LOAD LINES, AND REORGANIZATION OF DEPARTMENT

OF COMMERCE

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

COMMITTEE ON THE MERCHANT MARINE AND FISHERIES,

Thursday, February 18, 1926.

The committee met at 10.30 o'clock a. m., Hon. Frank D. Scott (chairman), presiding.

The CHAIRMAN. We will now take up the bill (H. R. 7245) providing for the consolidation of the functions of the Department of Commerce relating to navigation, to establish load lines for American vessels, and for other purposes.

The bill referred to is as follows:

[H. R. 7245, Sixty-ninth Congress, first session.]

A BILL Providing for the consolidation of the functions of the Department of Commerce relating to navigation, to establish load lines for American vessels, and for other purposes

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That hereafter there shall be in the Department of Commerce two additional Assistant Secretaries of Commerce, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Each Assistant Secretary shall perform such duties as may be prescribed by the Secretary of Commerce or required by law.

SEC. 2. The officers and employees of the Department of the Treasury, both in Washington and in the field, engaged in performing any duty or service relating to the movement, manning, measuring, and documenting of vessels, or any other duty. or service imposed by law on or administered under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Commerce, shall be transferred, without change in classification or compensation, from the Department of the Treasury to the Department of Commerce as the Secretary of Commerce may from time to time request. If any question shall arise as to whether or not any power, duty, authority, officer, or employee falls within the provisions of this section, it shall be determined by the President, whose orders shall be final.

SEC. 3. Until other quarters are provided for them, the officers and employees who are by this act transferred to or included in the Department of Commerce, may continue to occupy any buildings and premises they are now using. The official records and papers on file under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Treasury, pertaining to the business, offices, and personnel which are by this act transferred to or included in the Department of Commerce, together with furniture, equipment, instruments, and all other property of every character in use by them, are hereby transferred to the Department of Commerce.

SEC. 4. All authority, powers, and duties held, exercised, or performed by the Secretary of the Treasury over or through any office, officer, or personnel of the public service which are by this act transferred to or included in the Department of Commerce, or in and over any business arising therefrom, or pertaining thereto, or in relation to the duties performed by and authority conferred by law upon the Secretary of the Treasury respecting such office, officer, personnel, division, or branch of the public service, whether of original, appellate, or revisory character, or otherwise, shall hereafter be vested in and exercised and performed by the Secretary of Commerce.

SEC. 5. All the unexpended appropriations or allotments therefrom available for the maintenance and expense of operation of all services and persons transferred under this act to the Department of Commerce are, from the time

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of such transfers, deducted from the appropriations for the Department of the Treasury and transferred to the appropriations for the Department of Commerce and shall be treated as if the Department of Commerce had been directly named in the laws making said appropriations and shall be available for expenditure during the current fiscal year under the general direction of the Secretary of Commerce.

SEC. 6. The duties, powers, and authority of the Supervising Inspector General of Steam Vessels, the administration of Title 52 of the Revised Statutes and of all laws amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto, and the making of rules and regulations thereunder, and under the laws governing the rules of the road on the coasts, the Great Lakes, and the rivers of the United States are hereby transferred to and made a part of the Bureau of Navigation, Department of Commerce, and all duties, powers, and authority of the Supervising Inspector General of Steam Vessels and the administration of all laws enjoined upon him shall be held, performed by, and enjoined upon the Commissioner of Navigation under the direction of the Secretary of Commerce. The office of Supervising Inspector General of Steam Vessels is hereby abolished.

SEC. 7. Subject to the approval of the President, the Secretary of Commerce is hereby given power and authority to make in the Department of Commerce such changes in the organization or designation of the bureaus, divisions, offices, and other branches of the public service, including all those transferred to the Department of Commerce under the provisions of this act, as he may deem essential to economical and effective administration; to reorganize or consolidate any of them; to set up, under appropriate designations, such divisions, offices, departments, branches, and districts as he may see fit; and to make such transfers and reassignments of officers and employees within the department, and such changes in the titles of offices and positions, and transfer of the authority and duties conferred and imposed by law upon them to others, as he may deem necessary and proper in connection with the authority conferred upon him under this act. All appropriations available for expenditure in or under any branch of the Department of Commerce, which, under this act, is wholly or in part changed, reorganized, set up or consolidated with another branch of the department, shall, upon certification by the Secretary of Commerce to the Comptroller General of the United States, become available wholly or in part for expenditure to effectuate the purposes of such change, reorganization, set up, or consolidation: Provided, That the Secretary of Commerce shall specially report to Congress at the beginning of each regular session any action taken under the provisions of this section and the reasons therefor.

SEC. 8. Load lines are hereby established for the following vessels:

SUBSEC. 1. (a) Cargo-carrying vessels of five hundred gross tons or over loading at any port or place within the United States or its possessions for a foreign voyage by sea.

