Sec. 5 Sec. 7. Commerce and Labor and consolidated with and made a part of the Bureau of Statistics, hereinbefore transferred from the Department of the Treasury to the Department of Commerce and Labor, and the two shall constitute one bureau, to be called the Bureau of Statistics, with a chief of the bureau; and that the Secretary of Commerce and Labor shall have control of the work of gathering and distributing statistical information naturally relating to the subjects confided to his Department; and the Secretary of Commerce and Labor is hereby given the power and authority to rearrange the statistical work of the bureaus and offices confided to said Department, and to consolidate any of the statistical bureaus and offices transferred to said Department; and said Secretary shall also have authority to call upon other Departments of the Government for statistical data and results obtained by them; and said Secretary of Commerce and Labor may collate, arrange, and publish such statistical information so obtained in such manner as to him may seem wise. The official records and papers now on file in and pertaining exclusively to the business of any bureau, office, department, or branch of the public service in this Act transferred to the Department of Commerce and Labor, together with the furniture now in use in such bureau, office, department, or branch of the public service, shall be, and hereby are, transferred to the Department of Commerce and Labor. And all consular officers of the United States, including consuls-general, consuls, and commercial agents, are hereby required, and it is made a part of their duty, under the direction of the Secretary of State, to gather and compile, from time to time, useful and material information and statistics in respect to the subjects enumerated in section three of this Act in the countries and places to which such consular officers are accredited, and to send, under the direction of the Secretary of State, reports as often as required by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor of the information and statistics thus gathered and compiled, such reports to be transmitted through the State Department to the Secretary of the Department of Commerce and Labor. The jurisdiction, supervision and control now possessed and exercised by the Department of the Treasury over the fur-seal, salmon and other fisheries of Alaska and over the immigration of aliens into the United States, its waters, territories and any place subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are hereby transferred and vested in the Department of Commerce and Labor: Provided, That nothing contained in this Act shall be construed to alter the method of collecting and accounting for the head-tax prescribed by section one of the Act entitled "An Act to regulate immigration," approved August third, eighteen hundred and eighty-two. That the authority, power and jurisdiction now possessed and exercised by the Secretary of the Treasury by virtue of any law in relation to the exclusion from and the residence within the United States, its territories and the District of Columbia, of Chinese and persons of Chinese descent, are hereby transferred to and conferred upon the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, and the authority, power and jurisdiction in relation thereto now vested by law or treaty in the collectors of customs and the collectors of internal revenue, are hereby conferred upon and vested in such officers under the control of the Commissioner-General of Immigration, as the Secretary of Commerce and Labor may designate therefor. The Secretary of Commerce and Labor shall annually, at the close of each fiscal year, make a report in writing to Congress, giving an account of all moneys received and disbursed by him and his Department, and describing the work done by the Department in fostering, promoting, and developing the foreign and domestic commerce, the mining, manufacturing, shipping, and fishery industries, and the transportation facilities, of the United States, and making such recommendations as he shall deem necessary for the effective performance of the duties and purposes of the Department. He shall also from time to time make such special investigations and reports as he may be required to do by the President, or by either House of Congress, or which he himself may deem necessary and urgent. All officers, clerks, and employees now employed in or by any of the bureaus, offices, departments, or branches of the public service in this Act transferred to the Department of Commerce and Labor are each and all hereby transferred to said Department at their present grades and salaries, except where otherwise provided in this Act: And provided further, That all laws prescribing the work and defining the duties of the several bureaus, offices, departments, or branches of the public service by this Act transferred to and made a part of the Department of Commerce and Labor shall, so far as the same are not in conflict with the provisions of this Act, remain in full force and effect until otherwise provided by law. Sec. 8. Sec. 9. All duties performed and all power and authority now Sec. 10. possessed or exercised by the head of any executive department in and over any bureau, office, officer, board, branch, or division of the public service by this Act transferred to the Department of Commerce and Labor, or any business arising there from or pertaining thereto, or in relation to the duties performed by and authority conferred by law upon such bureau, officer, office, board, branch or division of the public service, whether of an 9108-08-28 July 5, 1884. appellate or revisory character or otherwise, shall hereafter be vested in and exercised by the head of the said Department of Commerce and Labor. All duties, power, authority and jurisdiction, whether supervisory, appellate or otherwise, now imposed or conferred upon the Secretary of the Treasury by Acts of Congress relating to merchant vessels or yachts, their measurement, numbers, names, registers, enrollments, licenses, commissions, records, mortgages, bills of sale, transfers, entry, clearance, movements and transportation of their cargoes and passengers, owners, officers, seamen, passengers, fees, inspection, equipment for the better security of life, and by Acts of Congress relating to tonnage tax, boilers on steam vessels, the carrying of inflammable, explosive or dangerous cargo on vessels, the use of petroleum or other similar substances to produce motive power and relating to the remission or refund of fines, penalties, forfeitures, exactions or charges incurred for violating any provision of law relating to vessels or seamen or to informer's shares of such fines, and by Acts of Congress relating to the Commissioner and Bureau of Navigation, Shipping Commissioners, their officers and employees, Steamboat-Inspection Service and any of the officials thereof, shall be and hereby are transferred to and imposed and conferred upon the Secretary of Commerce and Labor from and after the time of the transfer of the Bureau of Navigation, the Shipping Commissioners and the Steamboat Inspection Service to the Department of Commerce and Labor, and shall not thereafter be imposed upon or exercised by the Secretary of the Treasury. And all Acts or parts of Acts inconsistent with this Act are, so far as inconsistent, hereby repealed. 