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FEBRUARY %, Ig00, THE QUESTION OF LICENSING OFFICERS. B ‘The Recorp printed last week a copy of bill (H. R. 040) to amend Section 4445 to Title XII of the U.S. Re- vised Statutes relating to the licensing of the officers of _ steam vessels. The bill provides for a maximum penalty of _ three years in prison and a maximum fine of $500 if anyone _- mnisstatesfacts when applying for a license, or in any way alter- ing a license. As only a week has elapsed, the views then ex- pressed in the RECORD will be fresh in the minds of our technical and otherwise interested readers. We have since received the following communication: Oe See gt ae Pee WASHINGTON, D. C., January 28, 1900. Editor TH# MARINE RECORD, Cleveland. My attention has just been called to the issue of THE MARINE RECORD of January 25, wherein, on page 13, you indulge in harsh criticism of my efforts on the floor of the © House to carry into legal effect the unanimous report of the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, of which I happen to be a member. I was directed to submit the report of the committee to the House and ask the passage of th bill. You have probably not been advised that the Marine Engineers’ Benevolent Association of the United States, through their president, Mr. George Uhler, prepared this bill and handed it to me with the request that I introduce the same and secure its passage if possible. I desire also to state that Mr. Uhler came before the com- mittee and gave some very strong reasons why the bill should be passed. The marine engineers have within the past week held their annual national meeting here in this city. I met a number of these gentlemen, and each and every one of them with whom I had any conversation at all, expressed the hope that the bill would pass. Iam pleased to hand you herewith my report on this bill, which, by the way, is substantially Senator Frye’s report from the Committee on Commerce in the Senate to the 55th Congress—I hope you can give this report in your next issue, —because on the strength of the report that Senator Frye made, the Senate passed the bill, but it was not reached in the House because of a great press of business growing out of the Spanish war. You are somewhat severe on me because ' Jrecommended the passage of the bill, and accuse me of casting aspersions on U.S. local inspectors of steam vessels. - In this connection, I beg to invite your attention to the letter of Inspector-General Dumont that is made a part of my report. The Inspector-General says, among other things : | _ “The object of the bill is to provide legal means of preventing - fraud in obtaining licenses by persons applying for license as steamboat officers, and for punishing officers who after’ _receiving license fraudulently, and by forgery increase, by interlineation or otherwise, the conditions originally stated on the face of such license.’’ Again the Inspector-General says: “The fraud referred to has been of frequent occurrence, and it has been found that there is not at present any legal means of prevention or punishment.’’ Inspector-General Dumont _ desires the passage of the bill for betterment of the service, and it seers to me in view of what he states, that it is pretty hard _ to find lodgment for an objection to it, and I am quite sure that he is not reflecting on local inspectors; and, in agreeing with him on this proposition, neither Senator Frye, General Grosvenor or myself, thought for a moment that we would be criticised by anyone interested in our merchant marine and the efficiency of its licensed officers. Referring to your - further criticisms of my lack of knowledge of how licenses are issued and obtained, I desire to say that there are many things connected with the merchant marine, and especially laws governing the same, that perhaps I ought to be more familiar with, but I think you will agree with me that I have at least a limited knowledge of licenses when I say to you, that I was licensed as a master many years ago; that I was an owner of steantboat property for eleven years prior to my coming to Washington as a member of the 54th Congress, during which Congress I served as a member of the Com- mittee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries. It may not be out of place to say that I began my steam- boat experience asa boy in 1858 on a steamer sailing out of the port of Cleveland. I send you this communication, together with my report on the bill, not because I have any Me feeling in the matter, but to get the facts fully before you, that you may know I am acting jointly with officials of the government and members of Congress of both Houses in try- ing to secure the passage of this bill. I cannot believe that the Inspector-General and the legal department of this govern- % THE MARINE RECORD. ment, are ignorant of what is needed, nor that they