present iniquities that exist in the present merchant-marine program and in their report, part 2, Recommendations, under the caption of "How large and what kind of a merchant marine should the United States have?" I find five distinct recommendations, and I would like to incorporate herein recommendation no. 2, which reads as follows:

"That vessels of this merchant marine be built in the United States, be operated under the American flag and be manned by American officers and men."

Then by further analysis of their report, I find an additional title, "What measures should be taken to promote the development and maintenance of an adequate merchant marine."

Under this title, I find 18 recommendations.

I shall incorporate paragraph

no. 1, of recommendation no. 12, which reads as follows:

"That with the exception of the steward's department, the licensed and unlicensed ship personnel be 100 percent American, either native-born or naturalized, unless ruled otherwise by the Secretary of Commerce."

Copies of the message from the President, the general report of the Postmaster General, January 11, 1935, and report of the Interdepartmental Committee on Shipping Policy, were available for the members of the Senate Commerce Committee and the House Merchant Marine Committee for their use in preparing legislation on the subject of an American merchant marine. This now brings us up to S. 2582, the bill which Senator Copeland introduced in the United States Senate and H. R. 7521, which Congressman Schuyler Otis Bland, introduced in the United States House of Representatives and by referirng to the original draft of these bills, I find title VIII, American Seamen, section 801, reads as follows:

"All vessels operated under any contract made under and pursuant to this act, shall be manned in their deck and engine-room departments exclusively by citizens of the United States, native-born, or completely naturalized, unless satisfactory proof is made to the Bureau of Navigation, Steamboat Inspection. that qualified and competent citizens are not procurable therefore: Provided, That this section shall not apply to the stewards' department, but preference in the employment of citizens in such stewards' department, should be given by the orders of any such vessel so far as efficient and competent employees are available."

Now, if we analyze the situation and connect up matters, we can readily ascertain that the above section 801, was drafted along the lines of recommendation no. 12, and it is my contention that section 801, of the original draft of S. 2582, and the recommendation no. 12, are inconsistent with the recomInendation no. 2, under the caption of "How large and what kind of a merchant marine should the United States have?", because should section 801, be enacted into law as it was written in the original draft, it would reduce the percentage of the American citizens, now employed on our subsidized vessels, of the American merchant marine, and would naturally increase the number of aliens employed on these vessels, consequently, such a program would be bound to result in doing just the opposite to what the President hopes to accomplish by his program, outlined in his address to the Members of Congress on January 4, 1935.

The President referred to the "men cutting grass, raking leaves, or picking up papers in the public parks, etc.", and the President hoped for constructive suggestions from the citizens of the United States which would create constructive-job opportunities for approximately some 5,000,000 unemployed now on relief rolls, and if the Members of Congress are going to enact new legislation with a view and hope of creating constructive-job opportunities for American citizens and then they permit such legislation as was incorporated in section 801, the idea being so inconsistent that it is ridiculous, to say the least, and certainly cannot be tolerated by the American citizens, who are interested in a constructive program to create jobs for American citizens rather than "take jobs away" from those who are already employed.

Apparently, the members of the interdepartmental committee did not realize that their recommendation no. 12 would decrease, rather than increase, job opportunities for American citizens. About the only comment that could be made on this recommendation no. 12 would be that the members of the interdepartmental committee apparently were poorly advised along that line or else they never would have incorporated such a recommendation, because had they stopped to analyze the situation and studied the present merchant marine act they would have found that under the Merchant Marine Act, 1928, section

405, paragraph (c), we are supposed to have two-thirds of the members of the crew on subsidized ships, citizens of the United States, and by enacting section 801 in S. 2582, which is based on their recommendation no. 12, the percentage could have, and no doubt would have, been changed from twothirds of the crew being citizens of the United States to as low a percentage as 20 percent in some cases. Now, if that is being consistent, pray tell me what would be inconsistent?

No doubt, at this point somebody will say that argument is consistent, but after you brought this matter to the attention of the Members of the Senate Commerce Committee and the House Merchant Marine Committee, section 801 was entirely redrafted to eliminate the situation that you are now discussing and which you brought to the attention of the members of both these committees and that the new draft of the bill, S. 2582, Calendar No. 748, section 801 has entirely taken care of the situation that you complained about heretofore. In reply, I would like to say I beg to differ; such is not the case, and the new section 801 is worse than nothing at all and will not in any shape, manner, or form improve the situation which now exists in the makeup of the personnel on our subsidized ships, and if section 801 becomes operative by the enactment of S. 2582 into the law, it will not be worth the paper on which it is written. That is mild language on my part-very mild.

