VIRGINIA.

DIGEST OF IMMIGRATION AND ALIEN LAWS.

Act of 1866 (an act to encourage immigration and to protect immigrant labor). The recent radical change in the labor system of the South has rendered the introduction of a new class of laborers necessary, and therefore to encourage and protect the importation of persons for this purpose these provisions are enacted into law. Contracts for a period of labor not exceeding two years shall be respected and enforced in Virginia. Contracts by a male minor of 16 years and female minor of 18 years with the assent of father, mother, or guardian is valid and binding. Contract by a married woman with her husband's assent is valid and binding. Contracts shall be made in duplicate—one in English, the other in the vernacular of the immigrant and recorded in the office of the county court within forty days after the term of service begins. Immigrants may require personal security for the payment of wages, and may recover wages, with damages, if discharged without sufficient cause. Any contract immigrant failing to enter upon his service or leaving his employer's service without sufficient cause shall be liable for double the amount of his wages for the unexpired term of service.

Any person inducing a contract immigrant to violate his contract is liable to a penalty of fine and imprisonment. Any immigrant leaving the service of his employer before repaying cost of passage or other funds advanced is liable to a fine and imprisonment. Similar laws enacted in other States shall be given full faith, credit, and effect in Virginia if reciprocal in their operation.

Act of 1866 (an act to promote and encourage immigration into the State of Virginia).—A State board of immigration was created in 1866, with three members and corporate power to promote and encourage immigration into the State. It shall be the duty of the board to adopt a practical plan to introduce sober and industrious emigrants from Europe; to correspond with European emigration agencies and steamship companies; to publish information showing the State's natural resources, demand for labor, and inducements for home seekers; to supply accurate data to emigrants desiring to remove to this country; to assist emigrants in removing to Virginia; to arrange to receive and to transport them to their destination; and to adopt such general measures as will tend to secure or facilitate the introduction of foreign labor into the State. The board shall not permit the introduction of any person likely to become a public charge. The board shall appoint a "commissioner of immigration" and prescribe his duties. The board shall report annually to the legislature. It shall be paid by the employer a bonus of $5 for each laborer over 16 years placed in his service. The employer shall not charge the bonus against the employee under penalty of fine. Any expenses incurred for the benefit of immigrants shall be

refunded to the board out of the first wages received. An action lies against the employer for the amount. The board may receive donations or loans of money to conduct its work. All expenses shall be defrayed by donations, loans, and fees received.

Act of 1866.-The Virginia Immigration Society was chartered in 1866 for the purpose of bringing immigrants to Virginia. It was empowered to capitalize at not exceeding $300,000, to hold not over 5,000 acres of land, and to sell, lease, rent, or mortgage such lands and erect buildings thereon for sale, lease, or rent.

Act of 1866.-The Virginia Immigration and Land Company was incorporated in 1866 for the purpose of inducing immigrants to engage in the various occupations of labor in Virginia. It was granted power to capitalize at not more than $100,000; to hold real estate not exceeding 15,000 acres; to establish and maintain lines of vessels; to deal in foreign exchange; to grant policies of insurance; and to perform other corporate functions requisite and proper for the promotion of its general purposes.

Act of 1866. The Virginia Land and Aid Immigration Company was created a body politic and corporate in 1866 for a period of twenty years. The purposes of its creation were defined to be: First, to induce and encourage immigration into Virginia of laborers for hire and to provide for their employment from the time of their arrival until prepared to provide for themselves; second, to induce and encourage immigration from abroad of persons desiring to lease or purchase lands in Virginia and to provide lands for them; third, to purchase or lease lands in Virginia to be resold or relet to immigrants, provided the company shall not hold at any one time more than 100,000 acres, and provided that after January 1, 1881, it shall not be lawful for the company to hold more than 10,000 acres of land at any one time; fourth, to act as agents for the sale or leasing of lands in Virginia to immigrants; and, fifth, to aid immigrants from abroad to come to Virginia by providing for their accommodation vessels to be owned or chartered by the company for that purpose.