desire to ‘‘cast aspersions on local inspectors’? any more than do I. Sincerely yours, E. S. MINor. The report on the bill as mentioned in Mr. Minor’s letter is as follows: The Committee on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 1040) to amend Section 4445 of Title 52 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, having. duly considered the same, recommend the passage of the bill. The reasons for this recommendation will be found in the accompanying letter: Office of the Supervising Inspector General. Washington, D. C., April 15, 1898. Sir:—I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt, by reference to this office for report, of a communication dated the 13th instant, from the Committee on Commerce, United States Senate, inclosing Senate Bill 4391, Fifty-fifth Con- gress, second session, entitled ‘‘A bill to amend section forty-four hundred and forty-five, of title fifty-two, of the Revised Statutes of the United States,’’ and requesting the Secretary of the Treasury to furnish the committee with such suggestions as may be deemed proper touching the merits of the bill and the propriety of its passage. J have the honor to report thereon that the object of the bill is to provide a legal means of preventing fraud in obtain- ing licenses by persons applying for license as steamboat officers, and for punishing officers who after receiving licen- ces fraudulently and by forgery increase, by interlineation or otherwise, the conditions originally stated on the face of such licenses. : The fraud teferred to has been of frequent occurrence, and it has been found that there is not at present any legal means of prevention or punishment. The attention of Congress has been several times called to the necessity of legislation such asindicated in the bill under consideration, as may be seen from the following abstract from the report of 1897: It is desirable that the attention of Congress be again called to the recommendations of this office in its annual reports for 1891, 1893 and 1894, to provide against the im- munity from punishment for forging or interlining cer- tificates of license as masters, mates, pilots and engineers of steam vessels, or for making false oaths in the application for such licenses. It was supposed that persons committing forgery or per- jury in the matter stated, could be punished under existing statutes, but the honorable the Attorney-General decided otherwise, as may be seen from the opinion of that officer in letter dated September 17, 1890, which is quoted in full, as follows: Treasury Department, Steamboat Inspection Service. Department of Justice, \ Washington, D. C., September 17, 1890. Srr:—Answering your letter of the 13th instant, in which you ask whether the alteration of a license to an engineer, issued under Section 4441 of the Revised Statutes, so as to give the license the appearance of a higher class than that for which the license was actually issued, is a forging of a public record for the purpose of defrauding the United States, under Section 5418 or Section 5479 of the Revised Statutes. I have the honor to say that, in my opinion, such alteration is not within the sections mentioned, nor within Section 5423, the crime described in which is more closely allied to the misconduct stated in your letter. So far as I have been able to investigate the statutes, the only possible punishment provided by Jaw is the revocation of the license, under Section 4450. I agree with you that the importance of that subject de- mands that Congress should be asked to supply the omis- sion in the statutes and provide a punishment for such misconduct. Very respectfully, Wo. H. Tart, The Secretary of the Treasury. Acting Attorney-General. In conclusion, would say that there can be no question of doubt ‘touching the merits of the bill and the propriety of its passage.”’ The copy of bill is returned herewith. Respectfully yours, Jas. A. DUMONT, Supervising Inspector-General. The Secretary of the Treasury. We may first state our regrets at the apparently harsh crit- icism of the proposed measure, in so far as Congressman Minor is concerned. Inthe next place this appears to be a bill prepared by Mr. George Uhler, presiding officer of the Marine Engineers’ Benevolent Association, but destined to af- fect masters, mates and pilots in a greater degree (according to the ratio of members) than marine engineers. Another feature, is the letter submitted by the Attorney General to the Secretary of the Treasury, dated ten years ago, and relating to misconduct on the part of an engineer, which has been talked about ever since. We grant that Mr. Uhler is an earn- est, energetic worker in his own sphere, yet we can hardly believe that he is called upon to frame an amendment to a United States Revised Statute affecting ‘the interests, more | . or less, of a numerous class of men sailing on the lakes with whom he