sand dollars, which may be sued for and recovered by the United States or by any person who shall first bring his action therefor including any such alien or foreigner who may be a party to any such contract or agreement, as debts of like amount are now recovered in the circuit courts of the United States; the proceeds to be paid into the Treasury of the United States; and separate suits may be brought for each alien or foreigner being a party to such contract or agreement aforesaid. And it shall be the duty of the district attorney of the proper district to prosecute every such suit at the expense of the United States.

910. SEC. 4. That the master of any vessel who shall knowingly bring within the United States on any such vessel, and land, or permit to be landed, from any foreign port or place, any alien laborer, mechanic, or artisan who, previous to embarkation on such vessel, had entered into contract or agreement, parol or special, express or implied, to perform labor or service in the United States, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars for each and every such alien laborer, mechanic or artisan so brought as aforesaid, and may also be imprisoned for a term not exceeding six months.

911. SEC. 5. That nothing in this act shall be so construed as to prevent any citizen or subject of any foreign country temporarily residing in the United States, either in private or official capacity, from engaging, under contract or otherwise, persons not residents or citizens of the United States to act as private secretaries, servants, or domestics for such foreigner temporarily residing in the United States as aforesaid;

Nor shall this act be so construed as to prevent any person. or persons, partnership, or corporation from engaging, under contract or agreement, skilled workman in foreign countries to perform labor in the United States in or upon any new industry not at present established in the United States:

Provided, That skilled labor for that purpose can not be otherwise obtained; nor shall the provisions of this act apply to professional actors, artists, lecturers, or singers, nor to persons employed strictly as personal or domestic servants:

Provided, That nothing in this act shall be construed as prohibiting any individual from assisting any member of his family or any relative or personal friend, to migrate from any foreign country to the United States, for the purpose of settlement here.

912. SEC. 6. That all laws or parts of laws conflicting herewith be, and the same are hereby, repealed. [February 26, 1885.]

CHAP. 220.-An act to amend an act to prohibit the importation and immigration of foreigners and aliens under contract or agreement to perform labor in the United States, its Territories, and the District of Columbia.

913. Be it enacted, &c., That an act to prohibit the importation and immigration of foreigners and aliens under contract or agreement to perform labor in the United States, its Territories, and the District of Columbia, approved February twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, and to provide for the enforcement thereof, be amended by adding the following:

914. SEC. 6. That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby charged with the duty of executing the provisions of this act, and for that purpose he shall have power to enter into contracts with such State Commission, board, or officers as may be designated for that purpose by the Governor of any State to take charge of the local affairs of immigration in the ports within said State, under the rules and regulations to be prescribed by said Secretary;

And it shall be the duty of such State Commission, board, or officers so designated to examine into the condition of passengers arriving at the ports within such State in any ship or vessel, and for that purpose all or any of such commissioners or officers, or such other person or persons as they shall appoint, shall be authorized to go on board of and through any such ship or vessel;

And if in such examination there shall be found among such passengers any person included in the prohibition in this act, they shall report the same in writing to the collector of such port, and such persons shall not be permitted to land.

915. SEC. 7. That the Secretary of the Treasury shall establish such regulations and rules, and issue from time to time such instructions, not inconsistent with law, as he shall deem best calculated for carrying out the provisions of this act; and he shall prescribe all forms of bonds, entries, and other papers to be used under and in the enforcement of the various provisions of this act.

916. SEC. 8. That all persons included in the prohibition in this act. upon arrival, shall be sent back to the nations to which they belong and from whence they came. The Secretary of the Treasury may desig nate the State board of charities of any State in which such board shall exist by law, or any commission in any State, or any person or persons in any State, whose duty it shall be to execute the provisions of this section and shall be entitled to reasonable compensation therefor to be fixed by regulation prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury.

The Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe regulations for the return

of the aforesaid persons to the countries from whence they came, and shall furnish instructions to the board, commission, or persons charged with the execution of the provisions of this section as to the time of procedure in respect thereto, and may change such instructions from time to time. The expense of such return of the aforesaid persons not permitted to land shall be borne by the owners of the vessels in which they

came.

And any vessel refusing to pay such expenses shall not thereafter be permitted to land at or clear from any port of the United States. And such expenses shall be a lien on said vessel. [Part omitted

makes appropriation.] *

917.

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SEC. 9. That all acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed.

