Sixth. From each of two ports of the United States on the Gulf of Mexico and from New Orleans to Central America and to the port of Cristobal on the Isthmus of Panama, on steamships of the United States of not less than twelve knots speed, for a weekly service at a maximum compensation not exceeding seventy-five thousand dollars a year.

Seventh. From a port of the United States on the Gulf of Mexico to Mexico, on steamships of the United States of not less than twelve knots speed, for a weekly service at a maximum compensation not exceeding fifty thousand dollars a year.

Eighth. From a port of the Pacific coast of the United States via Hawaii to Japan, China, and the Philippines, on steamships of the United States of not less than sixteen knots speed, for a monthly service at a maximum compensation not exceeding three hundred thousand dollars a year, or for a fortnightly service at a maximum compensation not exceeding six hundred thousand dollars a year.

Ninth. From each of two ports, namely, Puget Sound and the Columbia River of the North Pacific coast of the United States to Japan, China, and the Philippines, on steamships of the United States of not less than thirteen knots speed, for a monthly service at a maximum compensation not exceeding two hundred and ten thousand dollars a year; or for a fortnightly service, at a maximum compensation not exceeding four hundred and twenty thousand dollars a year.

Tenth. From a port of the Pacific coast of the United States via Hawaii and the Samoan Islands to Australasia, on steamships of the United States of not less than sixteen knots speed, for a service once in three weeks at a maximum compensation not exceeding two hundred and seventeen thousand dollars a year in addition to the compensation now provided pursuant to contract under the Act of March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, entitled "An Act to provide for ocean mail service between the United States and foreign ports, and to promote commerce."

Eleventh. From a port of the Pacific coast of the United States to Mexico, Central America, and Port La Boca on the Isthmus of Panama, on steamships of the United States of not less than twelve knots speed, for a fortnightly service at a maximum compensation not exceeding one hundred and twenty thousand dollars a year: Provided, That the requirements of this section as to the rates of speed shall be deemed to be complied with if said rates are developed during a trial of four hours' continuous steaming at sea in ordinary weather in water of sufficient depth to make the test a fair and just one, and if the vessels are maintained in a condition to develop such speed at any time while at sea in ordinary weather. This trial shall be made under the direction and supervision of a board of naval officers which the Secretary of the Navy shall appoint upon the application of the owner or owners of the vessel to be tested.

SEC. 7. That all contracts hereafter made pursuant to the Act of March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, before mentioned, or pursuant to sections five and six of this Act, shall provide that on each voyage the following proportion of the crew shall be enrolled in the Naval Reserve: After July first, nineteen hundred and eight, one-eighth; after July first, nineteen hundred and twelve, one-sixth; and after July first, nineteen hundred and seventeen, one-fourth: Provided, That if the foregoing stated proportions of naval reserves can not be obtained at a foreign port with reasonable effort, as certified by the consul, other persons may be substituted until the first return of said vessel to the United States, without forfeiture of the compensation.

SEC. 8. That on proor to the satisfaction of the Commissioner of Navigation that a vessel of the United States has on any foreign voyage carried a boy or boys, a citizen or citizens of the United States, under twenty-one years of age, suitably trained during that voyage in seamanship or engineering, in the proportion of one for such vessel, and in addition one for each one thousand tons of her net registered tonnage, there shall be paid to the owner or owners of the vessel, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, an allowance equivalent to eighty per centum of the tonnage duties paid in respect of the entry in the United States of that vessel from that voyage: Provided, That such payment shall not be made after July first, nineteen hundred and eight, except in respect of any boy who is enrolled as seamen, third class, in the Naval Reserve, or is an apprentice indentured in accordance with law.

SEC. 9. That this Act shall take effect on July first, nineteen hundred and six. SEC. 10. That Congress reserves the right to alter, amend, or repeal this Act, in whole or in part, whenever in its judgment the public interest shall so require, without, however, impairing in any wise the obligation of any specific contract then in force which shall have been entered into under the provisions of sections two, three, five, and six of this Act.

