The President last May, at the suggestion of this Department, designated a commission to examine the laws of the United States for the better security of the lives of passengers and crews on board of vessels of the United States, with a view to their revision, and to recommend such changes as in their judgment the public interests seem to require. The commission, consisting of the Chairman of the Light-House Board, the Solicitor of the Department of Commerce and Labor, the Commissioner of Navigation, the Supervising Inspector-General of the Steamboat-Inspection Service, and an engineer officer of the United States Navy, is serving without expense to the Government. It has held frequent meetings at Washington and heard expert evidence on the various questions before it. The commission will report to the President, and I trust that its report may result in remedial legislation.

The navigation of the United States differs from that of England, Germany, France, and other maritime nations in that the amount of oversea passenger business under the American flag is very small. The vast majority of passengers on the water in the United States are carried on ferryboats and excursion boats, running relatively short distances on smooth water, and comparison of casualties under the American and under foreign flags is difficult and inconclusive. The nature of our waters has led to a remarkable growth in the use of motor boats during recent years, and the increasing number of casualties on these boats calls for further regulation of their use. Extension in other directions of the system of Federal inspection of vessels of the United States, in my judgment, is desirable.

Even for the enforcement of existing laws the facilities at the disposal of the Department are inadequate. The violations of these laws occur usually, of course, on the water, and unless collectors of customs and other officers charged with the enforcement of the laws have facilities for being on the water at times they are handicapped in the performance of their duties. Theoretically, the vessels of the Revenue-Cutter Service are available for the detection of such violations, and to an extent they are efficient agencies. In most cases, however, small launches or motor boats would serve the particular purposes referred to better and more economically.

62936-08-5

STEAMBOAT-INSPECTION SERVICE.

In general the work of the Service has been earnestly and effectively devoted to its primary purpose of making safe the lives of passengers on our waterways. Many improvements, both in law and in administration, still remain to be made; but when the relatively small loss of life reported below for water traffic is compared with the tremendous annual loss of life in railway traffic, we get a more just view of the value of the work of the Service in safeguarding the lives of those who travel by water.

In considering the appalling loss of life by railway accident in the past calendar year, and in looking for possible methods of prevention, one is indeed forced to feel that a great advance ought to result therein by the extension of the work of the Service to an inspection of locomotive boilers and equipment, a work for which the Service is well adapted. It is believed that such an extension of its work would immediately justify itself by a reduction in the number of locomotive boiler accidents. It would probably also demonstrate the need and value of a still broader and more general inspection of interstate railway equipment and right of way with a view to the prevention of loss of life. It is obvious that some action must soon be taken toward this end if the United States is not to retain and increase its present unenviable preeminence in railway accidents and resulting loss of life.

Such work by the Government has been successfully performed as to water traffic. The same machinery, with slight modifications, is easily adaptable to a similar work for interstate land traffic, and there is no good reason why the traveler by land should not have as much and as effective protection thrown about his life and limbs as is now enjoyed by the traveler by water.

The total expenses of the Service for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1908, were $522,181.97. Its personnel at the close of the fiscal year consisted of 243 officers and clerks, and 1 messenger; additional assistant inspectors and clerks, made necessary by the large increase in the volume of work of the Service, were appointed during the

year.

The number of vessels certificated was 8,190, showing a decrease in number of 72 but an increased tonnage of 692,124 as compared with the previous fiscal year. Of the vessels certificated 7,403 were domestic steamers, with a tonnage of 4,392,373, a decrease of 133 steamers but an increase in tonnage of 198,664; 291 were motor vessels, with a tonnage of 15,814, a slight increase in both number and tonnage; 44 were sail vessels and barges, with a total tonnage of 20,506,

a slight increase also in both number and tonnage, and 452 were foreign passenger steamers, with a tonnage of 2,916,272, an increase of 33 steamers and 492,968 tons. These figures bear out the well-known present tendency toward construction of larger vessels, especially on the ocean and the Great Lakes. The increase in tonnage inspected indicates at least a part of the increased work of the Service and its growing importance.

There were 26,056 officers of all grades licensed during the fiscal year, and 843 applicants were examined for color-blindness, of whom 52 were rejected.

There were inspected at the various mills 3,691 steel plates for the construction and repair of marine boilers (a decrease from the previous year of 2,133), of which 567 were rejected. In addition to these plates, there were inspected at the mills a large number of steel bars for braces and stay bolts in marine boilers, and also several hundred plates for stock and repair purposes. Many requests were received from other branches of the Government, particularly from the Isthmian Canal Commission, for tests of material. All requests were immediately answered, the material was inspected as soon as the mills were ready for the inspection, and the reports were promptly sent to the persons making the requests.

There were examined and tested at the various manufactories during the year 181,654 life-preservers, of which 2,146 were rejected.

