The year 1882 stands as a prominent landmark in the history of immigration into the United States. In that year the total immigration reached the figure of 788,992, a point which had never been reached before and was not reached again until 1903. It witnessed the climax of the movement from the Scandinavian countries, and from Germany; only once since then has the immigration from the United Kingdom reached the amount of that year. It coincides almost exactly with the appearance of the streams of immigration from Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Russia of sufficient volume to command attention. In that year the first Chinese exclusion act and the first inclusive federal immigration law were passed. Consequently the year 1882 stands as a natural and logical beginning of the modern period of immigration, a period during which the immigration movement has been marked by characteristics so peculiarly new and definite as to distinguish it sharply from anything which went before. The discussion of immigration during this period is in all its essentials the discussion of a present-day problem.

One of the most distinctive and obvious characteristics of this period has been the growth of a complicated body of federal immigration laws. These have put the whole immigration question on a new basis, and deserve to be considered in some detail. In the following review, only those sections of the successive laws which contain matter that is of general importance have been included. All merely technical details and many of the provisions regarding penalties and the practical administration of the laws have been omitted.

Act of August 3, 1882. Section 1. A duty (commonly known as a head tax) of fifty cents is to be levied for every passenger not a citizen of the United States, who comes from any foreign port to any port of the United States by steam or sail vessel. This duty is to be paid to the collector of customs of the port, by the master, owner, agent, or consignee of the vessel within twenty-four hours after entry. The money so collected is to constitute an Immigrant Fund, to be used to defray the expenses of regulating immigration, for the care of immigrants, and the relief of such as are in distress, and in general for carrying out the provisions of the act. This duty is to constitute a lien upon the vessel until paid.

Section 2. The Secretary of the Treasury is charged with the execution of this act, and with supervision over the business of immigration into the United States. He is authorized to make contracts with state boards and commissions, which are still charged with the duty of examining ships arriving at ports of the state. Any convict, lunatic, idiot, or any person unable to take care of himself or herself without becoming a public charge shall not be permitted to land.

Section 3. The Secretary of the Treasury is empowered to make provisions to protect immigrants from fraud and loss, and to carry out the law.

Section 4. All foreign convicts, except those convicted of political offenses, shall be returned to the nations to which they belong and from which they came. The expense of returning all persons not permitted to land is to be borne by the owners of the vessel in which they came.

Section 5. This act shall take effect immediately.

The salient points of this law are the imposition of a federal head tax, the beginning of a list of excluded classes, the return of excluded aliens, at the expense of the shipowners, and the assignment of the immigration business to the Secretary of the Treasury, the actual work of examination, however, still being done by the state boards.

The next act bearing on immigration was Section 22 of the act of June 26, 1884, and was designed to correct a discrimination in favor of land transportation contained in Section 1 of the act of 1882. It provided that until the provisions of this section should be made applicable to passengers coming into the United States by land carriage, they should not apply to passengers coming in vessels trading exclusively between ports of the United States and Canada and Mexico.

Act of February 26, 1885. Section 1. It shall be “unlawful for any person, company, partnership, or corporation, in any manner whatsoever, to prepay the transportation, or in any way to 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, parol or special, express or implied, made previously to the importation or 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.”

Section 2. All contracts of the above nature shall be void.

Section 3. Provides for a fine of $1000 for every violation of the above provision, payable for each alien being party to such a contract.

Section 4. The master of any vessel who knowingly brings in contract laborers shall be fined not more than $500, and may also be imprisoned for not more than six months.

Section 5. The following classes shall be excepted from the provisions of the above sections: secretaries, servants, and domestics of foreigners temporarily residing in the United States; skilled workmen for any industry not now established in the United States, provided that such labor cannot be otherwise obtained; actors, artists, lecturers or singers, or persons employed strictly as personal or domestic servants. This act shall not prevent any individual from assisting any member of his family or any relative or personal friend to come in for the purpose of settlement.

