made by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor shall be fined not more than five thousand dollars, or imprisonment for not more than five years, or both. [34 Stat. L. 908.] report SEC. 39. [Joint commission on immigration powers, duties, etc.expenses international conference may be called subjects for consideration.] That a commission is hereby created, consisting of three Senators, to be appointed by the President of the Senate, and three members of the House of Representatives, to be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and three persons, to be appointed by the President of the United States. Said commission shall make full inquiry, examination, and investigation by subcommittee or otherwise into the subject of immigration. For the purpose of said inquiry, examination, and investigation, said commission is authorized to send for persons and papers, make all necessary travel, either in the United States or any foreign country, and, through the chairman of the commission or any member thereof to administer oaths and to examine witnesses and papers respecting all matters pertaining to the subject, and to employ necessary clerical and other assistance. Said commission shall report to the Congress the conclusions reached by it and make such recommendations as in its judgment may seem proper. Such sums of money as may be necessary for the said inquiry, examination, and investigation are hereby appropriated and authorized to be paid out of the "immigrant fund" on the certificate of the chairman of said commission, including all expenses of the commissioners and a reasonable compensation, to be fixed by the President of the United States, for those members of the commission who are not members of Congress; and the President of the United States is also authorized, in the name of the Government of the United States, to call, in his discretion, an international conference, to assemble at such point as may be agreed upon, or to send special commissioners to any foreign country, for the purpose of regulating by international agreement, subject to the advice and consent of the Senate of the United States, the immigration of aliens to the United States; of providing for the mental, moral and physical examination of such aliens by American consuls or other officers of the United States Government at the ports of embarkation, or elsewhere; of securing the assistance of foreign governments in their own territories to prevent the evasion of the laws of the United States governing immigration to the United States; of entering into such international agreements as may be proper to prevent the immigration of aliens who, under the laws of the United States, are or may be excluded from entering the United States, and of regulating any matters pertaining to such immigration. [34 Stat. L. 909.] SEC. 40. [Bureau of immigration and naturalization information division created duties, etc. agents of states, etc.] Authority is hereby given the Commissioner-General of Immigration to establish, under the direction and control of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, a division of information in the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization; and the Secretary of Commerce and Labor shall provide such clerical assistance as may be necessary. It shall be the duty of said division to promote a beneficial distribution of aliens adInitted into the United States among the several States and Territories desiring immigration. Correspondence shall be had with the proper officials of the States and Territories, and said division shall gather from all available sources useful information regarding the resources, products, and physical characteristics of each State and Territory, and shall publish such information in different languages and distribute the publications among all admitted aliens who may ask for such information at the immigrant stations of the United States and to such other persons as may desire the same. When any State or Territory appoints and maintains an agent or agents to represent it at any of the immigrant stations of the United States, such agents shall, under regulations prescribed by the Commissioner-General of Immigration, subject to the approval of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, have access to aliens who have been admitted to the United States for the purpose of presenting, either orally or in writing, the special inducements offered by such State or Territory to aliens to settle therein. While on duty at any immigrant station such agents shall be subject to all the regulations prescribed by the Commissioner-General of Immigration, who, with the approval of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, may, for violation of any such regulations, deny to the agent guilty of such violation any of the privileges herein granted. [34 Stat. L. 909.] SEC. 41. [Foreign officials, etc.] strued to apply to accredited officials of families, or guests. [34 Stat. L. 910.] That nothing in this Act shall be conforeign governments nor to their suites, SEC. 42. [Immigrant passengers · accommodations for -on steamships - limitations on sailing vessels-children, etc, — punishment for violations in effect Jan. 1, 1909.] It shall not be lawful for the master of a steamship or other vessel whereon immigrant passengers, or passengers other than cabin passengers, have been taken at any port or place in a foreign country or dominion (ports and places in foreign territory contiguous to the United States excepted) to bring such vessel and passengers to any port or place in the United States unless the compartments, spaces, and accommodations hereinafter mentioned have been provided, allotted, maintained, and used for and by such passengers during the entire voyage; that is to say, in a steamship, the compartments or spaces, unobstructed by cargo, stores, or goods, shall be of sufficient dimensions to allow for each and every passenger carried or brought therein eighteen clear superficial feet of deck allotted to his or her use, if the compartment or space is located on the main deck or on the first deck next below the main deck of the vessel, and twenty clear superficial feet of deck allotted to his or her use for each passenger carried or brought therein if the compartment or space is located on the second deck below the main deck of the vessel: Provided, That if the height between the lower passenger deck and the deck immediately above it is less than seven feet, or if the apertures (exclusive of the side scuttles) through which light and air are admitted together to the lower passenger deck are less in size than in the proportion of three square feet to every one hundred superficial feet of that deck, the ship shall not carry a greater number of passengers on that deck than in the proportion of one passenger to every thirty clear superficial feet thereof. It shall not be lawful to carry or bring passengers on any deck other than the decks above mentioned. And in sailing vessels such passengers shall be carried or brought only on the deck (not being an orlop deck) that is next below the main deck of the vessel, or in a poop or deck house constructed on the main deck; and the compartment or space, unobstructed by cargo, stores, or goods, shall be of sufficient dimensions to allow one hundred and ten cubic feet for each and every passenger brought therein. And such passengers shall not be carried or brought in any between decks, nor in any compartment, space, poop, or deck house, the height of which from deck to deck is less than six feet. In computing the number of such passengers carried or brought in any vessel, children under one year of age shall not be included, and two children between one and eight years of age shall F. S. A. Supp.