AMENDMENT OF 1860.

In 1860 Congress amended the act of 1855 with a view to the better protection of female passengers. This amendment provided that any seaman or other person employed on a ship of the United States guilty of seducing or having illicit connection with any female passenger during a voyage should be imprisoned for not more than twelve months, or fined not more than $1,000. It was further provided that officers, seamen, or other persons employed on any vessel bringing emigrant passengers to the United States should be prohibited from visiting parts of the vessel assigned to emigrant passengers, except by the direction or with the permission of the commanding officers.

TRANSITION FROM SAIL TO STEAM, 1856 TO 1872.

During the period in which the law of 1855 was in force the sailing vessel almost entirely disappeared from the emigrant-carrying trade, and as that law was practically ineffective so far as steamships were concerned, the United States had little actual legal control over the carriage of steerage passengers at sea. The act of 1855 was entitled "An act to regulate the carriage of passengers in steamships and other vessels," but whether intentional or not it is a fact that steamships were subjected to practically no restriction at all. Notwithstanding this, however, steerage conditions on such ships were immeasurably better than on sailing vessels. In the absence of control by the United States, competition and the laws of foreign nations were forces which made for better conditions, but the introduction of steam was the fundamental cause of the passing of the steerage accommodations which, in earlier days, were a disgrace to civilization.

The period from 1856 to 1872 was marked by two important changes in the emigrant-carrying trade-the almost complete substitution of steamships for sailing vessels, and the practical elimination of American ships from the business.

Writers on the history of sail and steam navigation agree that steamships played no part prior to 1850 in the transportation of other than cabin passengers. In that year the Inman Líne of steamships, then recently established, began to compete with sailing vessels by providing third-class, or steerage, accommodation. The effect of this competition was for the next ten years very slight, clippers and packet ships continuing to carry the bulk of emigrants. In 1853 the Inman Line was advertising accommodations for only a limited number of steerage passengers and other steamship companies did not offer any until several years later. The HamburgAmerican Line, organized in 1846, traded for nine years with sailing vessels, their first steamers being added to the fleet in 1856. The North German Lloyd was formed by a consolidation of all steamship lines-local and otherwise-in Bremen, and in 1859 began a steam service to New York, which eight years later became weekly. Up to 1862 the Cunard Line, which had been in operation for twenty-two years, did not carry steerage passengers."

"Our Ocean Railways, A. Fraser Macdonald; The Ocean Carrier, Joseph R. Smith.

American Navigation, Henry Hall; History of Merchant Shipping, William Schaw Lindsay.

Once established in the emigrant-carrying trade, steamships quickly monopolized the greater part of the business. This fact is illustrated by the following table, which shows the number of immigrants landed at Castle Garden, New York, from sailing vessels and steamships in the years 1856 to 1873, inclusive:

TABLE 1.-Passengers landed at Castle Garden, New York, from sailing vessels and steamships, 1856 to 1873.

No consistent data are available to show the relative number of passengers carried on sailing vessels and steamships after 1873, but it was not long until steamships had practically a complete monopoly of the business.

Meanwhile the second change referred to was going on rapidly. American vessels had for many years carried more steerage passengers than had those of any other nation. There is reason to believe that there were periods when more were carried to United States ports by American vessels than by those of all other maritime nations combined. From the beginning of January to the end of June, 1847, for example, the amount of tonnage employed in the carriage of emigrants from Europe to the United States was about 421,750, twothirds of which was under the American flag.

With the introduction of steam, England quickly took and held first place in the transportation of the mails, cabin passengers, and the more valuable freight. Her position assumed the character of a monopoly, which was successfully assailed by American enterprise for a brief time only. The competition with sailing vessels for a share of emigrant traffic began in 1850, and it found a clear field for foreign enterprise. During the period of transition from sailing vessels to steamships several unsuccessful attempts were made to establish transatlantic steamship lines under the American flag, but, as is well known, they failed in competition with the lines of other

nations.

