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.