Speech #680115732

Section 4 of the seamens act reads in part as follows: Every seaman on a vessel of the United States shall be entitled to receive on demand from the inaster of the vessel to which he belongs onehalf parl of the balance of his wages earned and remaining unpaid at the lime when such demand is inade at every port where such vessel. after the voyage has been commenced. shall load or deliver cargo before the voyage is ended. and all stipulations in the contract to the contrary shall be void. * * * Any failure on the part of the master to comply with this demnand slall release the seaman from his contract. and he shall be entitled to full payment of wages earned. * * * And preided further. That this section shall apply to Seamen on foreign vessels while in harbors of the United States. and the courts of the United States shall be open to such seamen for its enforcement. It is difficult to see how the seaman can enforce his right under this section of the marine law if the Commissioner of Iiinigration or the Secretary of Labor is to enforce the immigration laws. as provided in sections 19 and 21 of this bill. Under section 21. it will require a court order to get tile seaman legally out of the vessel. and if the seaman deserts. he may. under the immigration laws. be apprehended and either returned to the vessel or deported ill sanme other vessel. The courtorder method will be extremely difficult. and enforcement after desertion will be impossible. For all practical purposes. section 4 of the seamens let is supersededl and repealed. I do not believe that such was the intention of the conferees. and I certainly do not believe that the Senate had any such intention. This is my reason for taking up the time of the Senate with this question. When the conferees felt that section 15 left a big opening for the violation of the immigration laws. they had it complete remedy in the amendment offered in the Senate by the Senator from Utah . At that time it was. as I understood. tentatively agreed that the " side door" should be closed in conference. and the seamens act left intact. The amendment offered by the Senator from Utah would have closed this door. I remember that on the evening the bill was sent to conference we did. not Insist upon a record vote. because we were assured that this door would be closed. The amendment offered by the Senator from Utah made a clear distinction between bona fide and mal fide seamen. It provided for deportation. at the cost of the vessel by which they were brought. of mala fide seamen and of excluded persons coming as seamen. unless the seamen came on a vessel in distress or on a vessel of whose flag they were the proper nationals as distinct from being subject to such flag through belonging to any colony or dependency of such flag. Subsections (e) and (f) of the amendment offered by the Senator from Utah would effectively close the " side door." and do so without repealing the searlens act or atW part thereof. Before I vote for the report of the conferees. and thereby assist the foreign shipowners and others unfriendly to the development of a merchant marine and a sea power for the United States. I desire some further information as to why this amendment should not be adopted. especially since we have letters from the Commissioner of Navigation to the effect that. with a slight amendment which would be an improvement. there is nothing impractical in either of these subsections. and from the Secretary of State to the effect that there is no treaty to which such subsections are contrary and that. with a slight amendment. to which there can be no valid exception. it will not offend against any idea of comity. and also from the Secretary of Labor stating that if the bill should incorporate the amendment to which I have referred. he could see no reason why it should cause any interference with the administration of the immigratioli laws by the Department of Labor. In the report of the conferees as first submitted there were provisions for photographing and fingerprinting the seamen. in other words. treating them as convicted crooks. Aside from what it did to the seamen. it purposed to burden the vessels with needless. cumbersome. timedestroying and very expensive machinery. which after all would have been ineffective.