Passed the Senate February 14, 1906.
Attest:

CHARLES G. BENNETT,

Secretary.

The provisions of the Ocean Mail Act of March 3, 1891, which is made applicable to contracts under the bill recommended by the Committee, are as follows:

AN ACT To provide for ocean mail service between the United States and foreign ports, and to promote

commerce.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Postmaster-General is hereby authorized and empowered to enter into contracts for a term not less than five nor more than ten years in duration, with American citizens, for the carrying of mails on American steamships, between ports of the United States and such ports in foreign countries, the Dominion of Canada excepted, as in his judgment will best subserve and promote the postal and commercial interests of the United States, the mail service on such lines to be equitably distributed among the Atlantic, Mexican Gulf, and Pacific ports. Said contracts shall be made with the lowest responsible bidder for the performance of said service on each route, and the Postmaster-General shall have the right to reject all bids not in his opinion reasonable for the attaining of the purposes named.

SEC. 2. That before making any contract for carrying ocean mails in accordance with this act the Postmaster-General shall give public notice by advertising once a week, for three months, in such daily papers as he shall select in each of the cities of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New Orleans, Saint Louis, Charleston, Norfolk, Savannah, Galveston, and Mobile, and when the proposed service is to be on the Pacific Ocean, then in San Francisco, Tacoma, and Portland. Such notice shall describe the route, the time when such contract will be made, the duration of the same, the size of the steamers to be used, the number of trips a year, the times of sailing, and the time when the service shall commence, which shall not be more than three years after the contract shall be let. The details of the mode of advertising and letting such contracts shall be conducted in the manner prescribed in chapter eight of title forty-six of the Revised Statutes for the letting of inland mail contracts so far as the same shall be applicable to the ocean mail service.

SEC. 3. That the vessels employed in the mail service under the provisions of this act shall be American built steamships, owned and officered by American citizens, in conformity with the existing laws, or so owned and officered and registered according to law, and upon each departure from the United States the following proportion of the crew shall be citizens of the United States, to wit: During the first two years of such contract for carrying the mails, one-fourth thereof; during the next three succeeding years, one-third thereof; and during the remaining time of the continuance of such contract at least one-half thereof; and shall be constructed after the latest and most approved types, with all the modern improvements and appliances for ocean steamers. They shall be divided into four classes. The first class shall be iron or steel screw steamships, capable of mantaining a speed of twenty knots an hour at sea in ordinary weather, and of a gross registered tonnage of not less than eight thousand tons. No vessel except of said first class shall be accepted for said mail service under the provisions of this act between the United States and Great Britain. The second class shall be iron or steel steamships, capable of maintaining a speed of sixteen knots an hour at sea in ordinary weather, and of a gross registered tonnage of not less than five thousand tons. The third class shall be iron or steel steamships, capable of maintaining a speed of fourteen knots an hour at sea in ordinary weather, and of a gross registered tonnage of not less than two thousand five hundred tons. The fourth class shall be iron or steel or wooden steamships, capable of maintaining a speed of twelve knots an hour at sea in ordinary weather, and of a gross registered tonnage of not less than fifteen hundred tons. It shall be stipulated in the contract or contracts to be entered into for the said mail service that the said vessels may carry passengers with their baggage in addition to said mails and may do all ordinary business done by steamships.

SEC. 4. That all steam-ships of the first, sccond, and third classes employed as above and hereafter built shall be constructed with particular reference to prompt and economical conversion into auxiliary naval cruisers, and according to plans and specifications to be agreed upon by and between the owners and the Secretary of the Navy, and they shall be of sufficient strength and stability to carry and sustain the working and operation of at least four effective rifled cannon of a caliber of not less than six inches, and shall be of the highest rating known to maritime commerce. And all vessels of said three classes heretofore built and so employed shall, before they are accepted for the mail service herein provided for, be thoroughly inspected by a competent naval officer or constructor detailed for that service by the Secretary of the Navy; and such officer shall report, in writing, to the Secretary of the Navy,

who shall transmit said report to the Postmaster-General; and no such vessel not approved by the Secretary of the Navy as suitable for the service required shall be employed by the Postmaster-General as provided for in this act.