has no affiliation, personal interest or knowledge of their duties. The statement oftthe Supervising Inspector- General of Steamboats, that ‘‘the fraud referred to has been — of frequeut occurrence’’ argues a lack of supervision on the part of the revenue cutter service and the boarding officers, the custom house officials granting clearances, the owners engaging masters, the masters signing on pilots and chief engineers hiring assistants and so on through the list from top to bottom. There ought to have been a penalty clause in the original bill, but three years imprisonment is rather too radical a penalty to inflict at this late date, when, bya glance at an alphabetically arranged list the license held by any certificated officer can be ascertained by the boarding officer of the Revenue Marine Service, or when the vessel is cleared by the Collector of Customs, not to mention the super- vision of vessels’ certificates, officers’ licenses, etc., carried on by the local inspectors of steamboats within each district. It is clearly understood that the intended amendment to the statute, primarily and almost exclusively affects the lake and river service. It is further granted that local inspectors have not been vested with the power to administer oaths ex- cept in cases of investigation, nor is any required. If the RECORD’s criticism of Congressman Minor’s action in the matter of pressing this revision of this law affecting ~ licensed officers, seemed harsh, as, in view of Mr. Minor’s technical knowledge and experience, it may have been, we desire to state that it was the measure more than the man that our remarks applied to, at the same time, a certain onus rests on the shoulders of the person advocating any ' innovation, and especially so when seeking to change an old established law. The REcoRD will never decry or. speak derogatory of any measure or project without being in a position to present a better plan, and we herewith suggest that the pigskin, sheepskin, vellum, parchment, or whatever material is used to show that a man is permitted to work at a certain calling for a mere, ordinary pittance per diem, be in future so framed as to prevent any inter- lineation or other alteration, as for instance, after the man- ner in which our paper monetary system is carried on. Those whose occupation and calling is upon the waters, are not, and never were or will be, very skilled forgers, rather are they rough knots very easily untied. —$—— ano or INCREASE THE PAY OF LIGHT-HOUSE KEEPERS. We have received the following communication, as printed in the News, Port Austin, Mich.: ‘<The warning beams of the light-house guides the mariner on his wav. To the mariner the light-house is a signal of promise; far away over the foaming wave he watches for its reflection, its flashes as it revolves tell him where he is the darkest, stormiest night. On the faithful light-house keeper and his assistants a great responsibility rests, lives and prop- erty may be wiped out forever should he fail to do his duty. For many years the light-house keeper has labored at his work for Uncle Sam, a positicn of great responsibility, the salaries paid have long been inadequate for the services ren- dered. In comparison with other branches of the Govern- ment service, such as mail clerks, customs officers, depart- ment clerks, life savers, etc., the light-house service is under- paid. There has been no adjustment in salaries for light- house keepers in many years. Prosperity is abroad in the land, but prices have also advanced, and the light-house keeper and assistants with an inadequate salary eke out an existence at all the way from a dollaraday up to two dollars a day for isolated lights. A move is now being made to in- terest the present Congress in a re-classification of the pres- ent salaries paid light-house keepers, to the end that they may receive salaries in proportion to those paid to other Government officials. The News joins in the move and hopes it will be successful.’’ The MARINE RECORD “ieartily endorses the foregoing sug- gestion. So, for that matter, has the Light-House Board and its succeeding officers from term to term. The heads of the service, including naval officers detailed to light-house duty as inspectors, etc., receive their regular pay, but the keepers have been relegated to the realms of departmental obscurity and have no friends at court, or champion in the halls of legislation. The REcoRD has frequently set forth the claims of light-keepers for a fairer salary, but some time ago we arrived at the conclusion, that since the class, as a whole, was not a factor in the field of politics, Congressmen could easily and cheerfully ignore-their just claims on the Federal Government. Senators and Congressmen have taken up the cudgels in behalf of other departmental employes but the light-house keepers have been and are still waiting for their saviour.