Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 3, 1888, Part II

No. 41.
Mr. Bayard to United States ministers.

Department of State,
Washington, July 9, 1887.

Circular.]

Sir: In the act of Congress, approved June 19, 1886, entitled “An act to abolish certain fees for official services to American vessels, and to amend the laws relating to shipping commissioners, seamen, and owners of vessels, and for other purposes,” the following provisions are found:

• Sec. 11. That section fourteen 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 twentysixth eighteen hundred and eighty-four, be amended so as to read as follows:
• “Sec. 14. That in lieu of the tax on tonnage of thirty cents per ton per annum imposed prior to July first, eighteen hundred and eighty-four, a duty of three cents per ton, not to exceed in the aggregate fifteen cents per ton in any one year, is hereby imposed at each entry on all vessels which shall be entered in any port of the United States from any foreign port or place in North America, Central America, the West India Islands, the Bahama Islands, the Bermuda Islands, or the coast of South America bordering on the Caribbean Sea, or the Sandwich Islands, or Newfoundland; and a duty of six cents per ton, not to exceed thirty cents per ton per annum, is hereby imposed at each entry upon all vessels which shall be entered in the United States from any other foreign ports, not, however, to include vessels in distress or not engaged in trade: Provided, That the President of the United States shall suspend the collection of so much of the duty herein imposed, on vessels entered from any foreign port, as may be in excess of the tonnage and lighthouse dues, or other equivalent tax or taxes imposed in said port on American vessels by the Government of the foreign country in which such port is situated, and shall, upon the passage of this act, and from time to time thereafter as often as it may become necessary by reason of changes in the laws of the foreign countries above mentioned, indicate by proclamation the ports to which such suspension shall apply, and the rate or rates of tonnage duty, if any, to be collected under such suspension: Provided further, That such proclamation shall exclude from the benefits of the suspension herein authorized the vessels of any foreign country in whose ports the fees or dues of any kind or nature imposed on vessels of the United States, or the import or export duties on their cargoes, are in excess of the fees, dues, or duties imposed on the vessels of the country in which such port is situated, or on the cargoes of such vessels; and sections forty-two hundred and twenty-three and forty-two hundred and twenty-four, and so much of section forty-two hundred and nineteen of the Revised Statutes as conflicts with this section, are hereby repealed.”
• Sec. 12. That the President be, and hereby is, directed to cause the Governments of foreign countries which, at any of their ports, impose on American vessels a tonnage tax or lighthouse dues, or other equivalent tax or taxes, or any other fees, charges, or dues, to be informed of the provisions of the preceding section, and invited to cooperate with the Government of the United States in abolishing all lighthouse dues, tonnage taxes, or other equivalent tax or taxes on, and also all other fees for official services to, the vessels Of the respective nations employed in the trade between the ports of such foreign country and the ports of the United States.
• Sec. 17. That whenever any foreign country whose vessels have been placed on the same footing in the ports of the United States as American vessels (the coastwise trade excepted) shall deny to any vessels of the United States any of the commercial privileges accorded to national vessels in the harbors, ports, or waters of such foreign country, the President, on receiving satisfactory information of the continuance of such discriminations against any vessels of the United States, is hereby authorized to issue his proclamation excluding, on and after such time as he may indicate, from the exercise of such commercial privileges in the ports of the United States as are denied to American vessels in the ports of such foreign country, all vessels of such foreign country of a similar character to the vessels of the United States thus discriminated against, and suspending such concessions previously granted to the vessels of such country; and on and after the date named in such proclamation for it to take effect, if the master, officer, or agent of any vessel of such foreign country excluded by said proclamation from the exercise of any commercial privileges shall do any act prohibited by said proclamation in the ports, harbors, or waters of the United States for or on account of such vessel, such vessel, and its rigging, tackle, furniture, and boats, and all the goods on board, shall be liable to seizure and to forfeiture to the United States; and any person opposing any officer of the United States in the enforcement of this act, or aiding and abetting any other person in such opposition, shall forfeit eight hundred dollars, and shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years.

