Section 4 treated of the exclusion and deporta tion of specified classes. It provided that foreign convicts, except those convicted of political of fenses, lunatics, idiots, or any persons not able to take care of themselves without becoming public charges, should be sent back at the expense of the owners of the vessels on which they had come.
The act of IS32 is still in force in principle, though in minor points it was modified by a law of March 3, 1S91, of which the following section is the most important: "That the following classes of aliens shall be excluded from admission into the United States, in accordance with 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 n loathsome or a dangerous eon. tagious disease, persons have been convicted of a felony or other infamous crime or misde• !manor 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 unless it is affirma tivelv and satisfactorily shown, on special in quiry, 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 Feb ruary 20, I Sti5 ; but this section shall not be held to exclude persons living in the United States from sending for a relative or a friend who is not of the excluded classes under such regula tions as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe. Provided, That nothing in this act shall be construed to apply to or exclude per sons convicted of a political offense, notwith standing said political offense may be designated as a 'felony, crime, infamous crime, or misde meanor moral turpitude' by the laws of the land whence he came, or by the court convicting." The act was further amended by the law of March 3, 1903. By this law the Bureau of Im migration is given a right to deport epileptics, persons who have been insane within the live ,ears preceding their arrival in America, and per sons who advocate the overthrow of all govern ments or the assassination of public officials. Deportation may take place any time within two years after arrival.
The joint administration of immigration af fairs by Federal and State officials which had been in vogue since the passage of the act of D.012 had not proved satisfactory, and by the
net of lS9l the entire charge of the matter was assumed by the general Government. The stat ute of March 3. 1S93. took a step in advance of previous legislation by requiring at least a pre liminary inspection of immigrants at the point of departure. Each immigrant is provided with n number identifying him to the inspectors of the United States. The medical inspection pro vided by the act has been a useful aid in prevent ing the introduction of disease.
Side by side with legislation to exclude persons morally and physically undesirable has gone the effort to exclude the contract laborer. The first law on this subject was passed February 20, 1885. It made it unlawful for any person, com pany, partnership, or corporation in any manner whatsoever to prepay the transportation or in any way assist or.encourage the importation or migration of any alien or foreigner into the United States, under contract or agreement or parole, special, expressed or implied, made pre vious to the importation of such alien or foreigner to perform labor or service of any kind in the United States.
The object of this legislation was to prevent the agents of manufacturers from contracting in Europe with the laborers, oftentimes in herds, for the purpose of breaking strikes or introduc ing a supposedly more docile, because more ig norant, class of laborers. Moreover, it is plain that contracts made abroad would be made with reference to the scale of wages existing in foreign countries rather than those in force here, and would thus introduce a lower-priced competi tion, dangerous to the well-being of the working classes. The general spirit of the law has been commended by public opinion. though in its first form it presented some crudities which placed it in a ridiculous light, as where a clergyman was denied admission to the United States by reason of a contract made in England to assume charge of a parish in NewYork. Subsequent modifications distinctly eliminating the professional classes and bringing the operation of the law within the intention of the legislators have much improved the statute.