Samuel Blatchford

“ Section 833 of the Revised Statutes provides that every clerk of a district court shall, 'on the first days of January and July in each year, or within thirty days thereafter, make to the attorney general, in such form as he may prescribe, a written return for the half year ending on said days, respectively, of all the fees and emoluments of his office of every name and character, and of all the necessary expenses of his office, including necessary clerk hire, together with the vouchers for the payment of the same for such last half year. ”

“ As clerk he has made half-yearly returns of fees and emoluments received by him; but he has not included in the same the amounts received by him for the naturalization of aliens in the district court. It has been the custom in the United States courts in the district of Massachusetts for a long time, not less than forty-five years before the date of the writ in the present action, and known and approved by the judges, for the clerk to charge one dollar as a fee for a declaration of intention to become a citizen, and two dollars as a fee for a final naturalization and certificate thereof ”

“ Should the return be verified before any officer other than a judge or clerk of a court of the United States, the additional certificate of authentication should be appended, as the printed instructions of July 13, 1870, require. Similar blanks will be furnished for each semi-annual return. ”