442. (1) If any owner or master of a British ship fails without reasonable cause to cause his ship to be marked as by this part of this act required, or to keep her so marked, or allows the ship to be so loaded as to submerge in salt water the center of the disk indicating the load line: or any person conceals, removes, alters, defaces, or obliterates, or suffers any person under his control to conceal, remove, alter, deface, or obliterate any of the said marks, except in the event of the particulars thereby denoted being lawfully altered, or except for the purpose of escaping capture by an enemy, he shall for each offense be liable to a fine not exceeding 100 pounds.

(2) If any mark required by this part of this act is in any respect inaccurate, so as to be likely to mislead, the owner of the ship shall for each offense be liable to a fine not exceeding 100 pounds.

443. (1) The board of trade shall appoint the committee of Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping, or at the option of the owner of the ship, any other corporation, or association for the survey or registry of shipping approved by the board of trade, or any officer of the board of trade specially selected by the board for that purpose, to approve and certify on their behalf from time to time the position of any disk indicating the load line and any alteration thereof, and may appoint fees to be taken in respect of any such approval of certificate.

(2) The board of trade may make regulations determining the lines or marks to be used in connection with the disk, in order to indicate the maximum load line under different circumstances and at different seasons, and declaring that this part of this act is to have effect as if any such line were drawn through the center of the disk; and as to the mode in which the disk and the lines or marks to be used in connection therewith are to be marked or affixed on the ship, whether by painting, cutting, or otherwise; and as to the mode of application for, and form of, certificate under this section: and requiring the entry of those certificates and other particulars as to the draft of water and freeboard of the ship, in the official log book of the ship, or other publication thereof on board the ship, and requiring the delivery of copies of those entries.

(3) All such regulations shall, while in force, have effect as if enacted in this act, and if any person fails without reasonable cause to comply with any such regulation made with respect to the entry, publication or delivery of copies of certificates or other particulars as to the draft of water and freeboard of a ship, he shall for each offense be liable to a fine not exceeding 100 pounds.

(4) Where in pursuance of the regulations any such certificate is required to be delivered, a statement in writing as to the disk and deck lines of a ship need not be inserted in the form of entry or transmitted or delivered to a chief officer of customs under the provisions hereinbefore contained.

444. Where the legislature of any British possession by any enactment provides for the fixing, marking, and certifying of load lines on ships registered in that possession, and it appears to Her Majesty the Queen that that enactment is based on the same principles as the provisions of this part of this act relating to load lines, and is equally effective for ascertaining and determining the maximum load lines to which those ships can be safely loaded in salt water, and for giving notice of the load line to persons interested, Her Majesty in council may declare that any load line fixed and marked and any certificate given in pursuance of that enactment shall, with respect to ships so registered, have the same effect as if it had been fixed, marked, or given in pursuance of this part of this act.

445. (1) Where the board of trade certify that the laws and regulations for the time being in force in any foreign country and relating to overloading and improper loading are equally effective with the provisions of this act relating thereto, Her Majesty in council may direct that on proof of a ship of that country having complied with those laws and regulations, she shall not, when in a port of the United Kingdom, be liable to detention for noncompliance with the said provisions of this act, nor shall there arise any liability to any fine or penalty which would otherwise arise for noncompliance with those provisions.

445. (2) Provided, That this section shall not apply in the case of ships of any foreign country in which it appears to Her Majesty that corresponding provisions are not extended to British ships.

O

66th CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 1st Session.

EXTENSION OF TIME FOR CONSTRUCTION OF BRIDGE ACROSS PEARL RIVER.

OCTOBER 14, 1919.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed.

Mr. SANDERS of Louisiana, from the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 9697.]

The Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, to whom was referred the bill H. R. 9697, having considered the same, report thereon with a recommendation that it pass.

The bill has the approval of the War Department, as will appear by the letter attached and which is made a part of this report.

WAR DEPARTMENT, October 8, 1919.

Respectfully returned to the chairman Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, House of Representatives.

So far as the interests committed to this department are concerned, I know of no objection to the favorable consideration by Congress of the accompanying bill, H. R. 9697, present session, to extend the time for the construction of a bridge across Pearl River, between Pearl River County, Miss., and Washington Parish, La.

NEWTON D. BAKER, Secretary of War.

OCTOBER 14, 1919.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed.

Mr. SANDERS of Louisiana, from the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany S. 3096.]

The Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, to whom was referred the bill S. 3096, having considered the same, report thereon with a recommendation that it pass.

