"(h) That all certificates of service or efficiency issued by the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation shall be subject to suspension or revocation on the same grounds and in the same manner and with like procedure as is provided in the case of suspension or revocation of licenses of officers under the provisions of section 4450 of the Revised Statutes.

"(i) It shall be unlawful to employ any person, or for any person to serve aboard any merchant vessel of the United States, below the rating of licensed officer, who has not a certificate of service issued by a board of local inspectors, and anyone violating this section shall be liable to a penalty of $100 for each offense.

"(j) This section is not to amend or repeal any of the provisions of chapter 8 of title 47, United States Code-Telegraphs, Telephones, and Radio Telegraphs.

"(k) Nothing herein shall be construed to impose, sanction, or permit any condition of involuntary servitude nor to prevent any seaman from leaving the service of any vessel when in a safe harbor to the same extent and with like effect as under the provisions of existing law.

"(1) This section shall take effect six months after the enactment of this Act: Provided, That if it is found impracticable on the part of the Department of Commerce to furnish the certificates herein provided, the Secretary of Commerce may, in his discretion, extend the effective date for a period not exceeding three months."

SEC. 2. That section 2 of the Act of March 4, 1915, is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 2. That in all merchant vessels of the United States of more than one hundred tons gross, excepting those navigating rivers, harbors, lakes (other than Great Lakes), bays, sounds, bayous, and canals, exclusively, the licensed officers and sailors, coal passers, firemen, oilers, and water tenders shall, while at sea, be divided into at least three watches, which shall be kept on duty successively for the performance of ordinary work incident to the sailing and management of the vessel. The seamen shall not be shipped to work alternately in the fireroom and on deck, nor shall those shipped for deck duty be required to work in the fireroom, or vice versa; nor shall any licensed officer or seaman in the deck or engine department be required to work more than eight hours in one day; but these provisions shall not limit either the authority of the master or other officer or the obedience of the seamen when in the judgment of the master or other officer the whole or any part of the crew are needed for maneuvering, shifting berth, mooring, or unmooring, the vessel or the performance of work necessary for the safety of the vessel, her passengers, crew, and cargo, or for the saving of life aboard other vessels in jeopardy, or when in port or at sea, from requiring the whole or any part of the crew to participate in the performance of fire, lifeboat, or other drills. While such vessel is in a safe harbor no seaman shall be required to do any unnecessary work on Sundays or the following-named days: New Year's Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day, but this shall not prevent the dispatch of a vessel on regular schedule or when ready to proceed on her voyage. And at all times while such vessel is in a safe harbor, eight hours, inclusive of the anchor watch, shall

fail to comply with this section and the regulation issued thereunder, the owner shall be liable to a penalty not to exceed $500, and the seamen shall be entitled to discharge from such vessel and to receive the wages earned. But this section shall not apply to vessels engaged in salvage operations: Provided, That in all tugs and barges subject to this section when engaged on a voyage of less than six hundred miles, the licensed officers and members of crews other than coal passers, firemen, oilers, and water tenders may, while at sea, be divided into not less than two watches, but nothing in this proviso shall be construed as repealing any part of section 4463 of the Revised Statutes. This section shall take effect six months after the enactment of this Act."

SEC. 3. Section 4551 of the Revised Statutes (U. S. C., title 46, sec. 643) is amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 4551. (a) Every seaman upon a merchant vessel of the United States of the burden of one hundred gross tons or upward, except vessels employed exclusively in trade on the navigable rivers of the United States, shall be furnished with a book, to be known as a 'continuous discharge book', which shall be retained by him and which shall contain the signature of the seaman to whom it is so furnished and a statement of his nationality, age, personal description, photograph, and home address. Such books shall be in such form and issued by the shipping commissioners and collectors and deputy collectors of customs at ports where no shipping commissioners have been appointed in such manner as the Director of Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation, subject to the approval of the Secretary of Commerce, shall determine. Any person, corporation, or association, other than a shipping commissioner, or collector or deputy collector of customs, who shall issue or cause to be issued any such book or imitation thereof, or any person, other than the real owner, who uses or endeavors to use any such book, or who makes any statement or endorsement in any such book not herein authorized, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be imprisoned not less than one month nor more than three months, in the discretion of the court.

