45ra CONGRESS, 
- 3° sessi°»- 
M H&j m 
I 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. 
February 3,1879. 
Mr. Harris, from the Select Committee to investigate and report the best means 
of preventing the introduction and spread of Epidemic Diseases, reported 
the following bill; which was read the first and second times by unanimous 
consent and recommitted to the same committee. 
A BILL, 
To prevent the introduction of contagious or infectious diseases 
into the United States, and to establish a Bureau of Public 
Health. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Bepresenta- 
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
That there shall be established in the Treasury Department a 
Bureau of Health, which shall consist of one chief executive 
officer, to be called the Director-General of Health, to be 
appointed by the President, by and with the advice and 
consent of the Senate, who shall receive a salary of four 
thousand five hundred dollars per annum, and a Board of 
.Health, to consist of seven members, to be appointed in like 
manner, whose compensation shall be ten dollars per diem and 
reasonable expenses incurred during the time when actually 
engaged in the performance of their duties under this act. 
The Surgeon-General of the Army and the Surgeon-General 2 
of the Navy shall be ex officio additional members of said 
board, but without additional pay. Said board shall meet in 
Washington or elsewhere within thirty days after the passage 
of this act, and from time to time upon notice from the Di- 
rector-General of Health, or upon its own adjournments, and 
shall frame all rules and regulations authorized or required by 
this act, and shall make, or cause to be made, by members of 
their own body, such special examinations and investigations, 
at any place or places within the United States, as they may 
order, to aid in the execution of this act and the promotion of 
its objects, subject to the approval of the Secretary of the 
Treasury. The Director-General of Health shall be ex officio 
a member and president of said Board of Health. All rules 
and regulations under this act, framed by said Board of Health, 
shall be uniform and subject to the approval of the President, 
and shall then he enforced by the Director-General of Health. 
Sec. 2. That there shall be appointed by the Secretary 
of the Treasury, in said Bureau of Health, in addition to the 
clerks and assistants necessary to perform duties in connec- 
tion with the Marine Hospital Service, and whose salaries are 
payable out of the Marine Hospital fund, one chief clerk, at a 
salary of two thousand dollars, and such other clerks, in num- 
ber and grade as may he found necessary, not to exceed three. 
Sec. 3. That the Bureau of Health shall be charged 
with the supervision of all matters connected with 3 
the Marine Hospital Service; and the Director-General 
of Health shall perforin all the duties and exercise all 
the powers now devolving upon the Supervising Surgeon 
General of the Marine Hospital Service, which office is hereby 
abolished, and all the records, papers, and other matters be- 
longing thereto transferred to the Bureau of Health; and said 
bureau is charged with the execution of the provisions of this 
and all other acts and measures to prevent the introduction 
of contagious or infectious diseases into the United States, and 
the enforcement of all quarantine regulations, lawfully estab- 
lished, in respect to all vessels and vehicles engaged in com- 
merce with foreign nations and among the States, whether by 
land or water. The Bureau of Health shall also be charged 
with the execution of all laws and orders, rules and 
regulations, made in pursuance thereof, for the improve- 
ment of the sanitary condition of the District of Columbia. 
The Bureau of Health shall also he charged with the 
duty of obtaining information of the sanitary condition 
of foreign ports and places from which contagious or 
infectious diseases are or may he imported into the United 
States; and to this end the consular officers of the United 
States, at all ports and places, who may be required to do 
so, by notice from the Secretary of the Treasury, shall 
make to the Director-General of Health weekly reports of 
the sanitary condition of the ports and places at which they are 4 
respectively stationed, according to such forms as he may pre- 
scribe; and the Bureau of Health shall also obtain, through 
the medical officers of the Marine Hospital Service, collectors 
of customs, and such other sources as are accessible, including 
State and municipal health officers and authorities throughout 
the United States, weekly reports of the sanitary condition of 
ports and places within the United States; and the Director- 
General of Health shall prepare and transmit to the medi- 
cal officers of the Marine Hospital Service, to collectors of 
customs, and to State and municipal health officers and 
authorities, weekly abstracts of the consular sanitary reports, 
and other pertinent information received by him; and said 
Bureau of Health shall also, as far as it may be able, by 
means of the voluntary co-operation 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 the Director-General of 
Health shall make an annual report to the Secretary of the 
Treasury of the operations of the Bureau of Health, for trans- 
mission to Congress, with such recommendations as he may 
deem important to the public interests. 
