226 



CONGRESS. (POSTAL SUBSIDY.) 



unnecessarily delay, impede, or annoy passengers m 

 ordinary travel between said countries: Provided, 

 That not exceeding one inspector shall be appointed 

 for each customs district, and whose salary shall not 

 exceed $1,200 per year. 



All duties imposed and powers conferred by the 

 second section of the act or Aug. 3, 1882, upon State 

 commissioners, boards, or officers acting under contract 

 with the Secretary of the Treasury shall be performed 

 and exercised, as occasion may arise, by the inspection 

 officers of the United States. , 



SEC. 9. That for the preservation of the peace and 

 in order that arrests may be made for crimes under 

 the laws of the States where the various United States 

 immigrant stations are located, the officials in charge 

 of such stations, as occasion may require, shall ad- 

 mit therein the proper State and municipal officers 

 charged with the enforcement of such laws, and for 

 the purposes of this section the jurisdiction of such 

 officers and of the local courts shall extend over such 

 stations. 



SEC. 10. That all aliens who may unlawfully come 

 to the United States shall, if practicable, be immedi- 

 ately sent back on the vessel by which they were 

 brought in. The cost of their maintenance while on 

 land, as well as the expense of the return of such 

 aliens, shall be borne by the owner or owners of the 

 vessel on which such aliens came ; and if any mas- 

 ter, agent, consignee, or owner of such vessel shall re- 

 fuse to receive back on board the vessel such aliens, 

 or shall neglect to detain them thereon, or shall re- 

 fuse or neglect to return them to the port from which 

 they came, or to pay the cost of their maintenance 

 while on land, such master, agent, consignee, or owner 

 shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall 

 be punished by a fine not less than $300 for each and 

 every offense ; and any such vessel shall not have 

 clearance from any port of the United States while 

 any such fine is unpaid. 



SEC. 11. That any alien who shall come into the 

 United States in violation of law may be returned, as 

 by law provided, at any time within one year there- 

 after, at the expense of the person or persons, vessel, 

 transportation company, or corporation bringing such 

 alien into the United States, and if that can not be 

 done, then at the expense of the United States ; and 

 any alien who becomes a public charge within one 

 year after his arrival in the United States from causes 

 existing prior to his landing therein shall be deemed 

 to have come in violation or law and shall be returned 

 as aforesaid. 



SEC. 12. That nothing contained in this act shall be 

 construed to affect any prosecution or other proceed- 

 ings, criminal or civil, Tbegun under any existing act 

 or acts hereby amended, but such prosecution or other 

 proceedings, criminal or civil, shall proceed as if this 

 act had not been passed. 



SEC. 13. That the circuit and district courts of the 

 United States are hereby invested with full and con- 

 current jurisdiction of all causes, civil and criminal, 

 arising under any of the provisions of this act ; and 

 this act shall go into effect on the first day of April, 

 1891. 



The measure passed the Senate Feb. 27, and 

 was approved by the President March 3, 1891. 



Postal Subsidy. At the first session of this 

 Congress the Senate passed two bills in aid of 

 American shipping. The first, known as the 

 shipping or tonnage bill, provided for the pay- 

 ment to any vessel of more than 500 tons regis- 

 ter, whether sail or steam, constructed and owned 

 in the United States, and engaged in the foreign 

 trade, the sum of 15 cents per gross registered 

 ton for the first 500 miles or fraction thereof 

 sailed outward, and the same sum for the first 

 500 miles or fraction thereof sailed homeward ; 

 and 80 cents per gross registered ton for each 

 1,000 miles sailed thereafter, and pro rata for 



any distance less than 1,000 miles sailed after the 

 first 1,000 miles. The payments were to continue 

 at that rate for ten years, and thereafter for a 

 second term of nine years at a reduction of 3 

 cents per year. The second measure was known 

 as the postal subsidy bill, and it authorized the 

 Postmaster-General to enter into contracts for 

 not less than five years, nor more than ten, with 

 American citizens for carrying the mail in Amer- 

 ican steamships at certain fixed rates of com- 

 pensation. The opposition to these bills in the 

 House was determined, and it was only with 

 great difficulty that the former was brought up 

 for discussion. It was debated Feb. 26 and 27, 

 1891, on the usual lines of party argument, and 

 finally it was sent back to the Committee on 

 Merchant Marine and Fisheries, with orders to 

 report forthwith in its place the latter measure, 

 with a reduction of 33 per cent, on the maxi- 

 mum rates of compensation. The postal subsidy 

 bill was reported at once and passed by a vote of 

 139 yeas to 120 nays not voting, 70. The fol- 

 lowing is the text of the measure : 



Be it enacted, etc., That the Postmaster-General is 

 hereby authorized and empowered to enter into con- 

 tract ror a term not less than five nor more than ten 

 years in duration, with American citizens, for the 

 carrying of mails on American steamships, between 

 ports of the United States and such ports in foreign 

 countries, the Dominion of Canada excepted, as in his 

 judgment will best subserve and promote the postal 

 and commercial interests of the United States, the 

 mail service on such lines to be equitably distributed 

 among the Atlantic, Mexican Gulf, and Pacific ports. 

 Such contracts shall be made with the lowest respon- 

 sible bidder for the performance of said service on 

 each route, and the Postmaster-General shall have 

 the right to reject all bids not in his opinion reason- 

 able for the attaining of the purposes named. 



SEO. 2. That before making any contract for carry- 

 ing ocean mails in accordance with this act the Post- 

 master-General shall give public notice by advertis- 

 ing once a week for three months in such daily papers 

 as he shall select in each of the cities of Boston, New 

 York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New Orleans, St. 

 Louis, Charleston, Norfolk, Savannah, Galveston, and 

 Mobile, and when the proposed service is to be on the 

 Pacific Ocean, then in San Francisco, Tacoma, and 

 Portland. Such notice shall describe the route, the 

 time when such contract will be made, the duration 

 of the same, the size of the steamers to be used, the 

 number of trips a year, the times of sailing, and the 

 time when the service shall commence, which shall 

 not be more than three years after the contract shall 

 be let. The details of the mode of advertising and 

 letting such contracts shall be conducted in the man- 

 ner prescribed in chapter viii of Title XL VI of the 

 Revised Statutes for the letting of inland mail con- 

 tracts so far as the same shall be applicable to the 

 ocean mail service. 



SEC. 3. That the vessels employed in the mail serv- 

 ice under the provisions of this act shall be American- 

 built steamships, owned and officered by American 

 citizens, in conformity with the existing laws, or sc 

 owned and officered and registered according to law ; 

 and upon each departure from the United States the 

 following proportion of the crew shall be citizens of 

 the United States, to wit: During the first two years 

 of such contract for carrying the mails, one fourth 

 thereof; during the next three succeeding years, one 

 third thereof; and during the remaining time of the 

 continuance of such contract at least one lialf thereof; 

 and shall be constructed after the latest and most ap- 

 proved types, with all the modern improvements and 

 appliances for ocean steamers. They shall be divided 

 into four classes. The first class shall be iron or steel 

 screw steamships, capable of maintaining a speed of 



