Evidence required.

Consuls to inquire as to agreements.

1875.

master of such vessel a permit or certificate, containing the names of such persons, and setting forth the fact of their voluntary emigration from such port or place.

350.. Such certificate will not be given until the Consular Officer has personally satisfied himself, by evidence, produced, of the truth of the facts therein contained.

351.. By a later statute it is also made the duty of a ConAct of March 3, Sul, before delivering the permit or certificate above referred to, to ascertain whether the emigrant has entered into any contract or agreement for a term of service within the United States for lewd and immoral purposes, and if such a contract exists, to refuse to deliver the permit or certificate. The importation into the United States of women for the purposes of prostitution is forbidden, and all contracts relating thereto are declared void; and the attempt to hold them under such a contract is declared a felony. By the same act also it is made unlawful for persons who are undergoing a sentence for conviction in their own country of felonious crimes, other than political, or whose sentence has been remitted on condition of their emigration, or for women imported for the purposes of prostitution, to emigrate into the United States. Provision is also made for the return of such persons to the countries from which they came, and for proceedings against the vessel bringing them to the United States.

Rigid examination enjoined.

Admeasurement of vessels carrying Chinese.

352..Consuls will be rigid in exacting a compliance with these provisions. It is not necessary to point out to Consuls how easily the crime of transporting involuntary emigrants may be veiled under the form of a voluntary emigration, nor to impress upon them the importance of rigid personal examinations of all such classes of emigrants, in order to insure that there shall be no violations of the law.

353.. Application is sometimes made to a Consul for a certificate showing the admeasurement of vessels engaged in transporting Chinese emigrants, in order to ascertain the number of passengers that may lawfully be carried. It is held that the responsibility of determining the legal number of emigrant passengers that his vessel may carry is devolved entirely upon the master, under Title XLVIII of the Revised Statutes, who is to ascertain the vessel's capacity in any manner he may see fit. The law makes no provision

for the issue of a certificate of such capacity by a Consular Officer to the master or owner of an American vessel in a foreign port, and applications for such certificates should be refused.

ARTICLE XXII.

Miscellaneous Duties in Regard to Seamen and Vessels of the United States and Immigration.

MANIFESTS.

354.. The statutes regulating the collection of duties on im- Manifests. ports and tonnage, and relating to manifests, apply as well to vessels owned in whole or in part by foreigners as to vessels of the United States; and Consular Officers are therefore instructed to inform the masters of all vessels leaving their ports for the United States that they are required to produce manifests in accordance with the provisions of law to regulate the collection of duties on imports and tonnage.

THE NATIONAL BOARD OF HEALTH AND BILLS OF HEALTH.

355..The National Board of Health was established at Washington under the provisions of the act of Congress of March 3, 1879. It was charged with the duty of obtaining information upon all matters affecting the public health, and, in co-operation with the Academy of Science, of reporting to Congress a plan for a national public health organization, with special attention to the subject of quarantine, both maritime and inland, and especially as to the regulations which should be established between State and local systems of quarantine and a national quarantine system.

356.. The act of June 2, 1879, for the prevention of the introduction of contagious or infectious diseases into the United States, enlarges the powers and duties of the Board, and imposes various duties upon Consular Officers towards accomplishing its object. It is thereby declared unlawful, under penalty, for any merchant-vessel, from any foreign port where such diseases exist, to enter any port of the United States, except in accordance with the provisions of the act and of the rules and regulations of the National Board of Health and those of the several States. It is

National Board of

Health.

Duties of Consular Officers.

Detail of officers. Rules and regula tions.

Sanitary information.

obligatory upon all merchant-vessels, without regard to nationality, to obtain from the Consular Officer at the port of departure, or from the sanitary officer stationed there in accordance with the act, a certificate in duplicate setting forth the sanitary history of the vessel, and that it has in all respects complied with the rules and regulations for securing the best sanitary condition of the vessel, cargo, passengers, and crew. And it is required, before granting the certificate, that the Consular or Sanitary Officer should be satisfied of the truth of the statements of the certificate. A vessel sailing from a foreign port without such certificate and entering any port of the United States is liable to a fine of five hundred dollars. This certificate forms the bill of health, as given in Form No. 36.

