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Power to take specimens.

R. S., 4398.

Status of ves

sels.

May 31, 1880.

The Commissioner may take or cause to be taken at all times, in the waters of the sea-coast of the United States, where the tide ebbs and flows, and also in the waters of the lakes, such fish or specimens thereof as may in his judgment, from time to time, be needful or proper for the conduct of his duties, any law, custom, or usage of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.

The Secretary of the Navy is hereby directed to place the vessels of the Bureau of Fisheries on the same footing (21 Stat., 151.) with the Navy Department as those of the Coast and Geodetic Survey.

Deputy Commissioner. Mar. 3, 1883.

(22 Stat., 628.)

Revenue rine to aid.

Mar. 3, 1885.

Ma

The Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries is hereby authorized to designate from the employees of the Bureau, an assistant, to discharge his duties in case of his absence or disability: Provided, That no increase of pay shall be granted in consequence of such selection. [A deputy commissioner, at salary of three thousand dollars a year, is provided for in appropriation act, approved March 3, 1903.]

The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to detail from time to time for duty under the Commissioner of Fish (28 Stat., 494.) and Fisheries, any officers and men of the Revenue Marine Service whose services can be spared for such duty.

Estimates.

Aug. 5, 1892.

The Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries shall embrace (27 Stat., 362.) in the estimates of appropriations for the Fish Commission for the fiscal year eighteen hundred and ninety-four, and for each year thereafter, estimates for all officers, clerks, and other employees whose services are permanent and continuous in their character and deemed to be necessary for an efficient and economical execution of the appropriations for the Fish Commission.

Statement of expenditures for propagation. Mar. 3, 1887.

The Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries shall submit to Congress at its next session a detailed statement of (2 Stat., 523.) the expenditures for the fiscal year eighteen hundred and eighty-seven under all appropriations for "propagation of food-fishes" and annually thereafter a detailed statement of expenditures under all appropriations for "propagation of food-fishes" shall be submitted to Congress at the beginning of each session thereof.

Printing re

port.

[There shall be printed] of the report of the CommisJan. 12, 1895. sioner of Fish and Fisheries eight thousand copies; two (28 Stat., 614.) thousand for the Senate, four thousand for the House, and two thousand for distribution by the Bureau of Fisheries.

Sec. 73.

Printing bulletins.

[There shall be printed] of the bulletins of the Bureau of Fisheries five thousand copies; one thousand for the Senate, two thousand for the House, and two thousand for distribution by the Bureau.

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Distribution of specimens.

Distribution of duplicate specimens of the * * Bureau of Fisheries may be made to colleges, academies, and other institutions of learning upon the payment by the (Stat., 332.) recipients of the cost of preparation for transportation and the transportation thereof. [Distribution is made from National Museum.]

chase Exposi

[An exhibit by the Bureau of Fisheries at the Louisiana Louisiana PurPurchase Exposition, and a representative of the Bureau tion. Mar. 3, 1901. on United States Government board, are provided for by (31 Stat., 1442.) law.]

* *

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Hospital serv

ice.

All necessary hospital and ambulance service on vessels of the Bureau of Fisheries shall be performed June 17, 1898. by the members of said corps [naval hospital].

* * *

Facilities for study and research in the Government Departments, the Bureau of Fisheries, and similar institutions hereafter established shall be afforded to scientific investigators and to duly qualified individuals, students and graduates of institutions of learning in the several States and Territories, as well as the District of Columbia, under such rules and restrictions as the heads of the Departments and bureaus mentioned may prescribe.

(30 Stat., 475.)

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acts.

[The Bureau of Fisheries is provided with a chief clerk, Personnel of at a salary of $2,400 per annum, and other employees. Appropriation Authority for the Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries' and the Deputy Commissioner is given on pages 151, 152.]

CHAPTER XIII

BUREAU OF NAVIGATION

By act of Congress approved July 5, 1884, the Bureau of Navigation was established under the supervision of the Secretary of the Treasury, where it remained until July 1, 1903, the date of its transfer to the Department of Commerce and Labor by act approved February 14, 1903 (To establish the Department of Commerce and Labor, sec. 10, see page 30). At the time of the establishment of the Bureau of Navigation, its various functions were exercised by United States circuit courts and by different branches of the Treasury Department, but all these duties are combined under the Commissioner of Navigation who is given plenary jurisdiction over the commercial marine and merchant seamen of the United States, so far as they are not subject, under the laws, to the supervision of any other authority.

The act of July 5, 1884, specifically allotted to the Bureau the numbering of vessels and the preparation of the annual list of merchant vessels of the United States from the Bureau of Statistics; the preparation of annual reports of tonnage, the filing of marine documents of vessels, the signing of ships' registers from the Register's office; the supervision of the collection of tonnage tax and the decision of questions relating to merchant marine, fisheries, and seamen, from the Office of the Secretary of the Treasury; the supervision of shipping commissioners' offices and employees, and the shipment and discharge of seamen, from the United States circuit courts, and other matters under the clause giving general jurisdiction to the Commissioner of Navigation over the commercial marine and merchant seamen.

