Interstate Quarantine Regulations.

Transcript

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Interstate Quarantine Regulations.
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district shall appear on behalf of the United States; and all such pro-
ceedings shall be conducted in accordance with the rules and laws gov-
erning 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-Hospital
Service shall, immediately after this act takes effect, examine the quar-
antine 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 Sec-
retary 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; and all rules and reg-
ulations 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 reg-
ulations under State or municipal authority, where such regulations
are, in the opinion of the Secretary of the Treasury, necessary to pre-
vent 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 sufficient to prevent the introduction of such diseases into the
United States, or into one State or Territory or the District of Colum-
bia 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 pro-
mulgated by the Secretary of the Treasury and enforced by the sanitary
authorities of the States and municipalities, where the State or munic-
ipal 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 ves-
sels 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 communi-
cated 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 reg-
ulations 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.

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Interstate Quarantine Regulations.
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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 contagious and infectious diseases are or may be important
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 shall
also obtain, through all sources accessible, including State and munici-
pal 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 and
to State and municipal health officers and other sanitarians weekly
abstracts of the consular sanitary reports and other pertinent informa-
tion 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, with such
recommendations as he may deem important to the public interest.
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 com-
plied 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 passen-
gers, 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.
SEC. 6. That on the arrival of an infected vessel at any port not pro-
vided 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

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