Copies of the act above quoted, and of the prior act of June 26, 1884, are inclosed herewith for your information. Circumstances having heretofore delayed the extension of the general invitation authorized by section 12 of the act of 1886, as above quoted, you are now instructed to invite the Government of to co operate with the Government of the United States toward the contemplated ends.

It will be seen that the provisions of the sections above quoted are broad enough to cover either a reduction or a complete abolition, by reciprocal action, of tonnage and equivalent charges on navigation; and it is open to any foreign country, in all or any of whose ports a less charge is made than that now imposed in the ports of the United States, to obtain forthwith a reduction of the charge in the United States, on vessels coming from such port or ports, to an equality with that levied in the port or ports designated. An example of this is furnished by the arrangement lately entered into between the Government of the United States and that of The Netherlands, as shown by the inclosed copy of the President’s proclamation of April 22, 1887, whereby complete exemption from tonnage dues is secured to all vessels, of whatever nationality, entering ports of the United States from the ports of The Netherlands in Europe, or from certain named ports of the Dutch East Indies.

It is to be observed that the invitation herein contained is extended equally to all countries, both those having ports within the geographical zone to which, under the shipping acts of 1884 and 1886, the rate of 3–15 cents per ton applies and those which have no ports within that zone, and to which the rate of 6.30 cents per ton now applies. The rate of 3–15 cents per ton was geographical and involved no test of flag. The object and intent of the present invitation is to deal, on the basis of reciprocity, with countries as nationalities, whether situated within or without the geographical limits referred to.

Besides extending the invitation herein authorized, you are also instructed to ascertain whether, in the ports of or in any dependency thereof, any discrimination exists against vessels of the United States as compared with the vessels of (other than those engaged in the coasting or colonial trade) or the vessels of any third country.

If such discrimination be found to exist, its precise nature and extent should be reported, when this Government will be in a position to determine how far the commerce between the United States and the ports of such country (if such ports are found within the defined geographical limits), or how far the vessels of such country (if it be outside of the geographical limits aforesaid), are to be restricted in or excluded from the privileges created, either under the express provisions of the shipping acts of 1884 and 1886, or under the special arrangements of reciprocity effected under the authorizations of those acts and proclaimed by the President.

In communicating the invitation herein contained you will convey the fullest assurance to the minister for foreign affairs of its entire friendliness, and the desire of the United States to treat the commerce and flag of on the footing of the most complete reciprocity in those matters to which the invitation relates.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

T. F. Bayard,
Secretary of State.

[Inclosure 1.]

By the President of the United States of America:

a proclamation.

Whereas satisfactory proof has been given to me by the Government of The Netherlands, that no lighthouse and light dues, tonnage dues, or beacon and buoy dues are imposed in the ports of the Kingdom of The Netherlands; that no other equivalent tax of any kind is imposed upon vessels in said ports, under whatever flag they may sail; that vessels belonging to the United States of America, and their cargoes, are not required, in The Netherlands, to pay any fee or due of any kind, or nature, or any import due higher or other than is payable by vessels of The Netherlands or their cargoes; that no export duties are imposed in The Netherlands; and that in the free ports of the Dutch East Indies, to wit: Riouw (in the island of Riouw), Pabean, Sangrit, Loloan, and Tamboekoes (in the island of Bali), Koepang (in the island of Timor), Makassar, Memido, Kema, and Gorontalo (in the island of Celebes), Amboina, Saparoa, Banda, Ternate, and Kajeli (in the Moluccas), Olehleh and Bengkalis (in the island of Sumatra), vessels are subjected to no fiscal tax, and no import or export duties are there levied:

Now, therefore, I, Grover Cleveland, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by section 11 of the act of Congress, entitled “An act to abolish certain fees for official services to American vessels, and to amend the laws relating to shipping commissioners, seamen, and owners of vessels, and for other purposes,” approved June nineteenth, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-six, do hereby declare and proclaim that from and after the date of this my Proclamation shall be suspended the collection of the whole of the duty of six cents per ton, not to exceed thirty cents per ton per annum (which is imposed by said section of said act) upon vessels entered in the ports of the United States from any of the ports of the Kingdom of The Netherlands in Europe, or from any of the abovenamed free ports of the Dutch East Indies:

