49TH CONGRESS, 
1st Session. 
H. R. 6309. 
IF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 
Makcii 1, 1880. 
Eead twice, referred to the Committee on Commerce, and ordered to be printed. 
Mr. Zach Tayloe introduced the following hill: 
To modify and re-enact an act entitled “An act to prevent the in- 
troduction of contagious or infectious diseases into the United 
States.” 
1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 
2 tines of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
3 That it shall be unlawful for any merchant ship or vessel from 
4 any foreign port to enter any port of the United States except 
5 in accordance with the provisions of this act, and all rules 
6 and regulations of State and municipal health authorities 
7 made in pursuance of this act; and any such vessel which 
8 shall enter, or attempt to enter, a port of the United 
9 States in violation thereof shall forfeit to the United States 
10 a sum, to be awarded in the discretion of the court, not ex- 
11 ceeding one thousand dollars, which shall be a lien upon said 
12 vessel, to be recovered by proceedings in the proper district 
13 court of the United States. And in all such proceedings the 2 
14 United States district attorney for such district shall appear on 
15 behalf of the United States; and all such proceedings shall 
13 be conducted in accordance with the rules and laws governing 
17 cases of seizure of vessels for violation of the revenue laws of 
18 the United States. 
1 Sec. 2. That all vessels clearing for any port or place 
2 in the United States shall be required to obtain from the 
3 consul, vice-consul, or other consular officer of the United 
4 States at the port of departure, or from the medical officer where 
5 such officer has been detailed by the President or appointed 
6 for that purpose, a bill of health, in duplicate, in the form 
7 prescribed by the National Board of Health, setting forth the 
8 sanitary history of said vessel, and that it has in all respects 
9 complied with the rules and regulations in such cases pre- 
10 scribed for securing the best sanitary condition of the said 
11 vessel, its cargo, passengers, and crew; and said consular or 
12 medical officer is required, before granting such duplicate bill 
13 of health, to be satisfied the matters and things therein stated 
11 are true; and for his services in that behalf he shall be en- 
15 titled to demand and receive such fees as shall by lawful regula- 
16 tion be allowed, to be accounted for as is required in other 
17 cases. The President, in his discretion, is authorized to detail a 
18 medical officer to serve in the office of the consul at any foreign 
19 port for the purpose of making the inspection and giving the 
20 bills of health hereinbefore mentioned; but if the President shall 21 find it inconvenient to make such detail, and shall so inform 
22 the National Board of Health, said Board of Health is hereby 
23 authorized to appoint such medical officer; but if so appointed 
24 his salary shall he paid out of the appropriations subject to 
25 the control of said Board: Provided, That any vessel sailing 
26 from any such port without such bill of health, entering any 
27 port of the United States, shall forfeit to the United States 
28 the sum of five hundred dollars, which shall be a lien on the 
29 same, to be recovered by proceedings in the proper district 
30 court of the United States; and in all such proceedings the 
31 United States district attorney for such district shall appear 
32 on behalf of the United States; and all such proceedings shall 
33 he conducted in accordance with the rules and laws govern- 
34 ing cases of seizure of vessels for violation of the revenue 
35 laws of the United States. 
