4 Mr. JOSEPH P. KENNEDY, Chairman, United States Maritime Commission, Washington, D. C. AUGUST 19, 1937. MY DEAR MR. KENNEDY: I have the letter of Acting Chairman Edward C. Moran, Jr., dated August 16, 1937, enclosing the original and two copies of the Commission's proposed report to the chairman of the House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries concerning S. 1273, a bill to adopt regulations for preventing collisions at sea. The original and one copy of your proposed report suggesting certain changes in language in the above bill are returned herewith and you are advised that there would be no objection by this office to its presentation to the committee. Very truly yours, Hon. S. O. BLAND, D. W. BELL, Acting Director. Chairman, Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, House of Representatives.. DEAR MR. BLAND: Careful consideration has been given to bill S. 1273, an act to adopt regulations for preventing collisions at sea, which you transmitted to the War Department under date of August 11, 1937, with request for the views and recommendations of the Department relative thereto. As stated in section 3, the enactment of this legislation will repeal the act of Congress approved August 19, 1890, entitled "An act to adopt regulations for preventing collisions at sea." It will make effective for all public and private vessels of the United States the more adequate rules and regulations governing the operation and equipment of seagoing vessels, both passenger and cargo, adopted by the International Conference on Safety of Life at Sea at London May 31, 1929. The vessels of the Army Transport and the Harbor Boat Services will be operated under the rules and regulations appearing in annex II, as amended, at the conference mentioned, and the safety of passengers and other persons on board these vessels will be further safeguarded by the United States joining in the international adoption of these rules. Any gain in safety at sea is an advantage and benefit to our shipping industry and to the public. War Department appropriations will not be materially affected by the enactment of this legislation, as the new rules and regulations have been applied for some time in the construction of new vessels and in the refitting of existing watertransportation facilities. As the rules and regulations adopted by the international conference are practicable and reasonable, the War Department favors enactment of the bill. This proposed report was submitted to the Bureau of the Budget, which reports that there would be no objection to the submission to the committee of the report. Sincerely yours, HARRY H. WOODRING, Mr. HART. Gentlemen, I regret very much to have to announce that the chairman, Mr. Bland, is unable to be present this morning because of a rather painful, if not serious, illness. And, with respect to the first bill on the agenda, that is, H. R. 8840, it is the desire of the chairman and, I believe, such of the committee members as he has had a chance to contact, who agree with him, that the matter ought to go over and any outside parties who are here this morning, if they please, will file a statement with the committee, unless they insist on making a short oral statement this morning. But the committee would prefer they file briefs with the committee. The Government witnesses who are here will be given an opportunity, at a later date, to present their views to the committee, and the chairman will notify them of that date. As to S. 1273, the bill relating to collisions-at-sea rules and the international convention, Captain Joyce, I believe, is here, and, if he wishes, he may file a statement; although he, too, will be given an opportunity, at a later date, with the Government witnesses, to present his views in executive session. And the witnesses here from the Great Lakes are requested by the chairman of the committee to file statements with the committee on that bill. Mr. Herman Bayless, representing the Mississippi River System Carriers' Association, and Mr. F. L. Leckie, representing the Inland Water Lines Association, are also requested to file statements for the record. Of course, as I said with respect to the other bill, if any one of those witnesses present desires earnestly to present an oral statement, he may do so; but I will be glad to have him incorporate his statement in the record. The chairman, and the other members of the committee on account of his disposition, would prefer that briefs be filed with the committee with respect to both of these bills. Mr. BEITER. Mr. Chairman, I would like to say a word. STATEMENT OF HON. ALFRED F. BEITER, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK Mr. BEITER. In connection with S. 1273, I regret, of course, to hear that the chairman is unable to be present this morning and listen to the testimony; but I represent a city on the Great Lakes, one of the largest ports on the Great Lakes, and from my district and others along the Great Lakes there seems to be considerable opposition to S. 1273. We on the Great Lakes, it is my understanding, have been fully covered in a special act that has reference to signals, and so forth, on the Great Lakes, and things seem to be working out satisfactorily. It has been suggested, if this bill is to be reported, that an amendment be inserted to exempt the inland rivers and the Great Lakes. The exact wording of the amendment, I believe, will be presented by a representative of the Great Lakes Association, or counsel representing that group and the inland waterways. However, my opposition can be best expressed by a letter that has been sent, addressed