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MOTOR-BOAT ACT.

The motor-boat act went into effect on July 9, 1910, and the improvement during the year in navigation conditions on rivers, harbors, and lakes under Federal jurisdiction is everywhere recognized by the masters of large vessels as well as by those who operate motor boats. Its first purpose was to substitute reasonable requirements as to lights and sounds for the impossible requirements of the acts of 1895 and 1897, passed when motor boats were almost unknown. Its second purpose was to provide simple and effective means of extinguishing fire and preventing drowning. Compared with former years, the summer season of 1910 showed relatively few accidents and the past summer was almost wholly free from those fatalities which the law was designed to prevent. Of course these results are in a great measure due to the better construction and equipment provided by builders and to the increasing skill of operators, but the law has been a stimulus to both and has exerted a wholesome check on the reckless. Motor-boat clubs and the daily newspapers and sporting press throughout the country have been prompt to recognize the usefulness of the law, and their cooperation has helped much in its administration.

The law, however, could have been only feebly enforced had not Congress provided an appropriation of $15,000 to enable collectors of customs to enforce this and other navigation laws upon the water, where in fact violations occur. The same sum was placed at the Department's disposal for the current year and is recommended for the coming year. The Department has endeavored to be both just and considerate in the imposition of penalties, as the law was new, but the receipts from fines under this and other laws have been about double the appropriation. The expenditure will thus prove advantageous even from the fiscal point of view.

The Department has been urged to recommend an extension of the law so as to require Government inspection of the hulls and machinery of motor boats and Government examinations of their operators. At a conservative estimate there are 150,000 motor boats always under Federal jurisdiction. To carry out the recommendation a great extension of the Federal service, with a large appropriation, would be necessary. I am satisfied that some additional supervision should be provided for, but I do not believe that it is necessary to extend the rigid rules of general navigation and inspection to this smaller craft.

NAVIGATION REVENUES.

Tonnage duties during the fiscal year amounted to $1,083,255.34, an increase of $1,728.64 over the previous year and the largest amount collected from this source since 1884. The full effect of the reduction

in rates from near-by foreign ports under the tariff act of August 5, 1909, is shown in receipts of $124,772.65 from vessels entered from such ports, compared with $163,731.81 from the same source during the fiscal year 1909 under the former rate. Tonnage rates are reasonable compared with those imposed, by foreign nations generally, and are much less than those of the ports of continental Europe. They will provide an annual revenue of about $1,000,000 for some years to come, as increase in ocean traffic will be taken up by regular lines rather than by tramp steamers.

Our law fixing the tonnage of vessels, which is the basis of tonnage duties and other public and private charges, was brought into substantial accord with the laws of the principal maritime nations by the act of March 2, 1895. International uniformity on this subject is essential to the expeditious dispatch of modern steamers, and actual remeasurement of foreign vessels is to be avoided when possible. Marine construction, especially in shelter decks, has improved since 1895, and we should recognize, not penalize, these improvements. Amendments to the measurement laws are the more desirable at this time, as a system for the purpose of Panama tolls must soon be established.

MISCELLANEOUS RECOMMENDATIONS.

From the beginning of the Government, collectors of customs have been charged with the duty of enforcing the comprehensive scheme of navigation laws, which was enacted simultaneously with the first laws to collect revenue at seaports. As Congress has extended the scope of the navigation laws with increasing regard for the safety of life at sea, the duties of collectors of customs have been increased correspondingly, until at the present time many collectors of customs collect little or no revenue from the tariff, but are wholly occupied with the enforcement of laws relating to shipping. For this reason the ratio between the cost of operating a customhouse and the amount of revenue from the tariff it collects was never a correct measure of the usefulness of a collector of customs or of the amount of work he performed. It is an even more inaccurate measure now than it was 20 years ago. In any reorganization of customs districts which Congress may contemplate, the dual duties of collectors of customs should be fully considered, lest unintentionally an important part of the administrative machinery of the Department of Commerce and Labor be disarranged.

Congress has provided for the representation of the United States at three sessions of the International Diplomatic Conference on Maritime Law, and the proposed salvage convention, which is generally commended by the maritime world, has been transmitted to the Senate. I recommend that the United States be represented hereafter

at these sessions, for in the preliminary work of unifying the maritime law of nations our country should do its share.