1 Sec. 3. That the National Board of Health shall co- 
2 operate with and, so far as it lawfully may, aid State and 
3 municipal boards of health in the execution and enforcement 
4 of the rules and regulations of such boards, and in the execu- 
5 tion and enforcement of the rules and regulations prepared by 
6 the National Board of Health, to prevent the introduction of 
7 contagious or infectious diseases into the United States from 
8 foreign countries, and into one State from another; and at such 
9 ports and places within the United States as have no quarantine 
10 regulations under State or municipal authority, where such 4 
11 regulations are, in the opinion of the National Board of Health, 
12 necessary to prevent the introduction of contagious or infectious 
13 diseases into the United States from foreign countries, or into 
14 one State from another, and at such ports and places witlr'n 
15 the United States where quarantine regulations exist under the 
16 authority of the State or municipality which, in the opinion of 
17 the National Board of Health, are not sufficient to prevent the 
18 introduction of such diseases into the United States, or into one 
19 State from another, the National Board of Health shall report 
20 the facts to the President of the United States, who shall, if in 
21 his judgment it is necessary and proper, order said Board of 
22 Health to make such additional rules and regulations as are 
23 necessary to prevent the introduction of such diseases into the 
24 United States from foreign countries, or into one State from 
25 another, which, when so made and approved by the Presi- 
26 dent, shall be promulgated by the National Board of Health 
27 and enforced by the sanitary authorities of the States and 
28 municipalities, where the State or municipal health author- 
29 ities will undertake to execute and enforce them; but if 
30 the State or municipal authorities shall fail or refuse to 
31 enforce said rules and regulations, the President may detail 
32 an officer or appoint a proper person for that purpose. The 
33 Board of Health shall make such rules and regulations as 
34 are authorized by the laws of the United States and necessary 
35 to he observed by vessels at the port of departure and on the 5 
36 voyage, where such vessels sail from any foreign port or place 
37 at which contagious or infectious disease exists to any port 
38 or place in the United States, to secure the best sanitary con- 
39 dition of such vessel, her cargo, passengers, and crew; and 
40 when said rules and regulations have been approved by the 
41 President they shall be published and communicated to 
42 and enforced by the consular officers of the United States: 
43 Provided, That none of the penalties herein imposed shall 
44 attach to any vessel, or owner or officer thereof, until a 
45 copy of this act, with the rules and regulations made in pur- 
46 suance thereof, has been posted up in the office of the consul 
47 or other consular officer of the United States for ten days, in 
48 the port from which said vessel sailed; and the certificate of 
49 such consul or consular officer, over his official signature, shall 
50 be competent evidence of such posting in any court of the 
51 United States: And provided further, That the Board of 
52 Health shall have power, when they may deem it necessary, 
53 with the consent and approval of the Secretary of the Treas- 
54 ury, as a means of preventing the importation of contagious 
55 or infectious diseases into the United States, or into one State 
56 from another, to erect quarantine buildings, and to acquire on 
57 behalf of the United States titles to real estate for that pur- 
58 pose, or to rent houses, if there be any suitable, at such ports 
59 and places as hereinbefore mentioned. 
1 Sec. 4. That it shall be the duty of the National Board 6 
2 of Health to obtain information of the sanitary condition of 
3 foreign ports and places from which contagious and infectious 
4 diseases are or may be imported into the United States; and 
5 to this end the consular officers of the United States at such 
6 ports and places as shall he designated by the National Board 
7 of Health shall make to said Board of Health weekly reports 
8 of the sanitary condition of the ports and places at which 
9 they are respectively stationed, according to such forms as 
10 said Board of Health may prescribe; and the Board of Health 
11 shall also obtain, through all sources accessible, including 
12 State and municipal sanitary authorities throughout the United 
13 States, weekly reports of the sanitary condition of ports and 
14 places within the United States; and shall prepare, publish, 
15 and transmit to the medical officers of the Marine Hospital 
16 Service, to collectors of customs, and to State and municipal 
17 health officers and authorities weekly abstracts of the con- 
18 sular sanitary reports and other pertinent information received 
19 by said Board; and shall also, as far as it may be able, by 
20 means of the voluntary co-operation of State and municipal 
21 authorities, of public associations, and private persons, procure 
22 information relating to the climatic and other conditions affect- 
23 ing the public health, and shall make an annual report of its 
24 operations to Congress, with such recommendations as it may 
25 deem important to the public interests; and said report, if 
16 ordered to be printed by Congress, shall be done under the 7 
27 direction of the Board; and that all mail-matter of whatever 
18 class relative to the National Board of Health and its duties, 
29 and addressed to its secretary and indorsed “Official business, 
30 National Board of Health,” shall be transported free of post- 
31 age; and if any person shall make use of any such indorse- 
32 ment to avoid the payment of postage on his private letter, 
33 package, or other matter in the mail, the person so offending 
34 shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and be subject to a fine of 
35 three hundred dollars, to be prosecuted in any court of com- 
36 potent jurisdiction. That the necessary printing of the Na- 
37 tional Board of Health be done at the Government Printing 
38 Office, upon the requisition of the secretary of the Board, in 
39 the same manner and subject to the same provisions as other 
40 public printing for the several Departments of the Government. 