-12 177 be counted as one passenger; and any person brought in any such vessel who shall have been, during the voyage, taken from any other vessel wrecked or in distress on the high seas, or have been picked up at sea from any boat, raft, or otherwise, shall not be included in such computation. The master of a vessel coming to a port or place in the United States in violation of either of the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor; and if the number of passengers other than cabin passengers carried or brought in the vessel, or in any compartment, space, poop, or deck house thereof, is greater than the number allowed to be carried or brought therein, respectively, as hereinbefore prescribed, the said master shall be fined fifty dollars for each and every passenger in excess of the proper number, and may also be imprisoned not exceeding six months. This section shall take effect on January first, nineteen hundred and nine. [34 Stat. L. 910.] Repeal. See note under sec. 44, infra. SEC. 43. [Repeal provisions · -Chinese exclusion, etc.] That the Act of March third, nineteen hundred and three, being an Act to regulate the immigration of aliens into the United States, except section thirty-four thereof, and the Act of March twenty-second, nineteen hundred and four, being an Act to extend the exemption from head tax to citizens of Newfoundland entering the United States, and all Acts and parts of Acts inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed: Provided, That that Act shall not be construed to repeal, alter, or amend existing laws relating to the immigration or exclusion of Chinese, persons or persons of Chinese descent, nor to repeal, alter, or amend section six, chapter four hundred and fifty-three, third session Fifty-eighth Congress, approved February sixth, nineteen hundred and five, or, prior to January first, nineteen hundred and nine, section one of the Act approved August second, eighteen hundred and eighty-two, entitled "An Act to regulate the carriage of passengers by sea." [34 Stat. L. 911.] The Act of March 3, 1903, is given in 10 Fed. Stat. Annot. 101. The Act of March 22, 1904, amends section 1 of the Act of March 3, 1903. See 10 Fed. Stat. Annot. 103. Section 6 of the Act of Feb. 6, 1905, is given in 10 Fed. Stat. Annot. 267; section 1 of the Act of Aug. 2, 1882, is given in 1 Fed. Stat. Annot. 720. Repeal. See note under sec. 44, infra. SEC. 44. [Effect - exceptions.] That this Act shall take effect and be enforced from and after July first, nineteen hundred and seven: Provided, however, That section thirty-nine of this Act and the last proviso of section one shall take effect upon the passage of this Act and section forty-two on January first, nineteen hundred and nine. [34 Stat. L. 911.] [SEC. 1.] [Head tax, etc., to be covered into the Treasury.] That on and after July first, nineteen hundred and nine, all head tax collected pursuant to the provisions of section one of the said Act of February twentieth, nineteen hundred and seven, together with all fines, rentals collected, and moneys received from other sources under the laws regulating the immigration of aliens into the United States, shall be covered into the Treasury to the credit of miscellaneous receipts. [35 Stat. L. 982.] This is from the Sundry Civil Appropriation Act of March 4, 1909, ch. 299. An Act Relative to outward alien manifests on certain vessels. [Act of March 4, 1909, ch. 305, 35 Stat. L. 1060.] [List of aliens not required on vessels for Canada and Mexico.] That until the provisions of section twelve of the immigration Act of February twentieth, nineteen hundred and seven, relating to outward alien manifests, shall be made applicable to passengers going out of the United States to Canada by land carriage, said provisions shall not apply to passengers going by vessels employed exclusively in the trade between the ports of the United States and the Dominion of Canada and the Republic of Mexico. [35 Stat. L. 1060.] 179 IMPORTS AND EXPORTS. Act of Feb. 9, 1909, Ch. 100. Sec. 1. Opium-Importation Prohibited. 2. Penalty for Violation - Possession, Proof of Guilt. CROSS-REFERENCE. See also CUSTOMS DUTIES. An Act To prohibit the importation and use of opium for other than medicinal purposes. [Act of Feb. 9, 1909, ch. 100, 35 Stat. L. 614.] [SEC. 1.] [Opium-importation prohibited.] That after the first day of April, nineteen hundred and nine, it shall be unlawful to import into the United States opium in any form or any preparation or derivative thereof: Provided, That opium and preparations and derivatives thereof, other than smoking opium or opium prepared for smoking, may be imported for medicinal purposes only, under regulations which the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to prescribe, and when so imported shall be subject to the duties which are now or may hereafter be imposed by law. [35 Stat. L. 614.] SEC. 2. [Penalty for violation - possession, proof of guilt.] That if any person shall fraudulently or knowingly import or bring into the United States, or assist in so doing, any opium or any preparation or derivative thereof contrary to law, or shall receive, conceal, buy, sell, or in any manner facilitate the transportation, concealment, or sale of such opium or preparation or derivative thereof after importation, knowing the same to have been imported contrary to law, such opium or preparation or derivative thereof shall be forfeited and shall be destroyed, and the offender shall be fined in any sum not exceeding five thousand dollars nor less than fifty dollars, or by imprisonment for any time not exceeding two years, or both. Whenever, on trial for a violation of this section, the defendant is shown to have, or to have had, possession of such opium or preparation or derivative thereof, such possession shall be deemed sufficient evidence to authorize conviction unless the defendant shall explain the possession to the satisfaction of the jury. [35 Stat. L. 614.] INCEST. See PENAL LAWS. |