Act of 1866.-The Virginia Land, Trust, and Immigration Company was incorporated in 1866 with power to buy and sell land; to acquire, hold, and dispose of all forms of property; to loan money on securities or other property; to discount negotiable paper; to conduct a banking business; to operate steamships; to build docks and wharves; to erect warehouses; to transport goods, wares, and merchandise; to issue policies of insurance; to contract abroad for labor, African excepted, for periods of service not exceeding three years; and to exercise other necessary and incidental corporate powers.

Act of 1866.-The Virginia and North Carolina Land, Emigration, and Colonization Society was incorporated in 1866 with the power to establish agencies in Europe or elsewhere for the purpose of encouraging, assisting, and transporting immigrants to the United States; to establish lines of vessels between ports of this country and Europe; to acquire, hold, and transfer land; to issue insurance upon property of immigrants; to receive money on deposit and to do a limited banking business; to transport property under the powers granted to express companies; and to perform the functions of the general business corporation.

Act of 1866.-The American Immigration and Land Company was incorporated in 1866, limited to twenty years, for the purpose of encouraging men and women from any one or more of the kingdoms and States of Europe to immigrate into the Southern States, supplying white men and women immigrants with land and furnishing labor and skill for the cultivation and improvement of the lands in the South. The company was empowered to purchase and hold not exceeding 25,000 acres of land in Virginia, to sell, transfer, and convey lands, and to exercise the ordinary corporate powers.

Joint resolution of 1867 (in reference to immigration to the State of Virginia). A resolution adopted by the general assembly in 1866-67 extends an invitation to men of all countries to settle the surplus lands and engage in all great industrial pursuits in Virginia. It recommends that each county appoint an immigration agent and take practical action to achieve that end.

Act of 1870 (an act to amend and reenact an act to encourage immigration and protect immigrants, passed March 2, 1866).—The act recites that it is essential to the material prosperity of the Commonwealth that labor be protected by law and proper inducements held out for the immigration of industrious foreigners. It makes no material changes in the original act upon which it is based.

Act of 1873 (an act for the encouragement of immigration).In the preamble to the statute it is made manifest that in order to restore and improve agriculture, develop the numerous mineral resources, introduce and support manufacturing industries, and establish a population commensurate with the capacity of a vast, sparsely populated territory it is eminently expedient to invite the migratory people of European and American States to fix their homes and invest their capital in Virginia. The statute provides that a political and geographical summary of government and characteristics of Virginia shall be prepared and published for distribution. For this purpose $5,000 is appropriated. A board of immigration shall be constituted of the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of the Commonwealth, adjutant general, and treasurer. The president of the board shall be the governor and the secretary shall be the secretary of state. A report shall be made every year to the legislature.

Act of 1874 (an act to amend and reenact section 5 of an act for the encouragement of immigration, approved March 29, 1873). This act provides that the publications of the board of immigration shall be supplied, to persons desiring them, at the actual cost of production.

Act of 1875 (an act to promote the formation of immigration societies throughout the Commonwealth). This act authorizes the circuit courts of the Commonwealth to incorporate immigration societies. They shall be invested with the ordinary rights and privileges enjoyed by commercial corporations of similar character. It shall be the business of each society to bring together buyers and sellers of land and to furnish correct information. Each society shall have the privilege, of selling lands on commission under the same rules and restrictions as other land agents.

Act of 1875 (an act for the encouragement of land purchasers and actual settlers in Virginia, and to repeal an act approved March

29, 1873, entitled "An act for the encouragement of immigration ") This act provides that immigrants from European countries and American States shall be invited to settle in and invest capital in Virginia; and that information about all advantages offered shall be effectually diffused. A state board of immigration are constituted of the governor, speaker of the house, secretary of the commonwealth, auditor of public accounts, and treasurer. Information by descriptive pamphlets, maps, and other documents shall be published setting forth geographical and commercial relations, internal and external communications, and other facts of interest and import. The descriptive summary authorized by act of March 29, 1873, shall be published in modified form. The cost of publication shall not exceed the amount appropriated. The secretary of the board, who shall be the register of the land office, shall take charge of all publications and publish the place and terms of sale. All publications issued shall be authenticated by the governor under the seal of state. Agents may be appointed to represent the board in arranging "for transportation, reception, care, proper treatment, and protection of settlers, and for facilitating them to their respective destinations." The board may act as agent in the sale of lands and fix regulations to defray expenses. Ten thousand dollars shall be appropriated for the purposes of the act; and no member or agent of the board shall receive any compensation or benefit except that provided by law.

