APPENDIX No. 2

CONSOLIDATION OF BUREAU OF LIGHTHOUSES, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR, AND LIFE-SAVING

SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE

TREASURY

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TABLE OF CONTENTS.

1. Introduction.....

2. General description of the two services..

3. Life-Saving Service..

1. History..

2. Relation of service to Revenue-Cutter Service.

3. Organization..

1. General administration...

2. Construction and repair of life-saving stations...

3. Superintendence of construction of lifeboats, apparatus, etc..

4. Superintendence of construction and maintenance of telephone
lines.

5. Inspection and storehouse..

6. Board of life-saving appliances..

7. Districts.

1A. Report of the Joint Committee on the Life-Saving Service and the Bureau of Lighthouses, 1911.....

2A. Statement showing location of life-saving stations in relation to nearest lighthouse.

3A. History, organization, and activities of the Life-Saving Service

4A. History, organization, and activities of the Bureau of Lighthouses

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CONSOLIDATION OF BUREAU OF LIGHTHOUSES, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR, AND LIFE-SAVING SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY.

The PRESIDENT:

DECEMBER 27, 1911.

The Commission on Economy and Efficiency has the honor to submit the following report in reference to the Lighthouse Service, of the Department of Commerce and Labor, and the Life-Saving Service, of the Department of the Treasury.

The commission recommends that legislation be obtained to authorize the transfer of the Life-Saving Service from the Department of the Treasury to the Department of Commerce and Labor and the placing of this service and the Lighthouse Service under one bureau.

The commission is of the opinion that if this transfer and the placing of the two services under the administration of a single bureau is effected it will result in a saving of at least $100,000 the first year and of a much larger sum in subsequent years, after the work of reorganization has been completely effected. The union of the two services under one bureau will not impair in any way the efficiency of either service.

INTRODUCTION.

In exhibits attached to this report the attempt is made to give a full statement of the essential facts regarding the history, organization, activities, laws, and regulations governing, and the appropriation for and expenditures of each of these services. In another exhibit are given copies of the majority and minority reports of a joint committee which, at the request of the commission, made an investigation of these two services and reported to the commission on October 24, 1911. This committee was composed of three members, one selected by the commission and one each by the Secretaries of the two departments--Treasury and Commerce and Labor-in which the two services under investigation are located. The representatives of the commission and of the Department of Commerce and Labor, by whom the majority report recommending that the two services be administered by a single bureau under the Department of Commerce and Labor was signed, were not connected in any way with the services under inquiry. The representative of the Department of the Treasury, by whom the minority report was signed, is the Assistant General Superintendent of the Life-Saving Service. Though the committee profited by the intimate knowledge that this representative had of the Life-Saving Service, his official connection with that service should be borne in mind in taking into consideration his dissent from the finding of the majority report.

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GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE TWO SERVICES.

As the facts regarding each of the services under consideration are given in detail in the exhibits, it is only necessary to refer to certain of their more important features in this place.

LIFE-SAVING SERVICE.

HISTORY.

While the work of saving the lives of those endangered as the result of wrecks of vessels received some attention prior to 1871, and several appropriations were made, such as that of $5,000 in 1847 "for furnishing the lighthouses of the Atlantic coast with means of rendering assistance to shipwrecked mariners," it was not until the year 1871 that provision was made by law (secs. 4242 to 4249 of the Revised Statutes) for the erection and equipment of stations, the furnishing of apparatus for use at wrecks, the appointment of keepers and crews at stations, etc. The expenditure of the money appropriated was intrusted to the Treasury Department, but no provision was made for a distinct service. The necessity for such a service, however, soon became apparent. Congress, accordingly, by act of June 18, 1878, provided for the creation of a separate service in the Treasury Department, to be presided over by a general superintendent. This act constitutes the organic act of the Life-Saving Service, and, with but slight modifications, is in force to-day.