918. SEC. 10. That this act shall take effect at the expiration of thirty days after its passage. [February 23, 1887.]

AMENDMENT TO THE ALIEN CONTRACT-LABOR LAW CONTAINED IN THE DEFICIENCY BILL APPROVED OCTOBER 19, 1888 (25 STAT. L., 565). 919. That the act approved February twenty-third, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, entitled "An act to amend an act to prohibit the importation and immigration of foreigners and aliens under contract or agreement to perform labor in the United States, its Territories, and the District of Columbia,” be, and the same is hereby, so amended as to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury, in case that he shall be satisfied that an immigrant has been allowed to land contrary to the prohibition of that law, to cause such immigrant, within the period of one year after landing or entry, to be taken into custody and returned to the country from whence he came, at the expense of the owner of the importing vessel; or, if he entered from an adjoining country, at the expense of the person previously contracting for the services.

CHAP. 551.-An act in amendment to the various acts relative to immigration and the importation of aliens under contract or agreement to perform labor. 920. Be it enacted, &c., That the following classes of aliens shall be excluded from admission (1) into the United States, in accordance with

(1) By 1875, March 3, ch. 141, §§ 3, 5, immigration is forbidden of persons undergoing sentence for felony (other than political crimes), or whose sentence has been remitted on condition of emigration, and of women imported for purposes of prostitution. These persons may be returned on the vessel bringing them. By 1882, Aug. 3, ch. 376, § 4, foreign convicts are to be returned and special provision is made for the execution of the law by the Secretary of the Treasury. By 1885, Feb. 26, ch. 164, § 1, it is

the existing acts regulating immigration, other than those concerning Chinese laborers:

All idiots, insane persons,

Paupers or persons likely to become a public charge,

Persons suffering from a loathsome or a dangerous contagious disease, Persons who have been convicted of a felony or other infamous crime or misdemeanor involving moral turpitude,

Polygamists,

And also any person whose ticket or passage is paid for with the money of another or who is assisted by others to come, unless it is affirmatively and satisfactorily shown on special inquiry that such person does not belong to one of the foregoing excluded classes, or to the class of contract laborers excluded by the act of February twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and eighty-five,

But this section shall not be held to exclude persons living in the United States from sending for a relative or friend who is not of the excluded classes under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe:

Provided, That nothing in this act shall be construed to apply to or exclude persons convicted of a political offense, notwithstanding said political offense may be designated as a "felony, crime, infamous crime, or misdemeanor, involving moral turpitude" by the laws of the land whence he came or by the court convicting.

921. SEC. 2. That no suit or proceeding for violations of said act of February twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, prohibiting the importation and migration of foreigners under contract or agreement to perform labor, shall be settled, compromised, or discontinued without the consent of the court entered of record with reasons therefor.

922. SEC. 3. That it shall be deemed a violation of said act of February twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, to assist or encourage the importation or migration of any alien by promise of employment through advertisements printed and published in any for made unlawful to prepay transportation or to assist or encourage the immigration of aliens to the U. S., and all contracts made for the labor in the U. S. of a prospective immigrant are declared void and (§4) punishment is provided for the master of a vessel bringing such an immigrant and for the immigrant By 1887, Feb. 23, ch. 220 and 1888, Oct. 19, ch. 1213, par. 1, additional provisions are added to make this law effective. These are all the laws regulating or forbidding immigration, except those relating to the cooly trade (see 1875, March 3, ch. 141, §§ 1, 2, 4), and Chinese in exist ence prior to the above law of 1891. This adds other classes and makes stringent provisions for its enforcement.

eign country; and any alien coming to this country in consequence of such an advertisement shall be treated as coming under a contract as contemplated by such act; and the penalties by said act imposed shall be applicable in such a case:

Provided This section shall not apply to States and Immigration Bureaus of States advertising the inducements they offer for immigration to such States.

923. SEC. 4. That no steamship or transportation company or owners of vessels shall directly, or through agents, either by writing, printing, or oral representations, solicit, invite or encourage the immigration of any alien into the United States, except by ordinary commercial letters, circulars, advertisements, or oral representations, stating the sailings of their vessels and the terms and facilities of transportation therein;

And for a violation of this provision any such steamship or transportation company and any such owners of vessels, and the agents by them employed, shall be subjected to the penalties imposed by the third section of said act of February twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and eightyfive, for violations of the provision of the first section of said act.

924. SEC. 5. That section five of said act of February twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, shall be, and hereby is, amended by adding to the second proviso in said section the words “nor to ministers of any religious denomination, nor persons belonging to any recognized profession, nor professors for colleges and seminaries," and by excluding from the second proviso of said section the words, or any relative or personal friend."

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925. SEC. 6. That any person who shall bring into or land in the United States by vessel or otherwise, or who shall aid to bring into or land in the United States by vessel or otherwise, any alien not lawfully entitled to enter the United States shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, on conviction, be punished by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or by both fine and imprisonment.

926. SEC. 7. That 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, whose salary shall be four thousand dollars per annum, payable monthly.

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