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The CHAIRMAN. Is the organization of the Bureau now such, Commander Field, that there would not be the neglect of a case like this?

Commander FIELD. I certainly trust so, sir.

Senator VANDENBERG. Commissioner Daly, have you any case in mind, that has come to your attention, that was any more challenging than this one?

Commissioner DALY. Oh, yes; we have had a number of cases sent to the Bureau for investigation.

Commander FIELD. May I read into the record the log? I want to put in all that I have.

The CHAIRMAN. Yes.

Commander FIELD. This is an extract from the log.

The CHAIRMAN. Is that a photostatic copy?

Commander FIELD. No; it is copied onto a blank log sheet. The ink that you see on it was spilled. It reads:

CRISTOBAL, CANAL ZONE,
September 16, 1937-1 a. m.

Departure of this vessel at hour scheduled delayed by action of unlicensed members of deck department, exclusive of quartermaster, cadets, and four ordinary seamen, refusing to let go lines or participate in sailing of vessel until one of their gang, C. Labre, and one fireman, H. Finger, were released by Panama police, who were holding them in jail until fines were paid. Vessel taken from

dock without the aid of crew, with assistance of Panama Canal pilot, tow boat, and fort captain and dock gang. Two stern lines taken aboard by four ordinary seamen, spring line cut adrift, bow hawsers cast off, and towed out into harbor. Eight men placed on board in stream by Panama Canal launches. Crew notified

that unless they turned to, a charge of mutiny would be preferred against them. Drunken brawl among crew on after deck. Crew finally turned to, and vessel proceeded to sea. Notice is hereby made of intention of appealing to U. S. Maritime Commission for investigation of and proper disciplining of principal

leaders.

Another entry reads:

O. A. PIERSON, Master.

Notice is hereby given of intention of appealing to the Maritime Commission for aid in curbing such activities on the part of various crew members and in particular against one able seaman by name of Frank Hennessey and one fireman by name of Stephen Patterson for their vicious and unwarranted verbal attacks upon the chief officer and chief engineer of this vessel.

O. A. PIERSON, Master. Senator VANDENBERG. Commander Field, have you received notice of any more formidable case than that?

Commander FIELD. Oh, I think so; yes, sir.

Senator VANDENBERG. I hope you will present it if you have.

The CHAIRMAN. I have only two or three more here. Suppose we finish with them.

Senator VANDENBERG. Let us finish with mine, if you do not mind, Mr. Chairman.

It seems to me that some correction is necessary, somewhere, if as formidable and as well-authenticated a statement as that can simply go into a pigeonhole. Something is wrong with the mechanics of the situation.

The CHAIRMAN. I think that Commander Field has been very frank about it. If this practice were habitual on the part of the Bureau, it would be a very serious thing; but the commander has said that he had been on the job only 3 weeks and that his desk was piled up.

Have you anything more to say on that matter, Commander?

Senator VANDENBERG. Let us put it this way: If you got that notice today, it would not go into a piegonhole?

Commander FIELD. No, sir; it would not.

Senator VANDENBERG. It would be investigated?

Commander FIELD. Yes.

Senator VANDENBERG. Suppose it were investigated and that you found out that the facts as reported by the officers of the ship were true: What would happen?

Commander FIELD. The extent to which I may go in the performance of my duties extends only to the revocation or suspension of the licenses or certificates of the men concerned. If in the process of one of our investigations a probable cause for criminal action is disclosed, we cite the case, through the Secretary of Commerce, to the Department of Justice, as was done in the case of the Algic.

Senator VANDENBERG. Is it your judgment that that routine and this existing authority are sufficient to deal with these situations? Commander FIELD. I really believe they are, sir.

Senator THOMAS of Utah. How long has this Bureau been functioning?

Commander FIELD. The combined Bureau of Navigation and Marine Inspection has been in operation since 1934; this particular amendment to section 4450 has been in effect since August 1936; that is, the creation of these marine investigation boards. Before that time the local inspectors in the various ports, where local boards existed, were authorized to make investigations themselves on the spot and revoke or suspend the licenses or certificates of the officers or men in the merchant marine. That authority to revoke or suspend has now been centered in the Bureau.

Senator THOMAS of Utah. Did this amendment come into existence as a result of the labor troubles on the Pacific coast?

