under the direction of the Attorney General, each containing not less than thirty nor more than forty words in ordinary use, printed in plainly legible type in some one of the various languages or dialects of immigrants. Each alien may designate, the particular language or dialect in whch he desires the examination to be made, and shall be required to read the words printed on the slip in such language or dialect. That the following classes of persons shall be exempt from the operation of the illiteracy test, to wit: All aliens who shall prove to the satisfaction of the proper immigration officer or to the Attorney General that they are seeking admission to the United States to avoid religious persecution in the country of their last permanent residence, whether such persecution be evidenced by overt acts or by laws or governmental regulations that discriminate against the alien or the race to which he belongs because of his religious faith; all aliens who have been lawfully admitted to the United States and who have resided therein continuously for five years, and who return to the United States within six months from the date of their departure therefrom; all aliens in transit through the United States; all aliens who have been lawfully admitted to the United States and who later shall go in transit from one part of the United States to another through foreign contiguous territory: Provided, [2] That nothing in this Act shall exclude, if otherwise admissible, persons convicted, or who admit the commission, or who teach or advocate the commission, of an offense purely political: Provided further, [3] That the provisions of this Act, relating to the payments for tickets or passage by any corporation, association, society, municipality, or foreign Government shall not apply to the tickets or passage of aliens in immediate and continuous transit through the United States to foreign contiguous territory: Provided further, [4] That skilled labor, if otherwise admissible, may be imported if labor of like kind unemployed can not be found in this country, and the question of the necessity of importing such skilled labor in any particular instance may be determined by the Attorney General upon the application of any person interested, such application to be made before such importation, and such determination by the Attorney General to be reached after a full hearing and an investigation into the facts of the case: Provided further, [5] That the provisions of this law applicable to contract labor shall not be held to exclude professional actors, artists, lecturers, singers, nurses, ministers of any religious denomination, professors for colleges or seminaries, persons belonging to any recognized learned profession, or persons employed as domestic servants: Provided further, [6] That whenever the President shall be satisfied that passports issued by any foreign Government to its citizens or subjects to go to any country other than the United States, or to any insular possession of the United States or to the Canal Zone, are being used for the purpose of enabling the holder to come to the continental territory of the United States to the detriment of labor conditions therein, the President shall refuse

See act of March 17, 1932 (47 Stat. 67: 8 U. S. C. 137 (b)-137 (d)), p. 98. This statute defines the term "artist" with respect to instrumental musicians.

to permit such citizens or subjects of the country issuing such passports to enter the continental territory of the United States from such other country or from such insular possession or from the Canal Zone: 18 Provided further, [7] That aliens returning after a temporary absence to an unrelinquished United States domicile of seven consecutive years may be admitted in the discretion of the Attorney General, and under such conditions as he may prescribe: Provided further, [8] That nothing in the contract-labor or reading-test provisions of this Act shall be construed to prevent, hinder, or restrict any alien exhibitor, or holder of concession or privilege for any fair or exposition authorized by Act of Congress, from bringing into the United States, under contract, such otherwise admissible alien mechanics, artisans, agents, or other employees, natives of his country as may be necessary for installing or conducting his exhibit or for preparing for installing or conducting any business authorized or permitted under any concession or privilege which may have been or may be granted by any such fair or exposition in connection therewith, under such rules and regulations as the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization, with the approval of the Attorney General, may prescribe both as to the admission and return of such persons: 10 Provided further, [9] That the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization with the approval of the Attorney General shall issue rules and prescribe conditions, including exaction of such bonds as may be necessary, to control and regulate the admission and return of otherwise inadmissible aliens applying for temporary admission: Provided further, [10] That nothing in this Act shall be construed to apply to accredited officials of foreign Governments, nor to their suites, families, or guests.20 (39 Stat. 875-878; 8 U. S. C. 136.)

IMPORTATION OF ALIENS FOR IMMORAL PURPOSES; ATTEMPT TO REENTER AFTER DEPORTATION; PENALTY

SEO. 4. That the importation into the United States of any alien for the purpose of prostitution, or for any other immoral purpose, is hereby forbidden; and whoever shall, directly or indirectly, import, or attempt to import into the United States any alien for the purpose of prostitution or for any other immoral purpose, or shall hold or attempt to hold any alien for any such purpose in pursuance of such illegal importation, or shall keep, maintain, control, support, employ, or harbor in any house or other place, for the purpose of prostitution or for any other immoral purpose, any alien, in pursuance of such illegal importation, shall in every such case be deemed guilty of a felony, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of not more than ten

18 See Executive Order No. 1712, February 24, 1913, p. 203, putting this provision into effect.

19 See also Act of April 28, 1902 (32 Stat. 177), p. 64, and Act of Feb. 14, 1944 (58 Stat. 104), p. 127, for other provisions regulating admission of aliens under contract labor law.