"(b) Upon the discharge of any seaman and the payment of his wages, the shipping commissioner shall enter in the continuous discharge book of such seaman the name of the vessel, the nature of the voyage (foreign or coastwise), the class to which the vessel belongs (steam, motor, sail, or barge), the date and place of the shipment and of the discharge of such seaman, and the rating then held by such seaman. Whenever a seaman is discharged in any collection district where no shipping commissioner has been appointed, the master of the vessel shall perform the duties of such commissioner and shall make the proper entries in such continuous discharge book; and when the seamen are not required by law to be signed on and discharged before a shipping commissioner, the master shall make such proper entries in the discharge book. Any master who fails to make such entries shall be fined the sum of $50 for each such offense. This subsection shall take effect as to vessels engaged in foreign and intercoastal voyages six months after the enactment of this Act and as to all other vessels within one year

"(c) There shall be maintained in the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation in Washington a record of every discharge book and certificate issued under the provisions of this Act, together with the name and address of the seaman to whom it is issued, his next of kin, and a certified copy of all discharge entries in such book, which copy shall be forwarded to such Bureau by the shipping commissioner or person duly authorized to act as such before whom such holder is discharged.

"(d) In case of the loss of a book by shipwreck or other casualty the seaman shall be supplied with another discharge book, in which shall be entered all data contained in the last book so far as this may be available from copies of records kept by the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation; in other cases of loss the seaman may obtain a duplicate of such book containing the same entries upon payment of a sum equivalent to the cost thereof to the Government, to be determined from time to time by the Secretary of Commerce.'

SEC. 4. (a) The local inspectors of the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation shall inspect the crew quarters of every American vessel, at least once in each month, or at such times as such vessel shall enter an American port, and shall satisfy themselves that such quarters are of the size required by law or regulations issued thereunder, are properly ventilated and in a clean and sanitary condition, and are equipped with the proper plumbing and mechanical appliances required by law or regulations issued thereunder, and that such plumbing and mechanical appliances are in good working order and condition.

(b) Whenever it shall be found that the crew quarters of any such vessel are not of the size required by law or regulations issued thereunder or are not properly ventilated or are not in a clean and sanitary condition or are not equipped with the proper plumbing and mechanical appliances required by law or regulations issued thereunder, or that such plumbing and mechanical appliances are not in good working order and condition, the appropriate board of local inspectors shall withdraw the certificate of inspection of such vessel and refuse to reissue the same until such improper conditions have been corrected; and the master or other licensed officer of such vessel who shall have willfully or negligently permitted such vessel to be in such improper condition shall be subject to a penalty of not more than $500.

(c) This section shall take effect ninety days after the enactment of this Act.

SEO. 5. (a) From and after the enactment of this Act all licensed officers and pilots of vessels of the United States shall be citizens of the United States, native-born, or completely naturalized.

(b) From and after six months after the enactment of this Act upon each departure of any such vessel from a port of the United States, 75 per centum or the crew, excluding licensed officers, shall be citizens of the United States, native-born, or completely naturalized, unless the Secretary of Commerce shall, upon investigation, ascertain that qualified citizen seamen are not available, when, under such conditions, he may reduce the above percentages.

(c) If any vessel while on a foreign voyage is for any reason

or vacancy caused by the promotion of another to such position may be supplied by a person other than defined in paragraph (a) and (b) until the first call of such vessel at a port in the United States where such replacements can be obtained.

(d) The owner, agent, or officer of any such vessel, who shall employ any person in violation of the provisions of this section, shall be subject to a penalty of $500 for each offense.

