ANNUAL REPORTS OF SUPERVISING INSPECTORS, STEAMBOAT-INSPECTION SERVICE. APRIL 1, 1912.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed. Mr. ALEXANDER, from the Committee on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany H. R. 22343.] The Committee on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 22343) to require supervising inspectors, Steamboat-Inspection Service, to submit their annual reports at the end of each fiscal year, having considered same, report it to the House with the recommendation that it do pass. The desirability of this legislation is fully set forth in House Document No. 377, Sixty-second Congress, second session, said document being as follows: DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, Washington, December 26, 1911. SIR: I have the honor to submit herewith for the consideration of the House the inclosed letter, dated December 8, 1911, to the department, from the Supervising Inspector General of the Steamboat-Inspection Service, concerning the need of amendatory legislation with respect to the date of making annual reports by the several supervising inspectors, and I desire to say that the recommendation contained in the letter referred to is approved by this department. Respectfully, The SPEAKER HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. CHARLES NAGEL, Secretary. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE and Labor, The SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR, Washington, D. C. SIR: This bureau has the honor to submit the following resolution adopted by the Board of Supervising Inspectors, Steamboat-Inspection Service, on January 24, 1911, and approved by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor on March 8, 1911: Resolved, That this board recommends that the following bill be presented to the Congress of the United States for adoption: "A BILL To require supervising inspectors, Steamboat-Inspection Service, to submit their annual reports at the end of each fiscal year. "Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section forty-four hundred and ten, Revised Statutes of the United States, be, and it is hereby, amended to read as follows: "SEC. 4410. Each supervising inspector shall report, in writing, at the end of each fiscal year, to the Supervising Inspector General, the general business transacted in his district during the year, embracing all violations of the laws regulating vessels, and the action taken in relation to the same; all investigations and decisions by local inspectors; and all cases of appeal, and the result thereof. The board shall examine into all the acts of each supervising inspector and local board, and all complaints made against the same, in relation to the performance of their duties under the law, and the judgment of the board in each case shall be entered upon their journal; and the board shall, as far as possible, correct mistakes where they exist.' "This act shall take effect and be in force on and after the first day of July, nineteen hundred and twelve." And this bureau recommends that the proposed bill be presented to Congress by the department for adoption. The present annual reports of this bureau consist of a summary of the operations of the service for the fiscal year, with an appendix containing general statistics, a statement of vessels inspected, a detailed statement of casualties and violations of law, etc., for the calendar year ending six months preceding the end of the fiscal year for which report is made. A list of officers licensed during the calendar year is also published, under the provisions of sections 4410 and 4411, Revised Statutes. It is desirable and practicable that all of these reports be made by fiscal years, which is the almost universal custom. A copy of the annual report of this bureau for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1911, and of the list of licensed officers for the calendar year 1910, and a copy of the laws governing the Steamboat Inspection Service, containing on page 11 sections 4410 and 4411 referred to herein, are herewith inclosed. Respectfully, O GEO. Uhler, Supervising Inspector General. LOAN OF TENTS TO G. A. R. ENCAMPMENT. APRIL 2, 1912.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed. Mr. HAMILTON of West Virginia, from the Committee on Military Affairs, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany S. J. Res. 77.] The Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred the joint resolution (S. J. Res. 77) authorizing the Secretary of War to loan certain tents for the use of the Grand Army of the Republic encampment, to be held at Pullman, Wash., in June, 1912, having considered the same, report thereon with a recommendation that it do pass. O 62D CONGRESS, 2d Session. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. No. 483. REPORT PROTECTION OF LEVEES ON MISSISSIPPI RIVER. APRIL 2, 1912.-Ordered to be printed. Mr. RANSDELL of Louisiana, from the Committee on Rivers and Harbors, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany H. R. 22733.] The Committee on Rivers and Harbors, to whom was referred H. R. 22733, being a bill appropriating $350,000 for the purpose of maintaining and protecting against floods the levees on the Mississippi River heretofore constructed in whole or in part by the United States, beg leave to report as a substitute therefor the following bill, with recommendation that when so substituted the bill do pass. The substitute bill, H. R. 22772, which carries an appropriation of $350,000, the same amount carried by the original bill, has the approval of the Chief of Engineers. Moreover, the President has this day transmitted to Congress a special message recommending an appropriation of $500,000 for the same purpose. The committee believes the emergency to be very great and recommends the immediate passage of the bill. The amendments are simply verbal. They make very slight change in the general character of the bill, and do not change the amount carried therein. The amended bill is as follows: A BILL Appropriating three hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the purpose of maintaining and protecting against impending floods the levees on the Mississippi River. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the sum of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars be, and the same is hereby, appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be expended under the direction of the Secretary of War in accordance with the plans, specifications, and recommendations of the Mississippi River Commission, as approved by the Chief of Engineers, for the purpose of maintaining and protecting against impending floods the levees on the Mississippi River between the Head of Passes and Cape Girardeau, Missouri. O |