APPENDIXES.

APPENDIX A.

PROPOSED LEGISLATION.

The following drafts of bills incorporate suggestions in the report. To obviate possible difficulty as to inspection which might arise, it may be desirable to add to bill A the following section usually added to special acts admitting foreign-built vessels to American registry:

SEC. 2. That the Secretary of the Treasury shall direct the inspection of said vessel, and if a steam vessel, of steam boilers, steam pipes, and the appurtenances of said boilers, and cause to be granted the proper and usual certificate issued to steam vessels of the merchant marine, without reference to the fact that said steam boilers, steam pipes, and appurtenances were not constructed pursuant to the laws of the United States, and were not constructed of iron stamped pursuant to said laws; and the tests to be applied in the inspection of said boilers, steam pipes, and appurtenances will be the same in all respects as to strength and safety as are required in the inspection of boilers constructed in the United States for marine purposes, save the fact that said boilers, steam pipes, and appurtenances not being constructed pursuant to the requirements of the laws of the United States and are of unstamped iron shall not be an obstacle to the granting of the usual certificate, if said boilers, steam pipes, and appurtenances are found to be of sufficient strength and safety. The bills are:

A. Admission to American registry of American-owned vessels built abroad. (Reported to the House of Representatives.)

B. Concerning tonnage tax. (Amendments to existing law in italics.)

C. Relating to net tonnage. (Amendments to existing law in italics.)

D. Empowering the Secretary of the Treasury to mitigate certain fines and penalties on vessels. (Passed the House of Representatives.)

E. Abolishing registry bonds. (Passed Senate, reported and on the calendar of the House of Representatives.)

F. Concerning repaired wrecks. (Passed House of Representatives.)

A.

A BILL (H. R. 2655) for the free admission to American registry of ships built in foreign countries. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the first day of March, eighteen hundred and ninety-five, any citizen or citizens of the United States may purchase the whole of any steam or sail vessel, no matter where said vessel may have been built, whether within the United States or in a foreign country, or whether said vessel may have been owned in whole or in part by an alien or aliens; and said vessel shall be registered free of duty as to her hull, spars, appliances, outfit, and equipment (including boilers, engines, and machinery, if a steam vessel) as a vessel of the United States by the collector in any port of entry of the United States to whom application for such registry may be made by said citizen or citizens, in the same manner as though said vessel had been built in the United States: Provided, That any vessel so purchased and registered shall not be used or allowed to engage in the coastwise trade of the United States.

B.

A BILL to amend section eleven of chapter four hundred and twenty-one of the laws of eighteen hundred and eighty-six, as amended by section one of chapter sixty-one of the laws of eighteen hundred and eighty-eight, concerning tonnage tax.

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

SECTION 1. That section eleven of chapter four hundred and twenty-one of the laws of eighteen hundred and eighty-six, as amended by section one of chapter sixtyone of the laws of eighteen hundred and eighty-eight, be amended to read:

"SEC. 11. That section fourteen of 'An act to remove certain burdens on the American merchant marine and encourage the American foreign carrying trade, and

1

7325 NAV- -1

for other purposes,' approved June twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and eighty-four, be amended so as to read as follows:

"SEC. 14. That in lieu of the tax on tonnage of thirty cents per ton per annum imposed prior to July first, eighteen hundred and eighty-four, a duty of two cents per gross ton, not to exceed in the aggregate ten cents per ton in any one year, is hereby imposed at each entry on all vessels which shall be entered in any port of the United States from any foreign port or place in North America, Central America, the West India Islands, the Bahama Islands, the Bermuda Islands, or the coast of South America bordering on the Caribbean Sea, or the Sandwich Islands, or Newfoundland. "And a duty of five cents per gross ton, not to exceed twenty-five cents per ton per annum, is hereby imposed at each entry upon all vessels which shall be entered in the United States from any other foreign ports, not, however, to include vessels in distress or not engaged in trade.

"Provided, That the President of the United States shall suspend the collection of so much of the duty herein imposed on vessels entered from any foreign port as may be in excess of the tonnage and light-house dues, or other equivalent tax or taxes, imposed in said port on American vessels by the government of the foreign country in which such port is situated, and shall, upon the passage of this act, and from time to time thereafter as often as it may become necessary by reason of changes in the laws of the foreign countries above mentioned, indicate by proclamation the ports to which such suspension shall apply, and the rate or rates of tonnage duty, if any, to be collected under such suspension.

"Provided further, That such proclamation shall exclude from the benefits of the suspension herein authorized the vessels of any foreign country in whose ports the fees or dues of any kind or nature imposed on vessels of the United States, or the import or export duties on their cargoes, are in excess of the fees, dues, or duties imposed on the vessels of such country, or on the cargoes of such vessels. But this proviso shall not be held to be inconsistent with the special regulation by foreign countries of duties and other charges on their own vessels, and the cargoes thereof, engaged in their coasting trade, or with the existence between such countries and other states of reciprocal stipulations founded on special conditions and equivalents, and thus not within the treatment of American vessels under the most favored nation clause in treaties between the United States and such countries.

