passengers were being crowded to excess, not only on decks corresponding to those to which sailing vessels were restricted, but also on the lowest or orlop deck. Thus the darkness, the foul-smelling bilge water, the tainted atmosphere, and kindred evils of the early days were repeated, in a measure, in the steamship. Instead of two decks, steamers had four and five. Access to the main deck from the lowest was exceedingly difficult, and when passengers were seasick they were content to remain below rather than to exert themselves in trying to reach the pure air and light of the main deck. These conditions and others of similar character, injurious to the health and welfare of passengers, were allowed to obtain on many steamships. UNITED STATES PASSENGER 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 handling 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. 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 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 and 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. One of the important questions discussed at considerable length when the law of 1882 was under consideration was the method to be employed in computing the air space allotted to steerage passengers. It will be recalled that under the law of 1819 the apportionment of passengers was made according to the tonnage of the vessel. The law of 1847 provided that each passenger should be allotted a certain number of superficial feet of deck space, without reference to the vessel's tonnage. The law of 1848 provided for a tonnage check as well as space computed in superficial feet, and the law of 1855 was the same in that regard. As early as 1854, however, a change from the superficial-area method to a system requiring a certain amount of cubic air space per person was strongly advocated. John H. Griscom, M. D., of New York, in a communication to the senate select committee in 1854, said: " The true sanitary principle by which this matter should be regulated is not the number of tons burden of the vessel-in other words, the amount of dry goods, or coal, or iron she can carry-nor the number of superficial feet of her decks, but the number of cubic feet of air of the apartments allotted to passengers. This is the true standard of sanitary capacity, when considered independently of its means of ventilation; and this, in my judgment, should be the basis of a restrictive law in the allotment of numbers. In the first place the minimum height of ceiling should be defined, and then a certain amount of cubic feet of free space be apportioned to each passenger. By free space is meant the area of the apartment not occupied by the masts, bulkheads, casks, chains, beams, etc., all of which diminish the amount of air in the steerage. The luggage, and even the bodies of the passengers, occupy a certain cubic space, to the exclusion of an equal bulk of air, and should be regarded in the calculation. But, as in the case of the height of the ceiling, a minimum amount of free cubic space should be fixed by law. * * * In a communication to the same committee the German Society of New York said: "Instead of superficial feet, we hold the opinion that a measurement of cubic feet should be adopted." Other correspondents of the committee also advocated the cubic air-space system of measurement, but it was not adopted at that time. In the investigation of steerage conditions made in 1873 under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury the matter of computing air space for steerage passengers was again considered. In his report to the Secretary one of the investigators, John M. Woodworth, M. D., supervising surgeon of the United States Marine-Hospital Service, said: It is suggested that the method of computing space prescribed by the existing law [act of 1855], even if such law were practically operative, is unnecessarily complicated. In the opinion of experts and from the results of this investigation it would seem to be preferable to state definitely how many cubic feet of clear space in each of the between decks and in the deck houses, irrespective of tonnage or of height between decks, should be allowed for each statute passenger * * In his report to Congress the Secretary of the Treasury recommended the cubic air-space system of measurement, and Congress finally adopted it, to the exclusion of the superficial-area and tonnagecheck methods. The loosely constructed provisions of the law of 1855 enabled steamships to carry passengers on any and every deck. To correct this the law of 1882 expressly stated that passengers could be carried only on the main deck, the deck next below, and on the second deck below the main deck. As previously stated, however, this provision was soon obsolete, for the reason that in the development of shipbuilding, following 1882, vessels with eight or nine decks were constructed, of which the "main deck" structurally was one of the lower decks. In consequence the law of 1882 in this regard defeated its own purpose until 1909, when an amendment remedying the situation became effective. a Sickness and Mortality on Board Emigrant Ships. (Rep. Com. No. 386, 33d Cong., 1st sess., p. 68.) b Steerage Passengers on Emigrant Vessels. (Ex. Doc. No. 23, 43d Cong., 1st sess., p. 21.) c Ibid., p. 14. 