On February 23, 1887, there was an amendatory act passed to the above act, specifically intrusting the Secretary of the Treasury with the carrying out of its provisions, and providing for the return of contract laborers in a manner similar to other excluded classes.

On October 19, 1888, the law of 1887 was amended, providing that a person who has entered the country contrary to the contract labor law, may be deported within one year at the expense of the owner of the importing vessel, or if he came by land, of the person contracting for his services.

The section containing the provision for excluding contract laborers has been quoted verbatim to emphasize its extremely strict and inclusive wording. It would be very difficult for any person who had the slightest idea of what he was going to do in this country to prove himself outside the letter of that law. The softening clauses of the law are put in the form of exceptions, thus throwing the burden of the proof upon the immigrant. The last amendment quoted is of especial interest as introducing the principle of deportation after landing.^[104]

Act of March 3, 1891. Section 1. The following additions are made to the excluded classes: paupers or persons likely to become a public charge, persons suffering from a loathsome or a contagious disease, polygamists, and 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 specifically proved that he does not belong to one of the excluded classes, including contract laborers.

Section 3. Assisting or encouraging immigration by promise of employment through advertising in a foreign country is declared illegal, with the exception of the advertisements of state agencies.

Section 4. Encouragement or solicitation of immigration by steamship or transportation companies, except by means of regular advertisements giving an account of sailings, facilities, and terms is declared illegal.

Section 5. The following are added to the excepted classes under the contract labor law: ministers of any religious denomination, persons belonging to any recognized profession, professors of colleges and seminaries. Relatives and friends of persons in this country are not hereafter to be excepted.

Section 6. Persons bringing in aliens not legally entitled to enter are made liable to a fine of not more than $1000, or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both.

Section 7. The office of Superintendent of Immigration is created, to be under the Secretary of the Treasury.

Section 8. Shipmasters shall file with the proper officers a manifest, giving the name, nationality, last residence, and destination of each alien passenger. Inspection is to be made by inspection officers before landing, or a temporary landing may be made at a specified place. The medical examination is to be made by surgeons of the Marine Hospital Service. During the temporary landing, aliens are to be properly fed and cared for. Right of appeal granted. Landing, or allowing to land, alien passengers at any other time or place than that specified by the inspectors is made an offense punishable by a (maximum) fine of $1000, or imprisonment for one year, or both. The Secretary of the Treasury is empowered to prescribe rules for the inspection of immigrants along the borders of Canada, British Columbia, and Mexico. The duties and powers previously vested in the state boards are now to go to the regular inspection officers of the United States.

Section 10. All aliens who unlawfully come to the United States are to be immediately sent back on the vessel in which they came, all expenses in the meantime to be borne by the shipowner.

Section 11. Any alien who comes into the United States in violation of law may be deported within one year, and any alien who becomes a public charge within one year after landing, from causes existing prior to this landing, may be deported. The expenses of all deportations are to be borne by the transportation agency responsible for bringing in the immigrant, if that is possible, and if not, by the United States.

The items in this act particularly worthy of notice are the following: extension of the excluded classes; prohibition of encouraging immigration by advertising or solicitation, an attempt to cure two serious evils, the success of which we shall have occasion to note later; relatives and personal friends in this country no longer excepted from the contract labor clause (this exception had almost vitiated the former law); requirement of manifests; the complete assumption of the work of inspection by the federal government; extension of the principle of deportation to public charges.

Act of March 3, 1893. Section 1. Manifests greatly enlarged in detail.

Section 2. Alien passengers are to be listed in convenient groups of not more than thirty each, and given tickets corresponding to their numbers on the manifests. The master of the vessel must certify that he and the ship’s surgeon have made an examination of all the immigrants before sailing, and believe none of them to belong to the excluded classes.

Section 3. If the ship has no surgeon, examination must be made by a competent surgeon hired by the transportation company.

