FOR THE RELIEF OF THE MACKENZIE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL AND GERMANAMERICAN HOSPITAL AND LAU YE KUN, ALL OF TIENTSIN, CHINA

NAVY DEPARTMENT, Washington, November 26, 1928.

The CHAIRMAN COMMITTEE ON NAVAL AFFAIRS,

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Referring to the bill (H. R. 13428) for the reliet of Mackenzie Memorial Hospital and German-American Hospital and Lau Ye Kun, all of Tientsin, China, which is pending before your committee, I have the honor to invite attention to the Navy Department's letter of April 16, 1928, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, recommending the enactment of this proposed legislation, a copy of which letter is inclosed for your information. The Navy Department believes that the proposed legislation is meritorious, and that its enactment will tend toward the maintenance of amicable relations between the United States and the Republic of China.

Sincerely yours,

CURTIS D. WILBUR, Secretary of the Navy

NAVY DEPARTMENT,
Washington, April 16, 1928.

The SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

Washington, D. C.

MY DEAR MR. SPEAKER: The Navy Department submits herewith a draft of a bill for the relief of Mackenzie Memorial Hospital and German-American Hospital and Lau Ye Kun, all of Tientsin, China. The purpose of the proposed legislation is to indemnify the hospitals named for the care of Chinese nationals injured by motor vehicles of the United States Marine Corps, and Lau Ye Kun, a Chinese policeman, for injuries received when struck by a Marine Corps motor cycle.

Since the Marine Corps contingent has been quartered in Tientsin a number of Chinese nationals have been injured by Marine Corps motor vehicles. Immediate attention to their injuries was necessary so that their lives might be saved if possible. It was also necessary that the men be treated by physicians or surgeons able to speak the Chinese language. The Medical Corps officers of the United States Navy attached to the expedition could not speak that language. It was therefore arranged that the Mackenzie Memorial Hospital and the GermanAmerican Hospital should treat these emergency cases at a cost of $5 a day each in Yuan currency, or approximately $2.50 American currency. The proposed legislation provides for payment of the cost of treating four such patients. Transmitted herewith are four communications from the commanding general of the Third Brigade, United States Marine Corps, transmitting the hospital bills in these cases, and explaining the cases themselves.

Lau Ye Kun, a Chinese policeman on post, was struck by a motor cycle driven by a private of the United States Marine Corps on official duty. The injury to this man was serious, but he only asks $100 American money as indemnity. The nature of his injury is shown in a hospital certificate (under the name of Loo Yo Kwie), of which a copy is attached herewith. The incident of his injury was investigated by a court of injury, and copies of the findings and opinion of the court and the remarks of the convening authority are also transmitted herewith.

While the marine private driving the motor cycle that injured this policeman was exonerated because of temporary disability, the policeman was an official of a friendly foreign power, on his post of duty, and was injured without fault of his own. The Navy Department believes that he should be paid the small amount of $100 that he asks.

The cost of the proposed legislation will be $571.88.

The draft of bill has been submitted to the Director of the Bureau of the Budget and the Navy Department has been informed, under date of April 6, 1928, that the proposed legislation is not in conflict with the financial program of the President. I therefore recommend the enactment of the legislation in the form submitted.

Respectfully,

CURTIS D. WILBUR,
Secretary of the Navy,

Mr. BURDICK. Have you, Mr. Darrow, who introduced this bill, anything to say about it?

STATEMENT OF HON. GEORGE P. DARROW, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA

Mr. DARROW. H. R. 13428 is a bill, as has been stated, for the relief of Mackenzie Memorial Hospital and German-American Hospital and Lau Ye Kun, all of Tientsin, China. This bill would reimburse the said hospitals for certain expenses incident to treatment of Lau Ye Kun and others on account of injuries sustained during the recent upheaval in Tientsin. The bill is indorsed by the Navy Department. and it seems to me that we ought to pass it in order to keep faith with our Chinese friends who have been injured by the operations of our marines in China.

Mr. BURDICK. Is this bill recommended by the Navy Department? Mr. DARROW. It is.

Lieutenant Commander ROBINSON. It was initiated by the Navy Department.

Mr. DARROW. And introduced in my name. It is, however, as the commander states, a departmental matter.

Mr. BURDICK. It is recommended by the Department of State? Lieutenant Commander ROBINSON. I do not think this bill was referred to the Department of State, but it is approved by the Bureau of the Budget.

STATEMENT OF LIEUT. COMMANDER STEPHEN B. ROBINSON, UNITED STATES NAVY, OFFICE OF THE JUDGE ADVOCATE GENERAL, UNITED STATES NAVY

Mr. BURDICK. What are the circumstances of this case? Lieutenant Commander ROBINSON. When our marines first went to Tientsin there was a great deal of ill feeling against our occupying Chinese territory. Shortly after our marines went there there were several accidents of the kind we have before us; in some cases it was not the fault of the marines and in other cases it was the fault of the marines. However, in order not to create any ill feeling General Butler sent all these injured Chinese as soon as they had been injured to these hospitals for treatment. The reason he sent them to the hospitals named in the bill rather than treat them in Marine field hospitals was that those hospitals had surgeons who spoke the Chinese language and they could better learn just what the trouble was with the injured.

Mr. VINSON. Are the Mackenzie Memorial Hospital and the German-American Hospital private institutions?

Lieutenant Commander ROBINSON. They are private institutions. As I remember, the Mackenzie Memorial Hospital is a London mission institution. These injured Chinese citizens were treated in those two hospitals.