The consolidation of the business in one bureau checked much duplication of work, both in the Department and in the customhouses, by utilizing information which before had been reported twice or more, and advantage was taken of the opportunity to abolish or amend many forms and blanks. It also gave an opportunity to abolish various illegal exactions and practices in shipping offices which had not been brought to the notice of the courts, then exercising executive functions in the matter, and to suggest amendments to the maritime laws, the passage of which has benefited shipping and commerce.

Additional duties were imposed upon the Commissioner by Treasury order of July 18, 1884, which provides that the duties relating to navigation hitherto assigned to the Register of the Treasury having been devolved upon him, he shall sign, as Commissioner of Navigation, the certificates of registry of vessels as authorized and required by section 4158 of the Revised Statutes; that he shall cause to be transmitted the requisite supply of forms of such instruments to collectors of customs; that he shall treat as valid and still in force all such outstanding instruments as bear the signature of the Register of the Treasury; that he shall supervise the action of shipping commissioners as devolved upon the Secretary of the Treasury by the tenth section of the shipping act approved June 26, 1884; that with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, he shall regulate the mode of conducting business in their offices, and perform such other duties pertaining to the care of seamen as would devolve upon the Secretary of the Treasury by virtue of the provisions of the said act or Title LIII of the Revised Statutes; that he shall give instructions to collectors of customs in regard to the documenting of vessels and their clearance, entry, and movements, and the collection of tonnage duties therefrom so far as they may be required by the provisions of said shipping act and Titles XXXIV and XLVIII of the Revised Statutes, and that he shall also issue to collectors of customs such instructions in regard to the entry of vessels into ports subject to quarantine, as may be required by the public health, and permitted by Title LVIII, etc., of the Revised Statutes.

In harmony with the act of July 5, 1884, the Secretary of the Treasury assigned to the Bureau, June 22, 1887, the consideration of cases arising under the laws relating to fines, penalties, and forfeitures under the marine laws and their remission and mitigation; and to the collection, preservation and sale of wrecked, abandoned, and derelict property, and also by another order, the consideration of questions regarding fees. A Treasury order dated December 9, 1899, transferred specifically to the Bureau of Navigation the work of examining and disposing of petitions for the remission of fines, penalties, and forfeitures under laws relating to navigation, vessels, steamboat inspection, and pas

sengers.

By act of April 30, 1900, the laws administered by the Commissioner of Navigation were extended to Hawaii; the same was done in the case of Porto Rico by act of April 12, 1900.

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LAW PERTAINING TO THE BUREAU OF NAVIGATION

PART I

[As modified by act of February 14, 1903, sec. 10, see page 30.]

There shall be in the Department of Commerce and Labor Creation of Bu- of the United States a Bureau of Navigation, under the immediate charge of a Commissioner of Navigation.

reau.

July 5, 1884.

(23 Stat., 118.)

general jurisdiction.

The Commissioner of Navigation, under the direction of Commissioner, the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, shall have general superintendence of the commercial marine and merchant seamen of the United States, so far as vessels and seamen are not, under existing laws, subject to the supervision of any other officer of the Government.

Sec. 2.

Duties of Com

ters, ete.

He shall be specially charged with the decision of all missioner, regis- questions relating to the issue of registers, enrollments, and licenses of vessels, and to the filing and preserving of those documents; and wherever in title forty-eight [R. S., 4131-4305] or fifty [R. S., 4311-4390] of the Revised Statutes any of the above-named documents are required to be surrendered or returned to the Register of the Treasury, such requirement is hereby repealed, and such documents shall be surrendered and returned to the Commissioner of Navigation. Said Commissioner shall have charge of all similar documents now in the keeping of the Register of the Treasury, and shall perform all the duties hitherto devolved upon said Register relating to navigation.

and tonnage tax. Sec. 3.

The Commissioner of Navigation shall be charged with Measurement the supervision of the laws relating to the admeasurement of vessels, and the assigning of signal letters thereto, and of designating their official number; and on all questions of interpretation growing out of the execution of the laws relating to these subjects, and relating to the collection of tonnage tax, and to the refund of such tax when collected erroneously or illegally, his decision shall be final.

List of vessels.
Sec. 4.

Report and investigation.

Change of

names.

Sec. 5.

The Commissioner of Navigation shall annually prepare and publish a list of vessels of the United States belonging to the commercial marine, specifying the official number, signal letters, names, rig, tonnage, home port, and place and date of building of every vessel, distinguishing in such list sailing-vessels from such as may be propelled by steam or other motive power.

He shall also report annually to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor the increase of vessels of the United States, by building or otherwise, specifying their num ber, rig, and motive power. He shall also investigate the operations of the laws relative to navigation, and annually report to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor such particulars as may, in his judgment, admit of improvement or may require amendment."

The Commissioner of Navigation shall, under the direction of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, be empow

NOTE.-Specific lines of cleavage between the duties of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor and of the Secretary of the Treasury, in some of the laws in this chapter, are under consideration by the AttorneyGeneral, or may require further legislation. See page 34.

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