Sec. 4. That it shall be unlawful for any vessel engaged 
in the transportation of goods or persons from any foreign 
country to and into the United States to enter any port of 
the United States except iu accordance with the provisions of 5 
this act, and all rules and regulations made in pursuance 
thereof and applicable thereto; and any such vessel which 
shall enter or attempt to enter a port of the United States in 
violation thereof shall forfeit to the United States a sum, to 
be awarded in the discretion of the court, not exceeding five 
thousand dollars, which shall be a lien upon said vessel to be 
recovered by proceedings in admiralty in the proper district 
court of the United States. 
Sec. 5. All such vessels shall be required to obtain from 
the consul, vice-consul, or other consular officer of the United 
States at the port of departure, a certificate, in duplicate, set- 
a 
ting forth that said vessel has in all respects complied with 
the rules and regulations in such cases prescribed, and herein 
authorized, for the disinfection of the said vessel, its cargo, 
passengers, and crew ; and said consular officer is required, 
before granting such certificate, to be satisfied that the mat- 
ters and things therein stated are true, and for his services 
in that behalf shall be entitled to demand and receive such 
fees as shall by lawful regulation be allowed, to be accounted 
for as is required in other cases. 
And all vessels sailing from the port of Havana, in the 
island of Cuba, and bound lor any port in the United States, 
shall be required to obtain from a medical officer, serving in 
the office of the consul of the United States at that port, to 
be appointed by the President for that purpose, and who 6 
shall receive a salary of three thousand five hundred dollars 
per annum, his certificate, setting forth that he has personally 
inspected said vessel, her cargo, crew, and passengers; that 
the rules and regulations prescribed by the Bureau of Health 
in respect thereto have been fully complied with ; and that, in 
his opinion, the said vessel may be allowed to enter a port of 
the United States and land its cargo and passengers, without 
danger to the health thereof on account of any infectious dis- 
ease ; and any vessel sailing from said port without such cer- 
tificate of said medical officer, entering any port of the United 
States, shall forfeit to the United States the sum of five hun- 
dred dollars, which shall be a lien on the same, to be recov- 
ered by proceedings in admiralty in the proper district court 
of the United States. 
Sec. (3. The Director-General of Health shall, from 
time to time, issue to the consular officers of the United 
States, and to the medical officer serving at the port of Ha- 
vana, and otherwise make publicly known, in such manner 
as shall be therein prescribed, the rules and regulations framed 
by the Board of Health and approved by the President, to be 
used and complied with by vessels in foreign ports, for disin- 
fecting such vessels, their cargoes, passengers, and crew, be- 
fore their departure for any port in the United States, and in 
the course of the voyage; and also such other rules and regu- 
lations which shall be observed in' the inspection of the same, 7 
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 hoard, so as 
to prevent the spread of cholera, yellow fever, or other con- 
tagious or infectious disease; and it shall not be lawful for 
any vessel to enter said port, to discharge its cargo, or land 
its passengers, except upon a permit from the health officer 
at such quarantine station, certifying that said rules and 
regulations have in all respects been observed and com- 
plied 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 certificates required to he obtained at the port of 
departure, and the permit and certificate herein required to 
be obtained from the health-officer at the port of entry. In 
case the health-officer at any such port appointed by local 
authority shall refuse to adopt and observe the rules and reg- 
ulations prescribed by the Bureau of Health for the inspection, 
disinfection, and treatment of vessels, their cargoes, passen- 
gers, and crews, or, in the opinion of the Board of Health, 
shall neglect or fail so to do, it shall be the duty of the Sec- 
retary of the Treasury to appoint a health-officer of the United 
States for said port* who shall perform the duties thereof, as 8 
prescribed by said Bureau of Health, according to the rules 
and regulations as prescribed by the Board of Health, as pro- 
vided by the first section of this act; and to provide for the 
salary of such health-officer and the necessary expenses of 
his office, the collector of customs at said port shall demand 
and collect from every such vessel a fee of six dollars and 
fifty cents; but it shall be the duty of the medical officers of 
the Marine Hospital Service and of customs-officers to aid in 
the enforcement of the rules and regulations authorized by 
this act, without additional compensation, except for actual 
and necessary traveling expenses incurred in the performance 
of such duties. 
