220 



CONGRESS. (NATIONAL QUARANTINE.) 



Territory or the District of Columbia from another 

 fetate or Territory or the District of Columbia, and at 

 such ports and places within the United States where 

 quarantine regulations exist under the authority of 

 the State or municipality which, in the opinion of 

 the Secretary of the Treasury, are not sufficient to 

 prevent the introduction of such diseases int(% the 

 United States, or into one State or Territory or the 

 District of Columbia from another State or Territory 

 or the District of Columbia, the Secretary of the 

 Treasury shall, if in his judgment it is necessary and 

 proper, make such additional rules and regulations as 

 are necessary to prevent the introduction of such dis- 

 eases into the United States from foreign countries, 

 or into one State or Territory or the District of Co- 

 lumbia from another State or Territory or the Dis- 

 trict of Columbia, and when said rules and regula- 

 tions have been made they shall be promulgated by 

 the Secretary of the Treasury and enforced by the 

 sanitary authorities of the States and municipalities, 

 where the State or municipal health authorities will 

 undertake to execute and enforce them ; but if the 

 State or municipal authorities shall fail or refuse to 

 enforce said rules and regulations the President shall 

 execute and enforce the same and adopt such meas- 

 ures as in his judgment shall be necessary to prevent 

 the introduction or spread of such diseases, and may 

 detail or appoint officers for that purpose. The Sec- 

 retary of the Treasury shall make such rules and 

 regulations as are necessary to be observed by vessels 

 at the port of departure and on the voyage, where 

 such vessels sail trom any foreign port or place to 

 any port or place in the United States, to secure the 

 best sanitary condition of such vessel, her cargo, pas- 

 sengers, and crew; which shall be published and 

 communicated to and enforced by the consular offi- 

 cers of the United States. None of the penalties 

 herein imposed shall attach to any vessel or owner or 

 officer thereof until a copy of this act, with the rules 

 and regulations made in pursuance thereof, has been 

 posted up in the office of the consul or other consular 

 officer 01 the United States for ten days, in the port 

 from which said vessel sailed ; and the certificate of 

 such consul or consular officer over his official signa- 

 ture shall be competent evidence of such posting in 

 any court of the United States. 



SEC. 4. That it shall be the duty of the Supervising 

 Surgeon-General of the Marine-Hospital Service, 

 under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, 

 to perform all the duties in respect to quarantine and 

 quarantine regulations which are provided for by 

 this act, and to obtain information of the sanitary 

 condition of foreign ports and places from which con- 

 tagious and infectious diseases are or may be im- 

 ported into the United States, and to this end the 

 consular officer of the United States at such ports and 

 places as shall be designated by the Secretary of the 

 Treasury shall make to the Secretary of the Treasury 

 weekly reports of the sanitary condition of the ports 

 and places at which they are respectively stationed, 

 according to such forms as the Secretary of the Treas- 

 ury shall prescribe ; and the Secretary of the Treasury 

 shall also obtain, through all sources accessible, in- 

 cluding State and municipal and sanitary authorities 

 throughout the United States, weekly reports of the 

 sanitary condition of ports and places within the 

 United States, and shall prepare, publish, and trans- 

 mit to collectors of customs and to State and munici- 

 pal health officers and other sanitarians weekly ab- 

 stracts of the consular sanitary reports and other 

 pertinent information received by him; and shall 

 also, as tar as he may be able, by means of the volun- 

 tary co-operation of State and municipal authorities, 

 of public associations, and private persons, procure 

 information relating to the climatic and other condi- 

 tions affecting the public health, and shall make an 

 annual report of his operations to Congress, with 

 such recommendations as he may deem important to 

 the public interests. 



SEC. 5. That the Secretary of the Treasury shall 

 from time to time issue to the consular officers of the 



United States and to the medical officers serving at 

 any foreign port, and otherwise make publicly known, 

 the rules and regulations made by him, to be used and 

 complied with by vessels in foreign ports, for secur- 

 ing the best sanitary condition of such vessels, their 

 cargoes, passengers, and crew, before their departure 

 for any port in the United States, and in the course 

 of the voyage ; and all such other rules and regula- 

 tions as shall be observed in the inspection of the 

 same on the arrival thereof at any quarantine station 

 at the port of destination, and for the disinfection and 

 isolation of the same, and the treatment of cargo and 

 persons on board, so as to prevent the introduction <>f 

 cholera, yellow fever, or other contagious or infectious 

 disease ; and it shall not be lawful" for any vessel to 

 enter said port to discharge its cargo, or land its pas- 

 sengers, except upon a certificate of the health officer 

 at such quarantine station certifying that said rules 

 and regulations have in all respects been observed 

 and complied with, as well on his part as on the part 

 of the said vessel and its master, in' respect to the 

 same and to its cargo, passengers, and crew ; and the 

 master of every such vessel shall produce and deliver 

 to the collector of customs at said port of entry, to- 

 gether with the other papers of the vessel, the said 

 bills of health required to be obtained at the port of 

 departure and the certificate herein required to be 

 obtained from the health officer at the port of entrv ; 

 and that the bills of health herein prescribed shall be 

 considered as part of the ship's papers, and when 

 duly certified to by the proper consular or other offi- 

 cer of the United States, over his official signature 

 and seal, shall be accepted as evidence of the state- 

 ments therein contained in any court of the United 

 States. 



SEC. 6. That on the arrival of an infected vessel at 

 any port not provided with proper facilities for treat- 

 ment of the same, the Secretary of the Treasury may 

 remand said vessel, at its own expense, to the nearest 

 national or other quarantine station where accommo- 

 dations and appliances are provided for the necessary 

 disinfection and treatment of the vessel, passengers, 

 and carg_o ; and after treatment of any infected vessel 

 at a national quarantine station, and after certificate 

 shall have been given by the United States quaran- 

 tine officer at said station that the vessel, cargo, and 

 passengers are each and all free from infectious dis- 

 ease, or danger of conveying the same, said vessel 

 shall be admitted to entry to any port of the United 

 States named within the certificate. But at any ports 

 where sufficient quarantine provision has been made 

 by State or local authorities the Secretary of the, 

 Treasury may direct vessels bound for said ports to 

 undergo quarantine at said State or local station. 



SEC. 7. That whenever it shall be shown to the 

 satisfaction of the President that by reason of the ex- 

 istence of cholera or other infectious or contagious 

 diseases in a foreign country there is serious danger 

 of the introduction of the same into the United States, 

 and that notwithstanding the quarantine defense this 

 danger is so increased by the introduction of persons 

 or property from such country that a suspension of 

 the right to introduce the same is demanded in the 

 interest of the public health, the President shall have 

 power to prohibit, in whole or in part, the introduc- 

 tion of persons and property from such countries or 

 places as he shall designate, and for such period of 

 time as he may deem necessary. 



SEC. 8. That whenever the proper authorities of a 

 State shall surrender to the United States the use of 

 the buildings and disinfecting apparatus at a State 

 quarantine station, the Secretary of the Treasury 

 shall be authorized to receive them and to pay a rea- 

 sonable compensation to the State for their use. 



SEC. 9. That the act entitled " An Act to prevent 

 the introduction of infectious and contagious diseases 

 into the United States, and to establish a national 

 board of health," approved March 3, 1879, be and the 

 same is hereby repealed; and the Secretary of the 

 Treasury is directed to obtain possession of any prop- 

 erty, furniture, books, papers, or records belonging to 