"And sections forty-two hundred and twenty-three and forty-two hundred and twenty-four, and so much of section forty-two hundred and nineteen of the Revised Statutes as conflicts with this section, are hereby repealed.'"

C.

A BILL to amend section one of chaper three hundred and ninety-eight of the laws of eighteen hundred and eighty-two, entitled "An act to provide for deductions from the gross tonnage of vessels of the United States."

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

SECTION 1. That section one of chapter three hundred and ninety-eight of the laws of eighteen hundred and eighty-two, approved August fifth, eighteen hundred and eighty-two, entitled "An act to provide for deductions from the gross tonnage of vessels of the United States," be amended to read:

"That section forty-one hundred and fifty-three of the Revised Statutes of the United States be amended by inserting before the last paragraph thereof the following words: 666 That from the gross tonnage of every vessel of the United States there shall be deducted

"(a) The tonnage of the spaces or compartments occupied by or appropriated to the use of the crew of the vessel. Every place appropriated to the crew of the vessel shall have a space of not less the seventy-two cubic feet and not less than twelve superficial feet, measured on the deck or floor of that place, for each seaman or apprentice. Such place shall be securely constructed, properly lighted, drained and ventilated, properly protected from weather and sea, and as far as practicable properly shut off and protected from the effluvium of cargo or bilgewater, and failure to comply with this provision shall subject the owner to a penalty of five hundred dollars; every place so occupied shall be kept free from goods or stores of any kind, not being the personal property of the crew in use during the voyage, and if any such place is not so kept free, the master shall forfeit and pay to each seaman or apprentice lodged in that place the sum of fifty cents a day for each day during which any goods or stores as aforesaid are kept or stored in the place, after complaint has been made to him by any two or more of the seamen so lodged.

"(b) Any space exclusively for the use of the master, certified by the surveyor to be reasonable in extent and properly constructed.

"(c) Any space used exclusively for the working of the helm, the capstan, and the anchor gear, or for keeping the charts, signals, and other instruments of navigation and boatswain's stores.

"(d) The space occupied by the donkey engine and boiler, if connected with the main pumps of the ship.

"(e) In the case of a ship propelled wholly by sails, any space, not exceeding two and one-half per centum of the gross tonnage, used exclusively for storage of sails; provided that spaces deducted shall be certified by the surveyor to be reasonable in extent and properly and efficiently constructed for the purposes for which they are intended.

666

(f) In the case of a ship propelled by steam or other power requiring engine room a deduction for the space occupied by the propelling power shall be made as follows:

"In ships propelled by paddle wheels in which the tonnage of the space occupied by and necessary for the proper working of the boilers and machinery is above twenty per centum and under thirty per centum of the gross tonnage the deduction shall be thirty-seven per centum of the gross tonnage, and in ships propelled by screws in which the tonnage of the space is abore thirteen per centum and under twenty per centum of the gross tonnage the deduction shall be thirty-two per cent of the gross tonnage. In the case of screw steamers the contents of the trunk shaft shall be deemed spaces necessary for the proper working of the machinery.

(g) In the case of other vessels the deduction for propelling power shall be estimated in the same manner, or if the owner requests there shall be deducted from the gross tonnage of the vessel the tonnage of the space or spaces actually occupied by or required to be inclosed for the proper working of the boilers and machinery, including the trunk shaft or alley in screw steamers, with the addition in the case of vessels propelled with paddle wheels of fifty per centum and in the case of vessels propelled by screws of seventy-five per centum of the tonnage of such space.

(h) If there be a break, a poop, or any other permanent closed-in space on the upper deck available for cargo or stores, or for the berthing or accommodation of passengers or crew, the tounage of that space shall be ascertained and added to the gross tonnage; provided that no addition need be made for such closed-in space solely appropriated for the berthing of the crew unless that space exceed five per cent of the remaining tonnage of the ship, and in case of excess the excess only need be added; but on the application of the owner the tonnage of such crew space shall be computed in the case of a screw steamship, and if it appears that with such tonnage included the allowance for propelling power does not occupy more than thirteen per centum of the gross tonnage an allowance of thirty-two per centum for engine room shall still be made.

(i) On a request in writing to the commissioner of navigation by the owner of the ship the tonnage of such portion of the space or spaces above the crown of the engine room and above the upper deck as is framed in for the machinery or for the admission of light and air and not required to be added to gross tonnage shall, for the purpose of ascertaining the tonnage of the space occupied by the propelling power, be added to the tonnage of the engine space, but it shall then be included in the gross tonnage; such space or spaces must be reasonable in extent, safe, and sea worthy, and can not be used for any purpose other than the machinery or for the admission of light and air to the machinery or boilers of the ship.

And the proper deductions from the gross tonnage having been made, the remainder shall be deemed the net or register tonnage of such vessels.

"The register or other official certificate of the tonnage or nationality of a vessel of the United States, in addition to what is now required by law to be expressed therein, shall state separately the deductions made from the gross tonnage, and shall also state the net or register tonnage of the vessel.