Sec. 7. That rules and regulations framed and approved 
as hereinbefore authorized shall be promulgated, so that when 
cholera, yellow fever, or other similar contagious or infectious 
disease shall be ascertained by the Director-General of Health 
to exist in any port or place within any one of the United 
States, in such form as threatens its spread, as to prevent, 
as far as practicable, the communication of the same to other 
ports and places within other States, by means of vessels and 
vehicles engaged in the transportation of goods or passengers 
between two or more States, whether by land or water; and 
in that case, the Director-General of Health shall select suit- 
able localities for establishing quarantine stations on the rivers 
and other lines of inter-State commerce and travel by railroads, 9 
and may cause to be erected necessary temporary buildings 
for the disinfection of passengers, baggage, cargoes, vessels, 
and vehicles, and may enforce such rules and regulations 
relating thereto as may have been prescribed therefor. 
Sec. 8. That it shall be the duty of the Director-Gen- 
eral of Health and of the Board of Health, so far as they law- 
fully may, in the execution of their powers conferred upon 
them by law, to correspond and co-operate with similar local 
officers, boards, and authorities acting under laws of the 
States in sanitary measures, to prevent the introduction and 
spread of contagious and infectious diseases from foreign 
countries into the United States, and from one State into any 
other State, by means of commercial intercourse, or upon 
and along the lines of inter-State trade and travel; and to that 
end it shall be lawful for said Board of Health and Director- 
General of Health to confer upon any such local officer or 
board within or near the locality where his or its authority is 
exercised, power also to enforce the provisions of this act and 
any rules and regulations made in pursuance thereof. 
Sec. 9. That a commission is hereby constituted, to 
consist of three persons, one of whom shall be a medical 
expert, one a microscopist, and one a sanitary engineer, em- 
inent for scientific attainments, to be appointed by the Pres- 
ident, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, who 10 
shall visit the port of Havana and there investigate the 
nature and history of yellow fever and the conditions of its 
origin and spread at that place and vicinity. The members 
of said commission shall be paid for their services at the rate 
of ten dollars per diem while actually engaged in the per- 
formance of the same, and their actual reasonable expenses, 
and shall report to Congress at its next session their proceed- 
ings and recommendations. And said commission shall be 
authorized to employ one clerk and one stenographer, at 
rates of compensation to be fixed by the Secretary of the 
Treasury. And to pay the expenses attending the execution 
of this section of this act, there is hereby appropriated the 
sum of twenty thousand dollars, out of any money in the 
Treasury not otherwise appropriated ; and that the President 
be requested to invite the concurrence and co-operation of the 
Spanish Government in the examinations and experiments of 
this commission in furtherance of international commerce and 
the sanitary interests of mankind. 1879—February 3.—Read the first and second times by 
unanimous consent, and recommitted to the Select 
Committee to investigate and report the best means 
of preventing the introduction and spread of Epidemic 
Diseases. 
A BILL 
To prevent the introduction of contagious or 
infectious diseases into the United States, 
and to establish a Bureau of Public Health. 
45th CONGRESS, 
3d Session. 
S. 1752.