STATEMENT OF R. C. FULLBRIGHT, HOUSTON, TEX., ON BEHALF OF THE AMERICAN COTTON SHIPPERS' ASSOCIATION Mr. FULLBRIGHT. My name is R. C. Fullbright; I reside in Houston, Tex. I am appearing here for the American Cotton Shippers' Association. This is an association of cotton merchants throughout the country, and, as you know, they are very large exporters of the principal agricultural commodity of the South. We were not a party to the conference which Colonel Barber spoke of this morning. We have, however, met with them in their meeting this morning and previous to that time and considered this legislation, and have endorsed it. I merely want to make two observations that have really been brought out by the interrogations by the chairman, who certainly has a splendid grasp of the scope of this bill and its purpose. One is the question whether it might entail an additional burden on insurance. The cotton shippers have to keep their commodity 100 percent insured; and if they thought it was going to mean an increase in the cost of insurance, I am sure they would not be here in support of the measure. Now, the reason we feel it would not increase the cost is because these exemptions that inure to the benefit of the shipper, such as the value per package and the other matters that have been mentioned here, in turn inure to the benefit of the Marine Insurance Co.; and it has been our feeling, if no other matter entered into it, that there would not only be no increase in insurance cost, but ultimately we might hope to reduce it. Of course, the note that has been introduced here this morning shows a discordant note. We do not feel, however, even if that should turn out to be so bad as our underwriter representative states, it would have the effect of really increasing the insurance cost. I might say it is also of very great importance to us to have a document that is satisfactory to the bankers, because all of our cotton exportation has to be financed through the banks, and almost altogether through the banks of this country, and we are, of course, anxious to do everything that will facilitate the exportation of this commodity. The international aspect of the matter which has been brought up by the chairman in his questions which he asked of Mr. Haight, we do not consider of so great importance, particularly to the cotton industry. We do want a bill of lading that we think will facilitate our banking facilities, our discounting of it, and our handling of it from this country to various countries of the earth. Of course, within recent years, we have some competition from other countries from cotton that is being transported in vessels of other flags; but certainly the principal exporters in our group feel that with the passage of this bill by America and with the existing rules being adopted by statute in Great Britain, we have right there the principal cotton-carrying nations, and it will largely take care of the situation as far as we are concerned. I simply wish to endorse what Colonel Barber had to say. I personally have been connected with this subject for a good many years, during part of the time with the National Industrial Traffic League. I thank you. STATEMENT OF HENRY R. SUTPHEN, CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON Mr. SUTPHEN. My name is Henry R. Sutphen; I am chairman of the committee on maritime affairs of the Merchants Association of New York. I represent the Merchants' Association of New York in favor of the enactment of S. 1152, to make effective in the United States a uniform standard ocean bill of lading. For the record, I wish to state that the Merchants Association is the largest general chamber of commerce in the New York district, including in its 4,000 members all classes of business-manufacturing, transportation, financial, amusement, and so forth, enterprises. It is the long-established policy of the Merchants Association to act in connection with proposals such as the present only after a thorough-going study of all the factors involved is made by a preliminary committee of experts, and their report and recommendations are reviewed by our board of directors which, in its personnel, represents all classes of business from the point of view of general benefit to business and not from the point of view of the selfish interest of any special group. The Merchants Association feels sure that the enactment of S. 1152 will produce benefit for exporters, importers, and carriers alike. The Merchants Association of New York first took action in favor of a uniform ocean bill of lading in 1922. In 1924 Judge Hough, one of the official representatives of the United States at the Brussels International Conference on Uniform Ocean Bills of Lading, came to our offices and spent several hours in conference with committee members on this subject. We have followed all legislation to provide such a document since that time and have endorsed various measures, despite minor provisions which we did not thoroughly approve, because of the belief that the establishment of a stranded uniform ocean bill of lading would be such a pronounced improvement over existing conditions that the minor objectionable provisions could be overlooked. But the pending measure, S. 1152, has been rewritten so as to remove the objectionable provisions which appeared in former bills, and it is our hope that this measure will promptly be enacted into law. Our endorsement is not carelessly given, but is a considered opinion based upon years of thoughtful study of the need for such legislation and the benefits which will be derived from it. STATEMENT OF HOWARD AYRES, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, STATE OF NEW YORK Mr. AYRES. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, my name is Howard Ayres; I have the honor to be vice president of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, for which I speak at this moment, and I file for the record a formal endorsement for the fourth time, by the chamber, of The Hague rules and of the efforts of those who have engaged in this struggle to get this bill which we consider a vital matter for all of the commercial interests, and we ask for your enactment of it. I file also a personal statement as a merchant long in the foreign trade of the United States, and the concluding words to that statement are As a merchant for many years actively engaged in foreign commerce of the United States with many countries, with a broad and long experience with all the phases of that trade, and in behalf of the merchants now laboring to hold and bring back the foreign commerce of our country, I appeal to the patriotism, the broad-mindedness, the common sense of this committee, and plead for a favorable report upon this bill. (The statements submitted for the record by Mr. Ayres are as follows:) CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, New York, January 23, 1936. The following report will be submitted to the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York at its monthly meeting to be held February 6, 1936, by its committee on foreign commerce and the revenue laws. This report represents the opinion of the committee only until action has been taken by the chamber. UNIFORM INTERNATIONAL OCEAN BILLS OF LADING FAVORED To the Chamber of Commerce: The committee on foreign commerce and the revenue laws offer the following resolutions: "Resolved, That the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York reaffirms its report and resolutions of February 4, 1932, urging the enactment by Congress of Federal legislation that will make effective the international code for carriage of goods by sea, commonly called The Hague rules: And be it further "Resolved, That the chamber urges the enactment into law of S. 1152 now before Congress, believing this measure is substantially in accord with the views expressed by this chamber." This chamber has urged Federal legislation to adopt the code of Hague rules at its monthly meetings on April 6, 1922, February 5, 1925, and February 4, 1932. The reports presented at those times by your committee on foreign commerce and the revenue laws were adopted unanimously. In order that those who have not followed this movement may have the more pertinent facts before them, we give the following quotations from the report of February 4, 1932: "No document is more fundamental in its importance than the bill of lading, which gives title to goods, while in process of shipment; none is more vague in its provisions or more possible of misunderstanding in case of dispute than some of those now in use, particularly the form in common use in the United States. The need of clarifying and simplifying this underlying document has long been felt, and many attempts have been made to accomplish this, most often with the result of complicating it further. The most successful movement in this direction was international, a diplomatic conference at Brussels, October 1922, attended by 24 maritime nations, including the United States. "That conference, taking as its basis a code formulated at The Hague in September 1921, by the International Law Association, signed a protocol, the socalled Hague Rules, which will become an international convention upon ratification by the signatories. It is designed to codify and unify the dissimilar laws and practices of the world's maritime states, and will establish a code of conditions common to ocean bills of lading. Ratification, which would have put the convention in force, was not urged upon the United States Senate, because it appeared advisable to make a few minor changes in the code, and statutory enactment was advised. Thus far the merchants of the United States whose interests are paramount, and who would be chiefly benefited, have not succeeded in getting Congress to act. "Several of the signatories have adopted the code and others are reported to be about to do so, and also in our own country approval has been strong. The banking institutions of New York, whose interest is vital, for they take bills of lading as security for money advanced, in 1927 adopted a resolution requesting ratification. Marine underwriters have recently urged favorable action. Many commercial organizations have gone on record in favor of the international code. The standing committee on commerce of the American Bar Association in its report of 1927 recommended its adoption. A very significant action was taken at the fourth Pan American Commercial Conference, Washington, October 1931, which recommended the prompt enactment of The Hague rules by all the nations of the Americas.' "Besides the great advantage of uniformity, which cannot be overestimated, these major reforms which cargo interests have long been seeking are provided by The Hague rules: "The carrier is prohibited from limiting his liability per package below £100. "The owners of cargo are allowed 1 year within which to bring suit for loss or damage to their goods. "Innumerable exception clauses are eliminated, and the burdens of proving that loss or damage was not due to the carrier's negligence has been placed on the carrier." It should need no argument to convince business men that foreign commerce would be benefited through uniformity in the essential documents necessary for its conduct. Respectfully submitted. EDWARD F. DARRELL, Chairman, MORGAN H. GRACE, GUSTAVE PORGES, CHRISTIAN B. ZABRISKIE, Committee on Foreign Commerce and the Revenue Laws. STATEMENT FOR HEARING JANUARY 28, 1936, ON S. 1152 ON UNIFORM BILL OF LADING FOR CARRIAGE OF GOODS BY SEA The COMMITTEE ON MERCHANT MARINE AND FISHERIES, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. SIRS: The merchant engaged in foreign trade, a citizen of the United States, whether