Provided, That there shall be excluded from the benefits of the suspension hereby declared and proclaimed the vessels of any foreign country in whose ports the fees or dues of any kind or nature imposed on vessels of the United States, or the import or export duties on their cargoes, are in excess of the fees, dues or duties imposed on the vessels of such foreign country, or their cargoes, or of the fees, dues, or duties imposed on the vessels of the country in which are the ports mentioned in this Proclamation, or the cargoes of such vessels.

And the suspension hereby declared and proclaimed shall continue so long as the reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens of the United States, and their cargoes, shall be continued in the said ports of the Kingdom of The Netherlands in Europe and the said free ports of the Dutch East Indies, and no longer.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington this twenty-second day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven, and of the independence of the United States the one hundred and eleventh.

[seal.]

Grover Cleveland.

By the President,

T. F. Bayard,
Secretary of State.

[Inclosure 2.]

(Public—No. 67.)

AN ACT to remove certain burdens on the American merchant marine and encourage the American foreign carrying trade 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 last clause of section forty-one hundred and thirty-one of the Revised Statutes be amended so as to read as follows:

“All the officers of vessels of the United States shall be citizens of the United States, except that in cases where, on a foreign voyage, or on a voyage from an Atlantic to a Pacific port of the United States, any such vessel is for any reason deprived of the services of an officer below the grade of master, his place, or a vacancy caused by the promotion of another officer to such place, may be supplied by a person not a citizen of the United States until the first return of such vessel to its home port; and such vessel shall not be liable to any penalty or penal tax for such employment of an alien officer.”

Sec. 2. That section forty-five hundred and eighty of the Revised Statutes be amended so as to read as follows:

“Sec. 4580. Upon the application of the master of any vessel to a consular officer to discharge a seaman, or upon the application of any seaman for his own discharge, if it appears to such officer that said seaman has completed his shipping agreement, or is entitled to his discharge under any act of Congress or according to the general principles or usages of maritime law as recognized in the United States, such officer shall discharge such seaman, and require from the master of said vessel, before such discharge shall be made, payment of the wages which may then be due said seaman; but no payment of extra wages shall be required of any consular officer upon such discharge of any seaman except as provided in this act.”

Sec. 3. That section forty-five hundred and eighty-three of the Revised Statutes be amended so as to read as follows:

“Sec. 4583. Whenever on the discharge of a seaman in a foreign country, on his complaint that the voyage is continued contrary to agreement, the consular officer shall be satisfied that such voyage has been designedly and unnecessarily prolonged in violation of the articles of shipment, or whenever a seaman is discharged by a consular officer in consequence of any hurt or injury received in the service of the vessel, 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 months 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 crewlist 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 reengagement, 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 dollars 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 maybe 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 whalingvessels: And provided further, 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 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 induced 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 slopchest 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 eighty-four, 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. 14. That in lieu of the tax on tonnage of thirty cents per ton per annum heretofore imposed by law, a duty of three cents per ton, not to exceed in the aggregate fifteen cents per ton in any one year, is hereby imposed at each entry on all vessels which shall be entered in any port of the United States from any foreign port or place in North America, Central America, the West India Islands, the Bahama Islands, the Bermuda Islands, or the Sandwich Islands, or Newfoundland; and a duty of six cents per ton, not to exceed thirty cents per ton per annum, is hereby imposed at each entry upon all vessels which shall be entered in the United States from any other foreign ports: Provided, That the President of the United States shall suspend the collection of so much of the duty herein imposed, on vessels entered from any port in the Dominion of Canada, Newfoundland, the Bahama Islands, the Bermuda Islands, the West India Islands, Mexico, and Central America down to and including Aspinwall and Panama, as may be in excess of the tonnage and lighthouse dues, or other equivalent tax or taxes, imposed on American vessels by the Government of the foreign country in which such port is situated and shall upon the passage of this act, and from time to time thereafter as often as it may become necessary by reason of changes in the laws of the foreign countries above mentioned, indicate by proclamation the ports to which such suspension shall apply, and the rate or rates of tonnage duty, if any, to be collected under such suspension. And provided further, That all vessels which shall have paid the tonnage tax imposed by section forty-two hundred and nineteen of the Revised Statutes for the current year shall not be liable to the tax herein levied until the expiration of the certificate of last payment of the said tax. And sections forty-two hundred and twenty-three and forty-two hundred and twenty-four, and so much of section forty-two hundred and nineteen of the Revised Statutes as conflicts with this section are hereby repealed.