• Sickness and mortality on board emigrant ships. (Senate Reports, 33d Cong., 1st sess., Rep. Com. No. 386, p. 47.)

THE PERIOD OF THE STEAMSHIP, 1873 TO 1908.

From the preceding statements it will be seen that when the steamship had forced the sailing vessel from the emigrant-carrying trade the United States had few ships carrying emigrants, and practically no effective law regulating the carriage of steerage passengers at sea. This condition prevailed in 1873, when the investigation of steerage conditions under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury was made. In the report which resulted from that investigation a general revision of the passenger laws was urged, but Congress did not enact further legislation upon the subject until 1882, when "An act to regulate the carriage of passengers at sea" was adopted.

When this act was under consideration, Congress was confronted with a condition entirely different from that which had prevailed when the earlier passenger laws were enacted. The sailing vessel was no longer a factor to be reckoned with, and the reduction in the length of time required for the voyage on steamships, together with the generally improved conditions in the steerage, had reduced the death rate on emigrant ships to a minimum. Mechanical improvements had made it possible to eliminate dangers that in earlier days were accepted as inseparable risks attendant on all ocean travel. There was now a certainty and regularity about the length of time required for the voyage and the arrival and departure of vessels which simplified the problems of the emigrant, who in earlier times had been accustomed to reckon the journey across the ocean in terms of weeks or months instead of days. By reason of the shortening of the time required for the voyage, hunger and thirst were now remote dangers, and epidemics, which had created such havoc on sailing ships, had practically disappeared. If such conditions as would tend to bring suffering and sickness upon emigrants still existed, they were due to carelessness and disregard of rules on the part of the carriers or of the passengers themselves, rather than to the inherent difficulties and vicissitudes of ocean travel.

ACT OF 1882.

Viewed from the standpoint of its predecessors the passenger act of 1882 was an excellent measure. Its framers had profited by observing the results of the legislative experiments of about sixty-two years. This advantage, together with the marvelous development and progress in the methods of passenger traffic, enabled the lawmakers to draft an intelligent and comprehensive bill. By its provisions the safety and comfort of emigrants were, theoretically at least, assured. No deck less than 6 feet in height on any vessel was allowed to be used for passengers. On the main deck and the deck next below 100 cubic feet of air space was allowed each passenger, and on the second deck below the main deck 120 cubic feet was allowed each person. Decks other than the three above mentioned were under no circumstances to be used for passengers. With the development of shipbuilding, however, other decks were added to ships and this provision soon became obsolete. Sufficient berths for all passengers were to be provided, the dimensions of each berth to

a Steerage passengers on emigrant vessels. (Ex Doc. No. 23, 43d Cong. 1st sess.)

be not less than 2 feet in width and 6 feet in length, with suitable partitions dividing them. The sexes were to be properly separated. The steerage was to be amply supplied with fresh air by means of modern approved ventilators. Three cooked meals, consisting of wholesome food, were to be served regularly each day. Each ship was to have a fully equipped modern hospital for the use of sick passengers. A competent physician was to be in attendance and suitable medicines were to be carried. The ship's master was authorized to enforce such rules and regulations as would promote habits of cleanliness and good health. Dangerous articles, such as highly explosive substances and powerful acids, were forbidden on board.

RECENT LEGISLATION.

When the subject of immigration legislation was under discussion in the Fifty-ninth Congress an attempt was made to improve steerage conditions by amending section 1 of the passenger act of 1882 in order to provide a greater amount of space for steerage passengers. Senate bill 4403, which finally became the immigration act of February 20, 1907, passed the Senate on May 23, 1906, and the House of Representatives on June 25 of the same year. No attempt was made to amend the passenger laws in either the Senate or House of Representatives, but while in conference between the two Houses an amendment was added which made, important changes in section 1 of the act of 1882.

The cubic air space system of measurement which prevailed under the act of 1882 was abandoned in favor of the superficial-area method employed in the acts of 1847, 1848, and 1855.

