such consular officer shall require the payment by the master of one month's wages for such seaman over and above the wages due at the time of discharge."

SEC. 4. That section forty-five hundred and sixty-one of the Revised. Statutes be amended so as to read as follows:

"SEC. 4561. The inspectors in their report shall also state whether, in their opinion, the vessel was sent to sea unsuitably provided in any important or essential particular, by neglect or design, or through mistake or accident; and in case it was by neglect or design, and the consular officer approves of such finding, he shall discharge such of the crew as request it, and shall require the payment by the master of one month's wages for each seaman over and above the wages then due. But if, in the opinion of the inspectors, the defects or deficiencies found to exist have been the result of mistake or accident, and could not, in the exercise of ordinary care, have been known and provided against before the sailing of the vessel, and the master shall, in a reasonable time, remove or remedy the causes of complaint, then the crew shall remain and discharge their duty."

SEC. 5. That section forty-five hundred and eighty-two of the Revised Statutes be amended so as to read as follows:

"SEC. 4582. Whenever a vessel of the United States is sold in a foreign country, and her company discharged, it shall be the duty of the master to produce to the consular officer the certified list of his ship's company, and also the shipping articles, and to pay to said consular officer for every seaman so discharged one month's wages over and above the wages which may then be due to such seaman; but in case the master of the vessel so sold shall, with the assent of said seaman, provide him with adequate employment on board some other vessel bound to the port at which he was originally shipped, or to such other port as may be agreed upon by him, then no payment of extra wages shall be required."

SEC. 6. That section forty-six hundred of the Revised Statutes be amended so as to read as follows:

"SEC. 4600. It shall be the duty of consular officers to reclaim deserters and discountenance insubordination by every means within their power, and where the local authorities can be usefully employed for that purpose, to lend their aid and use their exertions to that end in the most effectual manner. In all cases where deserters are apprehended the consular officer shall inquire into the facts; and if he is satisfied that the desertion was caused by unusual or cruel treatment, he shall discharge the seaman, and require the master of the vessel from which such seaman is discharged to pay one month's wages over and above the wages then due; and the officer discharging such seaman shall enter upon the crew-list and shipping articles the cause of discharge, and the particulars in which the cruelty or unusual treatment consisted, and the facts as to his discharge or re-engagement, as the case may be, and subscribe his name thereto officially."

SEC. 7. That section forty-five hundred and eighty-one of the Revised Statutes be amended so as to read as follows:

"SEC. 4581. If any consular officer, when discharging any seaman, shall neglect to require the payment of and collect the arrears of wages and extra wages required to be paid in the case of the discharge of any seaman, he shall be accountable to the United States to the full amount thereof. If any seaman, after his discharge, shall have incurred any expense for board or other necessaries at the place of his discharge, before shipping again, or for transportation to the United States, such

expense shall be paid out of the arrears of wages and extra wages received by the consular officer, which shall be retained for that purpose and the balance only paid over to such seamen."

SEC. 8. That section forty-five hundred and eighty-four of the Revised Statutes be hereby repealed.

SEC. 9. That section forty-five hundred and seventy-eight of the Revised Statutes be amended so as to read as follows:

"SEC. 4578. All masters of vessels of the United States, and bound to some port of the same, are required to take such destitute seamen on board their vessels, at the request of consular officers, and to transport them to the port in the United States to which such vessel may be bound, on such terms, not exceeding ten dollars for each person for voyages of not more than thirty days, and not exceeding twenty dol lars for each person for longer voyages, as may be agreed between the master and the consular officer; and said consular officer shall issue certificates for such transportation, which certificates shall be assignable for collection. If any such destitute seaman is so disabled or ill as to be unable to perform duty, the consular officer shall so certify in the certificate of transportation, and such additional compensation shall be paid as the First Comptroller of the Treasury shall deem proper. Every such master who refuses to receive and transport such seamen on the request or order of such consular officer shall be liable to the United States in a penalty of one hundred dollars for each seaman so refused. The certificate of any such consular officer, given under his hand and official seal, shall be presumptive evidence of such refusal in any court of law having jurisdiction for the recovery of the penalty. No master of any vessel shall, however, be obliged to take a greater number than one man to every one hundred tons burden of the vessel on any one voyage."

