1.30c(1) HOUSE COMMITTEE ON THE MERCHANT MARINE AND FISHERIES

H.R. REP. No. 1672, 60th Cong., 1st Sess. (1908)

TO AMEND LAWS RELATING TO NAVIGATION, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

MAY 12, 1908.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed.

Mr. GREENE, from the Committee on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 21815]

The Committee on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 21815) to amend the laws relating to navigation, and for other purposes, having considered the same, recommend that it pass with the following amendments:

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Section 8: This section is S. 7023, introduced by Senator Depew and passed by the Senate, and is similar to H. R. 21005, introduced by Mr. Parsons. It applies exclusively to New York Bay and Harbor. Although the section is voluminous, the only change from existing law is the insertion of the following words, beginning at page 7, line 20, after the word "material," and ending at page 8, line 5, inclusive:

Each such scow or boat shall be equipped at all times with a life line or rope extending at least the length of and three feet above the deck thereof, such rope to be attached to the coaming thereof; also with a life-preserver and a life buoy for each person on board thereof; also with anchor to weigh not less than two hundred and seventy-five pounds, and at least one hundred feet of cable attached thereto. A list of the names of all men employed on any such scow or boat shall be kept by the owner or master thereof and the said list shall be open to the inspection of all parties. Failure to comply with any of the foregoing provisions shall render the owner of such scow or boat liable upon conviction thereof to a penalty of not more than five hundred dollars.

To conform to this amendment, for obvious reasons, at page 9, lines 7 and 8, the following words are inserted:

or otherwise violating any of the provisions of this section of this act.

In reporting in favor of the bill included in this section, the Secretary of Commerce and Labor states:

The bill compels scows and similar vessels carrying the refuse of New York City out to sea to be dumped to be equipped with rails or ropes, life buoys, and simple appliances necessary to safety to life.

The situation which the amendment is designed to meet is doubtless familiar to members of the committee who have visited the harbor of New York. When loaded these mud or garbage scows have practically no free board, and the decks are awash at times merely from the passing swells of large ocean steamers entering or leaving the port. In the rough weather which at times prevails in the lower bay and out at sea, where refuse must be dumped, the condition of those on board is pitifully perilous. There is no accurate record of the number of men washed overboard from these scows and drowned, but the press of New York shows such casualties are not infrequent. The need of the guard rail or rope and life-preserver and life buoy are thus evident.

The scows are taken to sea often in long tows, and if the line parts a scow drifts helplessly, a menace to other vessels in the thronged approaches to New York. The anchor will help to reduce this danger.

This section accordingly serves two useful purposes, (1) the protection of unguarded lives on these scows in the harbor and bay of New York, and (2) it decreases the danger of collisions between tows of these scows or barges and incoming or outgoing steamers. The seaborne traffic of New York is growing so rapidly and the water area is so restricted that the commercial value of the water is approaching the commercial value of the land, and every reasonable measure must be taken to secure safe navigation.

At page 8, the substitute for lines 1 to 5, inclusive, is a more exact penalty than the vague penalties prescribed in the text of the Senate and House bills as introduced.

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At page 10, lines 17 and 18, the words "forty-eight hours" are changed to "four days" to secure a wider margin of time between the issuance of a dumping permit and the return of the permit, to accord better with the present conditions and requirements of the business.

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1.30c (2) SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, 60TH CONG., 1ST SESS.

Congressional Record, Vol. 42 (1908), p. 6963

[No Relevant Discussion on Pertinent Section]

1.30c (3) CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, VOL. 42 (1908): 1.30c(3) (a) May 25: Considered and passed House, pp. 6901-6905

Mr. GREENE.

Section 8 embodies the provisions of a bill introduced by the gentleman from New York [Mr. PARSONS], and I now yield to him three minutes.

Mr. PARSONS. Mr. Speaker, section 8 consists of a bill introduced by me. It is a long section, but the only part of it that is new law is the part in italics on page 8. It relates entirely to the mud scows or boats in the harbor of New York that take garbage out to sea, and the object of the amendment is to require on each one of these scows a life line or rope, which they are now not required to have, and a life-preserver and life buoy for each person on board, and a drag anchor, so that if they get adrift the anchor will retard the progress of the scow, and it will be possible to overtake it. It also requires them to keep a list of all the men employed.

This section was recommended by the Legal Aid Society and the Seamen's Church Institute in New York, which have done a great deal of work among the seamen and which were active a couple of years ago in behalf of the bill that we passed to prevent shanghaiing. There was a hearing before the committee, where the scow people were represented, and the provision that is now in the bill is the compromise provision that was evolved at that time.

Mr. GOULDEN.

The second part to which I wish to direct the attention of the House is that in relation to providing safety lines aboard the mud scows and sea barges that go out, particularly from New York Harbor. All of the refuse of the city of New York is taken out of New York and dumped into the sea, and scores of men are drowned each year by not having the necessary protection on these boats. It provides that life lines shall be put on each scow and barge, kept there at all times, extending the length of the boat and 3 feet above the deck, such rope to be attached to the coaming, and also that a life-preserver and a life buoy shall be kept for each person on board; also an anchor, to weigh not less than 275 pounds and with at least 100 feet of cable attached thereto. Then a list of the names of all the men employed on any such scow or boat shall be kept by the owner or the master thereof, and said list shall be open to the inspection of all parties. Failure to comply with any of the foregoing provisions shall render the owner of any such scow or boat liable upon conviction thereof to a penalty of not more than $500. Now, this has been found absolutely necessary for the protection of human life. As I said, scores of men are drowned or lost or missing each year who work aboard these boats. Something therefore must be done in the cause of humanity and the safety to human life. This was thought to be the best and simplest method of protecting life and giving it some degree of safety. The anchor pro

vision is intended in case the scow breaks loose from its tow, that they can throw out the anchor and drag. We do not mean to say for a moment that they would be able perhaps to keep off the shore, but they would drag slowly so that some tugboat could pick them up and save them from being wrecked.

