Developing Legislation. From 1864 until 1882 little legislative action concerning immigration is recorded. On May 31, 1870, an act was approved (16 Stat. L., 140, 144) which sought to avoid international complications by providing:

No tax or charge shall be imposed or enforced by any State upon any person immigrating thereto from a foreign country which is not equally imposed and enforced upon every person immigrating to such State from any other foreign country

while the act of March 3, 1875 (18 Stat. L., 477), dealt principally with the exclusion of involuntary Oriental immigration and the importation of women for immoral purposes.

By this time, however, feeling against the importation of contract labor had developed, and the general desire for restrictive legislation was indicated by the complexion of the debates in Congress and the President's message in 1872.

Court decisions through the years had also tended to bring national legislation closer. Decisions adverse to individual state legislation concerning the head tax on and inspection of immigrants had been made as early as 1849 by the Supreme Court.' The culminating decision came on March 20, 1876, when the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the immigration laws of New York, California, and Louisiana, which left those states powerless to levy a tax on incoming aliens and threw the expense of regulation back upon them.

In the decision the court made the following recommendation:

We are of the opinion that this whole subject has been confined to Congress by the Constitution; that Congress can more appropriately and with more acceptance exercise it than any other body known to our law, state or national; that by providing a system of laws in these matters applicable to all ports and all vessels, a serious question which has long been a matter of contest and complaint may be effectively and satisfactorily settled.

While the decision and recommendation just outlined would seem to have indicated no alternative but national control of immi

'The "Passenger Cases," declaring the statutes of New York and Massachusetts unconstitutional (7 Howard, 283).

"Henderson vs. Mayor, 92 U. S. 259.

gration, and while two bills to that effect were at once introduced, no action was taken by Congress for six years.

President Arthur, however, in his message of December 6, 1881, urged the passage of appropriate immigration legislation, with the result that the act of August 3, 1882 (22 Stat. L., 214), was passed and approved.

This act made numerous important provisions, the first of which was a duty or tax of fifty cents' upon each alien entrant (by water) to the United States. The money so collected (from the carrier) was set aside as an “immigrant fund," which was used to defray the expenses of administration of the Service.

10

The new law charged the Secretary of the Treasury with the execution of the provisions of the act, and authorized him to enter into contracts with state boards or officers designated by the governor to care for local immigration matters, including inspection and support and relief of destitute aliens. The act further provided for the exclusion of idiots, lunatics, persons likely to become public charges, and convicts (except those convicted of political offenses).

Other laws followed in quick succession. The act of March 3, 1883 (32 Stat. L., 488, 517) exempted immigrants' horses and wagons from duty (see page 2 ante), while the act of June 26, 1884 (23 Stat. L., 53, 58, Sec. 22), exempted from the head tax, entrants from vessels plying between Mexico or Canada and the United States until such time as land carriers should be taxed.

The reaction against admission of aliens under labor contracts resulted in the act of February 26, 1885 (23 Stat. L., 332), which provided:

That from and after the passage of this act it shall be unlawful for any person, company, partnership, or corporation in any manner whatsoever to prepay the transportation, or in any way assist or encourage the importation or migration of any alien or aliens, any foreigner or foreigners, into the United States, its Territories, or the District of Columbia, under contract or agreement, parole or special, express or implied, made previous to the importation or

'The fee has been increased through the years, as follows: $1, act of August 18, 1894 (28 Stat. L., 372, 391); $2, act of March 3, 1903 (32 Stat. L., 1213); $4, act of February 20, 1907 (34 Stat. L., 898); and $8, act of February 5, 1917 (39 Stat. L., 874).

10 For Caucasian immigrants only.

migration of such alien or aliens, foreigner or foreigners, to perform labor or service of any kind in the United States, its Territories, or the District of Columbia."

The law, however, did not provide for inspection, nor for machinery for the general execution of the provisions of the law or the deportation of the contract laborer.

Responsibility for the administration of the act of 1885 was placed upon the Secretary of the Treasury by the act of February 23, 1887 (24 Stat. L., 414), which required such local state boards or officers as he had designated, to report upon the condition and status of all alien arrivals as a basis for decision upon violations of the law.

The next act, that of October 19, 1888 (25 Stat. L., 565, 566), provided for return to their own country, within one year, of immigrants illegally landed, and for money allowances to informers on violation of immigration laws.