Sec. 15. Sections forty-five hundred and eighty-five, forty-five hundred and eighty-six, and forty-five hundred and eighty-seven of the Revised Statutes, and all other acts and parts of acts providing for the assessment and collection of a hospital tax for seamen, are hereby repealed, and the expense of maintaining the Marine-Hospital Service shall hereafter be borne by the United States out of the receipts for duties on tonnage provided for by this act; and so much thereof as may be necessary is hereby appropriated for that purpose.

Sec. 16. All articles of foreign production needed, and actually withdrawn from bonded warehouses, for supplies not including equipment of vessels of the United States engaged in the foreign trade, including the trade between the Atlantic and Pacific ports of the United States, may be so withdrawn free of duty, under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe.

Sec. 17. When a vessel is built in the United States for foreign account, wholly or partly of foreign materials on which import duties have been paid, there shall be allowed on such vessel, when exported, a drawback equal in amount to the duty paid on such materials, to be ascertained under such regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury. Ten per centum of the amount of such drawback so allowed shall, however, be retained for the use of the United States by the collector paying the same.

Sec. 18. That the individual liability of a shipowner shall be limited to the proportion of any or all debts and liabilities that his individual share of the vessel bears to the whole; and the aggregate liabilities of all the owners of a vessel on account of the same shall not exceed the value of such vessel and freight pending: Provided, That this provision shall not affect the liability of any owner incurred previous to the passage of this act, nor prevent any claimant from joining all the owners in one action; nor shall the same apply to wages due to persons employed by said shipowners.

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 reengagement.

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.

Sec. 21. That the word “port,” as used in sections forty-one hundred and seventy-eight and forty-three hundred and thirty-four of the Revised Statutes, in reference to painting the name and port of every registered or licensed vessel on the stern of such vessel shall be construed to mean either the port where the vessel is registered or enrolled, or the place in the same district where the vessel was built or where one or more of the owners reside.

Sec. 22. That until the provisions of section one, chapter three hundred and seventy-six, of the laws of eighteen hundred and eighty-two, shall be made applicable to passengers coming into the United States by land carriage, said provisions shall not apply to passengers coming by vessels employed exclusively in the trade between the ports of the United States and the ports of the Dominion of Canada or the ports of Mexico.

Sec. 23. That sections thirty-nine hundred and seventy-six and forty-two hundred and three of the Revised Statutes of the United States, and all other compulsory laws and parts of laws that oblige American vessels to carry the mails to and from the United States arbitrarily, or that prevent the clearance of vessols until they shall have taken mail matter on board, be and the same are hereby repealed, but such repeal shall not take effect until the first day of April, eighteen hundred and eighty five.

Sec. 24. That section twenty-nine hundred and sixty-six of the Revised Statutes be amended by striking out the words “propelled in whole or in part by steam;” so that said section as amended shall read as follows:

“Sec. 2966. When merchandise shall be imported into any port of the United States from any foreign country in vessels, and it shall appear by the bills of lading that the merchandise so imported is to be delivered immediately after the entry of the vessel, the collector of such port may take possession of such merchandise and deposit the same in bonded warehouse; and when it does not appear by the bills of lading that the merchandise so imported is to be immediately delivered, the collector of the customs may take possession of the same and deposit it in bonded warehouse, at the request of the owner, master, or consignee of the vessel, on three days’ notice to such collector after the entry of the vessel.”