20 Act of June 5, 1920 (41 Stat. 981), amended sec. 3, Act. of February 5, 1917 (8 U. S. C. 136), by adding the following proviso: "Provided further, That an alien who can not read may, if otherwise admissible, be admitted if, within five years after this Act becomes law, a citizen of the United States who has served in the military or naval forces of the United States during the war with the Imperial German Government, requests that such alien be admitted, and with the approval of the Secretary of Labor, marries such alien at a United States immigration station."

568700-44-2

years and by a fine of not more than $5,000. Jurisdiction for the trial and punishment of the felonies hereinbefore set forth shall be in any district to or into which said alien is brought in pursuance of said importation by the person or persons accused, or in any district in which a violation of any of the foregoing provisions of this section occurs. That any alien who shall, after he has been excluded and deported or arrested and deported in pursuance of the provisions of this Act which relate to prostitutes, procurers, or other like immoral persons, attempt thereafter to return to or to enter the United States shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of not more than two years. In all prosecutions under this section the testimony of a husband or wife shall be admissible and competent evidence against each other. (39 Stat. 878-879; 8

U.S. C. 138.)

CONTRACT LABORERS; PREPAYING TRANSPORTATION OR ASSISTING
IMPORTATION; FORFEITURE AND PUNISHMENT

21

SEC. 5. That it shall be unlawful for any person, company, partnership, or corporation, in any manner whatsoever, to prepay the transportation or in any way to induce, assist, encourage, or solicit, or attempt to induce, assist, encourage, or solicit the importation or migration of any contract laborer or contract laborers into the United States, unless such contract laborer or contract laborers are exempted under the fifth proviso of section three of this Act,22 or have been imported with the permission of the Attorney General in accordance with the fourth proviso of said section, and for every violation of any of the provisions of this section the person, partnership, company, or corporation violating the same shall forfeit and pay for every such offense the sum of $1,000, which may be sued for and recovered by the United States, as debts of like amount are now recovered in the courts of the United States. For every violation of the provisions hereof the person violating the same may be prosecuted in a criminal action for a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of $1,000, or by imprisonment for a term of not less than six months nor more than two years; and under either the civil or the criminal procedure mentioned separate suits or prosecutions may be brought for each alien thus offered or promised employment as aforesaid. The Department of Justice 23 may from any fines or penalties received pay rewards 2 to persons other than Government employees who may furnish information leading to the recovery of any such penalties, or to the arrest and punishment of any person, as in this section provided. (39 Stat. 879; 8 U. S. C. 139.)

24

For provision prohibiting importation of contract laborers into Hawaii see Act of April 30, 1900 (31 Stat. 143; 48 U. S. C. 504), p. 64.

The Act of Feb. 14. 1944 (Pub. Law 229), p. 127, provides that the provisions of secs. 5 and 6, Act of Feb. 5, 1917, are inapplicable in cases of agricultural laborers entering the United States under that Act.

23 Section 5, Act of February 5, 1917 (39 Stat. 879; 8 U. S. C. 139). The beginning of the last sentence of this section read as follows: The Department of Justice, with the approval of the Department of Labor, This was in effect amended by Reorganization Plan No. V (5 F. R. 2132, June 5, 1940).

24 See also Act of February 26, 1885, as amended (23 Stat. 332; 25 Stat. 567; 8 U. S. C. 140), p. 63, and Act of June 26, 1940 (56 Stat. 576), p. 107, for other provisions covering rewards to informers.

ADVERTISEMENTS OF EMPLOYMENT FOR ALIENS; PENALTY

SEC. 6. That it shall be unlawful and be deemed a violation of section five of this Act to induce, assist, encourage, or solicit or attempt to induce, assist, encourage, or solicit any alien to come into the United States by promise of employment through advertisements printed, published, or distributed in any foreign country, whether such promise is true or false, and either the civil or criminal penalty or both imposed by said section shall be applicable to such a case.22 (39 Stat. 879; 8 U. S. C. 142.)

