and often to escape the more burdensome of our domestic requirements. Failure to comply with these regulations at foreign ports subjects the vessel on arrival here to the full rigor of our domestic quarantine system. "The authority given by the act of March 3, 1893, to consular officers to administer oaths to the masters and surgeons of vessels carrying immigrants to the United States was intended to serve the same beneficial purpose by preventing the embarkation of immigrants prohibited by law from coming to the United States, and by facilitating the examination at the port of arrival of the immigrants, who are confined at the vessel's expense until their right to land is ascertained. A copy of this act and of the regulations made under it is inclosed for your perusal. "The acts of the United States consular and medical officers, of which your Government now speaks, are performed primarily in the interest of the vessels, many of which are German, and of foreign trade. They have been efficiently aided by the shipowners, who avail themselves of the opportunity offered them to avoid delays and impediments to their business in our ports. This alternative opportunity is offered, and the necessary agencies for taking advantage of it are provided in a spirit of cooperation and comity which it was expected would be appreciated, and in furtherance of mutually beneficial commercial intercourse which we, no less earnestly than any foreign nation, desire to maintain. This Government does not claim that under any treaty or the rules of international law it can authorize its officers to inspect foreign vessels or order their disinfection in German ports, or to administer oaths to officers of foreign ships within the jurisdiction of the German Empire. The operation of the sanitary and immigration system of the United States in a foreign port is conditioned upon the consent of the government having jurisdiction of the port. Prior to the receipt of your protest the consent of your Government was reasonably assumed, because these provisions were beneficial to your carrying trade and commercial interests. If the Imperial Government is unwilling that consular and medical officers of the United States shall continue to execute these laws and regulations in German ports upon vessels which are not American, steps will be taken to comply with its wishes, leaving foreign vessels coming to the United States from German ports subject to the sanitary provisions in force at the port of arrival and the prescribed consequences. "I will add for the information of your Government that no medical officers have been stationed in German ports within the last twelve months for the purpose of executing our quarantine and immigration laws and regulations. These duties have been per formed by consular officers alone, and they are forbidden to receive any personal compensation whatever for their services. The actual expense of the inspection or disinfection and a moderate official fee, which goes into the Treasury of the United States, form the total of direct expense thus incurred by vessels in foreign ports." Mr. Gresham, Sec. of State, to Baron Saurma, German embassy, Jan. 26, 1895, For. Rel. 1895, I. 512. The medical officers sent abroad to various European countries by the Marine-Hospital Service, under the act of March 3, 1893, were all withdrawn in December of that year. November 2, 1895, Mr. Olney, as Secretary of State, referring to a communication of the Secretary of Agriculture to the effect that for a number of years the Canadian government had prohibited the shipment of cattle from the United States across Canadian territory for export from Canadian ports, requested the British ambassador to inquire as to the cause of the prohibition to the end that its revocation might be brought about in conformity with “Article 29 of the existing treaty between the United States and Great Britain of May 18, 1871," by which the privilege of such shipment " appears to be clearly granted." The British ambassador, on the 4th of the following February, replied "that the Dominion government, while admitting to the fullest extent the transit obligations defined in article 29 of the treaty of May 18, 1871, explain that the restrictions of which complaint is made have relation simply to regulations formed under the 'animal contagious diseases act,' and therefore pertain solely to 'health of animals." The United States, it was observed, made similar restrictions under the quarantine laws in regard to Canadian animals in transit, and the opinion was expressed that such restrictions were not in contravention of the provisions of the treaty of 1871." "Referring to your note of the 17th ultimo, requesting that the prohibition of the importation of Swiss cattle into the United States be removed, I have the honor to inform you that I have received a letter from the Acting Secretary of Agriculture dated the 11th instant, stating that it is not the purpose of the Department of Agriculture to criticise either the laws or the administration of the veterinary police regulations in Switzerland, but the fact that a large number of animals. have been reported with foot-and-mouth disease, month after month, indicates that prompt measures have not been adopted for the eradication of the disease; that as to the admission of cattle from Holland, a For. Rel. 1895, I. 704. For. Rel. 1895, 1. 