The first accident, involving the sum of $15, happened to a Chinese boy. A Marine Corps truck was being driven along a road in Tientsin at the rate of about 7 miles an hour. The boy fell from an embankment, rolled in front of the truck, was taken to the hospital for treatment, and died there October 11, 1927. The marine officers

got together $50 and gave it to the parents of this unfortunate boy for funeral expenses, but there was no way of paying the hospital bill. Mr. VINSON. Then the boy himself was guilty of contributory negligence?

Lieutenant Commander ROBINSON. The boy himself was negligent; yes, sir; but, with the conditions as they were at the time-the feeling against American troops occupying Chinese territory-the action of the American authorities in caring for the injured boy adequately and immediately created a very favorable impression among the Chinese.

Mr. BURDICK. How old was the boy in question?

Lieutenant Commander ROBINSON. I do not know.

Next is the case where a motor cycle was being driven down a road and was given the right of way by the traffic policeman, when one of these ignorant coolies stepped out and tried to cross the street 30 feet beyond the crossing. He was run over and injured. The policeman on duty near the accident, and those who witnessed the accident, stated that it was caused by negligence on the part of the injured man; and the board of investigation that investigated the accident did not find any fault with the driver of the motor cycle. The injured man was taken to the hospital for treatment and he remained there a short time.

The next case, which involves $48, showed some neglect on the part of the Marine Corps driver, who was proceeding along a rough road near the wharves in Tientsin and bumped into a Chinese cart. I do not know whether you gentlemen of the committee have ever observed pictures of those Chinese carts. They are rather heavily built and have large wheels. The motor cycle struck the hub of a Chinese cart, knocking over a pile of boxes; some of the boxes falling upon two Chinese coolies, severely injuring one, who was taken to the hospital, where he received treatment.

Next is the case involving $401.38 due the German-American Hospital and $100 indemnity to the injured man. In this case a Marine was driving a motor cycle and hit a traffic policeman and injured him. However, the driver of that motorcycle was absolved from any blame in the matter, even though there was some doubt as to just what did happen. The driver claimed he experienced a fainting spell as he was driving the motorcycle and he, by accident got on the wrong side of the road-he went to the right. As you probably know, in China the driving regulations require one to keep to the left, rather than to the right, as we do in the United States. The motor cycle collided with the policeman, who was on the proper side of the street, seriously injuring him. The policeman asked for $200, Mexican currency, as an indemnity, and it is thought by the Navy Department that such a sum is very fair. It amounts, of course, to $100 in our money.

Mr. DARROW. It is suggested that section 2 of the bill which provides "That said sums may be disbursed under the direction of the commanding general, Third Brigade, United States Marine Corps," should be stricken, because General Butler will not be in China by the time this matter is accomplished. I understand the whole brigade will be out of China before April.

O

HEARING ON (H. R. 14450) A BILL TO AMEND SECTION 1505 OF
THE REVISED STATUTES OF THE UNITED STATES, AS AMENDED,
RELATING TO LOSS OF NUMBERS BY OFFICERS OF THE NAVY
WHO ARE FOUND NOT PROFESSIONALLY QUALIFIED FOR
PROMOTION

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
COMMITTEE ON NAVAL AFFAIRS,
Thursday, January 10, 1929.

The committee this day met at 11 o'clock a. m., Hon. Fred A. Britten, chairman, presiding.

The CHAIRMAN. We have with us this morning Rear Admiral Edward H. Campbell, United States Navy, Judge Advocate General of the Navy, and Commander Theodore S. Wilkinson, United States Navy, a representative of the Bureau of Navigation. Which is the next bill for consideration this morning, Admiral?

Admiral CAMPBELL. It is H. R. 14450, to amend section 1505 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, as amended, relating to loss of numbers by officers of the Navy who are found not professionally qualified for promotion.

The CHAIRMAN. The bill and a report thereon by the Navy Department read as follows:

A BILL To amend section 1505 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, as amended, relating to loss of numbers by officers of the Navy who are found not professionally qualified for promotion

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 1505 of the Revised Statutes, as amended by the act approved March 11, 1912 (Thirty-seventh Statutes at Large, page 73, United States Code, title 34, section 283), is hereby amended to read as follows:

"Any officer of the Navy on the active list below the rank of lieutenant commander who, upon examination for promotion or advancement, is found not professionally qualified shall suffer a loss of numbers in his grade, upon approval of the findings and recommendation of the naval examining board in such officer's case, as hereinafter stated; and after a period of six months from the date of the approval of the findings and recommendations of the naval examining board he shall be reexamined, and in case of his failure upon such reexamination he shall be dropped from the service with not more than one year's pay.

"The loss of numbers for an officer of the line shall be, upon failure to pass the prescribed professional examination for promotion from ensign to lieutenant (junior grade), fifty numbers; from lieutenant (junior grade) to lieutenant, twenty-five numbers; from lieutenant to lieutenant commander, twelve numbers. "The loss of numbers for an officer of a staff corps shall be such number as is proportional to the loss above stated for the line officer, in the same ratio as the total number of commissioned officers in all ranks of that staff corps, exclusive of commissioned warrant officers, bears to the total number of commissioned officers in the line in all the corresponding ranks, on January 1 of the year in which occurs the failure of the officer on professional examination: Provided, That in case of fractions the nearest whole number, but not less than one, shall be taken: And provided further, That the loss of numbers in the staff corps shall not be such as to cause the assignment of a new running mate either junior to the officer's former running mate by more than the numbers prescribed above for failure in the corresponding rank of the line, or of a Naval Academy class junior to that of the former running mate."