opium openly on the market. When such opium is seized the owners make a claim before the courts that the opium was legally imported before the February act became effective, and it has in numerous cases been quite impossible to convince the courts to the contrary. Thus, much confusion has arisen, a large amount of clandestine opium has been released for want of proof that it is clandestine, and the chief object of the February act has been partially defeated. The amendatory section 3 has been devised to offset this fault by throwing the burden of proof on the claimant of such opium to rebut the presumption that the opium has entered the United States since April 1, 1909.

In regard to section 4, which in substance prohibits any person subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, either as principal or accessory, to receive, possess, or conceal on board of or transport on any foreign or domestic vessel, etc., railroad car or other vehicle, etc., destined to or bound from the United States, or any possession thereof, any smoking opium, and who, having knowledge of the presence of such opium, shall not report the same to the principal officers of vessels, etc., shall be subject to the penalties provided in the original act of February, 1909; while the possession of such opium shall be Ideemed to be sufficient evidence to authorize conviction unless the defendant shall explain possession to the satisfaction of the jury. Section 4 was drafted to meet a defect in the February act made apparent by an opinion rendered by the Attorney General.

In short, the opinion of the Attorney General was that since under the February act opium prepared for smoking was no longer subject to the payment of duties-it being a prohibited article-and as the bringing of opium into port by one vessel for immediate exportation by another did not constitute an importation in the meaning of the February act, its transfer from one vessel to another in port could be lawfully made. Following upon this opinion, the Secretary of the Treasury directed that smoking opium imported for transshipment be transshipped within 15 days. (For the opinion of the Attorney General see pp. 40-43, Hearings before the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives, 61st Cong., 3d sess., Dec. 14, 1910.)

Consequent on the opinion of the Attorney General, large quantities of opium prepared for smoking continue to arrive at Pacific ports, especially San Francisco, and is immediately transshipped to vessels bound for western Mexican ports. Arriving there it is added to the direct Mexican import and most of the total is promptly smuggled from Mexico into the United States. Although large seizures of smoking opium have been made along the Mexican border, it has been found well-nigh impossible to break up the contraband trade, and a large number of persons are open to corruption as the result of the illicit traffic, and needless and costly burdens are also imposed on the Treasury Department and the Department of Justice. Even had it been possible to have secured a reversal of Mr. Wickersham's opinion, the difficulty would have had to be met in another form, for the importers would have continued to have opium shipped from the Portuguese colony of Macau on the China coast, and would then have had it transhipped outside the 3-mile limit, from whence it would readily reach Mexican ports to be eventually smuggled into the United States. Therefore it was thought more advisable to

follow a practice of this Government as laid down in certain navigation laws-that is, to forbid any vessel or any land vehicle to receive or conceal on board or transport to the United States the obnoxious and prohibited article in question.

In regard to section 5, which provides in effect that no opium prepared for smoking shall be admitted into the United States for transportation to another country or be transferred or transshipped from one vessel to another within the waters of the United States for immediate exportation or other purposes. This section was designed to supplement section 4 of the proposed amendment and is a direct prohibition of the admission into the United States and its territorial waters of opium prepared for smoking for transportation under the bonding privilege to a neighboring country. The last consideration is important in that those who worked to secure the abovementioned opinion at one time contended for the right to import prepared opium for transshipment in bond across American territory. In regard to section 6, which is to the effect that it shall be unlawful for any person subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to export opium (in this case even medicinal opium), cocaine, their derivatives and preparations, to any country which prohibits their entry or regulates their entry, provided that the above-mentioned medicinal forms of the drugs may be exported to countries regulating their entry under regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Secretary of Commerce and Labor. Section 6 goes on to provide that the Secretary of State, after securing through diplomatic channels copies of the laws and regulations promulgated in foreign countries in regard to prohibition or regulation, shall advise the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Commerce and Labor thereof, whereupon, the three Secretaries shall make and publish all proper regulations for carrying the provisions of this section into effect.

It should be noted that in the proviso to section 6 exportation of smoking opium is absolutely prohibited, the importation of this substance being prohibited by nearly every civilized country. It should be noticed also that instead of using the term "citizen of the United States" in the amendments the term used is "any person subject to the jurisdiction of the United States." The latter term is designed to cover inhabitants of the Philippine Islands who have not American citizenship.

