CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. NO LOANING OF ARMY RIFLES TO POSTS OF THE AMERICAN LEGION. OCTOBER 13, 1919.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed. Mr. MILLER, from the Committee on Military Affairs, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany H. R. 9112.] The Committee on Military Affairs, to which was referred the bill (H. R. 9112) authorizing the Secretary of War to loan Army rifles to posts of the American Legion, having had the same under consideration, reports back to the House with certain amendments with the recommendation that the amendments be agreed to and that as amended the bill do pass. The bill as amended is as follows: A BILL Authorizing the Secretary of War to loan Army rifles to posts of the American Legion. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of War is hereby authorized, under rules, limitations, and regulations to be prescribed by him, to loan Army rifles to posts of the American Legion for use by them in connection with the funeral ceremonies of deceased soldiers, sailors, and marines, and for other post ceremonials, purposes, and uses; and to sell to such posts blank ammunition in suitable amounts for said rifles at cost price plus cost of packing and transportation. The bill was referred to the War Department for its opinion as to the practicability and feasibility of the legislation. The committee received the following communication from the Secretary of War relating thereto: To the CHAIRMAN, Committee on Military Affairs, House of Representatives. SEPTEMBER 20, 1919. SIR: In reply to your recent memorandum in which H. R. 9112, a bill authorizing the Secretary of War to loan Army rifles to the posts of American Legion, is referred to me for information and remarks, I beg to inform you that there is no objection on the part of the War Department to the enactment of the proposed legislation, provided that the words "obsolete or condemned" be inserted before the words "Army rifles." Rifles of this character would be just as suitable as those of a modern type and would not subject the Government to the loss of large numbers of serviceable rifles due to lack of proper care, which would be inevitable. It is also suggested that a clause be inserted in the bill authorizing the sale at cost price plus cost of packing and transportation to posts of the American Legion of suitable amounts of blank ammunition to be used for firing salutes in connection with the funeral ceremonies of deceased soldiers, sailors, and marines. Respectfully, NEWTON D. BAKER, Secretary of War. The committee is of the opinion that it is unnecessary for the legislation to bear upon the face the provision that the rifles to be so loaned are to be "obsolete or condemned," but that all and any such restrictions as to kind or character of rifles can well be exercised by the Secretary of War, when he is authorized to make the loans under such rules, limitations, and regulations as shall be prescribed by him. Accordingly, the word "limitations" is inserted. The committee is further of the opinion that it is proper that such rifles be used not only in connection with funeral ceremonies, but their use be extended to general post ceremonials and purposes according to custom. Accordingly, the bill is amended by adding "and for other post ceremonials, purposes, and uses." The committee adopts the suggestion of the Secretary of War that he be authorized to sell to the posts suitable blank ammunition for the uses prescribed at cost price plus expenses of packing and transportation. The committee amendments to the bill, therefore, are as follows: After the word "rules," in line 3, insert the word "limitations"; after the word "marines," in line 7, strike out the comma and add the following: "and for other post ceremonials, purposes, and uses; and to sell to such posts blank ammunition in suitable amounts for said rifles at cost price plus cost of packing and transportation." O CONGRESS, ESTABLISHMENT OF LOAD LINES FOR CERTAIN VESSELS. OCTOBER 14, 1919.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed. Mr. ALEXANDER, from the Committee on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany H. R. 3621.] The Committee on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 3621) to establish load lines for certain vessels, having considered the same, report it to the House with the recommendation that it do pass. Section 1 of the bill applies to the following vessels: (a) Cargo-carrying vessels of the United States and vessels under foreign flags of 500 gross tons or over loading at any port or place within the United States or its possessions for a foreign voyage. (b) Cargo-carrying vessels of the United States of 500 gross tons or over loading at any foreign port or place for a voyage by sea. (c) Other vessels of less than 500 gross tons loading at any port or place in the United States or its possessions whenever, in the judgment of the Secretary of Commerce, the safety of such vessels and their crews requires the establishment of a legal load line. As to vessels defined in paragraphs (a) and (b), the Secretary is authorized and directed, and in respect to vessels defined in paragraph (c) the Secretary of Commerce is authorized, to establish by regulations from time to time the load water lines and marks thereof indicating the maximum depth to which vessels may safely be loaded. Such regulations shall have the force of law. It will be noted that paragraphs (a) and (b) apply alike to vessels of the United States and foreign vessels of 500 tons gross or over loading at American ports for foreign ports and are mandatory, while paragraph (c) applies to vessels of the United States of less than 500 tons gross engaged in the coastwise trade and to vessels of the United States and foreign vessels of less than 500 tons gross engaged in the foreign trade and is directory. It will take time to get this system into actual operation, hence the Secretary of Commerce is authorized and directed in the first HR-66-1-vol 2—25 instance to apply the law and the regulations established thereunder to vessels in the foreign trade and later to vessels in the coastwise trade. Section 5 of the bill provides that when the Secretary of Commerce shall certify that the rules and regulations in force in any foreign country relating to load lines are equally effective with the regulations established under this act, and on proof that a vessel of that country has complied with such foreign laws and regulations, such vessel and her master and owner shall be exempt from compliance with the provisions of this act, provided such foreign country similarly recognizes the load lines established under this act and the regulations made thereunder as regards vessels to which this act applies. The other