The passenger act of 1882 provided that 100 cubic feet of air space should be allotted to each passenger carried on the main deck or the deck next below the main deck and 120 cubic feet to each passenger carried on the second deck below the main deck. The minimum height between decks was fixed at 6 feet.

Section 42 of the immigration act of 1907 provided that 18 clear superficial feet of deck space should be allotted to each passenger carried on the main deck or the deck next below the main deck and 20 clear superficial feet to each passenger carried on the second deck below the main deck. It also provided that if the height between the lower passenger deck and the deck immediately above it was less than 7 feet, 30 clear superficial feet of space should be allotted to each passenger, and that the same amount should be allotted to each passenger on any lower deck that was not lighted and ventilated as prescribed. Disregarding the provision relating to light and ventilation, section 42 provided for a considerable increase in the air space allotted to each passenger, the actual increase under the superficial-area system of measurement being to a considerable degree dependent upon the height between decks.

It was provided that section 42 should not go into effect until January 1, 1909, in order that ample time might be given for such changes as might be necessary in the structure of ships. Steamship companies engaged in the immigrant-carrying trade objected to the provisions of the section. In amending the passenger law of 1882 by the enactment of section 42 of the immigration act, Congress had

a See pp. 743 and 744.

retained the provision that made it unlawful to carry steerage passengers on decks other than the main deck and the two decks next below the main deck. By that time ships with as many as eight decks were already carrying immigrants, and as authorities disagreed as to which deck in modern vessels was in reality the "main deck," the steamship companies argued that the law was defective in that regard. Another objection to section 42 was, according to the steamship companies, that it restricted to an unnecessary degree the carrying capacity of vessels.

On January 1, 1908, the revised regulations of the British Board of Trade relative to the carriage of steerage passengers had gone into effect, and the steamship companies' representatives asked that section 42 be amended to conform to the British regulations. The latter avoided reference to the "main deck " by designating a "lowest passenger deck," which means the deck next below the water line, and provided that every deck or portion of deck above the lowest passenger deck, and appropriated for passengers, should be designated as a passenger deck."

The British regulations provided that 18 clear superficial feet of space should be allotted to the use of each passenger carried on the lowest passenger deck, and 15 clear superficial feet to each passenger carried on "passenger decks." It was provided, however, that if the height of the lowest passenger deck was less than 7 feet or if that deck was not sufficiently lighted and ventilated, 25 superficial feet should be allotted to each passenger. In cases where the height of passenger decks was less than 7 feet, 18 superficial feet for each passenger was required. The British regulations also provided that 5 superficial feet of space on the open deck should be allotted to each passenger carried. It was further provided that in the measurement of passenger decks and the lowest passenger deck, there should be included the space occupied by the luggage of the passengers and by public rooms, lavatories, and bathrooms exclusively appropriated to the use of steerage passengers, provided that space appropriated for sleeping purposes should not be less than 15 superficial feet per person on the lowest passenger deck, and 12 superficial feet in the case of a passenger deck. The last-mentioned provision of the British regulations was not specifically included in the United States law of 1882, nor in section 42 of the immigration act. When the law of 1882 was enacted, little space other than sleeping space was allotted to steerage passengers on ships. With the later development of shipbuilding, however, lounging, dining, and other rooms for the use of steerage passengers had been provided on many vessels, and there was some question whether in the measurement of ships such spaces should be included in estimating the amount allotted to passengers under the law. In fact, the courts early decided that space devoted to hospitals, which were required by the law of 1882, should have been taken into account in computing space required for steerage passengers.

Following the hearing granted to the steamship representatives by the Immigration Commission, the Senate passed a bill repealing section 42 of the immigration act and amending section 1 of the passenger law of 1882. The Senate bill altered the designation of decks to conform to the British board of trade regulations, and also

a S. 5083, 60th Cong., 1st sess.