not concerned with the nautical management of the ship and the maintenance of order and discipline on board. A representative of a foreign steamship company having ships sailing from Italian ports stated to a member of the Immigration Commission that in sending royal commissioners by each steamer "the Italian authorities have occasioned an endless source of trouble aboard and reduced the authority and position of the masters to that similar to a navigating lieutenant upon a warship." Reference to the various duties imposed upon the royal commissioner by the Italian law would seem to substantiate the statement just quoted. Some of the provisions in this regard require that

The royal commissioner shall wear the uniform of his naval rank, and at table shall be seated at the captain's right hand in the first-class saloon.

He shall have charge of the sanitary service of the ship regardless of whether a regular surgeon is carried on the ship. Passengers, other than emigrants, may employ the regular surgeon of the ship, but the latter must daily inform the royal commissioner relative to the nature and progress of the diseases treated, and when such diseases threaten the general health on board the commissioner is authorized to interfere. He shall have charge of the medical stores and surgical instruments and supplies. He shall see that the food distributed to the emigrants is of good quality, properly cooked and prepared, and that good fresh water is supplied.

That the ship is kept clean and especially that water-closets are frequently and thoroughly cleaned and disinfected.

That the emigrants' compartments are daily properly cleaned and swept with sawdust mixed with disinfectants.

That in cases of infectious diseases or epidemics he shall take measures to prevent them spreading among passengers, and in such cases may order the destruction of such articles as can not well be disinfected.

That in case of death on board he shall provide for the burial of the corpse at sea, unless the ship is within twenty-four hours of port; a and in case of death from infectious disease he shall provide for the immediate burial of the body.

These are only a few of the specific duties assigned to the royal commissioner by the Italian law and regulations, an abstract of which is printed elsewhere in this review. "

It is only natural that steamship companies, and especially foreign companies engaged in the Italian trade, should object to the authority conferred by the Italian law upon the royal commissioner. The attitude of one such foreign company is contained in a statement of its representative to the Immigration Commission. The statement in part follows:

These commissioners (especially those new to their duties and ultraconscious of their unlimited powers) go so far as to inform the crew that their orders must be obeyed in preference to those of the ship's officers and even the master. This naturally

a A correspondent of the Immigration Commission has called attention to this provision of the Italian law and incidentally to the authority of the royal commissioner in a communication which says in part: "I make an appeal in behalf of those Americans returning to the United States, whose thoughts of the contemplated voyage are mingled with dread, since the recent inhuman action of an Italian commissioner. I refer to the heart-rending case where an American daughter saw her mother's body cast into the sea in spite of the protests of captain, doctor, and passengers. It is easy to scoff at such suffering and to say that to the dead one form of burial is the same as another, but even to those who hold such views it must seem appalling to think of seeing their loved ones consigned to the deep, especially when, as in this case, no interests of humanity were served by the brutal action. I find, as I have a large acquaintance with travelers in Europe, after many years of travel, that such a contingency is looked upon with horror, and those intending to sail from Italian ports have given this as a reason for changing their point of departure." It appears that in this case, however, the royal commissioner merely carried out the plain mandate of the law.

b See Appendix C, p. 455.

occasions an unsettled state of matters aboard which is very damaging to the proper discipline the master would desire to maintain. It has been known that in case of a seaman preferring to execute the orders of his officers to those of the commissioner, the latter has afterwards found some pretext for mentioning the man in his report to the Italian authorities which has always the result of the man being taken out of the ship before the commencement of a new voyage, by express order of the Italian authorities. The natural outcome of this is that in many cases the seamen are more ready to execute the commissioner's orders than those of their legitimate officer. In return for this subordination of the crew the commissioner constitutes himself their champion toward the master and officers and will set himself to right the imaginary wrongs of idlers and perhaps even insubordinate men.

If the master desires to obtain a good report for his vessel he must concede to all the requests of his commissioner. Although these officials in very many cases exceed by a long way their proper duties and functions it is only when they have most glaringly overstepped the bounds that a master can call them to account with any hope of success.

The shipowner has to feel most seriously the presence of the commissioners aboard, as they are constantly suggesting alterations to the equipment of vessels in their reports. It not infrequently occurs that after having executed the alterations proposed by a commissioner, which alterations the Italian authorities have subsequently imposed, that the succeeding commissioner on the next voyage will find these alterations made to be all wrong and suggest another alteration, and possibly in order to evidence his zeal to his superiors he will propose another alteration to some other part of the vessel. Thus endless changes in accommodation and equipment of vessels are made which in many cases are prejudicial to the interests of passengers rather than advantageous, and the shipowner has to remain without any initiative of his own because he simply can not afford to make the changes he may desire to do himself and also pay for those ordered by the Italian Government through their commissioners. In justice, I am bound to state that although the great majority of commissioners are as I have described, there are among them sensible men who do not abuse their powers or make impossible demands upon the captain, but these are all men of experience and knowledge who have been some years in the emigration service.

RECOMMENDATIONS BY THE IMMIGRATION COMMISSION.