SEC. 6. That any person who (1) shall receive or have in his possession any certificate, license, or document issued to vessels or officers or seamen by the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation or by any officer or employee of the United States authorized by law to represent such Bureau, to which he is not lawfully entitled, with intent unlawfully to use the same; or (2) shall use or exhibit or attempt to use or exhibit any such certificate, license, or document to which he is not lawfully entitled; or (3) without lawful authority shall alter or change, or attempt to change, any such certificate, license, or document by addition, interpolation, deletion, or erasure; or (4) shall forge, counterfeit, or steal, or shall attempt to forge, counterfeit, or steal, any such certificate, license, or document; or (5) shall unlawfully have in his possession or knowingly use any such altered, changed, forged, counterfeit, or stolen certificate, license, or document; or (6) shall print or manufacture, or cause to be printed or manufactured, any blank form of such certificate, license, or document without first obtaining the authority of the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation; or (7) shall have in his possession without lawful excuse, and with intent unlawfully to use the same, any blank form of such certificate, license, or document; or, (8) shall in any manner transfer, or cause to be so transferred, or negotiate such transfer of, any blank form of such certificate, license, or document, or any such altered, changed, forged, counterfeit, or stolen certificate, license, or document, or any such certificate, license, or document to which the party transferring or receiving the same is not lawfully entitled; or (9) shall aid or abet the perpetration of any of the foregoing acts shall for each offense, upon conviction thereof, be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned for not more than five years, or both.

SEC. 7. The Secretary of Commerce shall enforce this Act as to all vessels of the United States subject to the provisions of this Act through collectors of customs and other Government officers acting under the direction of the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation, and shall make such rules and regulations as he may deem necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act.

SEC. 8. No provision of this Act and no amendment made by this Act shall apply to fishing or whaling vessels or yachts: Provided, however, That the provisions of law herein amended shall continue in effect insofar as they are applicable to said vessels or yachts with like force and effect as if this Act had not been passed.

SEC. 9. If any provision of this Act, or the application thereof to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the remainder of the Act, and the application of the provisions thereof, shall not be affected thereby.

SEC. 10. There are hereby authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act. Approved, June 25, 1936.

[H. R. 8555]

AN ACT

To further the development and maintenance of an adequate and well-balanced American merchant marine, to promote the commerce of the United States, to aid in the national defense, to repeal certain former legislation, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

TITLE I-DECLARATION OF POLICY

SECTION 101. It is necessary for the national defense and development of its foreign and domestic commerce that the United States shall have a merchant marine (a) sufficient to carry its domestic water-borne commerce and a substantial portion of the water-borne export and import foreign commerce of the United States and to provide shipping service on all routes essential for maintaining the flow of such domestic and foreign water-borne commerce at all times, (b) capable of serving as a naval and military auxiliary in time of war or national emergency, (c) owned and operated under the United States flag by citizens of the United States insofar as may be practicable, and (d) composed of the best-equipped, safest, and most suitable types of vessels, constructed in the United States and manned with a trained and efficient citizen personnel. It is hereby declared to be the policy of the United States to foster the development and encourage the maintenance of such a merchant marine. TITLE II-UNITED STATES MARITIME COMMISSION

SEO. 201. (a) An agency is hereby created, to be known as the United States Maritime Commission (hereinafter referred to as the Commission). The Commission shall be composed of five persons, in this title referred to as members, to be appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The President shall designate the member to act as chairman of the Commission, and the Commission may elect one of its members as vice chairman. The members of the Commission shall be appointed as soon as practicable after the enactment of this Act and shall continue in office as designated by the President at the time of nomination, for terms of two, three, four, five, and six years, respectively, from the date upon which they qualify and take office; but their successors shall be appointed for terms of six years, except that any person chosen to fill a vacancy shall be appointed only for the unexpired term of the member whom he succeeds. The members shall be appointed with due regard to their special fitness for the efficient discharge of the duties imposed upon them by this Act. Not more than three of the members shall be appointed from the same political party. A vacancy in the Commission shall be filled in the same manner as an original