Sec. 25. That section twenty-eight hundred and seventy-two of the Revised Statutes be amended by adding thereto the following:

“When the license to unload between the setting and rising of the sun is granted to a sailing vessel under this section, a fixed, uniform, and reasonable compensation may be allowed to the inspector or inspectors for service between the setting and rising of the sun, under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe, to be received by the collector from the master, owner, or consignee of the vessel, and to be paid by him to the inspector or inspectors.”

Sec. 26. That whenever any fine, penalty, forfeiture, exaction, or charge arising under the laws relating to vessels or seamen has been paid to any collector of customs or consular officer, and application has been made within one year from such payment for the refunding or remission of the same, the Secretary of the Treasury, if on investigation he finds that such fine, penalty, forfeiture, exaction, or charge was illegally, improperly, or excessively imposed, shall have the power, either before or after the same has been covered into the Treasury, to refund so much of such fine, penalty, forfeiture, exaction, or charge as he may think proper from any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.

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, remove 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 appointed in his place: Provided, That shipping commissioners now in office shall continued to perform the duties thereof until others shall be appointed in their places. Shipping commissioners shall monthly render a full, exact, and itemized account of their receipts and expenditures to the Secretary of the Treasury, who shall determine their compensation, and shall from time to time determine the number and compensation 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. All 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.”

Sec. 28. Before issuing any inspection certificate to any steamer the collector or other chief officer of customs for the port or district shall demand and receive from the owners thereof, as a compensation for the inspection and examinations made for the year, the following sums, in addition to the fees for issuing enrollments and licenses now allowed by law, according to the tonnage of the vessel: For each steamvessel of one hundred tons or under, ten dollars; and for each and every ton in excess of one hundred tons, five cents, in lieu of the fees now provided by law.

Sec. 29. That section twenty-seven hundred and seventy-six of the Revised Statutes is hereby amended by adding thereto the following:

“Provided, That vessels arriving at a port of entry in the United States, laden with coal, salt, railroad-iron, and other like articles in bulk, may proceed to places within that collection district to be specially designated by the Secretary of the Treasury, by general regulations or otherwise, under the superintendence of customs officers, at the expense of the parties interested, for the purpose of unlading cargoes of the character before mentioned.”

Sec. 30. All laws and parts of laws in conflict with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed; and this act shall take effect and be in force on and after July first, eighteen hundred and eighty-four.

Approved, June 26, 1884.

[Inclosure 3.]

(Public No. 85.)

AN ACT to abolish, certain fees for official services to American vessels, and to amend the laws relating to shipping commissioners, seamen, and owners of vessels, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That on and after July first, eighteen hundred and eighty-six, no fees shall be charged or collected by collectors or other officers of customs, or by inspectors of steam-vessels or shipping commissioners, for the following services to vessels of the United States, to wit: Measurement of tonnage and certifying the same; issuing of license or granting of certificate of registry, record, or enrollment, including all indorsements on the same and bond and oath; indorsement of change of master; certifying and receiving manifest, including master’s oath, and permit; granting permit to vessels licensed for the fisheries to touch and trade; granting certificate of payment of tonnage dues; recording bill of sale, mortgage, hypothecation, or conveyance, or the discharge of such mortgage or hypothecation; furnishing certificate of title; furnishing the crewlist, including bond; certificate of protection to seamen; bill of health; shipping or discharging of seamen, as provided by title fifty-three of the Revised Statutes and section two of this act; apprenticing boys to the merchant service; inspecting, examining, and licensing steam-vessels, including inspection certificate and copies thereof; and licensing of master, engineer, pilot, or mate of a vessel; and all provisions of laws authorizing or requiring the collection of fees for such services are repealed, such repeal to take effect July first, eighteen hundred and eighty-six. Collectors or other officers of customs, inspectors of steam vessels, and shipping commissioners who are paid wholly or partly by fees shall make a detailed report of such services, and the fees provided by law, to the Secretary of the Treasury, under such regulations as that officer may prescribe; and the Secretary of the Treasury shall allow and pay, from any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, said officers such compensation for said services as each would have received prior to the passage of this act; also such compensation to clerks of shipping commissioners as would have been paid them had this act not passed: Provided, That such services have, in the opinion of the Secretary of the Treasury, been necessarily rendered.