"But the outstanding registers or enrollments of vessels of the United States shall not be rendered void by the addition of such new statement of her tonnage, unless voluntarily surrendered, but the same may be added to the outstanding document or by an appendix thereto, with a certificate of a collector of customs that the original estimate of tonnage is amended.

“Upon application by the owner or master of an American vessel in foreign trade collectors of customs, under regulations to be approved by the Secretary of the Treasury, are authorized to attach to the register of such vessel an appendix stating separately, for use in foreign ports, the measurement of such space or spaces as are permitted to be deducted from gross tonnage by the rules of other nations and are not permitted by the laws of the United States.""

SEC. 2. This act shall not be construed to require the remeasurement of any American ressel duly measured before July first, eighteen hundred and ninety-five, but upon application by the owner of any such vessel collectors of customs shall cause such vessel, or the spaces to be deducted, to be measured according to the provisions of this act, and if a new register is not issued, the statement of such remeasurement shall be attached by an appendix to the outstanding register or enrollment with a certificate of the collector of customs that the original estimate of tonnage is amended pursuant to this act.

SEC. 3. The provisions of this act requiring a crew space of seventy-two cubic feet per man shall apply only to vessels the construction of which shall be begun after June 30, 1895. SEC. 4. Under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury the Commissioner of Navigation shall make regulations needful to give effect to the provisions of this act. SEC. 5. This act shall take effect on the first day of July, 1895.

D.

AN ACT (H. R. 7796) to enable the Secretary of the Treasury to remit or mitigate fines, penalties, and forfeitures.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section fifty-two hundred and ninety-four of the Revised Statutes of the United States be, and is hereby, amended by the striking out of the words "steam vessels" and the insertion in lieu thereof of the words "vessels," so that said section will read as follows:

"SEC. 5294. The Secretary of the Treasury may, upon application therefor, remit or mitigate any fine or penalty provided for in laws relating to vessels, or discontinue any prosecution to recover penalties denounced in such laws, excepting the penalty of imprisonment, or of removal from office, upon such terms as he, in his discretion, shall think proper; and all rights granted to informers by such laws shall be held subject to the Secretary's power of remission, except in cases where the claims of any informer to the share of any penalty shall have been determined by a court of competent jurisdiction prior to the application for the remission of the penalty; and the Secretary shall have authority to ascertain the facts upon all such applications, in such manner and under such regulations as he may deem proper.

E.

AN ACT [S. 588] to repeal section forty-one hundred and forty-five of the Revised Statutes of the United States, and to amend sections forty-one hundred and forty-six and forty-three hundred and twenty, also section one of the Act amending section forty-two hundred and fourteen of the Revised Statutes, approved March third, eighteen hundred and eighty-three, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section forty-one hundred and forty-five of the Revised Statutes, providing for bonds for registry of vessels, is hereby repealed.

SEC. 2. That section forty-one hundred and forty-six of the Revised Statutes is hereby amended so as to read:

"SEC. 4146. A certificate of registry shall be solely used for the vessel for which it is granted, and shall not be sold, lent, or otherwise disposed of, to any person whomsoever; and in case the vessel so registered shall be lost, or taken by an enemy, burned, or broken up, or shall be otherwise prevented from returning to the port to which she may belong, the certificate, if preserved, shall be delivered up within eight days after the arrival of the master or person having the charge or command of such vessel within any district of the United States, to the collector of such district; and if any foreigner, or any person for the use and benefit of such foreigner, shall purchase or otherwise become entitled to the whole, or any part or share of, or interest in such vessel, the same being within a district of the United States, the certificate shall, within seven days after such purchase, change, or transfer of property, be delivered up to the collector of the district; and if any such purchase, change, or transfer of property shall happen when such vessel shall be at any foreign port or place, or at sea, then the master or person having the charge or command thereof shall, within eight days after his arrival within any district of the United States, deliver up the certificate to the collector of such district. Any master or owner violating the provisions of this section shall be liable to a penalty of not exceeding five hundred dollars, and the certificate of registry shall be thenceforth void. The Secretary of the Treasury shall have the power to remit or mitigate such penalty if in his opinion it was incurred without willful negligence or intention of fraud."

SEC. 3. That section forty-three hundred and twenty, Revised Statutes, is hereby amended so as to read:

"SEC. 4320. No licensed vessel shall be employed in any trade whereby the revenne laws of the United States shall be defrauded. The master of every such vessel shall swear that he is a citizen of the United States, and that such license shall not be used for any other vessel or any other employment than that for which it was specially granted, or in any trade or business whereby the revenue of the United States may be defrauded; and if such vessels be less than twenty tons burden, the husband or managing owner shall swear that she is wholly the property of citizens of the United States; whereupon it shall be the duty of the collector of the district comprehending the port whereto such vessel may belong to grant a license."

SEC. 4. That no bond shall be required on the licensing of yachts; no licensed yacht shall engage in any trade, nor in any way violate the revenue laws of the United States; and every such yacht shall comply with the laws in all respects. Section one of the Act approved March third, eighteen hundred and eighty-three, amending section forty-two hundred and fourteen, Revised Statutes, and so forth, is amended accordingly.