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. This amendment, which was enacted into law as section 42 of the immigration act, but which never became effective, as will be explained later, provided as follows: " SEC. 42. It shall not be lawful for the master of a steamship or other vessel whereon immigrant passengers, or passengers other than cabin passengers, have been taken at any port or place in a foreign country or dominion (ports and places in foreign territory contiguous to the United States excepted) to bring such vessel and passengers to any port or place in the United States unless the compartments, spaces, and accommodations hereinafter mentioned have been provided, allotted, maintained, and used for and by such passengers during the entire voyage; that is to say, in a steamship, the compartments or spaces, unobstructed by cargo, stores, or goods, shall be of sufficient dimensions to allow for each and every passenger carried or brought therein eighteen clear superficial feet of deck allotted to his or her use, if the compartment or space is located on the main deck or on the first deck next below the main deck of the vessel, and twenty clear superficial feet of deck allotted to his or her use for each passenger carried or brought therein if the compartment or space is located on the second deck below the main deck of the vessel: Provided, That if the height between the lower passenger deck and the deck immediately above it is less than seven feet, or if the apertures (exclusive of the side scuttles) through which light and air are admitted together to the lower passenger deck are less in size than in the proportion of three square feet to every one hundred superficial feet of that deck, the ship shall not carry a greater number of passengers on that deck than in the proportion of one passenger to every thirty clear superficial feet thereof. It shall not be lawful to carry or bring passengers on any deck other than the decks above mentioned. And in sailing vessels such passengers shall be carried or brought only on the deck (not being an orlop deck) that is next below the main deck of the vessel, or in a poop or deck house constructed on the main deck; and the compartment or space, unobstructed by cargo, stores, or goods, shall be of sufficient dimensions to allow one hundred and ten cubic feet for each and every passenger brought therein. And such passengers shall not be carried or brought in any between decks, nor in any compartment, space, poop, or deck house, the height of which from deck to deck is less than six feet. In computing the number of such passengers carried or brought in any vessel, children under one year of age shall not be included, and two children between one and eight years of age shall be counted as one passenger; and any person brought in any such vessel who shall have been, during the voyage, taken from any other vessel wrecked or in distress on the high seas, or have been picked up at sea from any boat, raft, or otherwise, shall not be included in such computation. The master of a vessel coming to a port or place in the United States in violation of either of the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor; and if the number of passengers other than cabin passengers carried or brought in the vessel, or in any compartment, space, poop, or deck house thereof, is greater than the number allowed to be carried or brought therein, respectively, as herein before prescribed, the said master shall be fined fifty dollars for each and every passenger in excess of the proper number, and may also be imprisoned not exceeding six months. This section shall take effect on January first, nineteen hundred and nine. a 34 Stat. L., pt. 1, p. 898. Comparing section 42 with section 1 of the passenger act of 1882a it will be noted that the cubic air space system of measurement which prevailed under the latter was abandoned in favor of the superficial-area method employed in the acts of 1847, 1848, and 1855, and which had been condemned by investigators of steerage conditions in 1854 and 1873. The conferees on the immigration bill probably recommended the change in order that the law of the United States might conform to the British law which required the superficial area system. It will be noted also that section 42 proposed to penalize low decks and to secure more space per passenger and better ventilation in low deck compartments by requiring a greater amount of space for each passenger carried on decks less than 7 feet in height or in compartments not ventilated as prescribed. 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. As will be seen from section 42, it was proposed that 30 superficial feet of space should be allowed 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. The cubic air space allowed each passenger in compartments of varying height under section 42, as compared with the provisions of the law of 1882 in that regard, is shown by the following table: TABLE 6.-Cubic air space per steerage passenger allowed by the passenger act of 1882 and section 42 of the immigration act of 1907 on various decks, according to 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, and on January 18, 1908, the Immigration Commission granted a hearing to their representatives." In amending the passenger law of 1882 by the enactment of section 42 of the immigration act, Congress had 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. As previously stated, ships with as many as eight decks were already carrying immigrants, and as in modern vessels authorities disagreed as to which deck 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. Just previous to the hearing granted the steamship companies, or 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 with 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 a For report of hearing, see Appendix B, p. 413. |