An Act to further regulate interstate commerce and foreign commerce by prohibiting the transportation therein for immoral purposes of women and girls, and for other purposes.
Sixty-First Congress of the United States.
CHAP. 395 — An Act to further regulate interstate commerce and foreign commerce by prohibiting the transportation therein for immoral purposes of women and girls, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the term "interstate
commerce," as used in this Act, shall include transportation from any State or
Territory or the District of Columbia, and the term "foreign commerce," as used
in this Act, shall include transportation from any State or Territory or the
District of Columbia to any foreign country and from any foreign country to any
State or Territory or the District of Columbia.
SEC. 2. That any person who shall knowingly transport or
cause to be transported, or aid or assist in obtaining transportation for, or in
transporting, in interstate or foreign commerce, or in any Territory or in the
District of Columbia, any woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution or
debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose, or with the intent and purpose to
induce, entice, or compel such woman or girl to become a prostitute or to give
herself up to debauchery, or to engage in any other immoral practice; or who
shall knowingly procure or obtain, or cause to be procured or obtained, or aid
or assist in procuring or obtaining, any ticket or tickets, or any form of
transportation or evidence of the right thereto, to be used by any woman or girl
in interstate or foreign commerce, or in any Territory or the District of
Columbia, in going to any place for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery,
or for any other immoral purpose, or with the intent or purpose on the part of
such person to induce, entice, or compel her to give herself up to the practice
of prostitution, or to give herself up to the practice of debauchery, or any
other immoral practice, whereby any such woman or girl shall be transported in
interstate or foreign commerce, or in any Territory or the District of Columbia,
shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and upon conviction thereof shall be
punished by a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, or by imprisonment of
not more than five years, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the
discretion of the court.
SEC. 3. That any person who shall knowingly persuade, induce,
entice, or coerce, or cause to be persuaded, induced, enticed, or coerced, or
aid or assist in persuading, inducing, enticing or coercing any woman or girl to
go from one place to another in interstate or foreign commerce, or in any
Territory or the District of Columbia, for the purpose of prostitution or
debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose, or with the intent and purpose on
the part of such person that such woman or girl shall engage in the practice of
prostitution or debauchery, or any other immoral practice, whether with or
without her consent, and who shall thereby knowingly cause or aid or assist in
causing such woman or girl to go and be carried or transported as a passenger
upon the line or route of any common carrier or carriers in interstate or
foreign commerce, or any Territory or the District of Columbia, shall be deemed
guilty of a felony and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not
more than five thousand dollars, or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding
five years, or by both fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court.
SEC. 4. That any person who shall knowingly persuade, induce,
entice or coerce any woman or girl under the age of eighteen years from any
State or Territory or the District of Columbia to any other State or Territory
or the District of Columbia, with the purpose and intent to induce or coerce
her, or that she shall be induced or coerced to engage in prostitution or
debauchery, or any other immoral practice, and shall in furtherance of such
purpose knowingly induce or cause her to go and to be carried or transported as
a passenger in interstate commerce upon the line or route of any common carrier
or carriers, shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and in conviction there of
shall be punished by a fine of not more than ten thousand dollars, or by
imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years, or by both such fine and
imprisonment, in the discretion of the court.
SEC. 5. That any violation of any of the above sections two,
three, and four shall be prosecuted in any court having jurisdiction of crimes
within the district in which said violation was committed, or from, through, or
into which any such woman or girl may have been carried or transported as a
passenger in interstate or foreign commerce, or in any Territory or the District
of Columbia, contrary to the provisions of any of said sections.
SEC. 6. That for the purpose of regulating and preventing the
transportation in foreign commerce of alien women and girls for purposes of
prostitution and debauchery, and in pursuance of and for the purpose of carrying
out the terms of the agreement of project of arrangement for the suppression of
the white-slave traffic, adopted July twenty-fifth, nineteen hundred and two,
for submission to their respective governments by the delegates of various
powers represented at the Paris conference and confirmed by a formal agreement
signed at Paris on May eighteenth, nineteen hundred and four, and adhered to by
the United States on June sixth, nineteen hundred and eight, as shown by the
proclamation of the President of the United States, dated June fifteenth,
nineteen hundred and eight, the Commissioner-General of Immigration is hereby
designated as the authority of the United States to receive and centralize
information concerning the procuration of alien women and girls with a view to
their debauchery, and to exercise supervision over such alien women and girls,
receive their declarations, establish their identity, and ascertain from them
who induced them to leave their native countries, respectively; and it shall be
the duty of said Commissioner-General of Immigration to receive and keep on file
in his office the statements and declarations which may be made by such alien
women and girls, and those which are hereinafter required pertaining to such
alien women and girls engaged in prostitution and debauchery in this country,
and to furnish receipts for such statements and declarations provided for in
this act to the persons, respectively, making and filing them.
Every person who shall keep, maintain, control, support or
harbor in any house or place for the purpose of prostitution, or for any other
immoral purpose, any alien woman or girl within three years after she shall have
entered the United States from any country, party to the said arrangement for
the suppression of the white-slave traffic, shall file with the Commissioner-
General of Immigration a statement in writing setting forth the name of such
alien woman or girl, the place at which she is kept, and all facts as to the
date of her entry into the United States, the port through which she entered,
her age, nationality, and parentage, and concerning her procuration to come to
this country within the knowledge of such person, and any person who shall fail
within thirty days after such person shall commence to keep, maintain, control,
support, or harbor in any house or place for the purpose of prostitution, or for
any other immoral purpose, any alien woman or girl within three years after she
shall have entered the United States from any of the countries, party to the
said arrangement for the suppression of the white-slave traffic, to file such
statement concerning such alien woman or girl with the Commissioner-General of
Immigration, or who shall knowingly and willfully state falsely or fail to
disclose in such statement any fact within his knowledge or belief with
reference, to the age, nationality, or parentage of any such alien woman or
girl, or concerning her procuration to come to this country, shall be deemed
guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction shall be punished by a fine of not
more than two thousand dollars, or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding two
years, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court.
In any prosecution brought under this section, if it appear
that any such statement required is not on file in the office of the
Commissioner- General of Immigration, the person whose duty it shall be to file
such statement shall be presumed to have failed to file said statement, as
herein required, unless such person or persons shall prove otherwise. No person
shall be excused from furnishing the statement, as required by this section, on
the ground or for the reason that the statement so required by him, or the
information therein contained, might tend to criminate him or subject him to a
penalty or forfeiture, but no person shall be prosecuted or subjected to any
penalty or forfeiture under any law of the United States for or on account of
any transaction, matter, or thing, concerning which he may truthfully report in
such statement, as required by the provisions of this section.
SEC. 7. That the term "Territory," as used in this Act, shall
include the district of Alaska, the insular possessions of the United States,
and the Canal Zone. The word "person," as used in this Act, shall be construed
to import both the plural and the singular, as the case demands, and shall
include corporations, companies, societies, and associations. When construing
and enforcing the provisions of this Act, the act, omission, or failure of any
officer, agent, or other person, acting for or employed by any other person or
by any corporation, company, society, or association, within the scope of his
employment or office, shall in every case be also deemed to be the act,
omission, or failure of such other person, or of such company, society, or
association as well of that of the person himself.
SEC. 8. That this Act shall be known and referred to as the
"White-slave traffic Act."
Approved, Sixty-First Congress, June 25, 1910.
