The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

MATIN VIII UL IIIT INUIT RE IIAUIUUELUVTAUUATM IATA ll Mn II IIIT INUIT INIT IMM) E Does the American Warne Need Relief From Antiquated Navigation Laws or Rest from the Present Deluge of Congressional Restrictions? N WASHINGTON, we have 531 earnest-minded I legislators, and each one harbors an _ intense solicitude for the welfare of our merchant marine. This warm regard manifests itself by the introduction of bills in the house and senate, this being the only form of activity with which the legislative mind is familiar. The result of this experimenting is a nauseating concoction of laws, legal restrictions and enactments that serve no purpose other than to remind one forcibly of the truth of the adage that too many cooks spoil the broth. For it is clear that a cloying glut of laws retards, restricts and even constricts our maritime development. The opinion is generally held that a commensurate increase in our merchant marine depends upon the modernization of our ancient navigation laws—laws that are hoary relics of the days of sails and wood, not of modern steam and steel. Two years ago this opinion freely obtained among the few who had given our merchant marine even a passing consideration. Now, with the poignant lessons of the world war still fresh, the number interested in and familiar with the subject has increased greatly, an increase that is greater in mere numbers than in intelligent appre- ciation. ‘New Laws Worse Than Old While indubitably true that many of. our old laws . need to be revised in the light of our modern knowl- edge, it is equally veritable that as many of our new laws need either revision or complete elimination. These new laws, while passed in the days of steam and steel, apparently were drawn up with a weather eye on their vote- producing qualities. The latest, and with all due respect to its many ill-advised predecessors, one of the worst efforts of this latter nature, is H. R. 8036, entitled “A Bill to Regulate the Officering and Manning of Vessels”. Regulates the Officering and Manning of Vesse’s The readers of The Marine Review will find on a succeeding page an exhaustive analysis of this bill, its efforts, and its dynamite- -charged provisions. The bill requires every American ocean and coast- 299 wise seagoing merchant vessel of 1,000 gross tons and over, propelled by machinery, to carry three licensed assistant engineers and one licensed chief engineer, irrespective of size of engines, quantity of machinery on board or importance of engineering work to be performed. The same type of vessel of over 200 gross tons and less than 1,000, engaged in similar service, and a vessel of from 100 to 200 gross tons, engaged in trade at sea on routes of more than 24 hours, must have on board three licensed engineers. Taking Lessons from England The article ably points out that our legislators, if sincere in their attempts to build up the American marine, would do well to study the methods that have brought the great world fleet of Great Britain to the front rank. This premier seafaring nation, with the accumulated knowledge of years in her possession, is content to operate any machinery-propelled vessel with a maximum of two licensed engineers, irrespective of size, power, length of voyage or other consideration, The United States already prescribes 16 grades of marine engineers’ licenses, and in addition generally states on each license the maximum gross tonnage of the vessel on which the licensee may serve. That this practice is foreign to common engineering knowledge, is clearly proved by the table accompanying the article mentioned—a table showing 16 groups of vessels, in each group of which the vessel with the greatest tonnage has less horsepower, and requires less engi- neering labor, skill and knowledge than the vessel with the smallest tonnage. The legislator who bemoans our decadent marine and concurrently introduces another bill for its speedy upbuilding, may be incapable of perceiving the inter- relation of his actions. To others, though, it is clear. Our marine will not and cannot thrive on toxic injec- tions of new laws at frequent intervals. The patient, barely rallying from the effects of one poisonous secretion, is assaulted by another. His good health depends upon freedom from the superabundant doses prescribed by amateur practitioners.