I believe it would be permissible at this time to tell a little story, which might lilustrate the language which I find in the redrafted section 801.

According to the story, a farmer had a horse that he wished to place in a pasture, and he surveyed the situation and failed to find available pasture for the horse. So he put a halter on the horse and tied it to a tree in the center of a plot of ground. Then the farmer planted grass seed, and did a good job of plowing and seeding the land. Then he looked over at the horse and said: "Well, old boy, you are hungry, but there you are, there is the pasture. If you can exist for another year, and wait for the grass to grow, then you may enjoy the benefit of same.

"Live, horse, and you will get grass."

This story would illustrate the new draft of section 801, wherein it states to the unemployed citizens of the United States, "Keep a stiff upper lip and hang on for another year and we will then create jobs for you on the subsidized merchant marine vessels." Perhaps I may be mistaken in analyzing the situation as I do, however.

The Morro Castle disaster certainly was a catastrophe and most unfortunate; however, it seems that it required something of that nature to jolt some people back to their senses and bring us to the realization that corrective legislation is urgently needed to eliminate the possibilities of further Morro Castle disasters. But how quickly the Morro Castle disaster faded from the limelight.

During the seventy-second session of Congress I conducted a one-man lobby trying to stimulate interest on the part of the Members of Congress on the subject of efficient crews and Americanization on our subsidized ships, comprising our eighth-grade merchant marine, and while my campaign was not productive of outstanding results, nevertheless, I do not figure my time as being entirely lost. Some results were accomplished.

Then, when the Seventy-third Congress convened, I again started my oneman lobby and some of the Members of Congress were sympathetic while, on the other hand, some of them shrugged their shoulders and paid but little heed to my humble efforts of trying to Americanize the merchant marine. True, it was a big job, and my Utopian hopes were not realized. Nevertheless, I am satisfied that my efforts during the Seventy-third session of Congress were productive of some mighty fine results, but not all that I had hoped for. And then it seemed fate apparently decided to step in and aid me in my Americanization program, as well as bringing to the forefront the subject of our inadequate American merchant marine. Fate used the Morro Castle, the Mohawk, and others to bring the subject from obscurity to the front pages of the newspapers of the world, and then the Members of Congress came out of their trance and decided that it was just about time to do something. Time and time only will give us the answer.

While the Morro Castle disaster was front-page news, everybody, one and all, had opinions, suggestions, and ideas of what to do and how to do it, to correct the situation. Congressional investigations were ordered, bills were presented in Congress, and a great hubbub was created. But we have again settled back and if we are not careful at this particular time, we will slip back into that 54085-36--18

future unless we substitute action for procrastination.

On Saturday, September 15, 1934, the Honorable Daniel C. Roper, Secretary of Commerce, was interviewed by Mr. Kenneth Clark, of the Universal Service, Inc., and by Mr. G. Gould Lincoln, of the Washington Star, and an account of both the interviews appeared in the Washington papers, Sunday, September 16, 1934, the article by Mr. Kenneth Clark appeared in the Washington Herald of the date, while the article by Mr. Lincoln appeared in the Washington Star, of the same date. A copy of both these articles is in front of me, and I would like to quote in part from same.

Quoting first from Mr. Kenneth Clark's article, I find the following: "An American merchant marine, 100-percent American-owned and Americanmanned.

"Secretary of Commerce Daniel C. Roper disclosed yesterday this is the goal he seeks in formulating a new Federal shipping program for President Roosevelt."

Quoting further in part from Mr. Kenneth Clark's article, I offer the following:

"From the bridge down to the engine rooms, our ships should use only Americans.

"The Morro Castle disaster has demonstrated the necessity for competent, well-trained American crews."

I would like to refer to the article by Mr. G. Gould Lincoln, and quote a minor portion of the article, which covered the entire column in the newspaper; unfortunately, space does not permit the inclusion of the entire article. "Roper insisted, too, that everything should be done to bring about the manning of the American merchant ships with American citizens. ""The crews', he said, 'should be 100-percent American.'"

