 In 1897, the White Act was passed, which abolished "imprisonment of US citizens for desertion in American or nearby waters," and ends corporal punishment

The Ocean Mail Act of 1891 provided for mail-subsidy payments to various classes of steamships and inaugurated a trade-route system which remained basically unchanged up to the present day.Under the Act's directive to "subserve and promote the postal and commercial interest of the United States," the Postmaster General invited bids under which contracts were subsequently awarded on routes which varied in number from four to nine.The Act remained in effect until 1923, and total subsidy in the form of mail payments totaled $29,630,000.