In the course of the investigation of steerage conditions previously referred to, agents of the Immigration Commission traveled in the steerage of two steamers sailing from Italian ports and carrying royal commissioners. In general the agents commended the work of the royal commissioners. In one report the agent said:

It was evident that the royal commissioner worked for the interest of the steerage passengers. He was seen very often among them and helped those who needed special attention. He cared for the sick and took the utmost interest to see that they were made comfortable. He administered medicine, arising at night even to

visit extreme cases.

The agents reported that some bad conditions prevailed on these ships notwithstanding the presence of the royal commissioner. These conditions, however, were for the most part such as could not be controlled by an officer who was not continuously in the steerage. The Immigration Commission has recommended to Congress that officials of the United States, both men and women, be placed on ships carrying steerage passengers." Senator William P. Dillingham, chairman of the commission, and Representative William S. Bennet, also a member of the commission, have introduced bills in accordance with this recommendation, both of which are pending in Congress. The Dillingham and Bennet bills are practically identical, the text of the former being as follows:

a See Report of the Immigration Commission on steerage conditions. (Senate Doc No. 206, 61st Cong., 2d sess.)

[S. 4667, Sixty-first Congress, second session.]

A BILL To provide for United States surgeons, immigrant inspectors, and matrons on vessels carrying immigrant or emigrant passengers between ports of the United States and foreign ports.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That at least one immigrant inspector and one matron of the United States immigration service shall be detailed for service on, and shall be received on, every vessel carrying immigrant or emigrant passengers, or passengers other than first and second cabin passengers, between ports of the United States and foreign ports, unless, because of infrequent sailings, the small number of such passengers carried, or for some other valid reason such detail is, in the opinion of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, impracticable. On voyages from United States ports such inspectors and matrons shall be provided with accommodations equal to second cabin accommodations, but shall have access at any time to the quarters where emigrant passengers are carried. On voyages to United States ports such inspectors and matrons shall be provided with comfortable accommodations in, and shall remain in, that part of the vessel where immigrant passengers are carried. It shall be the duty of such inspectors and matrons, under the direction of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, to supply immigrant passengers with such information as may be of value to them on arrival in the United States, to observe such passengers during the voyage and report to the immigration authorities in charge at the port of landing any information of value in determining the admissibility of such passengers under the laws regulating immigration of aliens into the United States. It shall further be the duty of such inspectors and matrons to observe violations of the provisions of such laws and the violation of such provisions of the "passenger act" of August second, eighteen hundred and eighty-two, as amended, as relate to the care and treatment of immigrant passengers at sea, and report the same to the proper United States officials at ports of landing, and, if authorized by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, to the proper officer of the vessel. Proper quarters for such inspectors and matrons on voyages to and from United States ports shall be furnished at the expense of the vessel, and subsistence and other service shall be furnished by the vessel at the expense of the United States. Whenever the Secretary of Commerce and Labor so directs, a surgeon of the United States Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service, detailed to the Immigration Service, not lower in rank than a passed assistant surgeon, shall be received and carried on any vessel transporting immigrant or emigrant passengers, or passengers other than first and second cabin passengers, between ports of the United States and foreign ports. Such surgeons shall be permitted to make all necessary orders and directions, which orders shall be enforced and carried out by the master or commanding officer of any vessel to whom they are given, in relation to any provisions of the laws regulating the immigration of aliens into the United States and the violation of such provisions of the "passenger act" of August second, eighteen hundred and eighty-two, as relate to the care and treatment of immigrant passengers at sea. Such surgeons shall accompany the master or captain of the vessel in their visits to the sanitary officers of the ports of call during the voyage, and should contagious or infectious diseases prevail at any port where passengers are received he shall take all reasonable precautionary measures for the health of persons on board. Such surgeons on arrival at ports of the United States shall also assist in the examination of immigrants arriving on the vessel to which he has been detailed. Such surgeons shall wear the prescribed uniform of their service, and shall be provided with a cabin of the first class and served with meals in the first-class saloon at the expense of the vessel. For every violation of this section any person, including any transportation company, owning or operating the vessel in which such violation occurs, shall pay to the collector of customs of the customs district in which the next United States port of arrival is located the sum of one thousand dollars for each and every day during which such violation continues, the term "violation" to include the neglect or refusal of any person having authority so to do to permit any such immigrant inspector, matron, or surgeon to be received on board such vessel and be given the accommodations and food herein provided for, and also the neglect or refusal of the master or commanding officer of any such vessel to obey any lawful directions of any such surgeon, and no vessel shall be granted clearance papers pending the determination of the question of the liability of such fine, and, in the event such fine is imposed, while it remains unpaid, nor shall such fine be remitted or refunded: Provided, That clearance may be granted prior to the determination of all such questions upon the deposit of a sum sufficient to cover such fine and costs, such sum to be named by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor.

SEC. 2. That this act shall take effect July first, nineteen hundred and ten.

APPENDIXES.

A. UNITED STATES STEERAGE LAWS.

B.

HEARINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS ON STEERAGE LEGISLATION. C. STEERAGE LAWS AND REGULATIONS OF OTHER COUNTRIES.

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