Section 5. Immigrants who are not beyond any doubt entitled to land are to be held for special inquiry by a board of not less than four inspectors.

The noteworthy features in this law are examination at the expense of the company at the port of embarkation, listing the immigrants in groups of thirty, the institution of the boards of special inquiry.

August 18, 1894. Head tax is raised to $1.

March 2, 1895. The Superintendent of Immigration is hereafter to be designated the Commissioner General of Immigration.

June 6, 1900. The Commissioner General of Immigration is made responsible for the administration of the Chinese Exclusion Acts.

March 3, 1903. Section 1. The head tax is raised to $2, and is not to apply to citizens of Canada, Cuba, or Mexico.

Section 2. The following are added to the debarred classes: epileptics, persons who have been insane within five years previous, persons who have had two or more attacks of insanity at any time previously; professional beggars, anarchists, or persons who believe in or advocate the overthrow by force or violence of the government of the United States, or of all government or of all forms of law, or the assassination of public officials; prostitutes, and persons who procure or attempt to bring in prostitutes or women for the purpose of prostitution; those who, within one year, have been deported under the contract labor clause.

Section 3. The importation of prostitutes is forbidden under a (maximum) penalty of five years’ imprisonment and a fine of $5000.

Section 9. The bringing in of any person afflicted with a loathsome or a dangerous contagious disease by any person or company, except railway lines, is forbidden. A fine of $100 is attached if it appears that the disease might have been detected at the time of embarkation.

Section 11. If a rejected alien is helpless from sickness, physical disability, or infancy, and is accompanied by an alien whose protection is required, both shall be returned in the usual way.

Section 20. The period of deportation for aliens who have come into this country in violation of law, including those who have become public charges within two years after landing, is raised to two years.

Section 21. A similar provision for deportation within three years is made for the above classes of aliens, with the exception of public charges.

Section 24. The appointment of immigration inspectors and other employees is put under the Civil Service rules.

Section 25. The boards of special inquiry are to consist of three members. Either the alien or any dissenting member of the board may appeal.

Section 39. Anarchists, etc., are not to be naturalized.

The important features of this act are the further extension of the excluded classes; special attention and penalties with respect to prostitutes; the period of deportation raised to two and three years.

Act of February 14, 1903. The Department of Commerce and Labor is created, and the Commissioner General of Immigration is transferred to it from the Treasury Department.

March 22, 1904. Newfoundland is added to the countries exempt from the head tax.

June 29, 1906. The Bureau of Immigration is henceforth to be called the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization, and is to have charge of the business of naturalization. A register is to be kept at immigration stations, giving full information in regard to all aliens arriving in the United States.

On February 20, 1907, there was passed an inclusive immigration law, designed to include all of the previous laws, and repealing such provisions of earlier laws as are not consistent with the present law. The principal changes introduced by the new law are as follows:

Section 1. The head tax is raised to $4. It is not to be levied on aliens who have resided for at least one year immediately preceding, in Canada, Newfoundland, Cuba, or Mexico, nor on aliens in transit through the United States.

Section 2. To the excluded classes are added imbeciles, feeble-minded persons, persons afflicted with tuberculosis, persons not included in any of the specifically excluded classes who have a mental or physical deficiency which may affect their ability to earn a living, persons who admit having committed a crime involving moral turpitude, persons who admit their belief in the practice of polygamy, women or girls coming into the United States for the purpose of prostitution, or for any other immoral purpose, or persons who attempt to bring in such women or girls, and all children under the age of sixteen unaccompanied by one or both of their parents, at the discretion of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor. Persons whose tickets are paid for with the money of another must show affirmatively that they were not paid for by any corporation, society, association, municipality, or foreign government, either directly or indirectly. This is not to apply to aliens in continuous transit through the United States to foreign contiguous territory.

