Page images
PDF
EPUB

Sec. 6.

Feb. 15, 1893.
Sec. 10.

of such vessels, their cargoes, passengers, and crew, before their departure for any port in the United States, and in the course of the voyage; and all such other rules and regulations as shall be observed in the inspection of the same on the arrival thereof at any quarantine station at the port of destination, and for the disinfection and isolation of the same, and the treatment of cargo and persons on board, so as to prevent the introduction of cholera, yellow fever, or other contagious or infectious diseases; and it shall not be lawful for any vessel to enter said port to discharge its cargo, or land its passengers, except upon a certificate of the health officer at such quarantine station certifying that said rules and regulations have in all respects been observed and complied with, as well on his part as on the part of the said vessel and its master, in respect to the same and to its cargo, passengers, and crew; and the master of every such vessel shall produce and deliver to the collector of customs at said port of entry, together with the other papers of the vessel, the said bills of health required to be obtained at the port of departure and the certificate herein required to be obtained from the health officer at the port of entry; and that the bills of health herein prescribed shall be considered as part of the ship's papers, and when duly certified to by the proper consular officer or other officer of the United States, over his official signature and seal, shall be accepted as evidence of the statements therein contained in any court of the United States.

317. Quarantine inspection.

On the arrival of an infected vessel at any port not provided with proper facilities for treatment of the same, the Secretary of the Treasury may remand said vessel, at its own expense, to the nearest national or other quarantine station, where accommodations and appliances are provided for the necessary disinfection and treatment of the vessel, passengers, and cargo; and after treatment of any infected vessel at a national quarantine station, and after certificate shall have been given by the United States quarantine officer at said station that the vessel, cargo, and passengers are each and all free from infectious disease, or danger of conveying the same, said vessel shall be admitted to entry to any port of the United States named within the certificate. But at any ports where sufficient quarantine provision has been made by State or local authorities the Secretary of the Treasury may direct vessels bound for said ports to undergo quarantine at said State or local station.

318. Quarantine anchorage.

The Surgeon-General, with the approval of the SecreMar. 3, 1901. tary of the Treasury, is authorized to designate and mark the boundaries of the quarantine grounds and quarantine

anchorages for vessels which are reserved for use at each United States quarantine station; and any vessel or officer of any vessel or other person, other than State or municipal health or quarantine officers, trespassing or otherwise entering upon such grounds or anchorages in disregard of the quarantine rules and regulations, or without permission of the officer in charge of such station, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to arrest, and upon conviction thereof be punished by a fine of not more than three hundred dollars or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both, in the discretion of the court. Any master or owner of any vessel, or any person violating any provision of this Act or any rule or regulation made in accordance with this Act, relating to inspection of vessels or relating to the prevention of the introduction of contagious or infectious diseases, or any master, owner, or agent of any vessel making a false statement relative to the sanitary condition of said vessel or its contents or as to the health of any passenger or person thereon, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to arrest, and upon conviction thereof be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both, in the discretion of the court.

319. Suspension of commerce.

Sec. 7.

Whenever it shall be shown to the satisfaction of the Feb. 15, 1893. President that by reason of the existence of cholera or other infectious or contagious diseases in a foreign country there is serious danger of the introduction of the same into the United States, and that notwithstanding the quarantine defense this danger is so increased by the introduction of persons or property from such country that a suspension of the right to introduce the same is demanded in the interest of the public health, the President shall have power to prohibit, in whole or in part, the introduction of persons and property from such countries or places as he shall designate and for such period of time as he may deem necessary.

Whenever it shall be made to appear to the satisfaction Mar. 27, of the President that cholera, yellow fever, small-pox or plague exists in any State or Territory, or in the District of Columbia, and that there is danger of the spread of such disease into other States, Territories, or the District of Columbia, he is hereby authorized to cause the Secretary of the Treasury to promulgate such rules and regulations as in his judgment may be necessary to prevent the spread of such disease from one State or Territory into another, or from any State or Territory into the District of Columbia, or from the District of Columbia into any State or Territory, and to employ such inspectors and other persons as may be necessary to execute such regulations to prevent the spread of such disease. The

143562°-19-20

1890.

said rules and regulations shall be prepared by the SurJuly 1, 1902. geon-General of the Public Health Service under the Aug. 14, 1912. direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, and any person who shall willfully violate any rule or regulation so made and promulgated shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars, or imprisonment for not more than two years, or both, in the discretion of the court.

Mar. 27, 1890.
Sec. 2.

Sec. 3.

Aug. 1, 1888.

320. Penalties.

Any officer, or person acting as an officer, or agent of the United States at any quarantine station, or other person employed to aid in preventing the spread of such disease, who shall willfully violate any of the quarantine laws of the United States, or any of the rules and regulations made and promulgated by the Secretary of the Treasury as provided for in section one of this act, or any lawful order of his superior officer or officers, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine of not more than three hundred dollars or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both, in the discretion of the court.

