the morning. s. A. A. 
This question comes from a clergyman 
in Yb-rmont. There is only one sure way 
of muzzling the rooster—that is to kill 
him and turn him into a chicken pie. 
T^'nless the eggs from the (lock are de¬ 
sired for hatching, and the stock is of 
superior strain, it is a loss to keep any 
rooster around. Roth the (lock and the 
eggs will be better without him. The 
great majority of people under such cir¬ 
cumstances simply keep the rooster for 
the jileasure of his society, and that is 
not economical with the present high 
cost of living. If, however, the bird is 
so valuable that he mu.st be kept, you 
can silence his crow at some inconven¬ 
ience to the rooster. A small flat piece 
of wood can be put into his mouth, some¬ 
thing like the bit in the mouth of a 
horse. Attached to each end of this 
muzzier is a strong rubber band. This 
band is slipped on over the rooster’s 
head, until it rests on the back of the 
neck opposite the mouth. It should bo 
reasonably tight, .so as to hold the bit 
close up against the back of the roosti'r's 
mouth. He will not enjoy it, and he 
will be unable to eat or drink while 
wearing the muzzle, but he will .stop 
crowing until it is taken out of his 
mouth. A device of this sort may be 
put on at night and taken off after the 
sensitive neighbors have finished their 
sleep. ^^”6 have heard of cases with 
very valuable roosters where the vocal 
cords were cut, so that the rooster w'as 
silenced. He would go through the mo¬ 
tions of crowing, but make very little 
noi.se. No one of course should attempt 
any such operation, and as .stated above 
it will be far better to kill the rooster 
and cook him, as the quickest and surest 
way of ending the trouble. 
The Popular Song Humbug—A Typical 
Case Explained 
Ylany hard and pathetic problems are 
presented to us during the year. YYe find 
the world filled with troubles and wor¬ 
rying questions, and our deep regret is 
that we cannot help more than we do to 
solve them. YVe print the following in 
order to expose what Ave consider a 
fraud, and to try to warn other w'omen 
who may think they can write a suc- 
ce.ssful popular .song. Here is an exact 
copy of a letter recently received from 
a country woman : 
I am in need of a friend so badly. YV^e 
take your paper, and I see how you ex- 
j)ose unscrupulous persons. I need help 
and advice. YY'on’t you be a father to 
me? I have none. He died four years 
ago. I have written what I hope will 
be a song success, and I have encourage¬ 
ment, as you will .see in the letter en- 
clo.sed. Y’ou will see that they say my 
lyric is good and worthy of a good mu¬ 
sical setting. YY^hile the cJiarges are 
small, yet I am unable to get it right 
away, hecau.se I am just recovering from 
an operation.( My hospital bill was 
large. I am trying so hard to make 
money some way to pay it. If you see 
that I ahmild be successful with this 
lyric, would it be asking too much of a 
stranger to .see me through with it? I 
would sigii a contract with you to pay 
you back with intere.st so gladly. Y’our 
influence too, Avould be such a helj) to 
me. I knoAV you are reliable because 
you exposed so many bail pi'ople. I 
Avould not ask this of you if I did not 
feel that this Avill mean success to me, 
and Avould be able to pay you back. It 
has been the dream of my life to write 
a successful song. 
Now Ave knoAV just exactly how this 
Avoman fi'cls about the song, and it is 
hard to tell lu'r the truth. Her song 
has A'cry little merit, and AA'ould not be 
considered for an instant in any reini- 
table or disinterested publication office. 
The song is entitled “Mister WiLson I 
Am Ready For Y"ou!” Here is one 
verse: 
Our family history tells that many 
years ago 
Some of them fought for Geo. YN'ash- 
ington you know. 
Yly great grandfather fell in eighteen 
sixty one, 
YVhile others won fame in the battle of 
Riill Run! 
It Avould be a crime to try to make 
a sick, dejiendent Avoman belicA'c that 
such a song Avill prove a great success 
and earn a fortune for her. yet that is 
Avhat a .set of so-called music i)ublisliers 
are trying to do. They have Avritten her 
Avhat she thinks is a personal letter, s.ay- 
ing: “Y’’our lyric is good and Avorthy of 
a good musical setting.” It is not a let¬ 
ter. but a printed circular, such as they 
send to thousands of aspiring “.song 
Avriters.” They offer to Avrite a “melody” 
to go with the Avords for .$1.5 and for .$.5 
more they Avill see to a “copyright.” They 
have actually made this jioor Avoinan 
think that by paying them .$20 .she Avill 
make a fortune out of her song. 
. YVe think this ranks among the mean¬ 
est and most contemptible frauds in the 
country. The suitable “melody” for such 
a performance is the “Rogue’s Ylarch.” 
It is bad enough to knock a man down 
and rob him, yet we should consider a 
highwayman a sort of gentleman com¬ 
pared Avith the oily scoundrel Avho will 
use liis cheap flattery upon poor Avomen 
and thin-brained men to make them think 
they are song-Avriters. YY’e beg of this 
Avoinan and all other “poets” not to send 
money to these “melody” A’ultures. Y^et 
it is a hopele.ss task, for ever since Adam 
sang the praises of Eve it has been the 
life’s ambition of 90 per cent, of humans 
to Avrite poetry which may join the 
“songs of a people.” The vi'orse the poe¬ 
try the more the author Avill squander on 
it! Oh. for the poAver to make the poet 
see his A'erses as others see them ! 
