III.—THE IMMIGRATION ACT OF 1891.
The new Act may briefly be analyzed as follows:—Section 1 specifies the classes of aliens henceforth to be excluded from admission to the United States, viz.—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 felony or other infamous crime or misdemeanour involving moral turpitude; polygamists; and also any persons whose ticket or passage is paid for with the money of another, or who is assisted by others to come, unless it is satisfactorily shown on inquiry that such person does not belong to any of the foregoing excluded classes, or to the class of contract labourers excluded by the Act of 1885. As in the Act of 1882, the exclusion of persons convicted of political offences is carefully guarded against.
Section 2 provides for the more vigorous enforcement of the Act of 1885.
Sections 3 and 4 declare that immigrants coming to the United States through the solicitation of advertising agents in Europe shall be treated as violators of the law, and steamship companies are prohibited from encouraging such immigration.
Section 5 specifies ministers of religion, persons belonging to the recognized professions, and professors of colleges or seminaries, as persons not to be excluded under the Act of 1885.
Section 6 provides penalties of fine and imprisonment up to a thousand dollars, or a year's imprisonment, or both, for violation of Act.
Section 7 establishes the office of Superintendent of Immigration under the Treasury Department. The remaining sections of the Act may be summarized as follows:—(a) That the names and nationalities of immigrants shall be reported on arrival, and that they shall be promptly inspected by authorized agents empowered to decide upon their right to land. (b) Provision is made for the better inspection of the Canadian, British, Columbian, and Mexican borders, (c) That State and municipal authorities may exercise such jurisdiction over immigrant stations as may be necessary for the public peace, (d) That all immigrants who come in violation of the law shall be immediately sent back to the ships that brought them to the port; or if that be impracticable, they may be returned at any time within a year after their arrival. Any alien who may become a public charge within a year from his arrival shall be sent back to the country from whence he came. (e) That the Federal Courts shall have full jurisdiction in all cases arising under this Act.