An organization had now been developed through the various changes in legislation which, while failing to centralize general immigration matters, Chinese exclusion, and contract labor procedure, provided for general supervision by the Secretary of the Treasury who (upon suggestion from the governor) appointed local state boards or officers to act as his agents at the ports of entry and in the field, the expenses being defrayed out of fees collected for immigrant arrivals.

This arrangement obviously looked largely to state organizations to furnish the machinery for the administration of quarantine laws. The Treasury Department apparently made no general provision for the medical inspection of immigrants, since the work seems to have been carried on at New York only."

Centralized Control. Events now moved rapidly toward the establishment of a permanent central organization for the administrative supervision and control of immigration. On April 19, 1890, the United States had taken over from the state of New

"The act excepted actors, artists, lecturers, skilled workmen for new industries not yet established in the United States, private secretaries, and domestic or personal servants, and permitted relatives or friends to assist an alien to enter.

12

Supervising Surgeon General, Annual Report, 1890, p. 62; Secretary of the Treasury, Annual Report, 1890, p. lxxiv.

York, responsibility for immigration matters at the port of New York, and on March 3, 1891, the President approved an "Act in amendment of the various acts relative to immigration and the importation of aliens under contract or agreement to perform labor" (26 Stat. L., 1084).

While various phases of the question of immigration in general were touched upon in this law, main interest lies in Section 7, which provided as follows:

the office of superintendent of immigration is hereby created and established, and the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, is authorized and directed to appoint such officer. . . The superintendent of immigration shall be an officer in the Treasury Department, under the control and supervision of the Secretary of the Treasury, to whom he shall make annual reports in writing of the transactions of his office, together with such special reports, in writing, as the Secretary of the Treasury shall require. He shall have a chief clerk, first-class clerks."

and two

The Bureau Established. In accordance with the provisions of this act, the Bureau of Immigration was established in the Treasury Department on July 12, 1891, and from this developed the present organization.

The act made other provisions of interest and importance, including the location of inspectional offices at ports of entry at the seaboard and along the Mexican and Canadian borders.

Difficulties having arisen over illegal entries from Canada, the Secretary of the Treasury authorized the Superintendent of Immigration to establish rules and regulations for the entry of aliens to the United States across land borders. An agreement was entered into with the steamship companies landing aliens in Canada to make a report of such landings to the United States immigration officers.

Twenty-four border inspection stations were established."

Medical inspection of alien arrivals was also provided for in the law, to be conducted by the Marine Hospital Service. In case the

13 The Statistics Bureau of the Treasury continued to issue immigration reports until 1895, duplicating part of the work of the Immigration Bureau for a period of four years.

"Two on the Mexican border, 1894.

services of a surgeon of the Service could not be obtained without unreasonable delay, the inspector might cause the examination to be made by a civil surgeon whose compensation was to be fixed by the Secretary of the Treasury.

Medical officers were detailed for inspection of immigrants at the more important ports, other places having available the regular officer already on duty."

Other sections of the act contained provisions regarding restrictions on immigration and added to the already existing list of excluded aliens, paupers, persons suffering from a loathsome or dangerous contagious disease, and polygamists.

16

Miscellaneous Laws. Legislation continued actively during the next few years. The act of February 15, 1893 (27 Stat. L., 449, 452, Sec. 7), provided the President with power to suspend immigration during the existence of contagious diseases in the countries from which aliens were reaching the United States.

"An act to facilitate the enforcement of the immigration and contract-labor laws of the United States" was approved March 3, 1893 (27 Stat. L., 569), amending sections of previous acts, specifying procedure in various cases, and providing penalties for violations.

The sundry civil act of August 18, 1894, contained certain provisions regarding the Bureau (28 Stat. L., 372, 390, 391). The first of these made final the decision of immigration officers with regard to the deportation of aliens unless reversed on appeal to the Secretary of the Treasury.

15

66

The inspection work at New York was made by a civil surgeon appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury, as the technical point was raised that the term surgeon" in the act of March 3, 1891, meant an officer with the rank of surgeon. The Treasury Department maintained that the word was used in a general sense and meant any surgeon of the Service. The District Court, however, sustained the point, and as there were not sufficient officers of the grade of surgeon available, it was necessary to suspend the inspection work at that port. The technical objection was not raised at other ports. The situation was remedied by Section 8 of the act of March 3, 1893 (27 Stat. L., 570), which provided that medical examinations might be made by any medical officer of the Marine Hospital Service detailed by the Secretary of the Treasury.

10 Exceptions to prohibited classes were also increased in number: ministers of the gospel, professors for colleges and seminaries, and other recognized professions.