cial inquiry according to the law of 1903 'consists of three members selected from such of the immigrant officials in the service as the commissioner general of immigration, with the approval of the secretary of commerce and labor, shall designate as qualified to serve on such boards.' "The decision of any two members of a board shall prevail and be final, but either the alien or any dissenting member of said board may appeal through the commissioner of immigration at the port of arrival, and the commissioner general of immigration to the secretary of commerce and labor, whose decision shall then be final, and the taking of such appeal shall operate to stay any action in regard to the final disposal of the alien, whose case is so appealed, until receipt by the commissioner of immigration at the port of arrival, of such decision." To this 'board of special inquiry' are sent the aliens certified by the medical officers as suffering from loathsome or dangerous contagious disease, idiocy, epilepsy and insanity.
In cases so certified the law is mandatory, and the medical certificate is equivalent to exclusion, the board simply applying the legal process necessary for deportation. Aliens certified by the medical officers as suffering from disability, likely to make them public charges, are also held for examination before the board of special inquiry. The board in these cases takes into consideration the medical certificate and such evidence as may be adduced by the alien or his friends which, in the opinion of the board, would offset the physical disability. In these cases the board has full discretionary powers, and in a great majority of instances the alien is admitted. Those certified as defective by the doctors group themselves naturally into four classes, and the following table indicates the disposition of such cases by the boards of special inquiry at New York during a fairly representative month:
Disposition or Immigrants Certified at Ellis Island, N. Y.,
Month of October, 1903.
| Class I. (Dangerous Contagious.) |
Class II. (Insanity and Idiocy.) |
Class III. (Loathsome. |
Class IV. (Likely to be- come a Public Charge.) | |
| Cases pending beginning of month | 10 | 0 | 0 | 30 |
| Cases certified during month | ||||
| Total to be accounted for | ||||
| Cases deported | ||||
| Cases landed | ||||
| Cases pending close of month |
Immigrants not detained for the board of special inquiry have their money changed into United States currency, and buy their railroad tickets, under the supervision of government officers. If they are destined to points beyond New York City, government supervision is maintained until they are taken to one of the great railroad terminals
