WISCONSIN.

DIGEST OF IMMIGRATION AND ALIEN LAWS.

Memorial of 1864 (a memorial to Congress for the passage of laws tending to encourage foreign immigration to the United States).--In 1864 the Wisconsin general assembly ordered a memorial to be transmitted to the United States Congress "for the passage of laws tending to encourage foreign immigration to the United States" in order to repair the loss caused to industry and agriculture by the "drain produced by our present unhappy dissensions, diverting to the army of the United States the bone and sinew of the land. There is now but one remedy, as your memorialists believe, for this great evil; and that is found in the encouragement by all proper means within the province of Congress of immigration to our shores; and that the appointment of faithful and competent agents to the different countries of Europe will be found to be the best means which could be adopted to secure a large and valuable immigration." That a law be passed exempting all such immigrants for a definite period from liability to military service.

Act of 1864 (Wisconsin Immigration Company).-In 1864 the Wisconsin Immigration Company was incorporated for the "purpose of promoting, aiding, and facilitating the immigration of laborers from foreign countries to this State, for providing employment and situations for immigrants arriving here, and for furnishing money or passage for persons desiring to immigrate to this State.

Act of 1867 (an act authorizing a board of immigration to be established).-An act was passed in 1867 (ch. 126, p. 122) creating a board of immigration composed of five members, including the governor and secretary of state ex officio, and three other members appointed by the governor. To assist the board, the governor is authorized to appoint a committee of three members from each county. Upon the county committees is imposed the duty of collecting lists of prospective immigrants and of disseminating data. They are required to act subject to the instructions of the state board, and to report results periodically. The state board must report annually to the legislature. All officers serve without compensation from the state, but $2,000 per annum is allowed for expenses.

Act of 1867 amended. The act of 1867 was amended in 1868. The board is increased to eight members, with the same powers and functions as under the original act.

The board is empowered to offer premiums for literature which presents clearly and convincingly the State's advantages and reSources. Copyrights of all such productions vest in the State. Three thousand dollars is appropriated for annual expenses.

Act of 1870 (agent in New York authorized).-By act of 1870 the governor was empowered to appoint a resident immigration agent for

the city of New York "to aid the objects for which said board was organized," provided no compensation shall be paid for his services by the State.

Act of 1871 (an act to create the office of state commissioner of immigration). The office of state commissioner of immigration was created by act of 1871. The office is elective for two years. The salary and expenses shall be $2,500 per annum. The commissioner is required to give bond for $5,000, conditioned on the faithful discharge of the duties of his office. In event of a vacancy in office or of the disqualification of the commissioner the governor shall appoint a successor or substitute. The commissioner shall publish, annually, pamphlets in five specified languages, setting forth the advantages and resources of the State. He shall also secure all possible free publicity in the press of foreign nations. He shall have power to appoint county committees of three members to assist in collecting and disseminating data. Such committees shall be furnished data for distribution, act under instructions, and make periodical reports. They may distribute data advertising their own county.

The commissioner may appoint immigration agents to reside in other States or foreign countries. They shall receive no compensation. Reduced rates of transportation shall be secured for immigrants when possible. It shall be the duty of the commissioner to cooperate with the Federal Bureau of Immigration at Washington. Annual reports shall be submitted to the governor, with reliable data and sound recommendations upon which to base legislation. Five thousand dollars is appropriated for the annual expenses of the office. The appropriation to sustain the office of commissioner of immigra tion is reduced to $2,500 per annum, and certain provisions of the original act repealed by the act of 1874 (ch. 238, p. 549). And later, by act of 1874 (ch. 238, p. 549), the office of commissioner is abolished. Act of 1879 (an act to establish a board of immigration).—By the act of 1879 a board of immigration, consisting of five members, was created. The provisions of the act relative to powers conferred and duties assigned are substantially the same as those of the prior act of 1867 creating a board of immigration. This board shall include the governor, the secretary of state, and three members to be appointed by the governor.

Act of 1887 (board of immigration abolished).-In 1887 the board of immigration was abolished by special act.

Act of 1895 (an act to establish a board of immigration).-An act of 1895 reestablished the board of immigration, constituted in the same way and with powers practically identical with those of the former board. But the act of 1895 was amended in 1897 to provide that the governor and secretary of state should constitute the board with the power to appoint a salaried secretary. The secretary is charged with the practical administration of the work of the board, and the powers conferred are the same as those provided in former acts.

Act of 1909 (personnel of board changed).-The preceding act of 1895 was amended in 1909, changing the personnel of the board and altering its administrative powers. The secretary of state, the dean of the College of Agriculture, and the president of the state board of agriculture shall constitute a state board of immigration. A

secretary shall be appointed and be known as the commissioner of immigration, with a salary of $1,800 a year and necessary official expenses. It shall be the duty of the state board of immigration to cause to be collected and printed, in such form as may be best calculated to attract to the State desirable immigrants seeking homes and capital seeking profitable investment, information relating to the opportunities and advantages offered by this State to the farmer, the merchant, the manufacturer, the home seeker, and the summer visitor. For the purpose of securing a more complete distribution of the above-mentioned literature the board of immigration may cause to be inserted in the newspapers, magazines, and farm papers appropriate notices, maintain permanent exhibits in populous centers, and make exhibits at public fairs, but the total expense of such notices and exhibits shall not exceed 10 per cent of the total funds available for the maintenance of the board.

