ALLOWANCES AND PERCENTAGES OF COLLECTOR AT NEW HAVEN, CONN. FEBRUARY 11, 1905.-Ordered to be printed. Mr. GALLINGER, from the Committee on Commerce, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany S. 7078.] The Committee on Commerce, to whom was referred the bill (S. 7078) to fix the allowances and percentages of the collector at the port of New Haven, Conn., having considered the same report thereon with a recommendation that it pass without amendment. The bill has the approval of the Treasury Department, as will by the following letter: appear TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of a letter from the clerk of your committee, dated the 6th instant, forwarding Senate bill No. 7078, to fix the allowances and percentages of the collector at the port of New Haven, Conn., for such suggestions as may be deemed proper by this Department, and to advise you that I see no objection to the passage of said bill. Respectfully, The CHAIRMAN COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, H. A. TAYLOR, United States Senate. USE OF VESSELS OF THE UNITED STATES FOR PUBLIC PURPOSES. FEBRUARY 11, 1905.-Ordered to be printed. Mr. GALLINGER, from the Committee on Commerce, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany 8. 6051.] The Committee on Commerce, to whom was referred the bill (S. 6051) to provide for the use of vessels of the United States for public purposes, beg leave to recommend that all of the bill after the enacting clause be stricken out and the following substituted therefor, and that as amended the bill be passed: That vessels of the United States, or vessels belonging to the United States, and no others, shall be employed in the transportation by sea from the United States of all materials, supplies, machinery, and equipment employed on, or used for, the Panama Railroad, or for the construction and operation of the canal across the Isthmus of Panama, and each contract for such articles shall provide specifically for transportation by vessels of the United States, and vessels of the United States or belonging to the United States and no others shall be employed in the return by sea to the United States of such materials, supplies, machinery, and equipment, unless the President shall find that the rates of freight charged by such vessels are excessive and unreasonable or that vessels of the United States or belonging to the United States are not available for prompt service: Provided, That no greater charges be made by such vessels for transportation of such articles for the use of the Panama Railroad or the construction and operation of the canal across the Isthmus of Panama than are made by such vessels for the transportation of like goods for private parties or companies. SEC. 2. That all naval supplies, materials, machinery, and equipment sent to or returned by sea from the naval station at Guantanamo, Cuba, shall be transported in vessels of the United States or vessels belonging to the United States and no others unless the President shall find that the rates of freight charged by such vessels are excessive and unreasonable, in which case contracts shall be made under the law as it now exists: Procided, That no greater charges be made by such vessels for transportation of such articles to or from the naval station at Guantanamo, Cuba, than are made by such vessels for the transportation of like goods for private parties or companies. SEC. 3. That this act shall take effect thirty days after its passage. The bill as amended follows the lines of the Government supply law, which was approved April 28, 1904, as follows: That vessels of the United States, or belonging to the United States, and no others, shall be employed in the transportation by sea of coal, provisions, fodder, or supplies of any description, purchased pursuant to law, for the use of the Army or Navy unless the President shall find that the rates of freight charges by said vessels are excessive and unreasonable, in which case contracts shall be made under the law as it now exists: Provided, That no greater charges be made by such vessels for transportation of articles for the use of the said Army and Navy than are made by such vessels for transportation of like goods for private parties or companies. SEC. 2. That this act shall take effect sixty days after its passage. The construction of the American Isthmian Canal is a national undertaking. This great work was authorized by Congress, and is to be paid for out of the National Treasury with the money of the Amer ican people. The canal is to be built by the War Department under the supervision of the President. It is well understood that so far as possible all materials, supplies, and machinery for the canal, and all the skilled labor that can be procured will be furnished from this country. Lumber, steel, cement, and other articles are purchased here in considerable quantities for use in the Canal Zone, though they could probably be secured at a somewhat lower price in Canada or Europe. Moreover, not only American engineers, but American clerks, foremen, and leading men of all kinds are being engaged in preference to foreigners, though Englishmen, Germans, and other aliens accustomed to far different conditions of life could probably be hired for considerably lower wages. The purpose of this bill in section 1 is to gain for American shipowners and seamen the same preference which is voluntarily and regularly given to American manufacturers, lumbermen, engineers, clerks, foremen, etc. Thus far the Isthmian Canal Commission, though it has taken pains to prefer all other American interests, has given no preference whatever, so far as it appears, to American vessels in the important matter of the transportation of supplies, materials, and machinery from the United States to the Canal Zone. These supplies, materials, and machinery, as has been said, as a rule have been purchased in the United States, because public opinion seems to favor it and because to buy such articles wholly or chiefly in foreign lands would provoke the remonstrances of powerful influences in America. But German and other foreign steamship interests have been given the transportation of most of these canal materials that were not conveyed in the few steamships of the Panama Railroad Company, now operated by the Isthmian Canal Commission and controlled by the Government. This proposed bill does not extend the coastwise laws of the United States to the ports of the Canal Zone; it does not involve any difficult question of jurisdiction; it does not give to American ships a hard and fast monopoly of this canal-trade carrying. It simply requires that American ships shall have the preference in the transportation of supplies, materials, and machinery purchased by or for the United States for use on the canal; that American ships shall have the preference, provided they are available for the work and provided that their rates are not "excessive and unreasonable." These rates, it is further stipulated, shall be no higher than those that are asked for similar service from private parties or companies. If the shipowners' charges for carrying these supplies, materials, and machinery to the Canal Zone are "excessive and unreasonable," either because of combinations or otherwise, the President can suspend the law, and he can do this if it happens at any time that adequate American tonnage is not available. Therefore the proposed legislation is thoroughly elastic. It can not hamper the work of building the canal and it can not greatly, if at all, increase its cost. All that the bill in section 1 requires is that American shipping offered for the transportation of materials, supplies, and machinery to or from the Canal Zone shall have a reasonable preference over foreign shipping. Here is a cautious and moderate measure in entire accord with American practice and calculated to give legitimate and effective encouragement to the American merchant marine. There is exact authoritative precedent for such legislation. A year |