MISSOURI.

DIGEST OF IMMIGRATION AND ALIEN LAWS.

Act of 1864-65.-The laws of 1864-65, page 44, embody the first statute enacted by Missouri relative to the subject of immigration. It is prefaced by the following general review of conditions requir ing it:

The time has arrived when the subject of immigration should receive the immediate services and unremitting attention of every well-meaning citizen of our State in order to repair as rapidly as possible the losses of population sustained through the desolation of war, by the introduction of a people recommended by their loyalty, their industry, and their intelligence. And in order to secure this end every inducement should be offered that class of immigrants, come from what portion of the civilized world they may. And the development of our agricultural and mineral resources should be thus encouraged.

The board of immigration shall be composed of five members, including the governor and secretary of state, ex officio, and three other persons appointed by the governor.

It shall be the duty of the board to do everything which may enhance and encourage immigration to our State from whatever source procurable. Also to cooperate with the Federal Bureau of Immigration; and to make regular reports to the legislature with reliable data for the guidance of future legislation on this subject. The board shall have power to publish pamphlets, essays, and articles describing the developed and undeveloped agricultural and mineral resources of the State, the facilities for navigation, the railroad connections and widespread commerce. It shall also be their duty to distribute them in localities in which they may prove "beneficial and useful for the promotion of immigration to our State."

The board shall have power to appoint agents for points in this country and in Europe "for the purpose of aiding and advising immigration."

The board shall hold meetings in St. Louis at least once each quarter, the governor presiding. Other officers shall be elected by ballot from its members.

The treasurer shall give bond in the sum of $10,000.

To supplement the State's appropriation of $4,000 the board is authorized" to open books and solicit contributions and endowments of money from corporations, manufacturers, merchants, and all persons who are immediately and directly benefited by the flow of immigration."

Act of 1867.-The laws of 1867, page 120, authorize "the formation of immigration societies of five or more persons for the purpose of aiding, encouraging, or inducing immigration into such county, city, or town as they may designate in their articles of association."

Act of 1875.-The act of 1875, page 77, amends the general law by providing that the "president of any incorporated association for the encouragement of immigration or the better protection of immigrants shall be ex officio a member of the board of immigration."

Act of 1879.-The act of 1879, page 107, repeals prior acts relating to immigration and establishes a board of immigration consisting of three commissioners to be appointed by the governor. Their term of office shall be four years. The president of the board shall be selected by the governor and designated" state superintendent of immigration." He shall receive a salary of $1,800 a year, but “the two commissioners shall draw pay only for their actual expenses in attending meetings of the board." The board shall maintain an office for the public business and for the exhibition of specimens of state products.

The commissioners shall qualify within twenty days after appointment, and each shall give bond for $5,000 "conditioned for the faithful discharge of their duties." It shall be the duty of the commissioners to use all available means to properly represent the advantages afforded by Missouri to persons desiring to secure homes in the West, and they may employ any necessary agents for the purpose. The board may advertise in the papers of the Eastern States or of Europe.

The board shall have power to make contracts with transportation companies for a low rate of fare for immigrants, and to prepare for their reception and temporary accommodation.

It shall be the duty of the board to compile statistics and publish literature describing the resources and interests of the State with any other information of interest to immigrants. It shall be the duty of the board to secure from the State's schools and through clerks of the county courts any information the publicity of which will exercise a favorable influence in the State's interest, and also to "solicit subscriptions of money and other material aid from persons and corporations, to be used in promoting immigration." Biennial reports shall be made to the governor. Auxiliary boards of immigration may be organized in the several counties.

Laws of 1901 (an act to prohibit the importation of afflicted, indigent, and vicious children). The laws of 1901, page 132, "prohibit the importation into the State by any association or individual of afflicted, indigent, or vicious children." The state board of charities and corrections shall require that no child shall be brought into the State and placed in a " family home for adoption " without a guaranty that such child has no incurable disease and is not of feeble mind or vicious character. If any child so imported shall become a public charge within five years, it must be removed from the State. And any person receiving and placing, for an association or for an individual, any child coming under this prohibition shall be subject to fine and imprisonment." The necessity of this act arises from "the fact that the New York Children's Aid Society is pouring carloads of children into the State without properly supervising them, thereby burdening the Commonwealth.

The present law (prior acts repealed).-In 1909 prior existing immigration laws were repealed, and a general act, page 550, was passed, creating a board of immigration.