RELATION OF SERVICE TO REVENUE-CUTTER SERVICE.

The system thus established possesses the peculiar feature that, though constituting a distinct service, use is made to a large extent of officers of the Revenue-Cutter Service for the direction or performance of much of its work. This is in virtue of the following provisions of law:

The act of March 3, 1873, provided that—

All life-saving stations hereafter erected shall be erected under the supervision of two captains of the Revenue Service, to be designated by the Secretary of the Treasury and to be under his direction (R. S., 4249).

The law of June 18, 1878, establishing the Life-Saving Service on its present basis, provided that

The Secretary of the Treasury may detail such officer or officers of the Revenue Marine Service as may be necessary to act as inspector and assistant inspectors of stations, who shall perform such duties in connection with the conduct of the service as may be required of them by the General Superintendent. (Act of June 18, 1878; chap. 265, 20 Stat. L., 164.)

Later, provision was made by the legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation act of February 26, 1889, that

Hereafter nothing in section

*

*

*

shall be construed to prevent the Secretary of the Treasury from detailing not exceeding two officers of the Revenue-Marine Service for duty in the office of the Life-Saving Service. (Chap. 279, 25 Stat. L., 719.) These three provisions of law are still in force, and under them officers of the Revenue-Cutter Service are performing the duties above enumerated for the Life-Saving Service. One captain and nine other officers of the Revenue-Cutter Service are filling the positions of inspector and assistant inspectors of life-saving stations, two

captains are filling the positions of superintendents of construction and repair of life-saving stations, and one captain is filling the position of superintendent of construction of lifeboats and apparatus. Though while on this detail they are engaged exclusively upon work for the Life-Saving Service, they are carried on the rolls of, and are paid their salaries from appropriations for, the Revenue-Cutter Service.

This rather anomalous condition of affairs is accounted for by the fact that the creation and development of the service were due largely to the efforts of one man, Sumner I. Kimball, who at the time of the establishment of the service was head of the Revenue-Cutter Service. When the Life-Saving Service was formally established, he became its head and has personally directed its affairs to the present time.

ORGANIZATION.

It will be seen from the outline of organization and description of the service given in the exhibit that for the administration of its affairs the service is organized in what may be called seven major subdivisions:

1. An office of general administration at Washington.

2. A service in the field to have charge of the construction and repair of life-saving stations, consisting of two offices, one at New York, N. Y., and the other at Portland, Oreg.

3. A service for the superintendence of the construction of lifeboats, apparatus, etc., at New York, N. Y.

4. A service for the superintendence of the construction and maintenance of telephone lines, with headquarters at Newark, N. J.

5. A storehouse and a service for the inspection of life-saving stations, at New York, N. Y.

6. A board for the investigation of life-saving appliances, that usually meets once a year at Boston, Mass.

7. A field service proper, consisting of 13 district offices, 270 lifesaving stations, and 8 houses of refuge.

General administration.-The office of general administration embraces the general superintendent, assistant general superintendent, principal or chief clerk, and a personnel of 29 other officers and employees, the total of whose compensation according to the pay roll amounts to $48,120. Among the subdivisions of this office are:

1. A legal division in charge of a "title and contract clerk" with a compensation of $2,000 annually, assisted by a clerk with a compensation of $1,200 annually, in which contracts for the purchase and lease of sites for life-saving stations are prepared and other legal work done.

2. A division of construction and repair of life-saving stations in charge of a civil engineer with a compensation of $1,800 annually, assisted by a topographer and hydrographer with a compensation of $1,800 annually, and a draftsman with a compensation of $1,500 annually, in which is performed the work of surveying the sites for and preparing plans, specifications, and estimates for life-saving stations and other structures the creation of which has been decided upon.

Other sections have to do with bookkeeping and accounts, authorizations for expenditures, files and correspondence, and the compilation of statistics regarding marine disasters.

37542°-H. Doc. 670, 62-2—4