SEC. 5. That the rate of compensation to be paid for such ocean mail service of the said first-class ships shall not exceed the sum of four dollars a mile, and for the second-class ships two dollars a mile, by the shortest practicable route, for each outward voyage; for the third-class ships shall not exceed one dollar a mile and for the fourth-class ships two-thirds of one dollar a mile for the actual number of miles required by the Post-Office Department to be traveled on each outward bound voyage: Provided, That in the case of failure from any cause to perform the regular voyages stipulated for in said contracts or any of them, a pro rata deduction shall be made from the compensation on account of such omitted voyage or voyages; and that suitable fines and penalties may be imposed for delays or irregularities in the due performance of service according to the contract, to be determined by the Postmaster-General: Provided further, That no steamship so employed and so paid for carrying the United States mails shall receive any other bounty or subsidy from the Treasury of the United States.

SEC. 6. That upon each of said vessels the United States shall be entitled to have transported, free of charge, a mail-messenger, whose duty it shall be to receive, sort, take in charge and deliver the mails to and from the United States, and who shall be provided with suitable room for the accommodation of himself and the mails.

SEC. 7. That officers of the United States Navy may volunteer for service on said mail vessels, and when accepted by the contractor or contractors may be assigned to such duty by the Secretary of the Navy whenever in his opinion such assignment can be made without detriment to the service, and while in said employment they shall receive furlough pay from the Government, and such other compensation from the contractor or contractors as may be agreed upon by the parties: Provided, That they shall only be required to perform such duties as appertain to the merchant service.

SEC. 8. That said vessels shall take, as cadets or apprentices, one American-born boy under twenty-one years of age for each one thousand tons gross register, and one for each majority fraction thereof, who shall be educated in the duties of seamanship, rank as petty officers, and receive such pay for their services as may be reasonable.

SEC. 9. That such steamers may be taken and used by the United States at transports or cruisers, upon payment to the owners of the fair actual value of the same at the time of the taking, and if there shall be a disagreement as to the fair actual value of the same at the time of taking, and if there shall be a disagreement as to the fair actual value between the United States and the owners, then the same shall be determined by two impartial appraisers, one to be appointed by each of said parties, they at the same time selecting a third, who shall act in said appraisement in case the two shall fail to agree.

. 6442

DEVELOPMENT OF THE AMERICAN MERCHANT MARINE AND AMERICAN COMMERCE.

JANUARY 28, 1907.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed.

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

VIEWS OF THE MINORITY.

[To accompany S. 529.]

The Committee on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries, having had under consideration the bill (S. 529) to promote the national defense, to create a naval reserve, to establish American ocean mail lines to foreign markets, and to promote commerce, submit the following as the views of the minority:

The present deplorable condition of the American merchant marine is an illustration of the need, not of special legislation taxing the whole people for its support, but of legislation removing artificial conditions that have stifled its growth. The proposed legislation is framed as an amendment to existing postal laws in the hope that its real purpose may be disguised as simply Government compensation for mail service, and the statements of the majority report seek to emphasize this; but it is apparent to even the casual reader of its provisions that while limited in scope, it is in fact a plain subsidy. It must fail in any real rehabilitation of the merchant marine, because it fails entirely to establish conditions generally under which ocean transportation by American ships can be profitably conducted. That the particular beneficiaries of the Government's bounty will enjoy a profitable contract we do not doubt, but that this is at the expense of the whole country is equally beyond doubt. The bill is predicated upon the idea that having by legislation made the cost of American ships prohibitive and destroyed in large part return cargoes for vessels engaged in oversea trade, American shipowners should be reimbursed out of the Public Treasury.

The principle involved in the pending measure is the same as that in the original, differing only in degree. It is not pretended that the