subject could be relieved from the curious result of our attempt to follow the English law, a result which was illustrated in the Titanic case by a liability under our laws of $90,000 as contrasted with a liability under the English laws of nearly $3,000,000.

APPENDIX C

Tentative draft of a bill to create a commission to investigate safety at sea and allied subjects and to report its recommendations to Congress as a basis for either congressional legislation or future international agreements respecting the construction, equipment and operation of vessels, the condition of seamen, and the liability of shipowners for injuries or death at sea.

JOINT RESOLUTION

Providing for the creation of a commission to investigate the laws and regulations for the construction, equipment and navigation of vessels, and other questions relating to safety at sea.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That a commission be, and the same is hereby, created, to be appointed by the President, and to be composed of one naval constructor, one officer of the Navy experienced in marine engineering, one representative of the Steamboat Inspection Service, one representative of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, one experienced merchant shipbuilder, one shipowner or officer of a corporation owning and operating ships, one experienced seaman, and one attorney-at-law. The President shall designate one of his appointees as chairman of the commission.

Sec. 2. The commission shall make a thorough investigation of the laws and regulations of the United States relating to the construction, equipment and navigation of vessels, the terms and conditions of the employment of seamen, the liability of shipowners for personal injury or death at sea, the effect in operation of such laws and regulations, and all other questions relating to the general subject of safety at sea; and shall report its findings and recommendations, together with a draft of bills and rules or regulations before January first, nineteen hundred and eighteen.

Sec. 3. The commission is authorized, as a whole or by sub-committees of the commission duly appointed, to meet and to hold public hearings anywhere in the United States; to issue subpoenas for and compel the attendance of witnesses; to administer oaths; to examine witnesses; and to require the production of books, papers, documents, and other evidence. The several departments and bureaus of the government, when directed by the President, shall furnish the commission, upon its request, all records, papers and information in their possession relating to any subject under investigation by the commission.

Sec. 4. The members of the commission other than those in the service of the United States shall be paid a compensation of ten dollars per diem while actually engaged on the work of the commission and while going to or re

turning from such work. The commission is authorized to employ such secretaries, experts and other assistants as shall be necessary, to fix their fees or salaries, and to authorize them to travel in or outside the United States on the business of the commission; to rent such offices; to purchase such books, stationery, and other supplies; and to make such other expenditures as may be necessary to carry out the purposes for which such commission is created. The members of the commission, and, when authorized by the commission, their secretaries, experts and other assistants, shall be paid actual traveling and other necessary expenses.

Sec. 5. All expenses of said commission for all the time in which said commission shall be actually engaged in this investigation shall be paid out of any funds in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated, on the certificate of the chairman of said commission, and the sum necessary for carrying out the provisions of this resolution is hereby appropriated.

(112)

THE WORKING OF THE SEAMEN'S ACT1

EMERSON E. PARVIN

Secretary, International Mercantile Marine Company

'N the letter of the president of the Academy inviting me

I

to be one of the speakers on this occasion on the topic, "Safety at Sea, and the Protection of American Seamen," he stated that the symposium would present the different views of the probable working of the Seamen's Act. The title of this act is: "An act to promote the welfare of American seamen in the merchant marine of the United States; to abolish arrest and imprisonment as a penalty for desertion and to secure the abrogation of treaty provisions in relation thereto; and to promote safety at sea." It is somewhat significant that the president of the Academy puts safety at sea first, while the author of the bill mentions it last.

Although the act did not come into force as to American vessels until November 4th instant, a scrutiny of its provisions by practical men not only revealed its inadequacy to fulfil the high promise of its title, but also demonstrated that it would be a powerful weapon against the upbuilding of an American merchant marine, legislation to accomplish which was specifically promised in the platform adopted at Baltimore on which the present Administration went into office. Consequently, another title has now been suggested for the bill, viz.: "An act to discourage American shipping; to involve the Administration in irritating controversies with friendly powers; and to ensnare the votes of organized labor."

The bill was passed without a roll-call in either house, and became a law by the signature of the President on March 4th, 1915, in his room at the Capitol. When he left the White House two hours earlier he was still uncertain as to what he would do with the bill, and he took it along with him. One

1 Read at the meeting of the Academy of Political Science, November 13, 1915.

of the Senators who was largely responsible for the passage of this legislation, according to the Providence Journal of March 8th, "boasted of the fact that he was a landlubber; that he had nothing to do with the framing of the bill; he was ignorant of the subject-matter, and had no intelligent notion of its possible effects and consequences except that he was sure (and in this he was undoubtedly right) that it was satisfactory to the lobby which represented the Seamen's Union.”

The reputed author of the bill is Mr. Andrew Furuseth, president of the Seamen's Union, who was one of the delegates from the United States to the International Conference on Safety of Life at Sea, which met in London in the fall of 1913, the convention being signed at London, January 20th, 1914, an authenticated copy of which was sent to the Senate by the President March 17th, 1914, but never ratified by that body.

The convention embodied the unanimous conclusions of the international conference, which was comprised of the representatives of the fourteen principal maritime nations and of three of the self-governing British dominions. The Secretary of State, in his letter of transmittal, says under date of March 13th, 1914:

The conference was called in a large measure upon the suggestion of the government of the United States, and the advice of the American delegation was influential upon a great many particulars which entered into this convention. The conference was composed of men trained to the sea and experienced in the administration of the laws relating to maritime affairs, and its unanimous conclusions carry weight on the matters of which the convention treats. The American delegates, who took an active part in the framing of every article and regulation of the convention, are agreed that the international standards for the safety of life at sea thus proposed to be established are higher than those of any nation now in force, and that the ratification of the convention will secure benefits for humanity by the joint action of maritime nations which could not be accomplished by any one nation, however powerful upon the sea.

The words of the Secretary of State quoted above, "The American delegates who took an active part in the framing of every article and regulation of the convention," are well

115 chosen, for one of the American delegates, the president of the Seamen's Union, the same Mr. Andrew Furuseth, was not one of those who had the honor of framing these praiseworthy rules and regulations, having resigned and returned to the United States when it became evident that he could not force his views upon the whole convention.

Why the Senate would not ratify this convention as a whole is a question I cannot answer, but in the light of the subsequent legislation which Congress passed, and which is the subject now before this meeting, the attitude of Congress is at least interesting. It is true the life-saving provisions of the convention are incorporated in the Seamen's Bill, and are being complied with by owners of American steamers at considerable cost, while steamers of foreign countries whose inspection laws approximate our own are exempt under the ruling of the Attorney General of the United States.

The act is now a law. The word "law" means a rule of action established by authority, and hence a law must be obeyed by those who created the power that made it. This truth was recognized and acted upon by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company when they found that it would be impossible to continue the operation of their ships and comply with the law.

The first hardship which the Pacific Mail Company foresaw in the bill was the language test. It is well known that the ability to meet competition depends upon the efficiency and economy of operation. Wages often form the crux of the situation, and they were of first importance to the Pacific Mail, which even with low-priced labor was not in ordinary times able to show earnings commensurate with the investment and an adequate reward for the experience and skill required in operation. The act provides that no ship of any nationality shall be permitted to depart from any port of the United States unless she has on board a crew not less than seventy-five per centum of which, in each department thereof, are able to understand any order given by the officers of such vessel, nor less than forty per centum, in the first year, forty-five per centum in the second year, fifty per centum in the third year, fifty-five per centum in the fourth