The board of immigration shall be composed of three members, known as immigration commissioners, who shall be appointed by the governor. They shall serve for a term of four years. Not more than two shall be named from the same political party. The governor shall designate the president of the board under the title of chief commissioner. The two remaining commissioners shall be named by the board as secretary and auditor, respectively.

The commissioners shall qualify within twenty days after confirmation by the senate, taking oath and giving bond of $5,000 to faithfully demean themselves in office and to discharge all duties with fidelity.

The chief commissioner shall receive a salary of $2,000 per annum. All commissioners shall receive compensation for their actual traveling, office, and incidental expenses while in the performance of their duties. Careful accounting is required.

It shall be the duty of the board to procure suitable offices and exhibit rooms wherever judicious; to arrange proper exhibits of the State's resources; to contract for foreign and domestic advertising; to prepare literature for distribution; to conduct a publicity campaign throughout the world; to organize county auxiliary immigration boards; to compile vacant and salable land lists for inquiries; to aid all legitimate industrial and development projects; to increase in every possible way the amount of land available for settlement; and to take all reasonable measures for increasing our desirable population and for a greater development of the State.

The board shall solicit subscriptions of money and other material aid from persons and corporations, to be used in promoting its work. It shall be the duty of the faculties of the state colleges to provide the board with information relative to any courses of study pursued or any work conducted tending to show the agricultural, mineral, manufacturing, and educational advantages of the State. The board may call upon county officials for such statistical, historical, or other information as may be deemed desirable.

It shall be the duty of the board to make biennial reports to the governor for submission to the legislature. And it shall also account. for all money received and expended and all results obtained, with suggestions for legislative action.

For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this act the sum of $25,000 as appropriated.

IMMIGRATION AND ALIEN LAWS.

ACT OF 1865.

[General Statutes of Missouri, 1865, title 23, ch. 61, p. 324.]

SECTION 1. There shall be a board of immigration, which shall be composed of five members, three of which are to be appointed by the governor.

SEC. 2. The governor and secretary of state shall be, ex officio, members of this board, and it shall be its duty to do all and everything which may and will enhance and encourage immigration to this State, either from the Eastern States of the United States or from the Eastern Hemisphere.

SEC. 3. The members of this board shall, if they deem it advisable and proper for the encouragement of immigration, to publish or cause to be published, pamphlets, essays, and articles treating on and describing in a true light the developed and undeveloped agricultural and mineral resources of the State of Missouri, our facilities for navigation, railroad connections, and our widespread commerce, and to distribute them in such localities wherever, in their opinion, they may be useful, beneficial, and of good for the promotion of immigration to our State.

SEC. 4. They also shall have power, whenever deemed expedient by them, to appoint an agent or agents, either for the Eastern States of the United States or for Europe, for the purpose of aiding and advising immigration; and such agent or agents shall act solely under the instruction of the board of immigration, who shall also fix and allow their compensation for their services, to be paid out of the fund created as hereinafter provided.

SEC. 5. It shall be the duty of the board of immigration to meet in the city of St. Louis, on the last Monday in the months of March, June, and September, and on the first Monday in December, for consultation, and to transact such business as properly may come before the same; but nothing in this chapter shall be so construed as to prevent a meeting of the board at any other time or the regular meeting of the board at any other place, whenever a majority thereof shall deem it advisable for the dispatch of business and the interest of immigration; such calls, however, shall always be made by the president of the board, and countersigned by the secretary thereof.

SEC. 6. The governor of the State shall be the presiding officer of the board, and the officers now appointed and serving shall hold their offices until the last Monday in March, 1867, at which time the board shall elect, by ballot, out of their own number, a recording and corresponding secretary, a vice-president and a treasurer, who shall hold their offices for two years, and until their successors are duly elected and qualified.

SEC. 7. The treasurer of the board shall give bond in the sum of ten thousand dollars, which bond shall be approved by the president and secretary thereof, and deposited with the secretary of state.

SEC. 8. The sum of two thousand dollars, annually, is hereby appropriated out of any money in the treasury of the State not otherwise appropriated, for the use of the board of immigration, to be expended by them as they think best and expedient for the interest of immigration to the State of Missouri, which shall be in full of all other appropriations.

SEC. 9. The board of immigration is furthermore authorized and shall have power to open books and invite and solicit contributions and endowments of money from corporations, manufacturers, merchants, and all persons who are immediately and directly benefitted by the flow of immigration, which money so contributed shall also be under control of and expended by the board for the intents and purposes in the preceding section stated.

SEC. 10. The fund so created shall be called "immigration fund," and all money accruing under the preceding section shall be deposited in a bank to be designated by the board, subject to the order