"SEC. 10. That it shall be, and is hereby, made unlawful in any case to pay any seaman wages before leaving the port at which such seaman may be engaged in advance of the time when he has actually earned the same, or to pay such advance wages to any other person, or to pay any person, other than an officer authorized by act of Congress to collect fees for such service, any remuneration for the shipment of seamen. Any person paying such advance wages or such remuneration shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine not less than four times the amount of the wages so advanced or remuneration so paid, and may be also imprisoned for a period not exceeding six months, at the discretion of the court. The payment of such advance wages or remuneration shall in no case, except as herein provided, absolve the vessel, or the master or owner thereof, from full payment of wages after the same shall have been actually earned, and shall be no defense to a libel, suit, or action for the recovery of such wages: Provided, That this section shall not apply to whaling-vessels: And provided further, That it shall be lawful for any seaman to stipu late in his shipping agreement for an allotment of any portion of the wages which he may earn to his wife, mother, or other relative, but to no other person or corporation. And any person who shall falsely claim such relationship to any seaman in order to obtain wages so allotted shall, for every such offense, be punishable by a fine of not exceeding five hundred dollars, or imprisonment not exceeding six months, at the discretion of the court. This section shall apply as well to foreign vessels as to vessels of the United States; and any foreign vessel the master, owner, consignee, or agent of which has violated this section, or in

duced or connived at its violation, shall be refused a clearance from any port of the United States.

SEC. 11. That every vessel mentioned in section forty-five hundred and sixty-nine of the Revised Statutes shall also be provided with a slop chest, which shall contain a complement of clothing for the intended voyage for each seaman employed, including boots or shoes, hats or caps, under clothing and outer clothing, oiled clothing, and everything necessary for the wear of a seaman; also a full supply of tobacco and blankets. Any of the contents of the slop-chest shall be sold, from time to time, to any or every seaman applying therefor, for his own use, at a profit not exceeding ten per centum of the reasonable wholesale value of the same at the port at which the voyage commenced. And if any such vessel is not provided, before sailing, as herein required, the owner shall be liable to a penalty of not more than five hundred dollars. The provisions of this section shall not apply to vessels plying between the United States and the Dominion of Canada, Newfoundland, the Bermuda Islands, the Bahama Islands the West Indies, Mexico and Central America.

SEC. 12. That on and after July first, eighteen hundred and eightyfour, no fees named in the tariff of consular fees prescribed by order of the President shall be charged or collected by consular officers for the official services to American vessels and seamen. Consular officers shall furnish the master of every such vessel with an itemized statement of such services performed on account of said vessel, with the fee so prescribed for each service, and make a detailed report to the Secretary of the Treasury of such services and fees, under such regulations as the Secretary of State may prescribe; and the Secretary of the Treasury shall allow consular officers who are paid in whole or in part by fees such compensation for said services as they would have received prior to the passage of this act: Provided, That such services, in the opinion of the Secretary of the Treasury have been necessarily rendered; and a sum sufficient for the payment of such compensation, when thus adjusted by the Secretary of the Treasury, is hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.

SEC. 13. That section forty-two hundred and thirteen of the Revised Statutes be amended so as to read as follows:

"SEC. 4213. It shall be the duty of all masters of vessels for whom any official services shall be performed by any consular officer, without the payment of a fee, to require a written statement of such services from such consular officer, and, after certifying as to whether such statement is correct, to furnish it to the collector of the district in which such vessels shall first arrive on their return to the United States; and if any such master of a vessel shall fail to furnish such statement, he shall be liable to a fine of not exceeding fifty dollars, unless such master shall state under oath that no such statement was furnished him by said consular officer. And it shall be the duty of every collector to forward to the Secretary of the Treasury all such statements as shall have been furnished to him, and also a statement of all certified invoices which shall have come to his office, giving the dates of the certificates, and the names of the persons for whom and of the consular officer by whom the same were certified."

SEC. 19. That a master of a vessel in the foreign trade may engage a seaman at any port in the United States, in the manner provided by law, to serve on a voyage to any port, or for the round trip from and to the port of departure, or for a definite time, whatever the destination. The master of a vessel making regular and stated trips between the

United States and a foreign country may engage a seaman for one or more round trips, or for a definite time, or on the return of said vessel to the United States may reship such seaman for another voyage in the same vessel, in the manner provided by law, without the payment of additional fees to any officer for such reshipment or re-engagement.

