Synopsis of immigration and contract labor laws, 1875-1907-Continued.

APPENDIX B.

UNITED STATES IMMIGRATION LAWS, 1864-1910.

1. IMMIGRATION ACT OF JULY 4, 1864.

(Stat. L., Vol. XIII, p. 385.)

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President of the United States is hereby authorized, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint a Commissioner of Immigration, who shall be subject to the direction of the Department of State, shall hold his office for four years, and shall receive a salary at the rate of two thousand five hundred dollars a year. The said commissioner may employ not more than three clerks, of such grade as the Secretary of State shall designate, to be appointed by him, with the approval of the Secretary of State, and to hold their offices at his pleasure.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That all contracts that shall be made by emigrants to the United States in foreign countries, in conformity to regulations that may be established by the said commissioner, whereby emigrants shall pledge the wages of their labor for a term not exceeding twelve months, to repay the expenses of their emigration, shall be held to be valid in law and may be enforced in the courts of the United States or of the several States and Territories; and such advances, if so stipulated in the contract and the contract be recorded in the recorder's office in the county where the emigrant shall settle, shall operate as a lien upon any land thereafter acquired by the emigrant, whether under the homestead law when the title is consummated or on property otherwise acquired until liquidated by the emigrant, but nothing herein contained shall be deemed to authorize any contract contravening the Constitution of the United States or creating in any way the relation of slavery or servitude.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That no emigrant to the United States who shall arrive after the passage of this act shall be compulsively enrolled for military service during the existing insurrection, unless such emigrant shall voluntarily renounce under oath his allegiance to the country of his birth and declare his intention to become a citizen of the United States.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That there shall be established in the city of New York an office to be known as the United States emigrant office; and there shall be appointed, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, an officer for said city, to be known as superintendent of immigration, at an annual salary of two thousand dollars; and the said superintendent may employ a clerk of the first class; and such superintendent shall, under the direction of the Commissioner of Immigration, make contracts with the different railroads and transportation companies of the United States for transportation tickets, to be furnished to such immigrants, and to be paid for by them, and shall, under such rules as may be prescribed by the Commissioner of Immigration, protect such immigrants from imposition and fraud, and shall furnish them such information and facilities as will enable them to proceed in the cheapest and most expeditious manner to the place of their destination. And such superintendent of immigration shall perform such other duties as may be prescribed by the Commissioner of Immigration: Provided, That the duties hereby imposed upon the superintendent in the city of New York shall not be held to affect the powers and duties of the commissioner of immigration of the State of New York; and it shall be the duty of said superintendent in the city of New York to see that the provisions of the act commonly known as the passenger act are strictly complied with, and all breaches thereof punished according to law.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That no person shall be qualified to fill any office under this act who shall be directly or indirectly interested in any

corporation having lands for sale to immigrants, or in the carrying or transportation of immigrants either from foreign countries to the United States and its Territories or to any part thereof, or who shall receive any fee or reward or the promise thereof for any service peformed or any benefit rendered to any person or persons in the line of his duty under this act. And if any officer provided for by this act shall receive from any person or company any fee or reward, or promise thereof, for any services performed or any benefit rendered to any person or persons in the line of his duty under this act he shall, upon conviction, be fined one thousand dollars, or be imprisoned not to exceed three years, at the discretion of a court of competent jurisdiction, and forever after be ineligible to hold any office of honor, trust, or profit in the United States.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That said Commissioner of Immigration shall, at the commencement of each annual meeting of Congress, submit a detailed report of the foreign immigration during the preceding year, and a detailed account of all expenditures under this act.

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars or so much thereof as may be necessary, in the judgment of the President, is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the purpose of carrying the provisions of this act into effect. Approved, July 4, 1864.

2. IMMIGRATION ACT OF MARCH 3, 1875.

(Stat. L., Vol. XVIII, p. 477.)

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in determining whether the immigration of any subject of China, Japan, or any Oriental country to the United States is free and voluntary, as provided by section two thousand one hundred and sixty-two of the Revised Code, title Immigration," it shall be the duty of the consul-general or consul of the United States residing at the port from which it is proposed to convey such subjects, in any vessels enrolled or licensed in the United States, or any port within the same, before delivering to the masters of any such vessels the permit or certificate provided for in such section, to ascertain whether such immigrant has entered into a contract or agreement for a term of service within the United States for lewd and immoral purposes; and if there be such contract or agreement, the said consulgeneral shall not deliver the required permit or certificate.

