WASHINGTON.

DIGEST OF IMMIGRATION AND ALIEN LAWS.

Act of 1875 (an act to create a board of immigration commissioners and for other purposes).-The legislative assembly of the Territory of Washington enacted a law in 1875 creating a board of immigration consisting of three commissioners, who should serve without compensation. It provided for the publication of a pamphlet setting forth the resources of Washington for "gratuitous and judicious distribution." An appropriation of $150 for incidental expenses was made.

Act of 1877 (an act to provide for the appointment of immigration agents). An act of 1877 authorized the commissioners to appoint immigration agents for service, without compensation, at any desirable points in the United States.

Law of 1881 (an act to abolish the board of immigration commissioners). The assembly in session in 1881 repealed the law of 1875 creating a board of immigration commissioners.

Law of 1895 (an act creating a bureau of statistics, labor, agriculture, and immigration).-In 1895 the secretary of state of Washington was made ex officio commissioner of statistics "relating to all departments of labor in the State such as hours and wages of labor, cost of living, amount of labor required, estimated number of persons depending on daily labor for support, the probable chances of all being employed, the operation of labor-saving machinery in relation to hand labor, etc." "Such statistics shall be classified under agriculture, immigration, industries, mining, skilled and unskilled labor, cash capital invested, means of production, condition of employed and unemployed, sanitary conditions, standard and cost of living, facts about non-Caucasian elements, effect of convict labor on labor conditions, and other auxiliary information."

It shall be the duty of state and county officers to facilitate the work of the commissioner in every practicable way.

It shall be the duty of the commissioner to prepare for publication a comprehensive report of the natural and artificial resources of Washington, and to transmit copies of such report to intending immigrants upon request.

The commissioner shall have power to send for persons and papers, to examine witnesses under oath, to enter all places and works of labor, and to require persons in authority in business institutions to furnish him any statistics or information pertaining to his lawful duties. Names of persons, firms, or corporations supplying information shall not be disclosed, and any information pertaining to a person's affairs shall be deemed confidential.

A deputy commissioner shall be appointed at an annual salary of $1,200, and an immigration agent shall be employed to represent the bureau in "such city as the commissioner may designate.'

IMMIGRATION AND ALIEN LAWS.

ACT OF 1875.

[Laws of Washington, 1875, p. 104.]

AN ACT To create a board of immigration commissioners, and providing for the printing and distribution of certain pamphlets.

Be it enacted by the legislative assembly of the Territory of Washington:

SECTION 1. That the governor is hereby authorized to appoint, by and with the consent of the council, a board, consisting of three commissioners of immigration for the Territory of Washington: Provided, That the said commissioners shall receive no compensation from the Territory, and the Territory shall not be responsible for any debt or liability created by them.

SEC. 2. That John M. Murphy is hereby employed to print five thousand copies of the pamphlet of the Washington Immigration Society, by Mrs. A. H. H. Stewart, secretary of the society, setting for the resources of the Territory of Washington, for gratuitous and judicious distribution as hereinafter provided.

SEC. 3. On the delivery to the board of immigration of said five thousand copies of said pamphlets, on the written certificate of said commissioners, the territorial auditor shall draw his warrant on the territorial treasurer for the sum of five hundred and fifty-seven dollars, and the said treasurer shall pay the same out of any money not otherwise appropriated.

SEC. 4. The sum of one hundred and fifty dollars ($150) per annum is hereby appropriated, out of any funds not otherwise appropriated, to pay office rent, postage, and other incidental expenses of said board of immigration commissioners, and the territorial auditor is hereby authorized to draw his warrant for said sum on the written order of said commissioners.

SEC. 5. Fifteen hundred copies of said pamphlet shall be sent to the Walla Walla Immigration Society for distribution; five hundred copies to the Clark County board of immigration. The commissioners of immigration shall furnish fifty copies to each county auditor for gratuitous distribution, and the remainder shall be distributed by said commissioners.

SEC. 6. This act to take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

Approved, November 12, 1875.

ACT OF 1877.

[Laws of Washington, 1877, p. 301.]

AN ACT To provide for the appointment of immigration agents.

Be it enacted by the legislative assembly of the Territory of Washington:

SECTION 1. That the commissioners of immigration for the Territory of Washington may appoint immigration agents in the several counties of this Territory, and in any State or Territory, who shall

act as such agents during the pleasure of such commissioners: Provided. That such agents shall receive no compensation directly or indirectly from the Territory.

SEC. 2. This act shall take effect from and after its approval by the governor.

Approved, November 9, 1877.

ACT OF 1881.

[Laws of Washington, 1881, p. 16.]

AN ACT To repeal an act entitled "An act to create a board of immigration commissioners and provide for the printing and distribution of certain pamphlets," approved November 12, 1875.

Be it enacted by the legislative assembly of the Territory of Washington:

SECTION 1. That an act of the legislative assembly of the Territory of Washington, entitled "An act to create a board of immigration commissioners and provide for the printing and distribution of certain pamphlets," approved November 12, 1875, and all acts amendatory thereto, be, and the same are hereby, repealed.