The repeal of the law permitting imprisonment of seamen for desertion from American ships in remote foreign ports is again recommended. Men who want to desert American ships leave unmolested. In such ports not 1 man out of 200 deserts, and there are not half a dozen arrests a year. The situation is the reverse of that in our ports, where seamen desert from foreign ships to enjoy the larger opportunities of American life. Imprisonment for desertion from American ships in domestic ports and in near-by foreign ports was abolished in 1898, and the fragment of the law remaining is worse than valueless.

STEAMBOAT-INSPECTION SERVICE.

STATISTICAL SUMMARY OF WORK.

During the fiscal year ended June 30, 1911, there were transported on vessels which by law are required to report the number of passengers carried, 314,768,885 passengers. The total number of accidents resulting in the loss of life during this period was 48, a decrease from the previous year of 7, and the number of lives lost 392, including passengers and crew, an increase of 13 over the previous year. Of the total number of lives lost, 113 were from accidents incident to the perils of navigation, and 48 were from suicide and other unrelated causes, leaving 231 which can fairly be charged to accidents, collisions, or foundering. The total number of 392 lives lost, when compared with the number of passengers that were carried, makes a ratio of 1 life lost, including passengers and crew, for every 802,981 passengers carried:

The number of vessels inspected and certificated in the fiscal year 1911 was 8,335, with a tonnage of 8,494,986, a decrease of 94 in number, with an increased tonnage of 20,280, as compared with the previous fiscal year. Of the vessels certificated 6,999 were domestic steamers with a tonnage of 4,703,518, a decrease of 115 steamers and of 175,718 tons; and 468 were foreign passenger steamers with a tonnage of 3,330,267, an increase of 4 in number and of 200,395 tons. Sail vessels and barges to the number of 36 were inspected, with a tonnage of 18,561, a decrease of 2 in number and of 2,579 tons, and also 475 seagoing barges of 424,829 tons, a decrease of 5 in number and of 3,103 tons from the previous year. Three hundred and fiftyseven motor vessels with a tonnage of 17,811 were inspected and certificated, an increase of 24 in number and 1,285 tons over the previous year.

Licenses were issued during the year to 14,006 officers of all grades, an increase of 850 over the preceding year. There were 1,317 applicants examined for color blindness, of whom 30 were rejected and 1,287 were passed. As compared with the previous year, these figures show an increase of 299 in the number examined and 287 in the number passed.

At the various mills 3,916 steel plates for the construction of marine boilers were inspected, a decrease from the previous year of 610, and of this number 311 were rejected. In addition to these plates, there were inspected at the mills a large number of steel bars for braces and stay bolts for marine boilers, and also several hundred

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plates for stock and repair purposes. Many requests were received from other branches and departments of the Government for the testing of boiler material at the mills. These received the attention of the Service, and prompt reports were rendered to the proper officials.

During the year there were examined and tested at various manufactories 210,259 life preservers, of which 730 were rejected.

The total number of persons in the Service at the end of the fiscal year ended June 30, 1911, was 261, consisting of 185 officers, 74 clerks, 1 janitor, and 1 messenger. Two vacancies existed in the Service on that date.

SCOPE OF THE SERVICE.

It may be interesting to note the scope of the work of the Steamboat-Inspection Service. The Service exists primarily for the purpose of inspecting the hulls and machinery of vessels of the American merchant marine that are subject to inspection, licensing officers for steam vessels subject to inspection, and conducting investigations and trials of violators of the steamboat-inspection laws and of the rules and regulations passed by the Board of Supervising Inspectors. The work of inspecting the hulls of vessels brings the Service into close contact with the shipbuilding interests of the country, as well as the manufacturers of equipment necessary for vessels; while the inspection of boilers of steamers brings the Service into equally close contact with the mills that roll the material of which marine boilers are constructed, as well as the manufacturers of marine boilers. The work of licensing officers places upon inspectors the responsibility that requires them to assure themselves that men applying for marine licenses have proper physical qualifications, as well as mental capacity.

While the Steamboat-Inspection Service was organized, as its name implies, for the purpose of inspecting steamboats, modern development of the means of propelling vessels has brought to the front the gasoline engine, and with it the motor boat, and while for certain purposes the Service is required to inspect gasoline motor boats of a certain class. the Service comes into contact with the motorboat situation mainly through the licensing of operators of motor boats carrying passengers for hire. Furthermore, the SteamboatInspection Service is charged by the Department with the responsibility of passing upon the buoyant cushions used in motor boats operated for pleasure purposes, and this has entailed no little work upon the central office as a result of the tests that have to be conducted of cushions submitted, and of the numerous questions that have to be answered in regard to the life-saving equipment of certain classes of motor boats.

26321°-C & L 1911-8

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