Section 3. The harboring of immoral women and girls in houses of prostitution, or any other place for purposes of prostitution, within a period of three years after their arrival, is made an offense punishable in the same manner as importing them. Such women are liable to deportation within three years.

Section 9. A fine of $100 is imposed on any person bringing in aliens subject to any of the following disabilities: idiots, imbeciles, epileptics, or persons afflicted with tuberculosis (or with a loathsome or dangerous contagious disease), if these existed and might have been detected previous to embarkation.

Section 12. It is made the duty of shipmasters taking alien passengers out of the United States to furnish a report, before sailing, giving the name, age, sex, nationality, residence in the United States, occupation, and time of last arrival in the United States of each such alien passenger.

Section 20. All deportations may be within three years.^[105]

Section 25. Appeal from a decision of a board of special inquiry may be made by the rejected alien or by any member of the board, through the commissioner of the port and the Commissioner General of Immigration to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, except in cases of tuberculosis, loathsome or dangerous contagious disease, or mental or physical disability, as previously provided for, in which case the decision of the board is final.

Section 26. Any alien who is not admissible because likely to become a public charge, or because of physical disability other than tuberculosis or loathsome or dangerous contagious disease, may be admitted on a suitable bond against becoming a public charge.

Section 39. An Immigration Commission is to be appointed.

Section 40. The establishment of a Division of Information is authorized. Its duty is to promote a beneficial distribution of aliens admitted into the United States.

Section 42. Provisions regarding steerage accommodations.^[106]

The especially noteworthy features of this act are the following: further extension of the excluded classes; more stringent provisions regarding immoral women, and their managers; the fine for bringing in inadmissible aliens extended to other classes; the beginning of statistics of departing aliens; appeal not allowed from the decision of a board of special inquiry in case of mental or physical disability; Immigration Commission authorized; Division of Information established.

The only important addition to immigration legislation since this act is the act of March 26, 1910, by which there were added to the excluded and deportable classes “persons who are supported by or receive in full or in part the proceeds of prostitution.” The three-year limit for deportation was removed as regards sexually immoral aliens. Closely connected with this phase of the immigration statutes is a recent act prohibiting the importation from one state to another of persons for the purpose of prostitution. In accordance with an act just passed (1913) the business of immigration and naturalization passes over to the newly created Department of Labor.

We have seen that up to 1882 practically all the federal acts relating to immigration had to do with the regulation of steerage conditions. Until the year 1907 these acts, which were encouraging in tendency, were always considered as a separate body of legislation from the real immigration laws, which were primarily restrictive in character. In the act of that year, however, the control of the steerage was included in the immigration law, where it logically belonged. There had been one or two important pieces of steerage legislation passed previous to this time which we have not as yet noticed.

The last important steerage act which has been noted was the act of 1855. The principal law between that date and 1907 was the act of 1882. “Viewed from the standpoint of its predecessors the passenger act of 1882 was an excellent measure. Its framers had profited by observing the results of the legislative experiments of about sixty-two years. This advantage, together with the marvelous development and progress in the methods of passenger traffic, enabled the lawmakers to draft an intelligent and comprehensive bill. By its provisions the safety and comfort of emigrants were, theoretically at least, assured. No deck less than 6 feet in height on any vessel was allowed to be used for passengers. On the main deck and the deck next below 100 cubic feet of air space was allowed each passenger, and on the second deck below the main deck 120 cubic feet was allowed each person. Decks other than the three above mentioned were under no circumstances to be used for passengers. With the development of shipbuilding, however, other decks were added to ships, and this provision soon became obsolete. Sufficient berths for all passengers were to be provided, the dimensions of each berth to be not less than 2 feet in width and 6 feet in length, with suitable partitions dividing them. The sexes were to be properly separated. The steerage was to be amply supplied with fresh air by means of modern approved ventilators. Three cooked meals, consisting of wholesome food, were to be served regularly each day. Each ship was to have a fully equipped modern hospital for the use of sick passengers. A competent physician was to be in attendance and suitable medicines were to be carried. The ship’s master was authorized to enforce such rules and regulations as would promote habits of cleanliness and good health. Dangerous articles, such as highly explosive substances and powerful acids, were forbidden on board.”^[107]