The total number of accidents of all kinds resulting in loss of life during the fiscal year upon vessels subject to the steamboat-inspection laws was 64, an increase of 9 over the previous year. The total number of lives lost was 385, a decrease of 120 from the fatalities of the previous year. Of the total number of lives lost, 165 were from causes for which the victims were entirely responsible and which were beyond the power of the Service to avert, such as suicide, leaving 220 lives lost that can be fairly charged to accident, collision, or foundering.

During the calendar year ended December 31, 1907, there were 372,347,279 passengers carried on vessels which by law are required to report the number of passengers carried, or a ratio of 967,135 passengers carried for each life lost, whether of passengers or crew, and from all causes.

A special committee of the Department has been engaged in considering the entire body of statutes relating to the Service, with a view to pointing out needed improvement and correction therein. This committee has not yet reported its findings.

LIGHT-HOUSE BOARD.

During the fiscal year the Light-House Establishment was considerably enlarged by the addition of tenders, light-vessels, and other aids to navigation, which became necessary on account of improvements to harbors and increase in commerce. There were newly established during the year 33 lights, 10 fog signals, 18 submarine signals, and 199 buoys, besides 133 daymarks and 150 post lanterns.

Nine first-class light-vessels and 8 first-class seagoing tenders were constructed and delivered. Of these, 3 tenders and 3 lightvessels are destined for duty on the Pacific coast and started on their journey by way of the Straits of Magellan September 21. The tender built for service on Lake Superior sailed from Tompkinsville, N. Y., for her station August 15, 1908.

The installation of the incandescent oil-vapor system of lighting is being carried out as rapidly as is consistent with efficiency and economy. The use of this vapor, instead of the oil itself, increases enormously the intensity of the light, which is of course the first consideration. It has also proved economical, except in the smaller lights; but it is in the smaller lights that the increase in intensity is greatest. By vaporizing the oil the following are, approximately, the results attained: A first-order fixed light has become four times as brilliant on one-quarter of the amount of oil consumed; a first-order flash light, seven times as brilliant on one-quarter of the amount of oil consumed; a second-order light, seven times as brilliant on 88 per cent of the amount of oil, and a third-order light has increased to twelve times its former brilliancy, but the amount of oil consumed is doubled. The use of acetylene as an illuminant is receiving the careful consideration of the Board's officers, whose investigations will be treated at length in the Annual Report of the Board.

The installation of submarine fog signals has been continued, and now all principal offshore light-vessels have been equipped with them. This signal has proved to be an efficient aid to deep-water navigation during foggy weather. To have some prominent headlands equipped with this apparatus, the bell to be some distance offshore and struck by electricity, is under consideration.

A special committee appointed by the Light-House Board made a careful investigation of the rates of salaries paid to the various employees of the Establishment with a view to adjusting many existing irregularities and inconsistencies. The report of this committee was approved by the Light-House Board and the Department, and the recommendations made therein are now being carried into effect. The report recommends a slight increase of salaries throughout, and

an adjustment thereof so that employees who do similar work will receive the same compensation. This, together with the law that was passed at the last session of Congress authorizing one ration per day to each light-house keeper, or commutation thereof at the rate of 30 cents per day, will place the service on a much more satisfactory basis than it has been heretofore.

There are at present on the rolls of the Light-House Establishment 1,631 keepers, assistant keepers, and laborers in charge of lights. The number authorized by statute is 1,650. One hundred and twentyfive lights are to be established during the present fiscal year, requiring the services of 87 keepers. In view of these facts, it is recommended that the authorized number of keepers, assistant keepers, and laborers be increased at once to 1,725, and after July 1, 1909, to 1,750.

Legislation is recommended authorizing the Board to pay the surgical and hospital expenses of seamen employed on board vessels of the Light-House Establishment and injured in the performance of duty. They are now entitled to treatment at the nearest marine hospital, but such a hospital may be many miles from the scene of the accident, while private medical assistance might be obtained in the immediate vicinity. In such cases the United States, and not the seaman, should bear the expense of treatment, but there is at present no law authorizing it.

The necessity for legislation creating 3 additional light-house districts still exists. Under the present law the Light-House Establishment of the United States is arranged into districts not to exceed 16 in number, and that number has now been attained. The Territory of Alaska, the island of Porto Rico, and the Hawaiian Islands, together with the other Pacific islands, are in process of being provided with proper lights and other aids to navigation for the assistance of the commerce which is rapidly increasing in these localities. As the 16 districts allowed are already in existence, it has been necessary to place the three sections referred to under the control of other districts by calling them subdistricts, and placing inspectors and engineer officers in charge of them. These officers are not vested with the necessary authority for properly handling the work which must be done, and as a result frequent delays ensue which should be avoided. The recommendation to increase the number of districts to not exceeding 19 is therefore made.

The law at present requires that the Light-House Board shall be composed of " two officers of the Navy of high rank, two officers of the Corps of Engineers of the Army, and two civilians of high scientific attainments, whose services may be at the disposal of the President, together with an officer of the Navy and an officer of engineers of the Army, as secretaries," and that the Secretary of Commerce and