The reason I am offering these quotations outlining the views of Secretary of Commerce Roper is because he, the executive head of the Department of Commerce, advocates legislation which would bring about 100-percent Americanization of the crews on all our subsidized ships, but the recommendations of the interdepartmental committee are just the opposite. This seems to be quite inconsistent, one way or the other. Further, during the Seventy-second Congress, first session, when hearings were being conducted before the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, House of Representatives, on H. R. 6710, during the course of the hearings the Honorable Arthur J. Tyrer, Commissioner of Navigation, Department of Commerce, testified in behalf of H. R. 6710, and during the course of his statement he said in part:

"So far as this bill is concerned, Mr. Chairman, the Bureau of Navigation is in accord with its purposes, to provide for native-born or fully naturalized citizens to serve as two-thirds of the crew of vessels operating under these mail contracts. At the present time, we have no law relating to the citizenship of seamen except so far as it relates to officers, outside of this law which is under discussion.

"As Judge Davis has said, under the ocean-mail contract law, two-thirds, beginning with next May, of the crew must be American citizens; and if the law remains as at present, under the opinion of the Attorney General, it will be possible for these mail-contract ships to operate with every member of the crew an alien, although they were citizens within the opinion of the Attorney General for the purpose of serving on shipboard.

"The Department of Commerce and the Bureau of Navigation is in accord with the rectifying of that situation."

I would also like to insert herein figures offered by Commissioner Tyrer: "Commissioner TYRER. Perhaps it would be of interest to the committee if I gave a few figures of our merchant-marine citizenship. We have in the merchant marine at the present time, as taken from the documents of the vessels, which is about as accurate a source as you could get, 192,325 men in the merchant marine.

"Now, we must deduct from that the number of seamen who are serving and who were serving on ships that have been laid up and checking up the documents of the vessels against the ships that are laid up, we find that 36,945 men are now idle because of the laying up of ships. Subtracting that number from the number required on the documents of the vessels, we now have on active vessels 155,380 men.

"Mr. CABLE. On how many ships?

"Commissioner TYRER. On 22,943 active ships.

"Mr. CABLE. Do all these ships carry mail?

"Commissioner TYRER. Oh, no. There are only a few which carry mail. These figures I am giving you are for the coastwise trade and foreign trade, both.

"Mr. SCHNEIDER. Those figures are for all ships flying the American flag. "Commissioner TYRER. All documented American ships from 5 tons up to the largest ships."

So, in offering Commissioner Tyrer's statement or portions of same, you will note where he takes the same view that Secretary Roper takes regarding having our subsidized ships manned by competent, efficient, well-trained seamen, who are citizens of the United States. I feel that this point is well put and must receive proper consideration; in fact, I hope to consistently and constructively build up a program which will in the very near future correct and rectify the deplorable situation that does now exist on our subsidized American merchant marine vessels. And when I refer to competent, efficient, well-trained seamen, I would like to refer back to the investigation of the Morro Castle disaster. As we all know this investigation was conducted by the Honorable Dickerson N. Hoover, Inspector General, Bureau of Navigation and Steamboat Inspection, Department of Commerce.

This gentlemen has had many years of experience in this department and is universally recognized as a very competent authority on subject of competency as it relates to the laws, rules, and regulations, pertaining to the Department with which he has so long been affiliated. So we should consider very carefully recommendations offered by General Hoover, and I would like to quote in part from an article which appeared in the Washington Herald, Sunday, September 16, 1934, during the course of the investigation which was being con ducted by General Hoover and I would like to offer for careful thought and consideration, the following statement of General Hoover:

"Lifeboats are important, but at best they are precarious. Then, though you have good ships and boats, you must have good men.

"The laws relating to able seamen might well be changed. At the present time only affidavits of their service are required. There should be rigid examination of their seamanship.

"We must stress men as well as things. We must not forget that no matter how excellent a device there may be, there must be competent men to handle it, and this competency in men must be stressed at sea more than in other places." By offering this suggestion on the part of General Hoover, I am trying to bring out the point that the program in which I am personally interested goes further than merely one of the Americanization of the merchant-marine vessels which are subsidized. I would place first, having competent, efficient, welltrained seamen employed on our subsidized vessels and second, to have them citizens of the United States, native born or completely naturalized. That is a consistent statement and is not open to debate. And, unless our new legislation for our American subsidized merchant-marine vessels is based on the above, and is carried out in our legislative program, we are bound to have repetitions of the Morro Castle disaster.

