"(9) The Secretary of Commerce shall establish such regulations as may be necessary to secure the enforcement of the provisions of this section by any officer of the United States authorized to enforce the navigation or inspection laws of the United States. "(10) The Secretary of Commerce or any officer of the Department of Commerce authorized by the Secretary of Commerce may, upon application therefor, remit or mitigate any fine or penalty incurred under this section or any regulation thereunder. "(11) No provision of the Officers' Competency Certificates Convention, 1936, nor of this section, shall apply to any vessel, however propelled, navigating on the Great Lakes. "(12) Where used in this section "(a) the term 'high seas' means all waters outside the line dividing the inland waters from the high seas, as defined in section 2 of the Act of February 19, 1895; "(b) the term 'unrigged vessel' means any. vessel that is not self-propelled. "(13) Nothing contained in the Officers' Competency Certificates Convention, 1936, nor in this section, shall be deemed to extend any provision of section 2 of the Act of March 4, 1915, as amended (U. S. C., 1934 edition, Supp. IV, title 46, sec. 673), or to alter, modify, or repeal any statute of the United States in effect on the effective date of this section, except as hereinbefore provided. "(14) This section shall become effective on October 29, 1939: Provided, That licenses may be issued by boards of local inspectors in accordance with the provisions of this section at any time prior to such date. "(15) There are hereby authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this section." [CHAPTER 409-1ST SESSION] AN ACT To provide for the registry of pursers and surgeons as staff officers on vessels of the United States, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there shall be registered staff officers in the United States merchant marine in the following grades: (1) Chief purser, (2) purser, (3) senior assistant purser, (4) junior assistant purser, and (5) surgeon. The Secretary of Commerce (in this Act called the Secretary) shall register, and issue certificates of registry to, qualified individuals applying for registry in such grades, as hereinafter provided, and every such individual when so registered and serving in the staff department on a vessel of the United States shall rank as a staff officer on such vessel. Officers registered under the provisions of this Act and pursers' clerks shall constitute a separate and independent department on vessels of the United States to be known as the staff department under the charge of the senior registered purser on such vessel, who shall be responsible solely to the master. On oceangoing vessels licensed to carry more than one hundred passengers, such officer in charge of the staff department shall be a registered chief purser; and whenever more than three persons are employed in the staff department on such vessels, exclusive of surgeons, there shall be a minimum of one registered senior assistant purser and one registered junior assistant purser in such staff department. No person shall be eligible for registry as a staff officer under the provisions of this Act who is not a citizen of the United States. SEC. 2. No applicant for registry under the provisions of this Act shall be required to take an examination to qualify therefor, but the Secretary shall require satisfactory proof of good character, citizenship, and such minimum periods of service as he shall deem necessary to establish the requisite knowledge, skill, and experience to qualify applicants for the respective stations. Applicants for registry as surgeon shall be required to possess a valid license as physician and surgeon issued under the authority of a State or Territory of the United States or the District of Columbia. SEC. 3. Each staff officer receiving a certificate of registry under the provisions of this Act shall make oath or affirmation before an officer empowered to administer oaths, to be designated by the Secretary, that he will faithfully and honestly perform all the duties required of him by law. No such staff officer shall be required to obtain any other certificate of service or efficiency or behavior as a condition of service in such capacity other than as herein provided. SEC. 4. (a) Staff officers registered under the provisions of this Act who are members of the Naval Reserve Corps shall wear on their uniforms such special distinguishing insignia as may be approved by the Secretary of the Navy. (b) The uniform stripes, decoration, or other insignia to be worn by such officers shall be of gold braid or woven gold or silver material, and no member of the ship's crew other than such staff officers shall be allowed to wear any uniform with such staff officer's identifying insignia. SEC. 5. (a) It shall be unlawful to employ any person or for any person to serve in any grade or perform the duties of any grade specified in section 1 of this Act on any such vessel of the United States designated therein unless he shall be in bona fide possession of a certificate of registry, issued under the provisions of this Act, as an officer in such grade; and anyone violating this provision shall be liable to a penalty of $100 for each offense: Provided, That in the event no registered staff officer is available and obtainable at the time of sailing, the vessel may sail with an unregistered staff officer or without any staff officer: Provided further, That such staff officer shall not be included in the vessel's inspection certificate. (b) Any staff officer registered under the provisions of this Act who shall change by addition, interpolation, or erasure of any kind, any certificate of registry referred to in this section shall have his registry and his certificate of registry revoked and be punished by a fine of not more than $100: Provided, That the provisions of this Act shall not apply to any vessel of the United States operated on bays, sounds, inland waterways, and lakes, other than the Great Lakes, or to passenger ferries and car ferries operated on the Great Lakes. (c) Any registry or certificate of registry issued under the authority of this Act to any staff officer shall be suspended or revoked upon satisfactory proof of bad conduct, inattention to his duties, or the willful violation of any provisions of this Act applicable to him, in the same manner and with like procedure as is provided in the case of suspension or revocation of licenses of officers under the provisions of section 4450 of the Revised Statutes, as amended. SEC. 6. The sixth paragraph of section 4596 of the Revised Statutes, as amended, is amended to read as follows: "Sixth. For assaulting any master, mate, pilot, engineer, or staff officer, by imprisonment for not more than two years. SEC. 7. The Secretary of Commerce shall prescribe rules and regulations to carry out the provisions of this Act. SEC. 8. As used in this Act the term "vessel of the United States" ehall mean any vessel registered, enrolled, or licensed under the laws of the United States, but shall not include a fishing or whaling vessel or a yacht. SEC. 9. The provisions of section 5 (a) of this Act shall take effect one year from the date of the enactment of this Act. [CHAPTER 417-18T SESSION] (H. R. 6746] AN ACT To amend certain provisions of the Merchant Marine and Shipping Acts, to further the development of the American merchant marine, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the second paragraph of section 23 of the Shipping Act, 1916, as amended, is amended to read as follows: "All orders of the United States Maritime Commission, other than for the payment of money, made under this Act, as amended or supplemented, shall continue in force until its further order, or for a specified period of time, as shall be prescribed in the order, unless the same shall be suspended, or modified, or set aside by the Commission, or be suspended or set aside by a court of competent jurisdiction.' SEC. 2. The second paragraph of section 3 of the Intercoastal Shipping Act, 1933, as amended, is amended by inserting before the last sentence of such paragraph a new sentence to read as follows: “At any hearing under this paragraph the burden of proof to show that the rate, fare, charge, classification, regulation, or practice is just and reasonable shall be upon the carrier or carriers." SEC. 3. (a) The first sentence of section 201 (e) of the Merchant Marine Act, 1936, as amended, is amended to read as follows: "Without regard to the civil-service laws or the Classification Act of 1923, as amended, the Commission may appoint and prescribe the duties and fix the salaries of a secretary, a director for each of not to exceed five divisions, a general counsel, a clerk to each member of the Commission, and not more than three assistants, a clerk to the general counsel, not more than a total of twenty naval architects or marine engineers, twenty special experts, twenty-two examiners, twelve attorneys, and two inspectors for each vessel at each shipyard at which vessels are being constructed by it or under its supervision." (b) Such section, as amended, is amended by adding at the end thereof the following: "The Commission, under such rules and regulations as it may prescribe, may detail annually not to exceed five members of the personnel of the Commission for engineering, technical, or other scientific education and training at Government expense at institutions for scientific education and research, to enable such persons to acquire advanced and specialized knowledge or training of particular advantage to the Commission in carrying out its functions under this Act." SEO. 4. Section 201 (f) of such Act, as amended, is amended by inserting after the first sentence thereof a new sentence to read as follows: "Whenever any officer (not exceeding five in number at any time) of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard is detailed to the Commission, he shall receive from the Commission, for the period during which he is so detailed, such compensation as added to his pay and allowances as an officer in such service will make his aggregate compensation equal to the pay and allowances he would receive if he were the incumbent of an office or position in such service (or in the corresponding executive department), which, in the opinion of the Commission, involves the performance of work similar in importance, difficulty, and responsibility to that performed by him while detailed to the Commission." SEC. 5. Section 216 of such Act, as amended, is amended to read as follows: "SEC. 216. (a) The Commission is hereby authorized and directed, under such rules and regulations as it may prescribe, to establish and maintain the United States Maritime Service as a voluntary organization for the training of citizens of the United States to serve as licensed and unlicensed personnel on American merchant vessels. The Commission is authorized to determine the number of persons to be enrolled in the said Service, to fix the rates of pay of such persons, and to prescribe such courses and periods of training as, in its discretion, is necessary to maintain a trained and efficient merchant marine personnel. The ranks, grades, and ratings for the personnel of the said Service shall be the same as are now or shall hereafter be prescribed for the personnel of the Coast Guard. The Commission is further authorized to employ as instructors in said Service, on a contract or fee basis (without regard to the provisions of section 3709 of the Revised Statutes), such qualified persons, including licensed and unlicensed personnel of the merchant marine, as the Commission may deem necessary to effectuate the purposes of this section. (b) The Commission is hereby authorized to train American citizens to become licensed officers of the merchant marine of the United States in a status of cadets and cadet officers on Governmentowned and subsidized vessels and, in cooperation with other governmental and private agencies, on other vessels and, for instructional purposes only, in shipyards, plants, and industrial and educational organizations, under rules and regulations prescribed by the Commission and upon such terms as the Commission may arrange, and expenditures incident to such training are hereby authorized. (c) The Commission is hereby authorized to prescribe, conduct, and supervise such extension and correspondence courses as it may deem necessary to supplement other training facilities, and to make such courses available, under such rules and regulations and upon such terms as it may prescribe, to the licensed and unlicensed personnel of the merchant marine, and to cadets and cadet officers, who shall make application therefor. The Commission is further authorized to print, publish, and purchase suitable textbooks, equipment, and supplies required for such courses, and to employ persons, firms, and corporations on a contract or fee basis (without regard to the provisions of section 3709 of the Revised Statutes), for the performance of special services deemed necessary by the Commission in the preparation and editing of such textbooks and other aids to instruction, and in the supervision and administration of such courses. "(d) The Commission, with the consent of any executive department, independent establishment, or other agency of the Government, |