to Congressmen Mead, Andrews, and myself, who represent the city of Buffalo, signed by H. M. Bouchard, general superintendent, Minnesota-Atlantic Transit Co., Buffalo, N. Y.; T. Howard Saunders, first grand vice president, International Shipmasters' Association, Buffalo, N. Y.; and A. MacLean, master, MinnesotaAtlantic Transit Co., Buffalo, N. Y. The letter reads: Without affording interested persons an opportunity for hearing, the United States Senate, on August 6, 1937, passed a bill, which, if enacted into law, will by plain construction repeal the present Great Lakes pilot rules. This bill, referred to as S. 1273, proposes to make applicable to all American vessels navigating the high seas and all waters connected therewith navigable by sea-going vessels, the rules for the prevention of collisions contained in annex II of the International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea, signed in London, May 31, 1929. The collision rules of the London convention are similar to the international or ocean rules now applicable to ships navigating the high seas, but these rules are vastly different from the Great Lakes pilot rules, established under authority of the act of Congress, approved February 8, 1895, commonly known as the White law. 74746-38--2 As the Great Lakes are connected by the St. Lawrence River with the high seas and are navigable in fact by seagoing vessels, these London convention or international rules would be made applicable to Great Lakes American ships and would take the place of our existing pilot rules, if the Senate bill referred to becomes law. It The difficulty and impracticability of making the change from our present pilot rules to these new international rules should be apparent to everyone. would mean that every master, mate, and seaman having to do with the navigation of our lake ships, big and small, would have to learn anew all of the rules of the road. Such a process would involve an educational program which would take at least a generation to complete. Furthermore, Canada in 1896 enacted rules of the road identical with our pilot rules and ever since that time we have had complete uniformity with Canada in respect to Great Lakes navigation rules. Canada has not adopted for her Great Lakes vessels these international rules. So it would mean that, if this Senate bill becomes law, our ships would be governed by one set of rules and Canadian vessels by another. Out of the confusion that would result among vessels in the teaching of our mariners these new pilot rules and from the discrepancy between American and Canadian rules, a menace to the safety of lives and ships would arise, the like of which never before existed on these waters. Every time two vessels came into a passing relationship they would be threatened with collision because of uncertainty in establishing passing agreements. This Senate bill, known as S. 1273, now goes to the House of Representatives where it will be referred to the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries. We earnestly urge you honorable gentlemen to bend every effort to have this bill modified and have the Great Lakes excluded from this proposed legislation, which might be construed as a measure to make the Great Lakes conform to ocean practices. As I have said, Mr. Chairman, in my opening remarks, I believe this bill should be amended excepting inland rivers and the Great Lakes; because, as I said, I believe we are fully covered and the legislation is complete. Everybody seems to be satisfied with the law as it now exists and I trust and hope your committee will favorably consider the suggestion by my constituents, who will probably present brief testimony or file a statement with the committee this morning. Mr. HART. Thank you very much, Mr. Beiter. I might say Mr. Mead sent to the committee a copy of the letter which you have just read, and registered his interest in the matter along the same lines as your own. I do not know whether the committee has heard from Mr. Andrews. Now are there any gentlemen who desire to make a brief statement with respect to the bill which Mr. Beiter has just discussed? STATEMENT OF GILBERT R. Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. Chairman, I am appearing here in behalf of the Lake Carriers' Association. I have a brief which I would like to file for the record, but there is a background to the presentation of the Great Lakes case that I can either cover by written statement, or I can cover it very quickly here. It is fresh in my mind now and it will save me some time if I can do it this morning. Mr. HART. We would be very glad to hear you, Mr. Johnson. We want to accomodate everybody we can. Mr. JOHNSON. When S. 1273 passed the Senate in August 1937, the Great Lakes, or the Great Lakes people, had their first opportunity to make a study of that bill. The form in which it was introduced in the Senate was greatly different from the form in which it passed the Senate. As originally introduced, the bill, as I recall, undertook only to amend the act of August 19, 1890, which is the act of Congress prescribing the rules and regulations for the prevention of collisions on the high seas. That bill subsequently was amended to make it clear that it would not apply to the Great Lakes, or other inland waters, such as rivers draining into the Gulf of Mexico. Mr. CULKIN. When was that, Mr. Johnson? in this present session? Mr. JOHNSON. Yes; it was in this present session. Mr. CULKIN. Then the bill, when it passed the Senate, eliminated those provisions? Mr. JOHNSON. Yes; that is right. Mr. CULKIN. Then it included the Great