Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 13.djvu/414

386  United States is hereby authorized, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint a commissioner of immigration, who shall be subject to the direction of the Department of State, shall hold his office for four years, and shall receive a salary at the rate of two thousand five hundred dollars a year. The said commissioner may employ not more than three clerks, of such grade as the Secretary of State shall designate, to be appointed by him, with the approval of the Secretary of State, and to hold their offices at his pleasure.

2. And be it further enacted, That all contracts that shall be made by emigrants to the United States in foreign countries, in conformity to regulations that may be established by the said commissioner, whereby emigrants shall pledge the wages of their labor for a term not exceeding twelve months, to repay the expenses of their emigration, shall be held to be valid in law, and may be enforced in the courts of the United States,or of the several states and territories; and such advances, if so stipulated in the contract, and the contract be recorded in the recorder's office in the county where the emigrant shall settle, shall operate as a lien upon any land thereafter acquired by the emigrants, whether under the homestead law when the title is consummated, or on property otherwise acquired until liquidated by the emigrant; but nothing herein contained shall be deemed to authorize any contract contravening the Constitution of the United States, or creating in any way the relation of slavery or servitude.

3. And be it further enacted, That no emigrant to the United States who shall arrive after the passage of this act shall be compulsive1y enrolled for military service during the existing insurrection, unless such emigrant shall voluntarily renounce under oath his allegiance to the country of his birth, and declare his intention to become a citizen of the United States.

4. And be it further enacted, That there shall be established in the city of New York an office to be known as the United States Emigrant Office; and there shall be appointed, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, an officer for said city, to be known as superintendent of immigration, at an annual salary of two thousand dollars; and the said superintendent may employ a clerk of the first class; and such superintendent shall, under the direction of the commissioner of immigration, make contracts with the different railroads and transportation companies of the United States for transportation tickets, to be furnished to such immigrants, and to be paid for by them, and shall, under such rules as may be prescribed by the commissioner of immigration, protect such immigrants from imposition and fraud, and shall furnish them such information and facilities as will enable them to proceed in the cheapest and most expeditious manner to the place of their destination. And such superintendent of immigration shall perform such other duties as may be prescribed by the commissioner of immigration: Provided, That the duties hereby imposed upon the superintendent in the city of New York shall not be held to effect the powers and duties of the commissioner of immigration of the State of New York; and it shall be the duty of said superintendent in the city of New York to see that the provisions of the act commonly known as the passenger act are strictly complied with, and all breaches thereof punished according to law.

5. And be it further enacted, That no person shall be qualified to fill any office under this act who shall be directly or indirectly interested in any corporation having lands for sale to immigrants, or in the carrying or transportation of immigrants, either from foreign countries to the United States and its territories, or to any part thereof or who shall receive any fee or reward, or the promise thereof, for any service performed, or any benefit rendered; to any person or persons in the line of his duty under this act. And if any officer provided for by this act shall receive from any person or company any fee or reward, or promise thereof,