Act of 1909 (railways may encourage immigration). In 1909 section 1797 of the Statutes was amended to permit railway companies to give free transportation or reduced rates to immigration agents who are "actually engaged more than one-half of their time each year in the business of inducing immigration to settle unimproved lands in the State." The railroad commission must certify to the bona fide official character of any applicant for transportation, and any immigration agent holding such a certificate is required to report monthly to the railroad commission the number of miles traveled.

Railways shall have authority, also, to transport free for the Federal, the State, and any municipal government thereof property for exhibition at fairs and expositions.

IMMIGRATION AND ALIEN LAWS.

MEMORIAL OF 1864.

[Laws of Wisconsin, 1864, No. 14, p. 559.]

MEMORIAL For the passage of laws tending to encourage foreign immigration to the United States.

To the honorable the Senate and House of Representatives in Congress assembled:

Your memorialists respectfully call the attention of Congress to the urgent necessity now existing for the encouragement of foreign immigration to our country, in order to replace, so far as possible, the loss which has been occasioned to the various branches of industry, but more especially to the agricultural portion of our common country, embraced within the great grain-producing sections of the West, by the drain caused through our present unhappy dissensions, diverting to the Army of the United States the bone and sinew of the land.

The consequences of such withdrawal of labor are much more serious than is generally supposed. The wages of those whom the agriculturist must employ, or lose his crop, have increased more than a hundred per cent, and the consequent tax upon the net receipts of the one great branch of our national industry upon which all others are to a great extent, if not entirely, dependent, has brought down the

profits of the farmer to a minimum beyond which he can not afford to have them reduced.

There is now but one remedy, as your memorialists believe, for this great evil, and that is to be found in the encouragement, by all proper means within the province of Congress, of immigration to our shores. It is now of vital importance to us as a people that every effort which can with propriety be made, commensurate to the desired end, should be used, and used promptly.

Your memorialists are of the opinion that the appointment of competent and faithful agents to the different countries of Europe will be found to be the best means which can be adopted to secure a large and valuable immigration, now so much needed, to our shores; and your memorialists would also respect fully recommend to Congress, in furtherance of the object proposed, that a law be passed exempting all such immigrants for a definite period, to be fixed by the act creating the agencies, from liability to military service in the armies of the United States; and your memorialists will ever pray, etc. Resolved, That the governor be, and he is hereby, requested to forward a copy of the accompanying memorial to each of our Senators and Representatives in Congress, and to the chief clerks of the Senate and House of Representatives.

Approved, April 1, 1864.

ACT OF 1867.

[Laws of Wisconsin, 1867, ch. 126, p. 122, published Apr. 19, 1867.]

AN ACT Authorizing the establishment of a board of immigration.

The people of the State of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. There shall be a board of immigration in this State which shall be composed of five members.

SEC. 2. The governor and secretary of state shall be ex officio members of this board, and the other three members shall be appointed by the governor, but not more than one shall be appointed from the same county.

SEC. 3. The governor shall have authority to appoint in each county a committee consisting of three members to assist the board of immigration in the performance of their duties.

SEC. 4. It shall be the duty of this board to enhance and encourage immigration to this State from the older States of the Union, and from Europe.

SEC. 5. This board shall have authority to provide for the collection of statistics and useful information concerning the climate, products, population, and resources of this State, together with at statement of the best routes to this State from the large cities of Europe, and for printing the same in pamphlet form in the English, Welsh, German, and Scandinavian languages, in such numbers as may to the board seem expedient.

SEC. 6. It shall be the duty of the county committee to make out duplicate lists of the names and post-office addresses of such friends and relatives of the inhabitants of their respective localities as are

living in the Eastern States and in Europe and to retain one list and send the other list to the secretary of the board of immigration. SEC. 7. The secretary of the board shall forward to the county committees a sufficient amount of pamphlets to supply all the persons named in the foregoing lists, with postage sufficient to carry them to their final destination, and the county committees shall forward the pamphlets by mail to the persons named in their lists.

SEC. 8. The county committees shall act under the instruction of the board, and shall from time to time make reports to the secretary of the board.

SEC. 9. The board shall make reports to the legislature at their annual sessions.

SEC. 10. Neither the officers of the board nor the county committees named in this act shall receive any compensation for their services.

SEC. 11. There shall be annually appropriated out of the general fund not otherwise appropriated a sum not exceeding two thousand dollars, to be drawn upon the order of the governor, and to be applied exclusively to defray the expenses incurred under this act for composing and printing circulars, for advertising, for postage, and for forwarding printed matter.

SEC. 12. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

Approved, April 10, 1867.

ACTS OF 1868.

I.

[Wisconsin Laws, 1868, General, ch. 120, p. 120, published Mar. 14, 1868.]

AN ACT To amend chapter 126, of the General Laws of 1867, entitled "An act to authorize the establishment of a board of immigration."

The people of the State of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. Section 5 of chapter 126 of the General Laws of 1867, entitled "An act to authorize the establishment of a board of immigration," is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

SEC. 5. This board shall have authority to provide for the collection of statistics and useful information concerning the climate, products, population, and resources of this State, together with a statement of the best routes to this State from the large cities of Europe, and for printing the same in pamphlet form in the English, Welsh, German, French, and Scandinavian languages, in such numbers as may to the board seem proper.

SEC. 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

Approved, March 5, 1868.

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