Commander FIELD. I do not think so; I think it is one of the general developments incident to the Nation-wide interest in the Morro Castle and Mohawk disasters.

The CHAIRMAN. It resulted from the investigations of this committee.

Senator THOMAS of Utah. It had no relation to labor troubles as such?

The CHAIRMAN. No; it did not. I can answer that. Senator VANDENBERG. This trouble, I judge from your own testimony, has greatly increased within the last year, has it not?

Commander FIELD. I would not say within the last year, sir; it has greatly increased in the last 2 years; and I would say, without authority but just from observation and from what I believe, that it is not increasing now.

Senator VANDENBERG. Well, is there any recession, or has it just reached a certain level and stayed there?

Commander FIELD. Well, I can put it this way, sir: In August, September, and October we were receiving a great many more complaints than we are receiving at the present time.

Senator VANDENBERG. Is there any explanation in your mind for that?

Commander FIELD. Either there is a betterment of the conditions, or-I want to be perfectly frank-it might be the mere fact that we have held some investigations and tried some people, the implication

being that their licenses or certificates are hazarded and that they are thus behaving better.

I have no doubt, from what I hear in the industry, that the prosecution of the crew of the Algic has had a very healthful influence. I have been informed by shipowners and their representatives that as soon as we are able-as soon as the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation is able-to find some people guilty and can suspend or revoke their licenses as a result of some of these so-called sit-down strikes, that will have a healthful influence, and the so-called sit-down strikes will be greatly diminished or will stop.

Senator VANDENBERG. We have heard quite a little about some new arbitration contracts written between the shipowners and the C. I. O. unions. Do you know whether or not those have had any effectual influence upon simplying the disciplinary problems?

Commander FIELD. No, sir; I do not know. I have here a copy of the proposed agreement between the National Maritime Union and the steamship companies, proposed by the union and not by the steamship companies, which I received about a month ago from the attorney for the steamship owners. This copy is not dated. I do not know whether you have it in the record or not. It is very interesting in that it shows the extreme demands that those people are making.

Senator VANDENBERG. Would it be your observation that so-called subversive influences are increasing among maritime workers and may be responsible to some degree for this new lack of willingness to be disciplined?

Commander FIELD. I am told by the steamship owners that the communistic inroads into the National Maritime Union are rather strong. I have found that Joe Curran, so-called president of the National Maritime Union, is a fairly reasonable fellow to talk to; but whenever I begin to feel any hope that he will be able to straighten out the situation and to bring his people under control, I get some discouraging statements from shipowners that Joe Curran is a figurehead and has no control; that there is a communistic influence in control; that the union is under the control of smart lawyers.

Senator VANDENBERG. Since you have mentioned Mr. Curran, I think it might be interesting, for the record, to read one paragraph from a statement which he made on December 10, somewhat bearing out your observation, Commander Field. I read:

We tried to point out that with the widespread and unfavorable publicity on the Algic affair and the negotiations now going on with several companies, it would be extremely dangerous to have any further sit-down strikes, which might in any way be avoided. No one can better substantiate the fact that if we don't tone down on these sections, we will be faced with a barrage of anti-union legislation than I, since I have just returned from Washington, D. C., where there are actually seventeen bills pending, which provide for arbitration, regimentation, and complete Government jurisdiction. These sit-down strikes, although in many cases legitimate, are helping the reactionaries and the shipowners to push through this union-smashing legislation.

The CHAIRMAN. I should now like to read a statement from Mr. Curran. This is from page 5, of a magazine entitled "The Triple Punch."

Tomorrow the Government may be one composed of our representatives—men and women elected by the labor unions-then the seamen will come into their rightful inheritance of a just share in America's wealth and the formation of her policies.

But until that day, we must beware. We must always be on guard. Icebergs, storms, shoals, and shipwrecks will obstruct our passage. Labor racketeers are still in our ranks; the Maritime Commission and the Department of Commerce still regard us coldly; the shipowners still have their own tricky plans for our future.

The N. M. U. is now a giant but only a young giant; its bones still soft and pliable. We must guard it and keep it on "a true course.' We must graft it closer to the proposed parent body of all maritime unions-the National Maritime Federation-and we must keep it close to the present mother of progressive unionism-the C. I. O.

Therefore. let every N. M. U. member constitute himself, or herself, a guardian of their union's welfare. Let every member nourish the N. M. U. organizationally and morally and let every member never forget that the N. M. U. is a rank file organization.