SEC. 20. That every master of a vessel in the foreign trade may engage any seaman at any port out of the United States, in the manner provided by law, to serve for one or more round trips from and to the port of departure, or for a definite time, whatever the destination; and the master of a vessel clearing from a port of the United States with one or more seamen engaged in a foreign port as herein provided shall not be required to reship in a port of the United States the seamen so engaged, or to give bond, as required by section forty-five hundred and seventy-six of the Revised Statutes, to produce said seamen before a boarding officer on the return of said vessel to the United States.

SHIPPING COMMISSIONERS.

(Act of June 26, 1884.)

SEC. 27. That section forty-five hundred and one of the Revised Statutes is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

"SEC. 4501. The Secretary of the Treasury shall appoint a commissioner for each port of entry, which is also a port of ocean navigation, and which, in his judgment, may require the same; such commissioner to be termed a shipping commissioner, and may, from time to time, re move from office any such commissioner whom he may have reason to believe does not properly perform his duty, and shall then provide for the proper performance of his duties until another person is duly ap pointed in his place: Provided, That Shipping Commissioners now in office shall continue to perform the duties thereof until others shall be appointed in their places. Shipping Commissioners shall monthly ren der a full, exact, and itemized account of their receipts and expenditures to the Secretary of the Treasury, who shall determine their compensa tion, and shall from time to time determine the number and compensa tion of the clerks appointed by such commissioner, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, subject to the limitations now fixed by law. The Secretary of the Treasury shall regulate the mode of conducting business in the shipping offices to be established by the shipping commissioners as hereinafter provided, and shall have full and complete control over the same, subject to the provisions herein contained; and all expenditures by shipping commissioners shall be audited and adjusted in the Treasury Department in the mode and manner provided for expenditures in the collection of customs. fees of Shipping Commissioners shall be paid into the Treasury of the United States and shall constitute a fund which shall be used under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury to pay the compensation of said Commissioners and their clerks and such other expenses as he may find necessary to ensure the proper administration of their duties.

SHIPMENT OF SEAMEN IN THE COASTING TRADE.

(Act of June 19, 1886.)

SEC. 2. That shipping commissioners may ship and discharge crews for any vessel engaged in the coastwise trade, or the trade between the United States and the Dominion of Canada, or Newfoundland, or the West Indies, or the Republic of Mexico, at the request of the master or owner of such vessel, the shipping and discharging fees in such cases to be one-half that prescribed by section forty-six hundred and twelve of the Revised Statutes, for the purpose of determining the compensation of shipping commissioners.

SEC. 3. That section ten of the act entitled "An act to remove certain burdens on the American merchant marine and encourage the American foreign carrying trade, and for other purposes," approved June twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and eighty-four, be amended by striking out the words "That it shall be lawful for any seaman to stipulate in his shipping agreement for an allotment of any portion of the wages which he may earn to his wife, mother, or other relative, but to no other person or corporation," and inserting in lieu thereof the following: That it shall be lawful for any seaman to stipulate in his shipping agreement for an allotment of all or any portion of the wages which he may earn to his wife, mother, or other relative, or to an original creditor in liquidation of any just debt for board or clothing which he may have contracted prior to engagement, not exceeding ten dollars per month for each month of the time usually required for the Voyage for which the seaman has shipped, under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe, but no allotment to any other person or corporation shall be lawful." And said section ten is further amended by striking out all of the last paragraph after the words "vessels of the United States," and inserting in lieu of such words stricken out the following: "And any master, owner, consignee, or agent of any foreign vessel who has violated this section shall be liable to the same penalty that the master, owner, or agent of a vessel of the United States would be for a similar violation."

TRANSPORTATION OF DESTITUTE AMERICAN SEAMEN.

SEC. 18. Section nine of "An act to remove certain burdens on the American merchant marine and encourage the American foreign-carrying trade, and for other purposes," approved June 26, 1884, is hereby amended in the eighth line by inserting after the words "and a consular officer" the following: "When the transportation is by a sailing vessel; and the regular steerage-passenger rate, not to exceed two cents per mile, when the transportation is by steamer." And the said section. is further amended by adding at the end the following: "or to take any seaman having a contagious disease." (Act of June 19, 1886.)

NOTE.-Allotments to original creditors, under section 3 of the act, on account of food or clothing owed for by the seaman at the time of his engagement, cannot be made to exceed ten dollars per month for the time usually required for the voyage for which he has shipped. The allotment must be specified in the shipping agreement, the amount thereof per month and the number of months for which it is to be paid being expressly stipulated. To render such allotments uniform, it is directed that