an individual or a corporation, deserves the support and protection of his country in an undertaking, the importance of which to the whole Nation is coming to be understood. At the very basis of his business must be the certainty that the documents that he has as evidence of his ownership of the merchandise he has sent out of the country or is receiving from other countries are valid and beyond any question of accuracy. The commerce of the United States has been conducted on a general acceptance of assurance that this is so. In one respect it is not so. When goods are put aboard a ship or other instrument of transportation a bill of lading is received by the shipper which is a certificate of ownership or material interest in the goods until it is surrendered at destination for the goods themselves. There should be no doubt as to the security of such a document. Unfortunately there is doubt as to the bills of lading issued for shipments from the United States. This is not a pleasant statement to make, and it must be explained. For nearly 20 years now there has been in use among the principal commercial countries of the world, except the United States, a uniform bill of lading, simple in its undertakings, its rules and regulations. It has been interpreted and explained authoritatively, and is accepted in perfect understanding and confidence by merchants, bankers, and all in interest. All questions of duties and responsibilities of interest and ownership have been removed. In contrast is the condition existing in the United States, where there is no standard form for an ocean bill of lading. Recently, to determine this, a collection was made in the single port of New York on one and the same day when over 80 different copies of an ocean bill of lading were gathered. To be sure, there was an outward general resemblance, and certain broad undertakings on the part of the carrier were in much the same words, but in the multitude of clauses and words, in some cases as many as 2,500 words in a bill of lading, there was room for and existed differences quite large enough for uncertainties seriously affecting material interests. The United States was as a nation represented at the international conference that agreed upon the uniform bill of lading, but its representatives could do no more than state approval and recommend adoption. Now the matter comes up again in bill S. 1152 at the moment before this committee. As a merchant for many years actively engaged in the foreign commerce of the United States with many countries, with a broad and long experience with all the phases of that trade, and in behalf of the merchants now laboring to hold and bring back the foreign commerce of our country, I appeal to the patriotism, the broadmindedness, the common sense of this committee, and plead for a favorable report upon this bill. Very respectfully, HOWARD AYRES. STATEMENT OF C. H. CALLAHAN, MANAGER, MARITIME ASSOCIATION OF THE PORT OF NEW YORK Mr. CALLAHAN. My name is C. H. Callahan; I am manager of the Maritime Association of the Port of New York. At a meeting of the board of directors of the Maritime Association of the port of New York, held on January 14, 1936, it was resolved that the association support energetically the White bill, S. 1152, which will enact in the United States the so-called Hague Rules for the purpose of securing a uniform law covering ocean bills of lading and that our manager, C. H. Callahan, is to appear before the House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries to urge its prompt passage on January 28, 1936. The Maritime Association of the Port of New York is a membership organization, incorporated in 1873, for the purpose of promoting the maritime interests of the port of New York. The CHAIRMAN. I wonder, Mr. Callahan, if you could not just give us the highlights. Mr. CALLAHAN. I will file this with you, Mr. Chairman, if you please. We simply endorse it most energetically. I submit also a list of our membership, representing practically all of the steamship lines and affiliated interests of the port. (The papers submitted for the record by Mr. Callahan are as follows:) THE MARITIME ASSOCIATION OF THE PORT OF NEW YORK APPROVED THE ENACTMENT INTO LAW OF THE BILL (S. 1152) At a meeting of the board of directors of the Maritime Association of the port of New York, held on January 14, 1936, it was resolved that the association support energetically, the White bill, S. 1152, which will enact in the United States the so-called Hague Rules for the purpose of securing a uniform law covering ocean bills of lading and that our manager, C. H. Callahan, is to appear before the House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries to urge its prompt passage on January 28, 1936. The Maritime Association of the port of New York is a membership organization, incorporated in 1873 for the purpose of promoting the maritime interests of the port of New York. Embraced within its membership are practically all the steamship lines, steamship agents, and steamship operators connected with the handling of our foreign trade and also includes shipbuilders and ship repairers, drydocks, warehouses and terminals, towing, lighterage, wrecking companies, stevedores, ship chandlers and marine suppliers, oil and coal bunkering, naval architects and marine surveyors, and marine insurance and underwriters, and other interests allied to the shipping industry. A list of our membership is submitted herewith, The association is strongly of the opinion that international trade will be furthered by the passage of this bill. When the laws of the important countries differ as to the obligations of carriers and the rights of shippers, the handling of our international trade and of international commerce generally is rendered more difficult and friction and litigation are unavoidable. This, we |