provisions of the bill relate for the most part to the administrative features of the act, including appropriate penalties for failure to obey the law and the rules and regulations established thereunder. The primary purpose to be accomplished by the bill is twofoldfirst, to protect the crew on cargo vessels; and second, to prevent unfair competition on the part of unscrupulous vessel owners with the vessel owner who is unwilling to overload his vessel and jeopardize the safety of his crew to swell the earnings of his vessel. The unscrupulous vessel owner has an advantage over the scrupulous observer of the principles of safety. All vessels are surveyed and classified as to seaworthiness in a classification society of unquestioned standing for integrity and skill like the American Bureau of Shipping, Lloyd's Register of London, and the Bureau Veritas of France. This classification is made the basis for insurance against marine risks. A law requiring the load line on cargo vessels to be marked and indicating the depth beyond which a vessel may not be loaded with safety to cargo and crew is an added protection to marine underwriters in taking risks on vessel property and affects the rate of premium charged. It is quite common to write or renew policies on a vessel when she is at some place remote from her home port and it is important for the insurers to know that the vessel will not be overloaded and the marine risk increased by an unscrupulous master or vessel owner without incurring the penalty imposed by the load-line law, coupled with possible loss of his insurance. The hearings on the bill were very full and developed the fact that Great Britain, France, and the Scandinavian countries have laws similar to this proposed law. Mr. E. T. Chamberlain, Commissioner of Navigation of the Department of Commerce; Mr. John A. Donald, commissioner, United States Shipping Board, who has had large and varied experience in the shipping business; Stephenson Taylor, commander in the United States Naval Reserve Corps, and president of the American Bureau of Shipping; Capt. Charles McAllister, vice president of the American Bureau of Shipping; and Mr. Hendon Chubb, of New York, representing the American Institute of Marine Underwriters (during the war Mr. Chubb was director of insurance of the United States Shipping Board)all these gentlemen appeared before the committee and urged early and favorable report on the bill with a view to its becoming a law at an early day. In view of the fact that when the building program of the United States Emergency Fleet Corporation is completed we will have a merchant fleet engaged in overseas trade of not less than 14,000,000 tons deadweight, the occasion for this legislation should be apparent This bill (H. R. 3621) is identical in its provisions with the bill S. 575, reported to the Senate October 6, 1919, and therefore has the approval of Hon. William C. Redfield, Secretary of Commerce, as will be noted by the following letter addressed to Senator Duncan U. Fletcher and referring to S. 575: DEPARTMENT Of Commerce, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, DEAR SENATOR FLETCHER: I have received your letter of the 26th instant, inclosing copy of S. 575, a bill to establish load lines for certain vessels, with request that I furnish your committee with such suggestions as I may deem proper touching the merits of the bill and the propriety of its passage. I have to recommend the passage of this bill for the following reasons: The purpose of the bill is to establish load-line regulations in the simplest and most practical form, which may be applied promptly without interfering with the prompt dispatch of ships. Before the war preliminary arrangements had been made for an international maritime conference to consider uniform national regulation of load lines and other matters relating to cargo ships in the same manner as questions relating to passenger ships had been considered by the London international conference of 1913-14 on safety of life at sea. The conference was necessarily delayed. At that time the United States had very few seagoing cargo ships, but for the past two years our shipyards have built cargo ships almost exclusively, and for the past 80 days we have been completing such ships faster than they were being built by the whole world before the war. The bill, except in special cases, is limited in application to seagoing vessels of 500 gross tons or over, because the need of regulation is greater in the case of larger ships and because the administrative machinery will operate more successfully and promptly if not embarrassed by special problems raised by small ships of varying types and trades. On May 1 there were 1,513 American documented seagoing steam and gasoline vessels of 1,000 gross tons or over, aggregating 5,880,750 gross tons, and 320 sail vessels of that size aggregating 520,501 gross tons; in all, 1,833 seagoing vessels of 6,401,251 gross tons, and the output is now increasing at the rate of nearly 300,000 gross tons a month. Nearly all of these ships, including many formerly engaged in domestic trade, are now engaged in the foreign trade, and the application of the bill is limited to the foreign trade on salt water. Fresh-water load-line regulations for obvious reasons must differ from salt-water regulations, and the department deems it wise at this time to undertake the preparation of salt-water rules only. The administrative machinery proposed by the third section is similar to that which has been in successful operation in the United Kingdom for some years. The American Bureau of Shipping occupies, in respect of American ships, a position analogous to that of Lloyd's Register to British ships, the Bureau Veritas to French ships, and other classification societies toward the ships of other civilized maritime powers, respectively. The bill will enable the epartment of Commerce to make use of the American Bureau of Shipping and will incidentally aid in establishing the American classification society. At the same time it enables the department to avail itself of the survey officers of Lloyd's registry, who have cordially cooperated with the department during the war in the solution of load-line difficulties, and of the survey officers of the Bureau Veritas, the French organization, who have at all times been willing to cooperate. The aim of the fifth section is to bring about temporary substantial accord in loadline regulations among civilized maritime powers until by international conference and agreement later they may establish such similarity, which is necessary, of course, to competition on terms of equality in this important matter. Respectfully, Hon. DUNCAN U. FLETCHER, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. WILLIAM C. REDFIELD, Secretary. |