SEC. 2. That if any citizen of the United States, or other person amenable to the laws of the United States, shall take, or cause to be taken or transported, to or from the United States any subject of China, Japan, or any Oriental country, without their free and voluntary consent, for the purpose of holding them to a term of service, such citizen or other person shall be liable to be indicted therefor, and, on conviction of such offense, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars and be imprisoned not exceeding one year; and all contracts and agreements for a term of service of such persons in the United States, whether made in advance or in pursuance of such illegal importation, and whether such importation shall have been in American or other vessels, are hereby declared void.

SEC. 3. That the importation into the United States of women for the purposes of prostitution is hereby forbidden; and all contracts and agreements in relation thereto, made in advance or in pursuance of such illegal importation and purposes, are hereby declared void; and whoever shall knowingly and willfully import, or cause any importation of, women into the United States for the purposes of prostitution, or shall knowingly or willfully hold, or attempt to hold, any woman to such purposes, in pursuance of such illegal importation and contract or agreement, shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and, on conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned not exceeding five years and pay a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars.

SEC. 4. That if any person shall knowingly and willfully contract, or attempt to contract, in advance or in pursuance of such illegal importation, to supply to another the labor of any cooly or other person brought into the United States in violation of section two thousand one hundred and fifty-eight of the Revised Statutes, or of any other section of the laws prohibiting the cooly trade or of this act, such person shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and, upon conviction thereof in any United States court, shall be fined in a sum not ex

ceeding five hundred dollars and imprisoned for a term not exceeding one year.

SEC. 5. That it shall be unlawful for aliens of the following classes to immigrate into the United States, namely, persons who are undergoing a sentence for conviction in their own country of felonious crimes, other than political or growing out of or the result of such political offenses, or whose sentence has been remitted on condition of their emigration, and women imported for the purposes of prostitution." Every vessel arriving in the United States may be inspected under the direction of the collector of the port at which it arrives if he shall have reason to believe that any such obnoxious persons are on board; and the officer making such inspection shall certify the result thereof to the master or other person in charge of such vessel, designating in such certificate the person or persons, if any there be, ascertained by him to be of either of the classes whose importation is hereby forbidden. When such inspection is required by the collector as aforesaid, it shall be unlawful, without his permission, for any alien to leave any such vessel arriving in the United States from a foreign country until the inspection shall have been had and the result certified as herein provided; and at no time thereafter shall any alien certified to by the inspecting officer as being of either of the classes whose immigration is forbidden by this section be allowed to land in the United States, except in obedience to a judicial process issued pursuant to law. If any person shall feel aggrieved by the certificate of such inspecting officer stating him or her to be within either of the classes whose immigration is forbidden by this section, and shall apply for release or other remedy to any proper court or judge, then it shall be the duty of the collector at said port of entry to detain said vessel until a hearing and determination of the matter are had, to the end that if the said inspector shall be found to be in accordance with this section and sustained the obnoxious person or persons shall be returned on board of said vessel, and shall not thereafter be permitted to land, unless the master, owner, or consignee of the vessel shall give bond and security, to be approved by the court or judge hearing the cause, in the sum of five hundred dollars for each such person permitted to land, conditioned for the return of such person, within six months from the date thereof, to the country whence his or her emigration shall have taken place, or unless the vessel bringing such obnoxious person or persons shall be forfeited, in which event the proceeds of such forfeiture shall be paid over to the collector of the port of arrival and applied by him, as far as necessary, to the return of such person or persons to his or her own country within the said period of six months. And for all violations of this act the vessel, by the acts, omissions, or connivance of the owners, master, or other custodian, or the consignee of which the same are committed, shall be liable to forfeiture, and may be proceeded against as in cases of frauds against the revenue laws, for which forfeiture is prescribed by existing law.

3. IMMIGRATION ACT OF AUGUST 3, 1882.

(18 Stat. L., pt. 3, p. 477.)

