These studies will of necessity be of a highly technical nature. Special facilities are therefore required with which to carry them on and to guard against the possibility of errors creeping in during the experiments. The need of studies of this phase of the problem and their possible bearing on the outcome of the investigation of the disease was brought to the attention of the advisory board of the hygienic laboratory on December 13, 1913, and this board expressed itself by the following resolution: In view of the importance of special investigations of pellagra, including metabolic and chemical studies, and the consequent need of hospital and laboratory facilities for this purpose, this board expresses the opinion that such studies should be taken up and the necessary facilities provided for carrying them on. In order to carry on the special studies contemplated, temporary hospital and laboratory facilities will be required in some locality where pellagra is highly prevalent. By renting a building in some suitable locality it can be equipped and maintained for the hospital and laboratory purposes mentioned, including the pay of the personnel for one year for $47,000. This expenditure would embrace items approximately as follows: Equipment of hospital (25 beds).. Equipment of chemical laboratory. Pay of personnel (exclusive of pharmacist and commissioned officer). Maintenance of laboratory... $6,000 3,000 22,000 12,000 4,000 47,000 In view of the urgency of the situation, I have to respectfully recommend that Congress include in the next deficiency bill to be passed the following item: For rental, equipment, and maintenance of a temporary field hospital and laboratory, including pay of personnel, for special studies of pellagra, $10,000 of which shall be immediately available....... $47, 000 The need for this hospital and laboratory is to meet an emergency, as, judging by the past, the disease will recur in the early spring in increasing virulence. When the emergency shall have passed and the special studies completed, the hospital and laboratory can be readily discontinued. Respectfully, 63D CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. (DOCUMENT 2d Session. No. 577. SAFEGUARDING THE COAST OF ALASKA. LETTER FROM THE SECRETARY OF COMMERCE, TRANSMITTING COPY OF A COMMUNICATION FROM CERTAIN STEAMSHIP COMPANIES RELATING TO A PROVISION FOR THE SAFEGUARDING OF THE COAST OF ALASKA. January 12, 1914.-Referred to the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce and ordered to be printed. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, MY DEAR MR. SPEAKER: With respect to the estimates of this department now pending before the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives, and with special reference to such as provide for the safeguarding of the coast of Alaska, I beg respectfully to suggest that the letter which is quoted in full below contains information of importance on this subject: Hon. WILLIAM C. REDFIELD, Secretary of Commerce, Washington, D. C. PACIFIC COAST STEAMSHIP Co., SIR: On July 14, 1909, the steamship Ohio, en route from Seattle to ports in Alaska, struck an uncharted rock in Tongass Narrows, just north of Ketchikan. The charts showed no soundings where she struck under 30 fathoms (180 feet). On August 13, 1912, the steamship Mariposa, while en route from Alaska ports to Seattle, struck an uncharted rock off Point Baker, in Sumner Straits, just west of where the chart shows 111 fathoms (666 feet). On August 17, 1913, the steamer State of California, while leaving Gambier Bay, Alaska, struck an uncharted rock where the chart showed 12 fathoms (75 feet). In the cases of both the Ohio and Mariposa there was no serious damage to the vessels and they were able to proceed on their voyages, but in the case of the State of California the ship sank within a few moments after striking and 32 lives were lost. These rocks are what are known as pinnacle formations, which are peculiar to the waters of southeastern Alaska, and their character is such that they usually escape the sounding lead where the usual method of survey is followed. Tongass Narrows and Sumner Straits are stretches of water which have been used by vessels since the inception of trade to Alaska. Gambier Bay has been used for the past two years, since a canning industry was started therein. The State of California had made 16 trips in and out of the harbor during that time, and there have been several other vessels employed in the trade as well. These accidents show the prevalence of uncharted rocks in regular channels and the necessity for resurvey work in order to discover these hidden dangers and to better safeguard not only the value of property but, what is more important, human life. Persons competent to judge, including the local officers of the Coast Survey, express the opinion that the only way in which the presence of pinnacle rocks in the main ship channels can be ascertained is to drag the channels, and this can only be done at a large expense. However, we believe that the large increase in the number of vessels employed and in the number of passengers traveling between the ports of Puget Sound, British Columbia, and southeastern Alaska justify the Government in incurring whatever expense may be necessary to locate these hidden pinnacles. It is the desire of the steamship companies operating to Alaska to urge in every way possible the granting of sufficient appropriation to give the Coast Survey sufficient equipment and funds with which to prosecute this work, and it has arranged, among other things, to send each Congressman a letter showing the larger number of vessels employed in the trade, the increase in their size, the increase in the number of passengers traveling, and setting forth the danger to which ships, their passengers and cargo are subjected, and urging the necessity of appropriations in such amounts as the department may consider necessary for the proper execution of this work. The purpose of this letter is to explain to you what the steamship companies have in mind and to respectfully solicit from you suggestions as to what further action we can take toward bringing about the desired result. Respectfully yours, ALASKA STEAMSHIP CO., By H. F. ALEXANDER, President. NORTHLAND STEAMSHIP Co., The danger of the situation outlined in the above is further emphasized by the wreck on May 20, 1912, of the United States lighthouse tender Armeria and by the loss of the steamship Curacao June 21, 1913. To replace the former vessel an estimate for $325,000 is now pending before your honorable body. The cost of this single Government vessel expended in necessary safeguards would in all human probability not only have saved that ship but would have gone far to prevent the losses stated above, not to speak of the valuable lives that have been wasted. The above communication from the five steamship companies was the subject of a report from the Superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, which is incorporated in a letter addressed by me to each of the steamship companies dated December 20, 1913, which reads as follows: I am in receipt of your favor of the 26th of November, forwarded through Capt. J. F. Pratt, inspector in Seattle of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, transmitted to me by the superintendent of that bureau of this department. The subject of the communication, which is signed