439. Bureau of Navigation. There shall be in the Department of Commerce and Feb. 14, 1903, Labor a Bureau of Navigation, under the immediate charge of a Commissioner of Navigation. Secs. 4, 10. July 5, 1884. Feb. 14, 1903. The Commissioner of Navigation, under the direction. of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, shall have Secs. 4, 10. general superintendence of the commercial marine and merchant seamen of the United States, so far as vessels and seamen are not, under existing laws, subject to the supervision of any other officer of the Government. He shall be specially charged with the decision of all questions relating to the issue of registers, enrollments, and licenses of vessels, and to the filing and preserving of those documents; and wherever in title forty-eight [R. S., 4131-4305] or fifty [R. S., 4311-4390] of the Revised Statutes any of the above-named documents are required to be surrendered or returned to the Register of the Treasury, such requirement is hereby repealed, and such documents shall be surrendered and returned to the Commissioner of Navigation. Said Commissioner shall have charge of all similar documents now in the keeping of the Register of the Treasury, and shall perform all the duties hitherto devolved upon said Register relating to navigation. The Commissioner of Navigation shall be charged with the supervision of the laws relating to the admeasurement of vessels, and the assigning of signal letters thereto, and of designating their official number; and on all questions of interpretation growing out of the execution of the laws relating to these subjects, and relating to the collection of tonnage tax, and to the refund of such tax when collected erroneously or illegally, his decision shall be final. The Commissioner of Navigation shall annually pre- Sec. 4. pare and publish a list of vessels of the United States belonging to the commercial marine, specifying the official number, signal letters, names, rig, tonnage, home port, and place and date of building of every vessel, distinguishing in such list sailing-vessels from such as may be propelled by steam or other motive power. He shall also report annually to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor the increase of vessels of the United States, by building or otherwise, specifying their number, rig, and motive power. He shall also investigate the operations of the laws relative to navigation, and annually report to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor such particulars as may, in his judgment, admit of improvement or may require amendment. Feb. 14, 1903. Secs. 4, 10. Sec. 5. The Commissioner of Navigation shall, under the direc- July 5, 1884. tion of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, be empowered to change the names of vessels of the United States, under such restrictions as may have been or shall be prescribed by act of Congress. July 5, 1884. Sec. 6. The Commissioner of Navigation shall be appointed by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and shall receive a salary of four thousand dollars per annum. And the Secretary of Commerce and Labor shall have power to transfer from existing Bureaus or divisions of the Department of Feb. 14, 1903. Commerce and Labor one clerk, to be designated as deputy commissioner of navigation, to act with the full powers of said Commissioner during his temporary absence from his official duty for any cause. 440. Shipping commissioners. The Secretary of Commerce and Labor shall appoint a commissioner for each port of entry, which is also a port of ocean navigation, and which, in his judgment, may require the same; such commissioner to be termed a shipping commissioner, and may, from time to time, remove from office any such commissioner whom he may have reason to believe does not properly perform his duty, and Sec. 10. R. S., 4501. 27. shall then provide for the proper performance of his duties until another person is duly appointed in his place: Provided, That Shipping Commissioners now in office shall continue to perform the duties thereof until others shall be appointed in their places. Shipping Commissioners shall monthly render a full, exact, and itemized account of their receipts and expenditures to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, who shall determine their compensation, and shall from time to time determine the number and compensation of the clerks appointed by such commissioner, with the approval of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, subject to the limitations now fixed by law. The Secretary of Commerce and Labor shall regulate the mode of conducting business in the shipping offices to be established by the shipping commissioners as hereinafter provided, and shall have full and complete control over the same, subject to the provisions herein contained; and all expenditures by shipping June 19, 1886. commissioners shall be audited and adjusted in the TreasFeb. 14, 1903. ury Department in the mode and manner provided for expenditures in the collection of customs. Sec. 2. R. S., 4502. Every shipping commissioner so appointed shall give Apr. 26, 1906. bond to the United States, conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties of his office, for a sum, in the discretion of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, of not less than five thousand dollars, in such form and with such security as the Secretary of Commerce and Labor shall direct and approve; and shall take and subscribe the oath prescribed by section seventeen hundred and fifty-seven of the Revised Statutes before entering upon the duties of his office: Provided, That nothing in this section shall be construed to affect in any respect the liability of principal or sureties on any bond heretofore given by any shipping commissioner. R. S., 4505. Any shipping-commissioner may engage clerks to assist him in the transaction of the business of the shipping-office, at his own proper cost, and may, in case of neJune 19, 1886. cessity, depute such clerks to act for him in his official R. S., 4506. capacity; but the shipping-commissioner shall be held responsible for the acts of every such clerk or deputy, and will be personally liable for any penalties such clerk or deputy may incur by the violation of any of the provisions of this Title [R. S., 4501-4613]; and all acts done by a clerk, as such deputy, shall be as valid and binding as if done by the shipping-commissioner. Each shipping-commissioner shall provide a seal with which he shall authenticate all his official acts, on which seal shall be engraved the arms of the United States, and the name of the port or district for which he is commissioned. Any instrument, either printed or written, purporting to be the official act of a shipping-commissioner, and purporting to be under the seal and signature of such shipping-commissioner, shall be received as presumptive |