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there shall be levied, collected, and paid a duty of fifty cents for each and every passenger not a citizen of the United States who shall come by steam or sail vessel from a foreign port to any port within the United States. The said duty shall be paid to the collector of customs of the port to which such passenger shall come, or if there be no collector at such port, then to the collector of customs nearest thereto, by the master, owner, agent, or consignee of every such vessel, within twenty-four hours after the entry thereof into such port. The money thus collected shall be paid into the United States Treasury and shall constitute a fund to be called the immigrant fund, and shall be used, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury (Secretary of Commerce and Labor), to defray the expense of regulating immigration under this act, and for the care of immigrants arriving in the United States, for the relief of such as are in distress, and for the general purposes and expenses of carrying this act into effect. The duty imposed by this section shall be a lien upon the vessels which shall bring such passengers into the United States, and shall be a debt in favor of the United States against the owner or owners of such vessels, and the payment of such duty may be enforced by any legal or equitable remedy: Provided, That no

greater sum shall be expended for the purposes hereinbefore mentioned at any port than shall have been collected at such port.

SEC. 2. That the Secretary of the Treasury (Secretary of Commerce and Labor) is hereby charged with the duty of executing the provisions of this act and with supervision over the business of immigration to the United States, and for that purpose he shall have power to enter into contracts with such state commission, board, or officers as may be designated for that purpose by the governor of any State to take charge of the local affairs of immigration in the ports within said State, and to provide for the support and relief of such immigrants therein landing as may fall into distress or need public aid, under the rules and regulations to be prescribed by said Secretary; and it shall be the duty of such state commission, board, or officers so designated to examine into the condition of passengers arriving at the ports within such State in any ship or vessel; and for that purpose all or any of such commissioners or officers or such other person or persons as they shall appoint, shall be authorized to go on board of and through any such ship or vessel; and if on such examination there shall be found among such passengers any convict, lunatic, idiot, or any person unable to take care of himself or herself without becoming a public charge, they shall report the same in writing to the collector of such port, and such person shall not be permitted to land.

SEC. 3. That the Secretary of the Treasury (Secretary of Commerce and Labor) shall establish such regulations and rules and issue from time to time such instructions, not inconsistent with law, as he shall deem best calculated to protect the United States and immigrants into the United States from fraud and loss and for carrying out the provisions of this act and the immigration laws of the United States; and he shall prescribe all forms of bonds, entries, and other papers to be used under and in the enforcement of the various provisions of this act.

SEC. 4. That all foreign convicts, except those convicted of political offenses, upon arrival, shall be sent back to the nations to which they belong and from whence they came. The Secretary of the Treasury (Secretary of Commerce and Labor) may designate the state board of charities of any State in which such board shall exist by law, or any commission in any State, or any person or persons in any State whose duty it shall be to execute the provisions of this section without compensation. The Secretary of the Treasury (Secretary of Commerce and Labor) shall prescribe regulations for the return of the aforesaid persons to the countries from whence they came, and shall furnish instructions to the board, commission, or persons charged with the execution of the provisions of this section as to the mode of procedure in respect thereto, and may change such instructions from time to time. The expense of such return of the aforesaid persons not permitted to land shall be borne by the owners of the vessel in which they came.

SEC. 5. That this act shall take effect immediately.
Approved August 3, 1882.

4. IMMIGRATION ACT OF MARCH 8, 1891.

(26 Stat. L., p. 1084.)

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the following classes of aliens shall be excluded from admission into the United States, in accordance with the existing acts regulating immigration, other than those concerning Chinese laborers: All idiots, insane persons, paupers or persons likely to become a public charge, persons suffering from a loathsome or a dangerous contagious disease, persons who have been convicted of a felony or other infamous crime or misdemeanor involving moral turpitude, polygamists, and also any person whose ticket or passage is paid for with the money of another or who is assisted by others to come, unless it is affirmatively and satisfactorily shown on special inquiry that such person does not belong to one of the foregoing excluded classes, or to the class of contract laborers excluded by the act of February twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, but this section shall not be held to exclude persons living in the United States from sending for a relative or friend who is not of the excluded classes under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe: Provided, That nothing in this act shall be contrued to apply to or exclude persons convicted of a political offense,