Lakes? Mr. JOHNSON. That is right-not by specific reference, Congressman, but by its general language. Mr. CULKIN. How complete were the hearings in the Senate on that? Mr. JOHNSON. To my knowledge, there were no public hearings on that bill. Mr. CULKIN. No hearings at all? Mr. JOHNSON. I am not aware there were any hearings at all. I won't say there were not, but I am not aware there were any. I know our interests never received any notice of those hearings, if there were any. Mr. CULKIN. So that the Senate, when it reported that bill, was not informed of the character of the Great Lakes commerce as to its requirements and as to the signals and that sort of thing? They did it out of a clear sky? Mr. JOHNSON. I think that is true. Perhaps it was more or less an inadvertence and unintentional that they did what they actually did do. As the bill reads now, it will apply to all American public and private vessels navigating the high seas and all waters connected therewith and navigable by sea-going vessels. Mr. CULKIN. It looks to me like it is some more of this muddy internationalism that does not reckon with the actual conditions. You will pardon me for that characterization, Mr. Chairman. Mr. HART. Yes, sir; but I do not know whether you will be pardoned in other quarters, or not. [Laughter.] Mr. JOHNSON. When the bill was brought to the attention of the Great Lakes people and when they had an opportunity to realize what it meant they were at one with regard to their opposition to any legislation which would change our Great Lakes rules and make our rules, or our ships, conform to the rules and regulations that are in use either on the ocean, in this country, with respect to our own ships, or on the ocean with respect to the convention rules. I say that "We were at one." I mean not only the American interests were in accord, but that the Canadian people were also in accord with us on our opposition. I am not speaking officially for the Canadian interests generally, but I am authorized to say at this hearing, by the secretary of the Canadian Steamship Lines, which is the largest Canadian vessel owner, to my knowledge, operating ships on the Great Lakes-he authorized me to say this: "You may definitely state that the Canadian shipowners are opposed to a change of the lake rules to the ocean rules, as the lake code of signals is the result of experience and is best suited for the traffic in narrow waters." At this hearing, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, there are represented most of the vessel owners and the officer organizations which man our American Great Lakes ships. There were prepared to appear here and testify the following persons: Captain Lee C. De Nike, Detroit, Mich., Past Grand President of the International Shipmasters' Association; Capt. T. Howard Saunders, representative and spokesman of the Buffalo Lodge, of the International Shipmasters' Association; Capt. Howard N. Leach, representative and spokesman of the St. Clair, Mich., or Port of Huron Lodge of the International Shipmasters' Association; Capt. Colin C. Carlisle, representative and spokesman of the Milwaukee Lodge of the International Shipmasters' Association; and Gaius D. Julian, representative and spokesman of the Cleveland Lodge of the International Shipmasters' Association. Capt. T. Howard Saunders also is the spokesman here, or was prepared to be the spokesman here, of the Licensed Tugmen's Protective Association. My understanding is that is an association of the licensed personnel, officers and masters, of the tugs operating on the Great Lakes in the American trade. For the ship operators, there are present here Mr. L. H. Kent, an official of the Pere Marquette Railway, who was prepared to speak on behalf of his own company and the Ann Arbor Railway, the Grand Trunk Railway and, indeed, all of the car ferries operating on the Detroit River and Lake Michigan. Also, Capt. H. H. Parson, an officer of the Nicholson Steamship Co., who was prepared to speak on behalf of his own company, and the Tri-State Steamship Co., and the Nicholson Universal Steamship Co. Also Mr. Harry M. Bouchard, an officer of the Minnesota-Atlantic Transit Corporation, who was prepared to speak, as I understand it, for his own company and also the Great Lakes Transit Co. Appearing with him is Capt. Archie McLean, master and owner of the MinnesotaAtlantic Vessels, and Capt. William MacDonald, a lake master, who was prepared to speak here on behalf of the Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Co. Mr. HART. We will be glad to entertain the views of those gentlemen in writing, as I have stated, if they will file their briefs within a week from today. Mr. JOHNSON. I mention those names, Mr. Chairman, because it presents, so far as the American interests are concerned, the solidity of our people in our objections to the changing of our rules. submit that the views of the International Shipmasters' Association and the Licensed Tugmen's Protective Association should be very carefully considered by this committee. Those associations, as I say, embody in their membership most or a large part of the officers of our Great Lakes cargo and passenger ships, and our Great Lakes tugs. Those organizations have distinguished themselves for the industry of their members in their application to duty and for their earnestness in the study of all problems relating to the Great Lakes. Those organizations have the admiration, respect, and confidence of everyone. I won't say any more on the subject, but will submit my brief at this point. Thank you very much. (The brief submitted by Mr. Johnson is as follows:) |