In the spring of 1928, when the Members of Congress were considering legis lation pertaining to the American merchant marine, prior to the enactment of the Merchant Marine Act, 1928, the subject of the personnel on the subsidized vessels was brought very much to the forefront. Some of the Members of Congress, both Houses, favored a policy of having the entire personnel of the crews on the subsidized ships composed of citizens of the United States. However, some of the Members of the shipping industry could not subscribe to that sort of a program and an extensive lobby and campaign was conducted at that time to defeat any 100-percent Americanization program and after considerable debate, pro and con, the members of the shipping industry succeeded in having legislation enacted which permitted them to employ 50 percent citizens of the United States on the subsidized ships. This percentage would be effective for a period of 4 years from May 22, 1928, to May 22, 1932. Then the percentage, according to law, was to be stepped up to two-thirds citizens I refer to section 405, of the United States, allowing one-third to be aliens. paragraph (c), Merchant Marine Act, 1928, approved May 22, 1928. This reference is for confirmation of the above statement.

It is interesting to note that after the Merchant Marine Act, 1928, became a law, certain members of the shipping industry were not even satisfied with the 50-percent provision of the law and they wanted to hire more aliens rather than

more citizens of the United States. So the question was presented to certain members of the legal fraternity of the shipping industry for a survey of the situation and they discovered what they thought was a method whereby paragraph (c), section 405, could be evaded. This was brought about by resurrecting an obsolete law which was enacted during the World War. I refer to the "act" approved May 9, 1928 (U. S. C., title VIII, sec. 376), which permitted aliens to be employed on our American merchant-marine ships and be classified technically as citizens of the United States, which was perfectly all right as a World War measure.

Hoping to be able to resort to the use of the act, some of the members of the shipping industry presented the matter to the former Postmaster General for an opinion and he in turn presented the matter to the former Attorney General for his opinion, and on March 12, 1929, the former Attorney General William D. Mitchell addressed a communication to the former Postmaster General, advising him that in compliance with his request of November 10, 1928, he, the Attorney General, felt satisfied that alien seamen holding World War protective certificates could legally be employed on the subsidized merchant-marine vessels and be considered citizens of the United States, in compliance with paragraph (c), section 405, Merchant Marine Act, 1928. This ruling by the former Attorney General has resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs to citizens of the United States, and has been directly responsible for these jobs being held by aliens who in no sense of the word are citizens of the United States, and this condition was brought about entirely by certain members of the shipping industry who have been fortunate enough to secure these very valuable mail contracts. And right along that line, would like to touch on a radio speech delivered on Wednesday night, January 24, 1934, by United States Senator Hugo Black of Alabama, when he was the speaker on the National Radio Forum, of the Washington Star, his subject being, ocean-mail and air-mail contracts. I shall quote in part from Senator Black's address:

"Since the beginning of the World War, the United States Government has spent approximately $4,000,000,000 to build up an American merchant marine. "The expressed object of all governmental aid given to the merchant marine has been to

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"Carry American goods in American bottoms. Carry these goods at the cheapest rate possible to return a fair profit.

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'Maintain a constant increase of ship construction, in order to replace old vessels with modern ships.

""To employ American boys as seamen and have them trained for sea service in case of national peril."

"With reference to training American boys to serve on the sea, it is sad to relates, that the evidence discloses that some of the ship operators drawing the fattest subsidies have employed the minimum number of Americans and sought to obtain legislation to permit employment by them of foreign seamen at low wages."

This is and should be conclusive proof that in 1928, as well as now, 1935, certain members of the shipping industry would then, and do now, want to employ aliens on the subsidized ships in preference to citizens of the United States. That statement is one based on fact and the writer happens to know that certain factions in the shipping industry are now carrying on a campaign of propaganda which they hope will defeat any attempt at this time to further Americanize the subsidized American merchant marine vessels and permit the employment of more aliens rather than citizens of the United States, as members of the crew on the subsidized vessels.

Conditions in 1928 and 1935 are different, very much so, for the sponsors of the Americanization program in 1928, were not sufficiently fortified with facts and figures to accomplish very much for their Americanization program, but it might be well for certain members of the shipping industry today to "stop, look, and listen", and to realize that the Americanization program today as it is being sponsored is a far different program to the one of 1928. And, unless certain members of the shipping industry are willing to listen to reason and cooperate on a constructive, consistent, feasible program, they are very apt to find that by trying to obstruct such a program at this time, that they will be working against their own best interests, because the sponsors of the program of 1935 are in an altogether different position to that which was held by the 1928 sponsors.