Joint resolution of 1877.-A joint resolution was adopted authorizing the board of immigration to distribute gratuitously the Geographical and Political Summary of Virginia published by the board.

Act of 1879 (an act to provide for the creation of a commissioner and bureau of immigration).-In order to secure practical results and substantial benefits from the efforts and expenditures of the State, individuals, and corporations to encourage and promote immigration and investment of capital it is deemed important and essential to put into operation a permanent organization of the State for the continuance and prosecution of this work. The bureau of immigration of Virginia shall be established. It shall be conducted by a board of managers composed of the commissioner of agriculture, as ex-officio chairman, and styled commissioner of immigration, and such additional number of managers, not exceeding twelve, as shall be selected and shall contribute one hundred dollars or more per annum to the maintenance of the board. The business and duty of the board shall consist of furnishing comprehensive data concerning all phases and characteristics of the life and interests of the State to prospective settlers and investors, to arrange satisfactory plans for transportation of persons and property, and to take any other action tending to secure an increase of population through immigration and the judicious investment of capital in the various industries of the State.

Act of 1888 (an act to repeal the immigration acts, approved March 29, 1873). The act of 1888 recites that it is deemed expedient in the present condition of the Commonwealth to abolish the board of immigration and restore to the treasury the funds remaining unexpended in the hands of the board.

Act of 1894 (an act to encourage immigration into the Commonwealth of Virginia and to promote sales of lands within the Commonwealth to immigrants).—The act of 1894 provides a specific form by which ten or more persons owning land in any county in the State may incorporate a county immigration society for the purpose of selling or leasing the lands of its members. Within six months after organization a list of its lands for sale with their location and price, and a list of prior sales shall be filed with the commissioner of agriculture.

Act of 1903 (an act defining the powers and duties of the board of agriculture and immigration and providing for the election of a commissioner of agriculture and immigration and for repealing all acts in conflict with this act).-A board of agriculture and immigration is created by statute, composed of one practical farmer from each congressional district and the president of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute. The governor shall appoint the members from the two political parties. The minority party shall have at least one-third. The board shall meet twice a year or upon call. Members shall receive necessary traveling expenses. The board shall have power to hold in trust and administer any funds received. It shall be charged with all matters tending to the promotion of the agricultural interests of the State and the introduction of capital and immigrants into the State. The commissioner of agriculture and immigration shall be elected by the people for a term of four years. He shall have supervision and control of the affairs delegated to his office by the

board.

Act of 1906 (an act appropriating $10,000 to the State board of agriculture and immigration to be expended in promoting and encouraging immigration into this State).-The commissioner of agriculture and immigration is directed to appoint agents to promote and encourage the introduction of desirable immigrants, experienced in agricultural pursuits, for farm and domestic labor in this State. No pauper, criminal, or person unable to furnish acceptable certificate of good moral character shall be permitted to be sent to the State. The commissioner shall supply such agents with literature showing the resources and advantages of the State. He may advertise the State through any mediums deemed wise and expedient. He shall maintain files of applications for laborers and shall direct persons seeking employment to such applicants. Ten thousand dollars is appropriated for the purposes prescribed. The board shall fix salaries, allow expenses, and define duties; and the commissioner shall be required to report quarterly to the board and annually to the governor.

Act of 1908 (an act to amend an act approved May 20, 1903, and to repeal an act approved February 29, 1888, relating to immigration). This statute contains the same general provisions as the act of 1903, but in certain minor particulars is amended and modified.