(b) Cargo-carrying vessels of the United States of five hundred gross tons or over loading at any foreign port or place for a voyage by sea.

SUBSEC. 2. The Secretary of Commerce is hereby authorized and directed in respect of the vessels defined in subsection 1 (a) and (b) of this section to establish by regulations from time to time in general accordance with the practice of the principal maritime nations the load water lines and marks thereof indicating the maximum depth to which such vessels may safely be loaded. Such regulations shall have the force of law.

SUBSEC. 3. It shall be the duty of the owner and of the master of every vessel subject to this section and to the regulations established thereunder to cause the load line or lines so established to be permanently and conspicuously marked upon the vessel in such manner as the Secretary of Commerce shall direct, and to keep the same so marked. The Secretary of Commerce shall appoint the American Bureau of Shipping, or such other American corporation or association for the survey or registry of shipping as may be selected by him, to determine whether the position and manner of marking on such vessels the load line or lines so established are in accordance with the provisions of this act and of the regulations established thereunder: Provided, however, That, at the request of the shipowner, the Secretary of Commerce shall appoint, for the purpose aforesaid, any other corporation or association for the survey or registry of shipping which the shipowner may select and the Secretary of Commerce approve; or the Secretary of Commerce may appoint for said purpose any officer of the Government, who shall perform such services as

may be directed by the Secretary of Commerce. The Secretary of Commerce may, in his discretion, revoke any appointment made pursuant to this section. Such corporation, association, or officer shall, upon approving the position and manner of marking of such load line or lines, issue a certificate, in a form to be prescribed by the Secretary of Commerce, that the same are in accordance with the provisions of this act and of the regulations established thereunder, and shall deliver a copy thereof to the master of the vessel. It shall be unlawful for any vessel subject to this section and to said regulations to depart from her loading port or place without bearing such mark or marks, approved and certified by such corporation, association, or officer, and without having on board a copy of said certificate.

SUBSEC. 4. It shall be unlawful for any vessel subject to this section and to the regulations established thereunder to be so loaded as to submerge, in salt water, the load line or lines marked pursuant to this act and to the regulations established thereunder applicable to her voyage; or so as to submerge under like conditions the point where such load line or lines ought to be marked pursuant to the provisions of this act and of the regulations established thereunder; or so as in any manner to violate the said regulations.

SUBSEC. 5. Whenever the Secretary of Commerce shall certify that the laws and regulations in force in any foreign country relating to load lines are equally effective with the regulations established under this act, the Secretary of Commerce may direct, on proof that a vessel of that country has complied with such foreign laws and regulations, that such vessel and her master and owner shall be exempted from compliance with the provisions of this section, except as hereinafter provided: Provided, That this subsection shall not apply to the vessels of any foreign country which does not similarly recognize the load lines established under this act and the regulations made thereunder. SUBSEC. 6. It shall be the duty of the master of every vessel subject to this section and to the regulations established thereunder and of every foreign vessel exempted pursuant to subsection 5 of this section, before departing from her loading port or place for a voyage by sea, to enter in the official log book of such vessel a statement of the position of the load-line mark applicable to the voyage in question with reference to the actual water line at the time of departing from port as nearly as the same can be ascertained.

SUBSEC. 7. If any collector of customs has reason to believe, on complaint or otherwise, that a vessel subject to this section and to the regulations established thereunder is about to proceed to sea from a port in the United States or its possessions within his district when loaded in violation of subsection 4 of this section or that any vessel exempted pursuant to subsection 5 of this section is about to proceed to sea from such port when loaded in violation of the laws and regulations of her country with respect to load line, he may by written order served on the master or officer in charge of such vessel detain her provisionally for the purpose of being surveyed. The collector shall then serve on the master a written statement of the grounds of her detention and shall appoint three disinterested surveyors to examine the vessel and her loading and to report to him, whereupon the said collector may release or may by written order served on the master or officer in charge of such vessel detain the vessel until she has been reloaded in whole or in part so as to conform to subsection 4 of this section; or, in case of a vessel exempted pursuant to subsection 5 of this section, so as to conform to the laws and regulations of her own country with respect to load line. If the vessel be ordered detained, the master may, within five days, appeal to the Secretary of Commerce, who may, if he desires, order a further survey, and may affirm, set aside, or modify the order of the collector. Clearance shall be refused to any vessel which shall have been ordered detained.

SUBSEC. 8. (a) If the owner or master of any vessel subject to this section and to the regulations established thereunder shall permit her to depart from her loading port or place without having complied with the provisions of subsection 3 of this section he shall for each offense be liable to the United States in a penalty of $500. If the owner or master of any vessel exempted pursuant to subsection 5 of this section shall permit her to depart from her loading port or place without having the load line or lines required by the laws and regulations of the country to which she belongs marked upon her as required by said laws and regulations he shall for each offense be liable to