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.”

Sec. 4. That section forty-two hundred and eighty-nine of the Revised Statutes be amended so as to read as follows:

“Sec. 4289. The provisions of the seven preceding sections, and of section eighteen of an act entitled ‘An act to remove certain burdens on the American merchant marine and encourage the American foreign carryingtrade, and for other purposes,’ approved June twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and eighty-four, relating to the limitations of the liability of the owners of vessels, shall apply to all seagoing vessels, and also to all vessels used on lakes or rivers or in inland navigation, including canalboats, barges, and lighters.”

Sec. 5. That section forty-one hundred and fifty-three of the Revised Statutes be amended by striking out the last sentence of the last paragraph, and inserting instead the following: “In every vessel documented as a vessel of the United States the number denoting her net tonnage shall be deeply carved or otherwise permanently marked on her main beam, and shall be so continued; and if the number at any time cease to be continued, such vessel shall be subject to a fine of thirty dollars on every arrival in a port of the United States if she have not her tonnage number legally carved or permanently marked.”

Sec. 6. That from the close of section forty-one hundred and seventy-seven of said statutes the following words shall be stricken out, to wit: “Such vessel shall be no longer recognized as a vessel of the United States;” and in lieu thereof there shall be inserted the words following: “Such vessel shall be liable to a fine of thirty dollars on every arrival in a port of the United States if she have not her proper official number legally carved or permanently marked.”

Sec. 7. Every vessel of twenty tons or upwards, entitled to be documented as a vessel of the United States; other than registered vessels, found trading between district and district, or between different places in the same district, or carrying on the fishery, without being enrolled and licensed, and every vessel of less than twenty tons and not less than five tons burden found trading or carrying on the fishery as aforesaid without a license obtained as provided by this title, shall be liable to a fine of thirty dollars at every port of arrival without such enrollment or license. But if the license shall have expired while the vessel was at sea, and there shall have been no opportunity to renew such license, then said fine of thirty dollars shall not be incurred. And so much of section four thousand three hundred and seventy-one of the Revised Statutes as relates to vessels entitled to be documented as vessels of the United States is hereby repealed.

Sec. 8. That foreign vessels found transporting passengers between places or ports in the United States, when such passengers have been taken on board in the United States, shall be liable to a fine of two dollars for every passenger landed.

Sec. 9. That the fines imposed by sections five, six, seven, and eight of this act shall be subject to remission or mitigation by the Secretary of the Treasury when the offense was not willfully committed, under such regulations and methods of ascertaining the facts as may seem to him advisable.

Sec. 10. That the provision of Schedule N of “An act to reduce internal-revenue taxation, and for other purposes,” approved March third, eighteen hundred and eighty-three, allowing a drawback on imported bituminous coal used for fuel on vessels propelled by steam, shall be construed to apply only to vessels of the United States.

Sec. 11. That section fourteen 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 twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and eighty-four, be amended so as to read as follows:

“Sec. 14. That in lieu of the tax on tonnage of thirty cents per ton per annum imposed prior to July first, eighteen hundred and eighty-four, a duty of three cents per ton, not to exceed in the aggregate fifteen cents per ton in any one year, is hereby imposed at each entry on all vessels which shall be entered in any port of the United States from any foreign port or place in North America, Central America, the West India Islands, the Bahama Islands, the Bermuda Islands, or the coast of South America bordering on the Caribbean Sea, or the Sandwich Islands, or Newfoundland; and a duty of six cents per ton, not to exceed thirty cents per ton per annum, is hereby imposed at each entry upon all vessels which shall be entered in the United States from any other foreign ports, not, however, to include vessels in distress or not engaged in trade: Provided, That the President of the United States shall suspend the collection of so much of the duty herein imposed, on vessels entered from any foreign port, as may be in excess of the tonnage and lighthouse dues, or other equivalent tax or taxes, imposed in said port on American vessels by the Government of the foreign country in which such port is situated, and shall, upon the passage of this act, and from time to time thereafter as often as it may become necessary by reason of changes in the laws of the foreign countries above mentioned, indicate by proclamation the ports to which such suspension shall apply, and the rate or rates of tonnage-duty, if any, to be collected under such suspension: Provided, further, That such proclamation shall exclude from the benefits of the suspension herein authorized the vessels of any foreign country in whose ports the fees or dues of any kind or nature imposed on vessels of the United States, or the import or export duties on their cargoes, are in excess of the fees, dues, or duties imposed on the vessels of the country in which such port is situated, or on the cargoes of such vessels; and sections forty-two hundred and twenty-three and forty-two hundred and twenty-four, and so much of section forty-two hundred and nineteen of the Revised Statutes as conflict with this section, are hereby repealed.”