The bill has the approval of the War Department, as will appear by the letter attached and which is made a part of this report.

WAR DEPARTMENT, October 2, 1919.

Respectfully returned to the chairman Committee on Commerce, United States

Senate.

So far as the interests committed to this department are concerned, I know of no objection to the favorable consideration by Congress of the accompanying bill, S. 3096, present session, to authorize the construction of a bridge across Red River at or near Moncla, La.

BENEDICT CROWELL,
Acting Secretary of War.

CONGRESS

EXTENSION OF PASSPORT CONTROL.

OCTOBER 14, 1919.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed.

Mr. ROGERS, from the Committee on Foreign Affairs, submitted the

following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 9782.]

The Committee on Foreign Affairs, to which was referred the bill (H. R. 9782) to regulate further the entry of aliens into the United States, having had the same under consideration, reports it back to the House with certain amendments with the recommendation that the amendments be agreed to and that the bill as amended do pass. The amendments are as follows:

Page 3, line 7, strike out "$10,000" and insert "$5,000."
Page 3, line 8, strike out "twenty" and insert "five."

Your committee, in considering legislation of this character, has had the benefit of the testimony of the Secretary of State, of Hon. Wilbur J. Carr, Director of the Consular Service, and of R. W. Flournoy, jr., Chief of the Division of Passport Control of the State Department. Hon. Albert Johnson, of Washington, the author of House joint resolution 205, for which the present bill is in the nature of a substitute, also appeared before the committee in behalf of legislation of this character.

The act of Congress entitled "An act to prevent in time of war departure from and entry into the United States contrary to the public safety," approved May 22, 1918, established a strict system of passport control for all travelers to and from the United States, whether American citizens or not. By its terms, this act ceases to be operative with the termination of the present war. The recommendation of the Secretary of State is to the effect that so far as persons entering the United States, whether American citizens or aliens, are concerned, the act should, for the national welfare, be extended for a period of one year beyond the termination of the war. Your committee, after careful consideration, has decided that, in spite of certain administrative difficulties, it is wiser not to extend

the act in so far as the controlling of American citizens is concerned. On the other hand, your committee has been fully convinced that urgent considerations of public welfare make desirable the extension of the act so far as incoming aliens are concerned for the period of at least one year.

It will be noted that the existing act is applicable to four classes of persons: (1) Outgoing Americans, (2) outgoing aliens, (3) incoming Americans, and (4) incoming aliens.

The recommendation of the State Department, as previously stated, was that control over the first two classes should cease with the promulgation of the treaty of peace. Your committee agrees with this conclusion, but goes further and recommends that the third class-incoming Americans-be also freed from restraint or control when the present war technically comes to an end.

The Secretary of State testified that for some time-probably for some years the other great Governments of the world would doubtless continue in effect the very rigid passport requirements which have prevailed since 1914. This being true, it is quite probable that American travelers abroad will, as a matter of common precaution, and as a practical matter, need passports after the present law lapses; but your committee, while fully recognizing this fact, felt that so far as our own legislation was concerned, the control of the movements of American citizens desiring to travel abroad should again become unhampered and unembarrassed at the earliest possible moment.

The bill recommended by your eommittee follows almost verbatim the language of the present act. The only changes of consequence are the following:

(1) Whereas the present act imposes a penalty for violation of not more than $10,000 fine, or not more than 20 years' imprisonment, your committee recommends a maximum of $5,000 fine and 5 years' imprisonment. This recommendation is upon the theory that the very drastic penalties provided in the present act were made to meet war conditions and war emergencies, and that as the proposed bill becomes operative only with the arrival of peace, the original penalties may safely and properly be greatly reduced.

(2) Section 2 of the original act, which dealt with the movements of American citizens, is altogether eliminated for reasons above indicated.

(3) Section 4 of the proposed bill appropriates the sum of $600,000 to meet the necessary expenses of carrying out the provisions of the bill for the remainder of the present fiscal year.

(4) Section 5 of the bill provides that it shall take effect when the provisions of the present act cease to be operative and shall continue in force and effect for one year thereafter.

The first section of the bill provides that it may cease to become operative within the year, if so ordered either by the President or by Congress.

The reasons for continuing passport control in the case of incoming aliens for at least one year seem to your committee to be numerous and compelling. As stated by Secretary Lansing, it is recommended by the Department of State "because of the great unrest and disorder throughout Europe at the present time, and the fact that many persons are seeking admission to the United States, of whom a large number seem to be unsuitable for future citizenship or else are engaged in very radical propaganda against our institutions."