Chapter 114. granting additional quarantine powers and imposing additional duties upon the Marine-Hospital Service
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CHAP. 114.— An Act granting additional quarantine powers and imposing additional duties upon the Marine-Hospital Service.February 15, 1893. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,Quarantine. That it shall be unlawful for any merchant ship or other vessel from any foreign port or place toEntry of vessel a violating health rules unlawful. enter any port of the United States except in accordance with the provisions of this act and with such rules and regulations of State and 450 municipal health authorities as may be made in pursuance of, or Penalty.consistent with, this act; and any such vessel which shall enter, or attempt to enter, a port of the United States in violation thereof shall forfeit to the United States a sum, to be awarded in the discretion of the court, not exceeding five thousand dollars, which shall be a lien upon Proceedingssaid vessel, to be recovered by proceedings in the proper district court of the United States.
In all such proceedings the United States District attorney for such district shall appear on behalf of the United States; and all such proceedings shall be conducted in accordance with the rules and laws governing cases of seizure of vessels for violation of the revenue laws of the United States. Sec. 2. Consular bill of health required.Contents.Fees. That any vessel at any foreign port clearing for any port or place in the United States shall be required to obtain from the consul, vice-consul, or other consular officer of the United States at the port of departure, or from the medical officer where such officer has been detailed by the President for that purpose, a bill of health, in duplicate, in the form prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury, sett ing forth the sanitary history and condition of said vessel, and that it has in all respects complied with the rules and regulations in such cases prescribed for securing the best sanitary condition of the said vessel, its cargo, passengers, and crew; and said consular or medical officer is required, before granting such duplicate bill of health, to be satisfied that the matters and things therein stated are true; and for his services in that behalf he shall be entitled to demand and receive such fees as shall by lawful regulation be allowed, to be accounted for as is required in other cases.
The President, in his discretion, is authorized to detail any medicalDetail of medical officer at consulate. officer of the Government to serve in the office of the consul at any foreign port for the purpose of furnishing information and making the Penalty for vessel violating.inspection and giving the bills of health hereinbefore mentioned. Any vessel clearing and sailing from any such port without such bill of health, and entering any port of the United States, shall forfeit to the United States not more than five thousand dollars, the amount to be determined by the court, which shall be a lien on the same, to be recovered by proceedings in the proper district court of the United States.
In all such proceedings the United Proceedings.States district attorney for such district shall appear on behalf of the United States; and all such proceedings shall be conducted in accordance with the rules and laws governing cases of seizure of vessels for violation of the revenue laws of the United States. Sec. 3. That the Supervising Surgeon-General of the Marine HospitalMarine-Hospital Service to assist local health boards to enforce rules. etc. Service shall, immediately after this act takes effect, examine the quarantine regulations of all State and municipal boards of health, and shall, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, cooperate with and aid State and municipal boards of health in the execution and enforcement of the rules and regulations of such boards and in the execution and enforcement of the rules and regulations made by the Secretary of the Treasury to prevent the introduction of contagious or infectious diseases into the United States from foreign countries, and into one State or Territory or the District of Columbia from another Rules to operate uniformly.State or Territory or the District of Columbia; and all rules and regulations made by the Secretary of the Treasury shall operate uniformly Additional rules, etc., by Secretary of the Treasury where local regulations are inadequate.and in no manner discriminate against any port or place; and at such ports and places within the United States as have no quarantine regulations under State or municipal authority, where such regulations are, in the opinion of the Secretary of the Treasury, necessary to prevent the introduction of contagious or infectious diseases into the United States from foreign countries, or into one State or Territory or the District of Columbia from another State 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 451 sufficient to prevent the introduction of such diseases into 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 diseases into the United States from foreign countries, or into one State or Territory or the District of Columbia from another State or Territory or the District of Columbia, and when said rules and regulations 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 Enforcement.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 measures as in bis judgment shall be necessary to prevent the introduction or spread of such diseases, and may detail or appoint officers for that purpose.
The Secretary of the Treasury shall make such rulesRules for vessels from foreign ports. and regulations as are necessary to be observed by vessels at the port of departure and on the voyage, where such vessels sail from 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, passengers, and crew; which shall be. published and communicated to and enforced by the consular officers of the United States.
None of the penalties hereinRules to be posted in consulate. 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 of 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 signature shall be competent evidence of such posting in any court of the United States.
Sec. 4. Duties of Marine-Hospital Service.Sanitary reports to be made by consuls. That it shall be the duty of the supervising Surgeon-Generalof 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 contagious and infectious diseases are or may be imported 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 Treasury shall prescribe; and the Secretary of the Treasury shallWeekly domestic sanitary reports. also obtain, through all sources accessible, including State and municipal 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 transmit to collectors of customs andPublication and distribution. to State and municipal health officers and other sanitarians weekly abstracts of the consular sanitary reports and other pertinent information received by him, and shall also, as far as he may be able, by means of the voluntary cooperation of State and municipal authorities, of public, associations, and private persons, procure, information relating to the climatic and other conditions affecting the public health, and shall make an annual report of his operations to Congress,Annual report. with such recommendations as he may deem important to the public interest.
Sec. 5. That the Secretary of the Treasury shall from timeRules to secure sanitary conditions of vessels, etc. 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 securing the best sanitary conditions of such vessels, their cargoes, passengers, and crew, before their departure for any port in the United States, and in the course of 452 the voyage; and all such other rules and regulations as shall be observedInspection, etc., on arrival. 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 of cholera, yellow fever, or other Vessels not to enter unless upon health officer’s certificate.contagious or infectious diseases; and it shall not be lawful for any vessel to enter said port to discharge its cargo, or land its passengers, 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 Delivery of papers to customs officer.crew; and the master of every such vessel shall produce and deliver to the collector of customs at said port of entry, together 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 entry; 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 officer of the United States, over his official signature and seal, shall be accepted as evidence of the statements therein contained in any court of the United States.
Sec. 6. That on the arrival of an infected vessel at any port not providedInfected vessel to be sent to nearest quarantine station. with proper facilities for treatment 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 accommodations and appliances are provided for the necessary disinfection and treatment Certificate after treatment.of the vessel, passengers, and cargo; and after treatment of any infected vessel at a national quarantine station, and after certificate shall have been given by the United States quarantine officer at said station that the vessel, cargo, and passengers are each and all free from infectious disease, or danger of conveying the same, said vessel shall be admitted to entry to any port of the United States named within Local quarantine.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 theSuspension of Immigration during existence of contagious diseases. President that by reason of the existence 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 introduction 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 surrenderCompensation for use of State buildings, etc. 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 reasonable compensation to the State for their use, if, in his opinion, they are necessary to the United States. Sec. 9. That the act entitled “An act to prevent, the introduction ofNational board health abolished. infectious or contagious diseases into the United States, and to establishVol. 20. p. 481. a national board of health.” approved March third, eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, be, and the same is hereby, repealed.
And the Disposition of property.Secretary of the Treasury is directed to obtain possession of any property, furniture, books, paper, or records belonging to the United States which are not in the possession of an officer of the United States under the Treasury Department which were formerly in the use of the National Board of Health or any officer or employee thereof. Approved, February 15, 1893.