Sec. 12. That the President be, and hereby is, directed to cause the Governments of foreign countries which, at any of their ports, impose on American vessels a tonnage tax or lighthouse dues, or other equivalent tax or taxes, or any other fees, charges, or dues, to be informed of the provisions of the preceding section, and in vited to cooperate with the Government of the United States in abolishing all lighthouse dues, tonnage-taxes, or other equivalent tax or taxes on, and also all other fees for official services to, the vessels of the respective nations employed in the trade between the ports of such foreign country and the ports of the United States.

Sec. 13. That section eleven 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 twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and eighty-four, shall not be construed to apply to vessels engaged in the whaling or fishing business.

Sec. 14. That section forty-four hundred and eighteen of the Revised Statutes is hereby amended by striking out from the nineteenth and following lines thereof the words “and, to indicate the pressure of steam, suitable steamregisters that will correctly record each excess of steam carried above the prescribed limit, and the highest point attained,” and inserting in lieu thereof the following: “and suitable steam gauges to indicate the pressure of steam.”

Sec. 15. That the provisions of sections twenty-five hundred and ten and twenty-five hundred and eleven of the Revised Statutes, as the sections of Title thirty-three are numbered in “An act to reduce internal revenue taxation and for other purposes,” approved March third, eighteen hundred and eighty-three, and the provisions of sections sixteen 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 twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and eighty-four, shall apply to the construction, equipment, repairs, and supplies of vessels of the United States employed in the fisheries or in the whaling business, in the same manner as to vessels of the United States engaged in the foreign trade.

Sec. 16. That rule twelve of section forty-two hundred and thirty-three of the Revised Statutes shall be so construed as not to require rowboats and skiffs upon the river Saint Lawrence to carry lights.

Sec. 17. That whenever any foreign country whose vessels have been placed on the same footing in the ports of the United States as American vessels (the coastwise trade excepted) shall deny to any vessels of the United States any of the commercial privileges accorded to national vessels in the harbors, ports, or waters of such foreign country, the President, on receiving satisfactory information of the continuance of such discriminations against any vessels of the United States, is hereby authorized to issue his proclamation excluding, on and after such time as he may indicate, from the exercise of such commercial privileges in the ports of the United States as are denied to American vessels in the ports of such foreign country, all vessels of such foreign country of a similar character to the vessels of the United States thus discriminated against, and suspending such concessions previously granted to the vessels of such country; and on and after the date named in such proclamation for it to take effect, if the master, officer, or agent of any vessel of such foreign country excluded by said proclamation from the exercise of any commercial privileges shall do any act prohibited by said proclamation in the ports, harbors, or waters of the United States for or on account of such vessel, such vessel, and its rigging, tackle, furniture, and boats, and all the goods on board, shall be liable to seizure and to forfeiture to the United States; and any person opposing any officer of the United States in the enforcement of this act, or aiding and abetting any other person in such opposition, shall forfeit eight hundred dollars, and shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years.

Sec. 18. Section nine of “An act to remove certain burdens on the American merchant marine and encourage the American foreign carryingtrade, and for other purposes,” approved June twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and eighty-four, is hereby amended in the eighth line by inserting after the words “and the 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 seamen having a contagious disease.”

Approved, June 19, 1886.