1 Sec. 5. That the National Board of Health shall, from 
2 time to time, issue to the consular officers of the United 
3 States, and to the medical officers serving at any foreign port, 
4 and otherwise make publicly7 known, the rules and regulations 
5 made by it, and approved by the President, to bo used and 
6 complied with by vessels in foreign ports for securing the best 
7 sanitary condition of such vessels, their cargoes, passengers, 
8 and crews, before their departure for any port in the United 
9 States, and in the course of the voyage, and all such other 
10 rules and regulations as shall be observed in the inspection of 
11 the same on the arrival thereof at any quarantine station at 8 
12 the port of destination, and for the disinfection and isolation 
13 of the same, and the treatment of cargo and persons on board, 
14 so as to prevent the introduction of cholera, yellow fever, or 
15 other contagious or infectious diseases; and it shall not he 
16 lawful for any vessel to enter said port, to discharge its cargo 
17 or land its passengers, except upon a certificate of the health 
18 officer at such quarantine station certifying that said rules 
19 and regulations have in all respects been observed and com- 
20 plied with, as well on his part as on the part of the said ves- 
21 sel and its master, in respect to the same and to its cargo, 
22 passengers, and crew; and the master of every such vessel 
23 shall produce and deliver to the collector of customs at said 
24 port of entry, together with the other papers of the vessel, 
25 the said bills of health required to he obtained at the port 
26 of departure, and the certificate herein required to be ob- 
27 tained from the health officer at the port of entry; and 
28 that the hills of health herein prescribed shall be considered as 
29 part of the ship’s papers, and wdien duly certified to by the 
30 proper consular or other officer of the United States, over 
31 official signature and seal, shall be accepted as evidence of 
32 the statements therein contained in any court of the United 
33 States. 
1 Sec. 6. That to pay the necessary expenses of placing 
2 vessels in proper sanitary condition, to be incurred under the 
3 provisions of this act, the Secretary of the Treasury be, and 9 
4 he hereby is, authorized and required to make the necessary 
5 rules and regulations fixing the amount of fees to be paid by 
6 vessels for such service, and the manner of collecting the 
7 same. 
1 Sec. 7. That the President is authorized, when requested 
2 by the National Board of Health, and when the same can he 
3 done without prejudice to the public service, to detail officers 
4 from the several Departments of the Government for tempo- 
5 rary duty, to act under the direction of said Board, to carry 
G out the provisions of this act; and such officers shall receive 
7 no additional compensation except for actual and necessary 
8 expenses incurred in the performance of such duties. 
1 Sec. 8. That the National Board of Health shall, as often 
2 as quarterly, make a full statement of its operations and 
3 expenditures under this act to the Secretary of the Treasury, 
4 who shall report the same to Congress. 
1 Sec. 9. That so much of the act entitled “An act to 
2 prevent the introduction of contagious or infectious diseases 
3 into the United States,” approved April twenty-ninth, eight- 
4 een hundred and seventy-eight, as requires consular officers, 
5 or other representatives of the United States at foreign ports, 
6 to report the sanitary condition of and the departure of ves- 
7 sels from such ports to the Supervising Surgeon-General of 
8 the Marine Hospital Service, and so much of said act as re- 
9 quires the Surgeon-General of the Marine Hospital Service to 
TT P 9 10 
10 frame rules and regulations, and to execute said act, and to 
11 give notice to Federal and State officers of the approach of 
12 infected vessels, and furnish said officers with weekly ab- 
13 stracts of consular sanitary reports, and all other acts and 
14 parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act, be, 
15 and the same are hereby, repealed. March 1, 1886.—Read twice, referred to the Committee 
on Commerce, and ordered to be printed. 
A BILL 
To modify and re-enact an act entitled “An act 
to prevent the introduction of contagious or 
infectious diseases into the United States.” 
49th CONGRESS,'( 
1st Session. < 
H. R. 6309.