SOCIAL PROBLEMS OF RECENT IMMIGRATION 45
Diseased Immigrants
Our present law provides that in case of aliens who
are debarred for physical or mental reasons and whose
disability might have been detected by the transporta
tion company through a competent medical examination
at the time of embarkation, the transportation company
shall pay the sum of $200 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 and such sum shall be paid to the
alien on whose account it is assessed. In consequence
of these and the preceding regulations, the transporta
tion of diseased aliens has become so unprofitable that
the steamship companies have provided, at the leading
foreign ports, a medical inspection similar to that made
in the United States.*
EFFICIENCY OF INSPECTION IN EUROPE
As a result of this inspection compelled by the rigid
enforcement of our laws at our ports of entry, the
number of persons debarred at American ports is rela
tively very small. In the fiscal year 1907, 1,285,349
aliens were admitted, while only 4,400 were debarred
on account of physical and mental diseases. In 1914,
as against 1,218,480 aliens who entered, 11,068 were
debarred. The increase is due largely to the added
efficiency of our medical service. The fact that a large
proportion of the immigrants arriving in the United
States come from countries where trachoma, favus and
other contagious diseases are prevalent among the
classes of the population from whom the immigrants
come, shows how careful the steamship inspection is.
A still further proof is that the persons excluded on
* Immigration Act, 1917, Sec. 9.