The above act remained in force until 1907, when it was superseded by Section 42 of the immigration act of that year. By this law the cubic air space system of the act of 1882 was abandoned in favor of the superficial area system of preventing overcrowding. Eighteen clear feet of deck space on the main deck or the deck next below were to be provided for each passenger, and 20 feet on the second deck below. If the height between the lower passenger deck and the one next above was less than 7 feet, there must be 30 clear feet of deck space per passenger. There was also provision for light and ventilation. No passengers were to be carried on any other decks than those mentioned.

This act was unsatisfactory, as there was much uncertainty as to which was the main deck, inasmuch as ships with as many as eight decks were carrying immigrants. The British law was superior in this respect. It specified the lowest passenger deck as the one next below the water line. All above this were denominated passenger decks. This law required 18 clear superficial feet for each passenger carried on the lowest passenger deck, and 15 feet for each passenger on passenger decks. If the height of the lowest passenger deck was less than 7 feet, or if it was not properly lighted and ventilated, there must be 25 feet per passenger, and under similar conditions on passenger decks, 18 feet. There must be 5 feet of superficial open deck space for each passenger. In reckoning the space on the lowest passenger deck and passenger decks the space occupied by the baggage of passengers, public rooms, lavatories, and bathrooms used exclusively by steerage passengers might be counted, provided the actual sleeping space was not less than 15 feet on the lowest and 12 feet on the others. On December 19, 1908, the United States passed a law making our steerage provisions correspond with the British act, except that the last provisions are 18 feet and 15 feet respectively in the United States law.

In the practical application of such a complicated set of laws as these it is inevitable that many questions and uncertainties should arise. For the guidance of immigration officials in the performance of their duties, a long list of rules and regulations are prescribed by the Commissioner General. A few of these, which have an immediate bearing on the admission of aliens must be noted. Stowaways are considered ipso facto inadmissible, and as a rule are not even examined. Certain border ports are specified on the Canadian and Mexican borders, and any alien entering at any other port is assumed to have entered in violation of law. All aliens arriving in Canada, destined to the United States, are inspected at one of the following ports: Halifax, Nova Scotia; Quebec and Point Levi, Quebec; St. John, New Brunswick; Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia. The United States maintains inspection stations at these points, and aliens examined there are given a certificate stating that the alien has been inspected and is admissible, accompanied by a personal description for purposes of identification. Special boards of inquiry are also established in other border cities for the examination of aliens, originally destined for Canada, but who later desire to be admitted to the United States within one year after their arrival in Canada. Aliens entering the United States by Mexican border ports are, in general, subject to the same inspection as if arriving by a seaport.

Aliens in transit are examined in the same manner as if desiring to remain in the United States, and if they are found to belong to the debarred classes they are refused permission to land. The head tax is charged on their account, as for other aliens, but it is refunded to the transportation company if the latter furnishes satisfactory proof that the alien has passed by a continuous journey through the territory of the United States, within thirty days, such proof to be furnished within sixty days after the arrival of the alien.

Throughout the development of this body of laws certain well-marked tendencies can be traced. In the first place, the criteria of admission have steadily increased in severity, until now the law provides for the exclusion of practically every class of applicants who might fairly be considered undesirable, with the exception, perhaps, of illiterates. Secondly, we may note a tendency to concentrate all business, connected with the admission of aliens into this country or into membership in the nation, in the hands of a single branch of the federal government, and the increasing power and importance of this branch. Thirdly, there is manifest an increasing recognition of the right of this country to protect itself against unwelcome additions to its population, not only by refusing them admission, but by expelling them from the country, if their subsequent conduct proves them unworthy of retention.