SOLICITATION OF IMMIGRATION BY TRANSPORTATION COMPANIES;
PENALTY

SEC. 7. That it shall be unlawful for any person, association, society, company, partnership, corporation, or others engaged in the business of transporting aliens to or within the United States, including owners, masters, officers, and agents of vessels, directly or indirectly, by writing, printing, oral representation, payment of any commissions to an alien coming into the United States, allowance of any rebates to an alien coming into the United States, or otherwise to solicit, invite, or encourage or attempt to solicit, invite, or encourage any alien to come into the United States, and anyone violating any provision hereof shall be subject to either the civil or the criminal prosecution, or both, prescribed by section five of this Act; or if it shall appear to the satisfaction of the Attorney General that any owner, master, officer, or agent of a vessel has brought or caused to be brought to a port of the United States any alien so solicited, invited, or encouraged to come by such owner, master, officer, or agent, such owner, master, officer, or agent shall pay to the collector of customs of the customs district in which the port of arrival is located, or in which any vessel of the line may be found, the sum of $400 for each and every such violation; and no vessel shall be granted clearance pending the determination of the question of the liability to the payment of such fine, or while the fine imposed remains unpaid, nor shall such fine be remitted or refunded: Provided, That clearance may be granted prior to the determination of such questions upon the deposit with the collector of customs of a sum sufficient to cover such fine: Provided further, That whenever it shall be shown to the satisfaction of the Attorney General that the provisions of this section are persistently violated by or on behalf of any transportation company, it shall be the duty of said Attorney General to deny to such company the privilege of landing alien immigrant passengers of any or all classes at United States ports for such a period as in his judgment may be necessary to insure an observance of such provisions: Provided further, That this section shall not be held to prevent transportation companies from issuing letters, circulars, or advertisements, confined strictly to stating the sailing of their vessels and terms and facilities of transportation therein: Provided further, That under sections 5, 6, and 7 hereof it shall be presumed from the fact that any person, company, partnership, corporation, association, or society induces, assists, encourages, solicits or invites, or attempts to induce, assist, encourage, solicit

or invite the importation, migration or coming of an alien from a country foreign to the United States, that the offender had knowledge of such person's alienage. (39 Stat. 879-880; 8 U. S. C. 143.)

BRINGING IN OR HARBORING OR CONCEALING CERTAIN ALIENS; PENALTY

SEC. 8. That any person, including the master, agent, owner, or consignee of any vessel, who shall bring into or land in the United States, by vessel or otherwise, or shall attempt, by himself or through another, to bring into or land in the United States, by vessel or otherwise, or shall conceal or harbor, or attempt to conceal or harbor, or assist or abet another to conceal or harbor in any place, including any building, vessel, railway car, conveyance, or vehicle, any alien not duly admitted by an immigrant inspector or not lawfully entitled to enter or to reside within the United States under the terms of this Act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $2,000 and by imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, for each and every alien so landed or brought in or attempted to be landed or brought in. (39 Stat. 880; 8 U. S. C. 144.)

STEAMSHIP FINES UNDER 1917 ACT; BRINGING OF ALIENS SUBJECT TO DISABILITY, OR AFFLICTED WITH DISEASE; PENALTIES

SEC. 9. That it shall be unlawful for any person, including any transportation company other than railway lines entering the United States from foreign contiguous territory, or the owner, master, agent, or consignee of any vessel to bring to the United States either from a foreign country or any insular possession of the United States any alien afflicted with idiocy, insanity, imbecility, feeble-mindedness, epilepsy, constitutional psychopathic inferiority, chronic alcoholism, tuberculosis in any form, or a loathsome or dangerous contagious disease, and if it shall appear to the satisfaction of the Attorney General that any alien so brought to the United States was afflicted with any of the said diseases or disabilities at the time of foreign embarkation, and that the existence of such disease or disability might have been detected by means of a competent medical examination at such time, such person or transportation company, or the master, agent, owner, or consignee of any such vessel shall pay to the collector of customs of the customs district in which the port of arrival is located the sum of $1,000,25 and in addition a sum equal to that paid by such alien for his transportation from the initial point of departure, indicated in his ticket, to the port of arrival for each and every violation of the provisions of this section, such latter sum to be delivered by the collector of customs to the alien on whose account assessed. It shall also be unlawful for any such person to bring to any port of the United States any alien afflicted with any mental defect other than those above specifically named, or physical defect of a nature which may affect his ability to earn a living, as contemplated in section 3 of this Act, and if it shall appear to the satisfaction of the Attorney General that any alien so brought to the United States was so afflicted at the time of foreign embarkation, and that the existence of such mental or physical defect might have beent detected by means of a competent medical examination at such time, such person shall pay to the collector of customs of the