This section was drafted in conformity with resolution 4 of the International Opium Commission, which was prepared by the American delegation, and is as follows:

That the International Opium Commission finds that each Government represented has strict laws which are aimed directly or indirectly to prevent the smuggling of opium, its alkaloids, derivatives, and preparations into their respective territories; in the judgment of the International Opium Commission, it is also the duty of all countries to adopt reasonable measures to prevent at ports of departure the shipment of opium, its alkaloids, derivatives, and preparations to any country which prohibits their entry. In view of the fact that the American Government first proposed and then secured in conventional form this novel principle in international law (for it is now a part of the international opium convention signed at The Hague on January 23 last), it seems highly desirable that the United States should be among the first to effectuate it by statute; this all the more so in view of the fact that the Governments of India,

of the Crown Colony oˆ Hongkong, and of the Dominion of Canada and other countries have already effectuated it.

In regard to section 7, which is a penal section and provides that a moiety of any fine recovered from any person convicted of an offense under the February act, and the proposed amendment thereto, may be paid to persons giving information leading to conviction if so directed by the court exercising jurisdiction in the case. This section is designed to obviate another difficulty met wit in enforcing the February act. Under the February act opium prepared for smoking may not be so'd after seizure to the highest bidder, but must be destroyed. Therefore, the Treasury Department has no fund from the sale of the seized opium with which to reward vigilant inspectors or informers, and this has led to some slackness on the part of the inspectors. It is thought that with a hope of reward ahead of them inspectors will be more vigilant in enforcing the provisions of the February act and the proposed amendments thereto.

In regard to section 8, which provides that whenever opium, cocaine, etc., is found upon any vessel arriving at any port of the United States and is not shown upon the vessel's manifest, such vessel shall be liable for the penalty prescribed by Revised Statutes, 2806 and 2807. The necessity for this provision has become obvious since the going into effect of the act approved February 9, 1909. The original act and the preceding sections of the proposed amendment to it will effectively bar from the United States opium prepared for smoking and the export of such opium, and will prevent the exportation of medicinal opium and cocaine except in accord with regulations. But the amendments and the original act still permit, of course, of the importation into the United States of opium and cocaine for medicinal purposes, the standard of which, as far as opium is concerned, is opium containing not less than 9 per cent of morphia. There have been continuous attempts made to smuggle medicinal opium and cocaine into the United States. Since April 1, 1909, the smuggling of all kinds of opium has largely increased, and it frequently happens that medicinal opium and cocaine arrive at American ports which do not appear on the ship's manifest. The intention always is to smuggle these drugs, but in the event of their being discovered in the cargo and seized, no ownership is acknowledged. Therefore section 8 provides for the libeling of vessels on which unmanifested opium and cocaine are found, in accordance with the established practice of this Government.

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1

63D CONGRESS, 1st Session.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. No. 25.

REPORT

INCREASE IN NUMBER OF MIDSHIPMEN AT THE UNITED STATES NAVAL ACADEMY.

JUNE 26, 1913.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed.

Mr. PADGETT, from the Committee on Naval Affairs, submitted the

following

REPORT.

[To accompany S. 2272.]

The Committee on Naval Affairs, to whom was referred S. 2272, an act to increase the number of midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy after June 30, 1913, having had the same under consideration, reports the same favorably, and recommends that the bill do pass.

The naval appropriations act of March 3, 1903, contained a clause that there shall be allowed at the Naval Academy two midshipmen for each Senator, Representative, and Delegate in Congress, one for Porto Rico, two for the District of Columbia, and five each year at large. This provision states that such appointments shall continue in force until the 30th day of June, 1913, after which time one midshipman shall be appointed for each Senator, Representative, and Delegate in Congress. Under the law of March 3, 1903, therefore, the number of appointments of midshipmen to the Naval Academy will be reduced by one-half after June 30 of this year unless the existing law be continued in force.

The bill under consideration extends the present law from June 30, 1913, for a period of six years, except that 10 appointments are allowed each year at large instead of 5. The reason for this change is that the old law was construed to mean not 5 such appointments each year, but 20 in all allowed at the Naval Academy at one time. This is believed to be contrary to the intent of the present law, and it works unsatisfactorily because in some years one or two vacancies occur, whereas in other years there are as many as seven or eight. The proposed law would give the President 10 appointments each year, with a possible maximum of 40 midshipmen at large in the Naval Academy at one time, which is the same as now allowed for West Point.