Speech #480051928

I so understand it. The next provision I was authorized to offer was: That until the provisions of section 1. chapter 376. of the laws of 1882 shall be made applicable to passengers coming into the United States by land carriage. said provision shall not apply to passengers coming by vessels employed exclusively in the trade between the ports of theUnited States and the ports of the Dominion of Canada or the ports of Mexico. A law was passed in 1882 imposing a headtax upon emigrants of 50 cents a head. It was for the benefit principally of New York city. It intended to apply as a matter of course to emigrants crossing the ocean. Nobody dreamed it would apply to those coming across a river or a bridge or a ferryboat. or anything of that kind. from Canada. Under. that law today every steamer sailing from Portland or Eastport or Machias. Me.. across one hundred miles to Saint John or up the Saint John River or down to Halifax is compelled to pay 50 cents a head fbr every Canadian returning in her to the United States. There is a railroad running right down by the coast going straight across the Saint John River into Saint John city. and that can bring all the emigrants it pleases without being subject to any tax. You may take it up the Saint Lawrence River. it is the same. If you ride over the railroad bridge you pay no tax. if you come across the ferryboat you pay50 cents a head. and so all the wiy along the borders of the Canadian coast down the lakes and the rivers.