The other parts of the bill, Mr. Speaker, containing fifteen amendments, have met with the approval of the minority members of the committee, and we believe, upon the whole, that the entire bill is entitled to a favorable consideration on the part of the Members of the House. I commend it to their support and hope that it will pass. [Applause.]

Mr. SPIGHT. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from New York [Mr. GOULDEN] has discussed the most important feature of this bill, the question of the protection of life on the scows in

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New York Harbor. There is another provision of the bill, however, which seems to me to be objectionable. It is a provision which discriminates against yachts constructed in foreign yards and not acquired by American citizens prior to 1897. I think that is objectionable. I think that the provision ought to apply to all American owners of yachts at the time of the passage of this bill, if it is going to apply to any, without regard to when they were built or when acquired. In the main, I think the bill is a good one and ought to pass.

I now yield five minutes to the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. Cox].

Mr. COX of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, as was said by the gentleman from New York, there is no opposition to this bill from any of the minority members of the committee. One part of this bill I do not approve of; however, upon the main, I am going to vote for the bill as it is presented. The part of the bill which I do not approve of is the part which provides for the exemption of foreign yacht owners from paying tonnage taxes and clearance dues. I do not approve of that, because I can see no reason why the class of people who are able to own and equip yachts should be permitted to enter and clear without paying tonnage taxes and clearance dues; but upon the principle of comity between this Government and other nations, if they extend to our people the same privilege, probably there is not so much serious objection to it after all. The most important section of this bill, as I consider it, is that part of the bill which relates to New York Harbor. The evidence disclosed before the committee from whence this bill comes is that for years and years there has been a practice going on in New York Harbor of dumping the refuse of New York City out into the ocean, where a great many human lives have been lost. An opposition was disclosed before the committee upon this part of the bill upon the ground, as usual, that if the scow owners were compelled to safeguard them, so as to protect the lives of their employees, it would add greatly to the expense of the scows. The committee determined that when the question of cost was upon one side and the question of human life upon the other, that the argument in favor of the preservation of human life far outweighed that of the cost of taking such precautions upon the other so as to preserve human life. The evidence failed to disclose the number of people who were lost every year who are engaged in this occupation, but according to the best evidence that we could get hold of not less than one person was lost every month in this hazardous employment by reason of the fact that the scows were not safeguarded with proper safety equipment. Therefore I regard that part of the bill as being the most important, purely, however, of a local nature, affecting only the city of New York, and if there was nothing else in the bill except this it would commend itself to me very strongly. Up until this bill was reported, as I understand the navigation laws, there has been no Federal statute in force

giving to the inspectors power to inspect seagoing barges of 100 tons and over. This bill gives to the inspectors power to inspect seagoing barges of 100 tons and over, and the right to inspect each with a view of seeing whether or not they are seaworthy and are safe to operate upon the high seas. The evidence disclosed that by reason of failure to have a Federal statute conferring upon the local inspectors power to inspect seagoing barges the loss of property heretofore has been considerable, as well as the loss of life. These two measures taken together, in my judgment, commends the bill to its passage and appeals to the Members of this House. There is another section of the bill which adds likewise a delinquent statute, as it were

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman from Indiana has expired.

Mr. SPIGHT. I yield the gentleman two more minutes.

Mr. COX of Indiana. And that is the section of the statute which authorizes the Commissioner of Navigation to appoint a board of inspectors at Hawaii and Porto Rico. While that is going to add some additional expense to the Government in maintaining those two boards, yet the proof disclosed the fact that it was exceedingly necessary that he be given the power to appoint these boards of inspectors for Hawaii and for Porto Rico, because the evidence disclosed the fact that for as much as two weeks at a time vessels had been tied up in Hawaii and in Porto Rico awaiting inspectors to be sent from the continent of the United States to inspect the hulls and the vessels, with a view of seeing whether or not they were seaworthy. Therefore, in the main, I believe, the entire bill commends itself to the support of every Member in this House. [Applause.]

Mr. SPIGHT. I yield two minutes to the gentleman from New York [Mr. SULZER].

Mr. SULZER. Mr. Speaker, all I desire to say is that, in my judgment, this is a most commendable bill, and it ought to receive the unanimous approval of the Members of this House. The bill is designed to regulate, so far as may be feasible at this time, the most dangerous form of navigation along our seaboard. There are between 400 and 450 seagoing barges of over 100 gross tons employed at present. During the past two fiscal years 60 of these barges were lost. Of the 60 vessels lost 49 were built before 1898, and nearly half were over 30 years old. Many of these barges years ago were staunch ships and barks. As they have deteriorated they have been dismantled, and large hatches have been cut in them, rendering them structurally even weaker. When from any cause these towed barges break loose from the towing steamer those on board are practically helpless. Of 192 persons on board these 60 barges 49 lost their lives, or over 25 per cent, a death rate far in excess of the rate in other classes of marine casualties here or abroad. A great demand in favor of this legislation comes from prominent people of New York desirous to more carefully safeguard life on these seagoing barges. It should have been done long ago, and I hope this bill will now pass and go over to the Senate and meet the approval of that body before we adjourn. Mr. SPIGHT. How much time have I remaining, Mr. Speaker?

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Mississippi has five minutes remaining.

Mr. SPIGHT. Well, I yield two minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. HUGHES].

Mr. HUGHES of New Jersey. It has been impossible, of course, for me or any other Member of the House not specially interested in this bill to make himself familiar with all its provisions. There is one section, however, with the provisions of which I am familiar, and so far as it is concerned it commends itself