AMERICAN REGISTER FOR STEAM YACHT "DIANA." JANUARY 30, 1913.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed. Mr. ALEXANDER, from the Committee on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany S. 1653.] The Committee on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries, to whom was referred the bill (S. 1653) to provide American registry for the steam yacht Diana, after considering the same, report it back to the House with the recommendation that it do pass. The following is a copy of the bill: A BILL To provide American registry for the steam yacht Diana. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Commissioner of Navigation be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to cause the steam yacht Diana, wrecked and repaired in the United States and owned by C. Ledyard, a citizen of the United States, residing at Peapack, New Jersey, to be registered as a vessel of the United States: Provided, That said vessel shall not at any time hereafter engage in the coasting trade, under penalty of forfeiture. A bill identical in form with this passed the Senate February 9, 1911, but on account of the lateness in the session was not considered by the Committee on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries. The present bill passed the Senate January 22, 1912. The facts found by the committee are substantially as follows: The vessel was built in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1896, and named Maria. The original cost of construction is not known or stated by the owner. In 1902 she was purchased by Commodore Bourne, who is an American citizen, and renamed the Delaware. He spent $35,000 in new construction. In March, 1905, the Delaware was burned in dry dock at Hoboken, N. J., the wreck was appraised by two surveyors at $27,000 and at $30,000. Mr. Percy Chubb purchased the wreck for approximately $35,000. She was towed to Wilmington, where the structural part was rebuilt by the firm of Harlan & Hollingsworth for $66,500. She was then taken back to New York, where more than $18,000 was spent on her. Thus Mr. Chubb spent approximately $89,669.96 in new construction. The present owner, Mr. C. Ledyard Blair, who is an American citizen, purchased the yacht in 1906 from Mr. Chubb, who had renamed her Diana. Up to September 1, 1909, Mr. Blair had spent $46,918.82 in new construction. Mr. Chubb and Mr. Blair together have spent $135,988.78 in new construction down to September 1, 1909. It will be noted that the bill provides that the vessel shall not at any time engage in the coasting trade under penalty of forfeiture. As this vessel was practically rebuilt in American shipyards, no good reason can be urged why she should not be admitted to American register. The bill was submitted to the Department of Commerce and Labor by the Hon. William P. Frye, chairman, Committee on Commerce, United States Senate. The report of the department is as follows: DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, SIR: The department has received your letter of the 13th instant inclosing S. 9437, a bill to provide American register for the steam yacht Diana. Complying with your request that I furnish your committee with such suggestions as I may deem proper touching the merits of the bill and the propriety of its passage, I have to state: The affidavit of Mr. C. Ledyard Blair, owner of the Diana, which accompanies the bill, shows that the vessel is of 785.60 tons gross register and was built in Scotland in 1896. In 1902 she was purchased by a citizen of the United States, who expended approximately $35,000 in new construction on the vessel in the United States. In March, 1905, she was burned to the hull while in dry dock at Hoboken, N. J. The wreck at that time was valued by two surveyors known to the department at $27,000 and $30,000, respectively. Since that time $135,998.78 have been expended on the yacht in the United States. Technically the vessel is foreign built on account of her hull. In view of the fact, however, that over $170,000 have been spent on the vessel in the United States in the past 8 years, in addition to expenditures for upkeep, the department perceives no objection to the passage of the bill, which is similar to the act approved June 30, 1906, entitled "An act to provide an American register for the steam yacht Waturus" (34 Stats., 799). The affidavit of Mr. Blair is returned herewith, as requested. Respectfully, Hon. WILLIAM P. FRYE, BENJ. S. CABLE, Acting Secretary. 62D CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. (REPORT 3d Session. OF REPRESENTATIVES CONDEMNED CANNON TO WALLKILL VALLEY CEMETERY ASSOCIATION, ORANGE COUNTY, N. Y. JANUARY 30, 1913.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed. Mr. BRADLEY, from the Committee on Military Affairs, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany H. R. 28469.] The Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 28469) granting two condemned cannon to the Wallkill Valley Cemetery Association, of Orange County, N. Y., having considered the same, report thereon with a recommendation that it do pass. The Member making this report is the Member who introduced the bill. He is a trustee of the association named in the bill. It is his intention to reconstruct the monument referred to in the bill and to improve the grounds adjacent thereto. For this purpose the use of two condemned cannon is earnestly desired. The monument is in memory of the service dead of the command in which the Member served during the War between the States. O PATENT OFFICE FEES. JANUARY 30, 1913.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed. Mr. BULKLEY, from the Committee on Patents, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany H. R. 28286.] The Committee on Patents, having had under consideration H. R. 28286, to amend sections 4931 and 4934 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, submits the following report with a unanimous recommendation that the bill do pass with the following amendments: On page 2, line 14, strike out the words "including certified," and insert in lieu thereof "other than." On page 2, after line 15, insert as a new paragraph the following: For certified printed copies of drawings and specifications of patents, the current rates for uncertified copies, and twenty-five cents additional for each certification; for certified printed copies of any other available published record, one dollar for each hundred pages, or fraction thereof, of such record. Add a new section, as follows: SEC. 3. This act shall take effect July first, nineteen hundred and thirteen. The only important change in existing law which would be accomplished by this bill is the increase of the fee for filing each original application for a patent from $15 to $20. Taking into account the fact that most of the principal foreign countries impose annual taxes on patents, whereas the United States patents are untaxed after the filing and issue fees are paid, our patents cost the inventors and their assignees far less than the amounts they are obliged to pay abroad. The present filing fee of $15 and issue fee of $20 makes the total cost of a patent to the inventor $35, exclusive of preparation of drawings and attorneys' fees. These other expenses at least equal the amount of the fees paid to the Government, and quite generally exceed them. The increase herein proposed from $35 to $40 would therefore not amount to an increase of one-seventh in the actual cost of a patent to the applicant; it would increase his cost only 7 per cent. or less. |