not only by you but by four other steamship companies, is one of the deepest interest to me and one which, I think you will agree when the facts are before you, has already had active attention at our hands. On November 17 I wrote the President thus: "The need of safeguarding the Alaskan coast is enforced by the loss this season of two important vessels, the Curacao and the State of California, with serious loss of life. Our estimates call for vessels to finish promptly the survey of the coast and for funds to light it better. The Northwest is greatly concerned, and properly, about it." To this the President replied, November 18: "I also hope sincerely that the Congress may be able to afford us the means which we lack of safeguarding the Alaskan coast." I am sending you separately a copy of my annual report, issued on the 16th instant. Your attention is especially invited to page 11, from which you will see that the matter has been formally placed before Congress. I quote below so much of a communication dated December 16 from the Superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic Survey as refers to Alaskan matters: "This bureau is in full accord with the letter of the steamship companies interested in the Alaska trade, dated November 26, 1913, which was forwarded to you with my note of December 13, 1913, in regard to the necessity of examining by the wire drag the lanes of travel followed by the steamships in Alaska. The letter discloses, as was to be expected from such authorities, an appreciation of the difficulties in locating submerged pinnacles. "For some time this survey has had in mind the urgency of such examinations and the need of accelerating the work in Alaska and increasing the means of rapid chart publication. "The form of the appropriation for the survey is such that the sum total of the appropriations is divided among separate items. Increases have therefore been approved by you in various scattered items of the appropriation bill, which bear directly on increased activity of the survey in Alaska. "It is perhaps necessary to mention that the items for additional small buildings and extensions and for new lithographic presses are necessary parts of getting out the Alaskan as well as other charts. "The other items involving increases directly or indirectly for the Alaska surveys are as follows: "Under 'Party expenses, Pacific coast,' an increase of $60,000 has been submitted. Of this amount the following is intended for the Alaska field work: For one wire-drag party.... Additional to increase the efficiency of the six Alaskan vessels. Total $18,000 7,000 25,000 "Of the remaining $35,000, $32,000 is intended for surveys and resurveys on the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington, including wire-drag work, three vessels in full commission during the winter months, extension of the coast triangulation and chart revision parties, all of which are matters that should receive immediate attention and are closely related to the maritime commercial necessities of Alaska. "Under 'Continuing researches in physical hydrography,' etc., an increase of $5,600 has been requested. This amount will be used in increasing the activities for securing better tidal and current information along the coasts. There is an urgent demand for information of this character from mariners on the Pacific coast of the United States and in Alaska. "Under Off-shore Soundings,' etc., an increase of $5,000 has been submitted. This is about the amount that will be required for the field revision of the Alaska Coast Pilot, including the employment of the necessary experts. "Under 'For continuing magnetic observations,' etc., an increase of $25,000 has been requested. This is intended to start the work of carrying the triangulation from the Bering Sea, across Alaska, to the 141st meridian, and is work that should be no longer delayed. Its completion will be necessary before accurate maps of Alaska can be made and it will be most valuable in the development of the resources of Alaska. "Under 'Objects not named,' etc., an increase of $1,000 has been estimated. This is intended to provide funds for plans and specifications for the new vessels for Alaska surveys. Some new language has been inserted in this item making it available for emergency relief in cases of distress in remote regions, such as in the case of the Katmai Volcano in 1912, the smallpox epidemic near Fort Yukon and the more recent case of the shipwrecked passengers and crew of the steamship Curacao, sunk off the coast of Prince of Wales Island. "Under 'Pay of necessary employees to man and equip the vessels,' an increase of $22,800 has been requested. This will provide the necessary additional employees for the wire-drag party on the Pacific coast and Alaska, and will enable this survey to keep three of the Alaskan vessels at work during the winter on much-needed surveys and resurveys on the Pacific coast. "Under 'Salaries' an increase of six additional assistants at $2,400 each has been submitted. These trained ficers are urgently required and will hardly meet the demands for the wire-drag work, the Yukon triangulation, and for the new vessels estimated for under another head. "You have approved estimates for six new vessels for the Coast and Geodetic Survey, $525,000, three of which are intended solely for the Alaska surveys and three smaller ones for the more efficient and economical operation of wire-drag operations in the more exposed regions." In addition to the above the sum of $60,000 is included in our estimates now pending before Congress for additional aids to navigation to be established by the Bureau of Lighthouses, and you will notice on page 114 of the Annual Report that Congress has already made an appropriation for a light and fog signal at or near Cape St. Elias, Alaska, of $115,000. A bill is now pending in Congress authorizing a lighthouse tender for Alaska at $325,000. This vessel is already authorized at a cost of $250,000, but the service requires a larger ship, and we are asking that this amount be increased by $75,000 to $325,000. No appropriation for this is yet made. We are furthermore requesting of Congress funds sufficient to provide vessels for transporting our salmon agents along the Alaska coast, of which you will find a note at the bottom of page 17. It is our intention also to strengthen the work of the Steamboat Inspection Service and that of the Bureau of Navigation in Alaska. The subject of giving assistance to Alaskan commerce, so far as it lies within the power of this department to do it, is one which we regard as of high importance, and the department will be glad to take any proper steps to push forward the matter to a successful conclusion. I shall take the liberty of placing your letter within the knowledge of the proper committees of Congress and I have no doubt they will give same thoughtful consideration. The importance of safeguarding at the earliest possible time the coasts of the Territory of Alaska is great. It is an act of justice not only to the people of that Territory but to the commerce of the Pacific Northwest, which has so much at stake and which has already suffered so severely for lack of protection to a coast on which the dangers of navigation are of an unusual character. Yours, very truly, WILLIAM C. REDFIELD, The SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Secretary. Washington, D. C. о |