I should like to ask you, Commissioner Daly, following up the question asked by Senator Vandenberg, Have you been conscious of any subversive influences in the ranks of merchant sailors?

Commissioner DALY. Will you please repeat that, Senator?

The CHAIRMAN. Have you been conscious of any subversive influences in the ranks of merchant sailors?

Commissioner DALY. Exactly; plenty of them, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. What do you mean by "plenty of them"?

Commissioner DALY. It is my opinion, Senator, that just so long as you have the union halls hiring the men, you will never get away from this condition.

The CHAIRMAN. Let me ask a question about that very thing: Is there anything in the law that permits the use of hiring halls for the employment of sailors?

Commissioner DALY. No, sir. There is something in the law that gives the shipping commissioner the right of hiring men.

The CHAIRMAN. But I am speaking about the private hiring hall. Commissioner DALY. No, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Are the sailors now being enlisted through hiring halls?

Commissioner DALY. It is impossible for a man to get a job unless he belongs to the hall-unless he belongs to the union.

The CHAIRMAN. I hope every member of the committee will get the significance of this question. That is one of the matters of conflict between the unions-the rank and file unions and, let us put it, the steamship owners. I could say more than that: I could say the Government. However, the law prescribes that the shipping commissioner in the port shall supply the crew.

Is that right?

Commissioner DALY. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. But under this new arrangement the N. M. U. is insisting that the crews be enlisted through the hiring hall which is an establishment of the N. M. U.

What did you say would happen so long as that exists?

Commissioner DALY. As long as you have this trouble, you are putting the balance of power into the hands of the union. The companies would not hire a man, no matter how badly they needed him. The question of a man's efficiency does not begin with the company at all; it begins with the thought in the mind of the union that he is a union man.

Senator VANDENBERG. Have the companies contracted away their independence? Are these hiring halls part of the contracts that the companies signed with the unions?

Commissioner DALY. No, sir; they just agreed, as a result of the last strike trouble, that they would take the men through the union hiring halls. There is only one company that made any agreement in New York, and that is the Black Diamond Line.

Commander FIELD. They have got to take the men from the union. The hiring hall does not come into the agreement whatsoever.

Commissioner DALY. Oh, yes. The company officials are not allowed to hire any men on the pier or through the superintendent's office; they must come through the hiring halls. In addition to that, there is the rotary system.

We have three or four thousand men out of work in the port of New York. It is impossible for those men to get a job until their numbers are called. It does not matter what the qualifications of a man is or what his efficiency is; it does not make any difference that a man is honest and that his conduct and ability are good; if he is a union man, he is taken. We have in New York a number of men who have standing in ability and conduct with the companies, about whom the companies know and we know, but it does not make any difference. If he has had long service and is on the beach, the union does not let the man go out; the men at the top of the roll must be taken first.

Commander FIELD. The evil of that is not that the surplus is getting employment but that the man who has been with a company or in a ship for a long time and has developed an efficiency and a loyalty is taken out of the ship and an inexperienced man is put in his place.

Senator VANDENBERG. What do you mean by "taken out of the ship?" How is he taken out of the ship?

Then

Commander FIELD. When the ship comes in, the union says, “You have had a job; you come out and go to the foot of the line." they take this fellow from the top of the line, who has been waiting for a job, and send him out.

Senator VANDENBERG. Do you mean that every time a ship completes a journey, this process is started all over again?

Commander FIELD. I am not familiar with the details of how it is done, but that is what the rotating system amounts to. The man who has had employment comes out and goes to the foot of the list, and the man at the head of the list takes his place.

Senator VANDENBERG. Do you mean to say that it is impossible for a man to have a continuous job for 10 years in a ship?

Commander FIELD. That would be impossible under the system which the union is trying to make effective. It has not been fully successful in all cases. I believe there have been some lines that were

still able to keep their crews.

Commissioner DALY. They are developing that system, but, as the commander has said, they have not got it perfected yet in New York, although they are working on it.

Senator MALONEY. Did you say that there was one line that signed such an agreement with the men?

Commissioner DALY. Yes, the Black Diamond Line.

Senator MALONEY. Where does that line run to?

Commissioner DALY. To Holland.

Senator MALONEY. Just to Holland?

Commissioner DALY. Yes, from New York to Holland.

32437-38-pt. 5—4

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