705. The power of the several States of the United States to protect by suitable quarantine legislation domestic animals from contagious and infectious diseases is upheld in Smith . St. Louis & S. R'y Co. (1901), 181 U. S. 248. which is referred to in your note, the Department of Agriculture is making an investigation concerning the prevalence of contagious diseases in that country; that in case it finds that contagious diseases prevail there which are dangerous to the domesticated animals of the United States, the entry of cattle from that country will not be allowed; that as a matter of fact no cattle can be imported from any European country without a permit from the Department of Agriculture, and that no permit will be issued for cattle from Holland or any other country if it is known to the Department of Agriculture that foot-and-mouth disease exists in such country. "The Acting Secretary of Agriculture concludes his letter by stating that in order to demonstrate his friendly feeling toward the Swiss Government, he has issued a permit for the importation of the cattle of Mr. de Wattenryl, concerning which this correspondence originated, on the condition that such cattle shall be quarantined in Holland before shipment. "It is hoped that this course will relieve all the parties concerned of the embarrassment of a herd of cattle stopped in transit; and, as sufficient notice has now been given of the regulations of this Government, it is thought that all cause for dissatisfaction has been removed." Mr. Adee, Act. Sec. of State, to Dr. Vogel, Swiss Leg., Aug. 13, 1896, MS. In 1898 an order was issued prohibiting the importation under certain circumstances of American fruit into Germany, the object of the prohibition, as declared in the decree, being to prevent the introduction of the San José scale (Aspidiotus perniciosus). For. Rel. 1898, 307–319, 320, 321-346, In August, 1900, the minister of the United States at Montevideo was, by request of the Secretary of the Navy, instructed to express to President Cuestas, of Uruguay, the thanks of the Navy Department for his "courtesy" in reducing "the length of quarantine that would otherwise have been imposed upon the Chicago, Montgomery, and Wilmington, arriving at Montevideo from Rio de Janeiro in June last." Mr. Adee, Act. Sec. of State, to Sec. of Navy, August 9, 1900, 247 MS. "Referring to your note of the 8th instant, in regard to the arrival Question of Na- at San Francisco of Ye Wang Yong and Ye Cha tional and State Yung, members of the Corean legation at this capital, said to be detained at quarantine at that port, I have now the honor to apprize you of the receipt of a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury dated the 12th instant, informing me control. of the receipt of a telegram on the 11th instant from the collector of customs at San Francisco, wherein he states that the Department has been misinformed as to the cause of the detention of the Coreans. It appears that no notice or application had been made to the collector's office in their behalf, and that the gentlemen you mention arrived with a number of Chinese on a steamer infected with typhus. fever. The steamer and passengers were accordingly, under State law, placed in quarantine. The collector has, however, applied to the board of health for the release of the Coreans." Mr. Bayard, Sec. of State, to Mr. Ye Ha Yung, Corean Leg. Jan. 15, 1889, "I have the honor to transmit herewith for your information, in connection with my note of the 8th instant, a copy of a letter from his excellency the governor of Texas, of the 15th instant, in respect of the quarantine established by that State against the ports of Vera Cruz, Tuxpan and Tampico. "It will be observed that Governor Hogg expresses regret that the State of Texas is forced by the apparent inadequacy of the quarantine regulations in Mexico, to resort to vigorous measures for the protection of her own citizens against contagious and infectious diseases originating at the points named. Until the situation is voluntarily altered in Mexico, Governor Hogg believes that he is justified in adhering to the recommendations of his health officer. As a solution of the trouble, I beg to suggest,' he adds that should the health officers of Vera Cruz, Tuxpan and Tampico be willing to meet those in charge of the quarantine affairs of our State at some convenient point, I shall cheerfully have every measure taken by the Texas authorities to make the conference satisfactory and successful.'” Mr. Wharton, Act. Sec. of State, to Mr. Romero, Mex. min. Sept. 21, 1891, MS. Notes to Mexico, IX. 576. The right of the several States to establish quarantine regulations is not limited by any existing treaty between the United States and Sweden and Norway. Minneapolis, &c. Ry. Co. v. Milner, 57 Fed. Rep. 276. "The subject of quarantine regulations, inspection, and control was brought suddenly to my attention by the arrival at our ports in August last of vessels infected with cholera. Quarantine regulations should be uniform at all our ports. Under the Constitution they are plainly within the exclusive Federal jurisdiction when and so far as Congress shall legislate. In my opinion the whole subject should be taken into national control, and adequate power given to the Executive to protect our people against plague invasions. On the 1st of September last I approved regulations establishing a twenty-day quarantine for all vessels bringing immigrants from foreign ports. This order will be continued in force. Some loss and suffering have resulted to passengers, but a due care for the homes of our people. justifies in such cases the utmost precaution. There is danger that with the coming of spring cholera will again appear, and a liberal appropriation should be made at this session to enable our quarantine and port officers to exclude the deadly plague. "But the most careful and stringent quarantine regulations may not be sufficient absolutely to exclude the disease. The progress of medical and sanitary science has been such, however, that if approved precautions are taken at once to put all of our cities and towns in the best sanitary condition, and provision is made for isolating any sporadic cases and for a thorough disinfection, an epidemic can, I am sure, be avoided. This work appertains to the local authorities, and the responsibility and the penalty will be appalling if it is neglected or unduly delayed." President Harrison, annual message, Dec. 6, 1892, For. Rel. 1892, xxx.- State laws in regard to quarantine belong to that class of legislation which Jan. 4, 1882, Mr. Frelinghuysen, Secretary of State, transmitted to the In the Annual Report of the Marine-Hospital Service, 1896, may be found a protest addressed by Surgeon-General Wyman to the Secretary of |