357.. Provision is also made for detailing medical officers and officers from the several Departments to serve in the Consular Office at any foreign port, for the purpose of making the inspection and giving the certificate required by the act, and of otherwise carrying out its provisions. The National Board of Health is to co-operate with the boards of health of the several States in the enforcement of the State regulations, and may, with the approval of the President, supplement the latter by additional regulations, if found necessary. And where the officers of a State fail or refuse to execute them, an officer may be detailed for the purpose of their enforcement. The Board is also authorized, with the approval of the President, to make such rules and regulations as may be necessary to be observed by vessels sailing from infected ports to ports of the United States, and to secure the best sanitary condition of the vessels, their cargoes, passengers, and crews. These rules and regulations are to be communicated to and enforced by Consular Officers.

358.. For the purpose of obtaining information of the sanitary condition of foreign ports, Consular Officers at ports designated by the National Board of Health are required to make weekly reports in the form prescribed by the Board. It is made unlawful for a vessel arriving from a foreign port to enter a port of the United States or to land its cargo or passengers, except upon the certificate of the health officer at the quarantine station, that the rules and

regulations have been observed and complied with. And the master of a vessel is required to produce to the collector of customs the certificate from the Consular or Sanitary Officer at the foreign port, as well as that of the health officer of the port of entry in the United States.

359.. Copies of the rules and regulations prescribed under the act, together with a copy of the act of Congress, are communicated to the Consular Officers at the ports designated by the Board. The forms of weekly reports, and copies of the rules to be observed in sending cable messages, and of the bill of health are likewise sent to those Officers. All of these documents will be found in Appendix V.

360..It is to be remarked that all the necessary expenses incurred under the provisions of the act are to be paid by the National Board of Health. A Consular Officer, therefore, is not authorized to include any part of these expenses in his accounts with the Government, but should transmit them to the Board at Washington. If the meteorological data required in the weekly reports cannot be obtained without expense, they may be omitted from the reports.

361.. The efficiency of the Board in so important a matter will be greatly promoted by a prompt, careful, and intelligent compliance on the part of Consular Officers at the designated ports with the statute and the rules and regulations prescribed in accordance therewith. They will take care that the masters of vessels sailing from their ports for ports in the United States are fully advised of the requirements which will be exacted on arrival in this country; that their reports are based upon full and trustworthy information, and that the inspections required to be made are such as to satisfy them as to the bills of health which they are to give. 362.. The foreign ports at which the services of Consular Officers are required are designated by the Board, and the prescribed forms and regulations are transmitted to them through the Department of State. The weekly and other reports and cable messages from Consular Officers are sent directly to the office of the Board in Washington. The number of the designated ports may be expected to be increased or diminished as may from time to time be necessary. It is not intended, however, that Consular Officers at ports not

Documents and

reports.

Payment of ex

penses.

Duties of Consular Officers.

Designated ports.

Consular and

medical fees.

Inspections and expenses.

so designated should be relieved from the duty of communicating to the Board whatever information would be valuable for the sanitary protection of the people of the United States. They will also continue, as heretofore, to issue bills of health, but in the form prescribed by the Board, and to advise the Health Officers at ports of the United States of the sanitary condition of their districts. If a master of a vessel refuses to take a bill of health, a Consular Officer is not authorized to detain the vessel or her papers, but he will be careful to report the facts both to the Board and to the Health Officer at the port of entry in the United States.

363.. The fee authorized by section 6 of the act for the medical examination of persons on vessels bound from foreign ports to ports in the United States has been fixed as follows, viz: For fifty persons and under, $5; from fifty to one hundred persons, for each ten additional persons or less, $1; over one hundred, at the rate of $5 for each additional hundred persons. The fee for the bill of health is $2 50, being the same as heretofore prescribed. The fee for the indorsement on the bill of health' required by Rule 3, and for the visa required by Rule 12, has been fixed at 50 cents. The fees and charges prescribed in this and the following paragraph (except the fee for the bill of health) are to be accounted for to the Board of Health, and not to the Treasury. The fee for the bill of health is to be accounted for in the Consul's quarterly fee report as for other official fees.

364.. When it shall be necessary for Consular Officers to make inspections of ships under the instructions issued by the National Board of Health, they are authorized and instructed to pay all the expenses of such inspection, including boat-hire and the medical examination of passengers, officers, and crews, when necessary, out of the fund created by the charge for the examination of each person on the ship inspected, as provided for in the foregoing paragraph. They are also authorized to collect from the masters of the vessels, and to disburse, the actual cost of cleansing and disinfecting ships, when this becomes necessary, as provided for by the statute. A separate account should be kept of all fees received for the examinations and other services above