SEC. 2. This act to take effect from and after its passage and approval by the governor.

Approved, October 20, 1881.

ACT OF 1895.

[Laws of Washington, 1895, ch. 85, H. B. No. 184, p. 167.]

AN ACT To establish a bureau of statistics, labor, agriculture, and immigration, and making an appropriation therefor.

Be it enacted by the legislature of the State of Washington: SECTION 1. The secretary of this State shall be ex officio commissioner of statistics, and is hereby authorized and directed to establish within his office, and under his immediate supervision, a bureau to be known as the bureau of statistics, agriculture, and immigration. SEC. 2. The duties of the commissioner shall be to collect, assort, systemize, and present in biennial reports to the legislature statistical details relating to all departments of labor within the State, such as the hours and wages of labor, cost of living, amount of labor required, estimated number of persons depending on daily labor for their support, the probable chances of all being employed, the operation of labor-saving machinery in relation to hand labor, etc. Said statistics shall be classified as follows:

1. Of agriculture.

2. Of immigration.

3. Of mechanical and manufacturing industries.

4. Of mining.

5. Of transportation on land and water.

6. Of clerical and all other skilled and unskilled labor not enumerated above.

11. Of the number and condition of the non-Caucasian elements of the State; their social and sanitary habits; the number employed and nature of their employment; the average wages per day of each employment and the gross amount yearly; to what extent their employment comes in competition with the white industrial classes of the State.

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SEC. 4. The commissioner of statistics is hereby directed to prepare for immediate publication, from the reports of the county assessors, chambers of commerce, boards of trade, and other authentic sources, a comprehensive report, setting forth the geography, topography, climate, natural and artificial resources of Washington, its inland waters and adjacent seas, a knowledge of which would tend to invite industrious, enterprising, intelligent people to remove hither. It shall be the duty at all times of the bureau hereby established to promptly answer all proper inquiries relative to the State of Washington received by mail or otherwise from intending immigrants.

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SEC. 7. The commissioner shall appoint a deputy commissioner, who shall act in his absence, and the deputy shall receive the sum of twelve hundred dollars per annum to be paid by the state treasurer in the same manner as other state officers are paid; the sum allowed for deputy and other incidental expenses of the bureau shall not exceed the sum of three thousand dollars in any one year. The commissioner shall have the authority to employ one person to act as immigration agent, which agent shall reside in such city as said commissioner may designate, and he shall be provided with such literature and incidental accessories as in his judgment may be necessary. SEC. 8. The sum of four thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated out of any moneys in the state treasury not otherwise appropriated for the expenses of the bureau for the first two years after its organization.

SEC. 9. An emergency is declared to exist; therefore, this act shall take effect and be in force from and after the date of its passage and approval by the governor.

Passed the house, March 14, 1895; passed the senate, March 14,

1895.

Approved, March 19, 1895.

WEST VIRGINIA.

DIGEST OF IMMIGRATION AND ALIEN LAWS.

Act of 1871 (an act to encourage immigration into the State of West Virginia).-By an act of 1871 the board of public works of the State was empowered to appoint a commissioner of immigration. It became their joint duty to devise "a practical plan for the introduction of sober and industrious immigrants; " to publish information to show the natural resources of the State, the inducements for investment, the demand for labor, and the advantages offered as a home for the immigrant; and "to adopt, establish, and organize such plans and measures as will tend to secure or facilitate the development and settlement of the State."

Act of 1879 (an act authorizing the appointment of a state agent on immigration and appropriating money for immigration purposes). In 1879 the governor was authorized to commission C. E. Lutz as state agent of immigration. It shall be his duty to induce immigration into the State, to furnish information about the agricultural, mining, and mechanical interests to those seeking new homes, and to use every means calculated to develop the material resources of the State. Five hundred dollars is appropriated to carry out the purposes of the act.

Joint resolution of 1893.-The legislature in 1893 memorialized Congress to restrict and later prohibit foreign immigration in order to protect society from criminals, paupers, and persons afflicted with disease or infirmity.

IMMIGRATION AND ALIEN LAWS.

ACT OF 1871.

[Laws of West Virginia, 1871, ch. 156, p. 208.]

AN ACT To encourage immigration into the State of West Virginia.

Be it enacted by the legislature of West Virginia:

SECTION 1. That it shall be the duty of the board of public works to settle upon and carry into operation a practical plan for the introduction of sober and industrious immigrants, with their families, from other States of this Union and from Europe, into this State, to open correspondence with individuals, capitalists, emigration agencies, and steamship companies, in this country and in Europe, to cause to be published such information as will fully show the natural resources of this State, its soil, climate, and mineral wealth and productions and, also, the inducements for investment, the demand for labor, and the advantages which West Virginia offers as a home to the immigrant; to cause correct and accurate intelligence to be fur