*

*

When any common carrier or officer, agent, or employee of any common carrier shall willfully violate any of the quarantine laws of the United States, or the rules and regulations made and promulgated as provided for in section one of this act, such common carrier, officer, agent, or employee shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, on conviction, be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars, or imprisonment for not more than two years or both, in the discretion of the court. Whenever any person shall trespass upon the grounds belonging to any quarantine reservation, such person, trespassing, * shall, upon conviction thereof, pay a fine of not more than three hundred dollars, or be sentenced to imprisonment for a period of not more than thirty days, or shall be punished by both fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of the court. And it shall be the duty of the United States attorney in the district where the misdemeanor shall have been committed to take immediate cognizance of the offense, upon July 1, 1902, report made to him by any medical officer of the Public Health Service, or by any officer of the customs service, or by any State officer acting under authority of section five of said act.

Aug. 14, 1912.

R. S., 4792.

321. State health laws.

The quarantines and other restraints established by the health-laws of any State, respecting any vessels arriving in, or bound to, any port or district thereof, shall be duly observed by the officers of the customs revenue of the United States, by the masters and crews of the several

revenue-cutters, and by the military officers commanding in any fort or station upon the sea-coast; and all such officers of the United States shall faithfully aid in the execution of such quarantines and health-laws, according to their respective powers and within their respective precincts, and as they shall be directed, from time to time, by the Secretary of the Treasury. But nothing in this Title [R. S., 4792-4800] shall enable any State to collect a duty of tonnage or impost without the consent of Congress.

322. Removal of cargo.

Whenever, by the health-laws of any State, or by the R. S., 4793. regulations made pursuant thereto, any vessel arriving within a collection-district of such State is prohibited from coming to the port of entry or delivery by law established for such district, and such health-laws require or permit the cargo of the vessel to be unladen at some other place within or near to such district, the collector, after due report to him of the whole of such cargo, may grant his warrant or permit for the unlading and discharge thereof, under the care of the surveyor, or of one or more inspectors, at some other place where such health-laws permit, and upon the conditions and restrictions which shall be directed by the Secretary of the Treasury, or which such collector may, for the time, deem expedient for the security of the public revenue.

There shall be purchased or erected, under the orders of R. S., 4794. the President, suitable warehouses, with wharves and inclosures, where merchandise may be unladen and deposited, from any vessel which shall be subject to a quarantine, or other restraint, pursuant to the health-laws of any State, at such convenient places therein as the safety of the public revenue and the observance of such healthlaws may require.

Whenever the cargo of a vessel is unladen at some other 3. S., 4795. place than the port of entry or delivery under the foregoing provisions, all the articles of such cargo shall be deposited, at the risk of the parties concerned therein, in such public or other warehouses or inclosures as the collector shall designate, there to remain under the joint custody of such collector and of the owner, or master, or other person having charge of such vessel, until the same are entirely unladen or discharged, and until the articles so deposited may be safely removed without contravening such health-laws. And when such removal is allowed, the collector having charge of such articles may grant permits to the respective owners or consignees, their factors or agents, to receive all merchandise which has been entered, and the duties accruing upon which have been paid, upon the payment by them of a reasonable rate of storage; which shall be fixed by the Secretary of the Treasury for all public warehouses and inclosures.

R. S., 4796.

R. S., 4797.

June 19, 1906.

Sec. 3.

The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized, whenever a conformity to such quarantines and health-laws requires it, and in respect to vessels subject thereto, to prolong the terms limited for the entry of the same, and the report or entry of their cargoes, and to vary or dispense with any other regulations applicable to such reports or entries. No part of the cargo of any vessel shall, however, in any case, be taken out or unladen therefrom, otherwise than is allowed by law, or according to the regulations hereinafter established.

323. Removal of customhouse.

Whenever, by the prevalence of any contagious or epidemic disease in or near the place by law established as the port of entry for any collection-district, it becomes dangerous or inconvenient for the officers of the revenue employed therein to continue the discharge of their respective offices at such port, the Secretary of the Treasury, or, in his absence, the Comptroller, may direct the removal of the officers of the revenue from such port to any other more convenient place, within, or as near as may be to, such collection-district. And at such place such officers may exercise the same powers, and shall be liable to the same duties, according to existing circumstances, as in the port or district established by law. Public notice of any such removal shall be given as soon as may be.

324. National quarantine.

The Secretary of the Treasury shall have the control, direction, and management of all quarantine stations, grounds, and anchorages established by authority of the United States, and as soon as practicable after the approval of this Act shall select and designate such suitable places for them and establish the same at such points on or near the coast line of the United States or the border of the United States and a foreign country, as in his judgment are best suited for the same and necessary to prevent the introduction of yellow fever into the United States, and, in his discretion, he may also establish at the group of islands known as the Dry Tortugas, at the western end of the Florida reef, and at such other point or points on or near the coast line of the United States (not to exceed four in the aggregate) as he deems necessary, quarantine grounds, stations, and anchorages, whereat or whereto infected vessels bound for any port in the United States may be detained or sent for the purpose of being disinfected, having their cargoes disinfected and discharged, if necessary, and their sick treated in hospitals until all danger of infection or contagion from such vessels, their cargoes, passengers, or crews has been removed.

On acquiring possession of any land and water in accordance with the provisions of this Act for the purpose

« PreviousContinue »