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PART XXV.-QUARANTINE AND BILLS OF HEALTH.

313. Consular bill of health. 314. Quarantine regulations. 315. Quarantine inspection. 316. Quarantine anchorage. 317. Suspension of commerce.

Feb. 15, 1893.

Sec. 2.

313. Consular bill of health.

318. Penalties.

319. State health laws.
320. Removal of cargo.
321. Removal of custom-house.

It shall be unlawful for any merchant ship or other vessel from any foreign port or place to 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 municipal health authorities as may be made in pursuance of, or 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 said 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.

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, setting 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 medical officer of the Government to serve in the office of the consul at any foreign port for the purpose of furnish

ing information and making the 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 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. The provisions of this section shall not apply to vessels Aug. 18, 1894. plying between foreign ports on or near the frontiers of the United States and ports of the United States adjacent thereto; but the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized, when, in his discretion, it is expedient for the preservation of the public health, to establish regulations governing such vessels.

Any vessel sailing from any foreign port without the bill of health required by section two of this Act, and arriving within the limits of any collection district of the United States, and not entering or attempting to enter any port of the United States, shall be subject to such quarantine measures as shall be prescribed by regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury, and the cost of such measures shall be a lien on said vessel, to be recovered by proceedings in the proper district court of the United States and in the manner set forth above as regards vessels from foreign ports without bills of health and entering any port of the United States.

314. Quarantine regulations.

The Surgeon-General of the Public-Health and MarineHospital 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 State or Territory or the District of Columbia; and all rules and regulations made by the Secretary of the Treasury shall operate uniformly 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

Feb. 15, 1893.

Sec. 11.

Mar. 3, 1901.

Feb. 15, 1893. sec.3.

July 1, 1902.

Feb. 15, 1893.
Sec. 5.

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 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 regula tions 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 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 his 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 rules 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 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 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.

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 made 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 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 regulations 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 of cholera, yellow fever, or other 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 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 officer 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. 315. Quarantine inspection.

On the arrival of an infected vessel at any port not provided 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 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 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.

316. Quarantine anchorage.

Feb. 15, 1893.

Sec. 10.
Mar. 3, 1901.

The Surgeon-General, with the approval of the Secre- Feb. 15, 1893. tary of the Treasury, is authorized to designate and mark the boundaries of the quarantine grounds and quarantine anchorages for vessels which are reserved for use at each United States quarantine station; and any vessel or officer of any vessel or other person, other than State or municipal health or quarantine officers, trespassing or otherwise entering upon such grounds or anchorages in disregard of the quarantine rules and regulations, or without permission of the officer in charge of such station, shall be deemed

Feb. 15, 1893.

Sec. 7.

Mar. 27, 1890.

July 1, 1902.

guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to arrest, and upon conviction thereof be punished by a fine of not more than three hundred dollars or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both, in the discretion of the court. Any master or owner of any vessel, or any person violating any provision of this Act or any rule or regulation made in accordance with this Act, relating to inspection of vessels or relating to the prevention of the introduction of contagious or infectious diseases, or any master, owner, or agent of any vessel making a false statement relative to the sanitary condition of said vessel or its contents or as to the health of any passenger or person thereon, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to arrest, and upon conviction thereof be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both, in the discretion of the court.

317. Suspension of commerce.

Whenever it shall be shown to the satisfaction of the 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.

Whenever it shall be made to appear to the satisfaction of the President that cholera, yellow fever, small-pox or plague exists in any State or Territory, or in the District of Columbia, and that there is danger of the spread of such disease into other States, Territories, or the District of Columbia, he is hereby authorized to cause the Secretary of the Treasury to promulgate such rules and regulations as in his judgment may be necessary to prevent the spread of such disease from one State or Territory into another, or from any State or Territory into the District of Columbia, or from the District of Columbia into any State or Territory, and to employ such inspectors and other persons as may be necessary to execute such regulations to prevent the spread of such disease. The said rules and regulations shall be prepared by the Surgeon-General of the Public Health and Marine Hospital Service under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, and any person who shall willfully violate any rule or regulation so made and promulgated shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine of not more. than five hundred dollars, or imprisonment for not more than two years, or both, in the discretion of the court.

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