December 19, 1908 (35 Stat. L., 583), regulates in detail the conditions that must be met by vessels entering port with steerage passengers (defined in the act as "all passengers except cabin passengers") from a foreign country. These conditions cover such matters as sleeping accommodations, ventilation, toilet facilities, food, hospital accommodations, discipline, and cleanliness. In respect to the enforcement of these provisions the law provides:

That the collector of customs of the collection district within which, or the surveyor of the port at which, any such steamship or other vessel arrives, shall direct an inspector or other officer of the customs to make an examination of the vessel, and to admeasure the compartments or spaces occupied by the emigrant passengers, or passengers other than cabin passengers, during the voyage; and such measurement shall be made in the manner provided by law for admeasuring vessels for tonnage; and to compare the number of such passengers found on board with the list of such passengers furnished by the master to the customs officer; and the said inspector or other officer shall make a report to the aforesaid collector or surveyor, stating the port of departure, the time of sailing, the length of the voyage, the ventilation, the number of such passengers on board the vessel and their native country, respectively; the cubic quantity of each compartment or space, and the number of berths and passengers in each space, the kind and quality of the food furnished to such passengers on the voyage; the number of deaths, and the age and sex of those who died during the voyage, and of what disease; and in case there was any unusual sickness or mortality during the voyage, to report whether the same was caused by any neglect or violation of the provisions of this act, or by the want of proper care against disease by the masters or owners of the vessel; and the said reports shall be forwarded to the Secretary of Commerce at such times and in such manner as he shall direct.

While the duty of enforcing this act is expressly imposed upon the customs officers, yet the inspectors of the SteamboatInspection Service may quite properly enforce its provisions through their general authority to see that all vessels subject

to their inspection have suitable accommodations for their pas

sengers.

Regulation of the Transportation of Dangerous Articles. One of the most important activities of the Steamboat-Inspection Service is the issuance of licenses permitting passenger vessels, after meeting certain requirements, to carry dangerous and easily combustible or inflammable articles-an activity first authorized by the act of 1852. The inspection and navigation laws at present in force contain a large number of provisions having for their purpose the regulation of the transportation of such articles on board steam-vessels carrying passengers. Following the act of 1852, the next important legislation concerning the transportation of explosives was an act approved July 3, 1866 (14 Stat. L., 81), which is in force at the present time. By the terms of this act, it is made unlawful to transport, carry or convey, ship, deliver on board, or cause to be delivered on board, nitro-glycerine upon or in any vessel or vehicle used or employed in transporting passengers by land or water between a place in any foreign country, and a place within the limits of any State, territory, or district of the United States, and a place in any other State, territory, or district thereof. Rules to be observed in packing and marking nitro-glycerine for shipment on vessels not carrying passengers are also prescribed by this act. The delivery of shipments of inflammable materials on vessels, other than those used in rivers or inland navigation, must be accompanied by a note in writing, expressing the nature and character of such merchandise, to the master, mate, officer, or person in charge of the loading of the vessel. Any person violating the provisions of this act is made liable to a penalty of one thousand dollars.

The act of 1871 also contained important provisions regulating the transportation of dangerous articles on passenger vessels which are now in force. The rules prescribed for the transportation of gunpowder are as follows:

Upon the application of any master or owner of any steam vessel employed in the carriage of passengers, for a license to carry gunpowder, the local inspectors shall examine such vessel, and if they find that she is provided with a chest or safe composed of metal, or entirely lined and sheathed therewith, or if the vessel has one or more compartments thoroughly lined and sheathed with metal, at a secure distance from any fire, they may grant a certificate to that effect, authorizing such vessel to carry as freight within such chest, safes, or compartments the articles of gunpowder, which certificate shall be kept conspicuously posted on board such vessel.

The local inspectors are required to keep a record of such certificates or permits. Whenever any passenger steam-vessel receives or carries any gunpowder on board, not having a certificate authorizing the same, placed and kept as required, or shall carry any gunpowder at a place or in a manner not authorized by such certificate, such steam-vessel is liable to a penalty of $100 for each offense. Shipments of gunpowder as well as other explosive or easily combustible articles, must be securely packed and plainly marked, and failure to meet these requirements is punishable by a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars, or imprisonment not exceeding eighteen months, or both.

Additional provisions were included in the act of 1871 enlarging the scope of this activity of the Steamboat-Inspection Service, such as the following:

No loose hay, loose cotton, or loose hemp, camphene, nitroglycerine, naphtha, benzine, benzole, coal oil, crude or refined petroleum, or other like explosive burning fluids, or like dangerous articles, shall be carried as freight or used as stores on any steamer carrying passengers; nor shall baled cotton or hemp be carried on such steamers unless the bales are compactly pressed and thoroughly covered and secured in such manner as shall be prescribed by the regulations established by the board of supervising inspectors with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury [now the Secretary of Commerce]; nor shall gunpowder be carried on any such vessel except under special license; nor shall oil of vitriol, nitric or other

chemical acids be carried on such steamers except on the decks or guards thereof or in such other safe part of the vessel as shall be prescribed by the inspectors.

The manner in which such dangerous or easily combustible materials should be packed for shipment was prescribed and failure to pack articles in the mode thus prescribed or delivery of thereof to any steam-vessel, unless so packed and marked, was made punishable by a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars, or imprisonment not exceeding eighteen months, or both, and the said articles were made subject to seizure and forefeiture. Regulations were also imposed in the act of 1871, as amended by the act of February 27, 1877 (19 Stat. L., 252), concerning the carriage of refined petroleum, oil or spirits of turpentine, and friction matches, on passenger

steamers.

The act of 1871 gave authority to the Secretary of the Treasury (later transferred to the Secretary of Commerce) to grant permission to the owner of any steam-vessel, "to use any invention or process for the utilization of petroleum or other mineral oils or substances in the production of motive power," and the Secretary was empowered to make and enforce regulations concerning the application and use thereof for such purpose. No such permit was to be granted, however, except upon the certificate of the supervising inspector for the district where such vessel was registered, and other satisfactory proof that the use of the same was safe and efficient. Upon such proof, and the approval of such certificate by the said Secretary, a special license for the use of such process or invention should issue under the seal of the Treasury Department (now under the seal of the Department of Commerce). The above provision was modified by act of October 18, 1888 (25 Stat. L., 564), which authorized the Secretary to permit the use of petroleum on steamers not carrying passengers, without the certificate of the supervising inspector, subject to such conditions and safeguards as the Secretary in his judgment should provide. Violation of such conditions

imposed by the Secretary was made punishable by a fine of five hundred dollars. Still another modification was made in the regulations by the act of July 17, 1914 (38 Stat. L., 511), which provided for the transportation of excess crude petroleum, of a flashpoint not less than 150 degrees Fahrenheit, in the fuel tanks of steamers and its discharge at terminal ports when no passengers were on board.

Modifications in the regulations dealing with the transportation of crude petroleum and the products thereof were found to be necessary because of the ever increasing use of gasoline motors and engines. By the act of February 20, 1901 (31 Stat. L., 799), the transportation by steam-vessels of gasoline or any of the products of petroleum, when carried by motor vehicles (automobiles) using the same as a source of motive power, was permitted under certain restrictions. Further modifications have been made by the acts of May 28, 1906 (34 Stat. L., 204), January 24, 1913 (37 Stat. L., 650), and October 22, 1914 (38 Stat. L., 765), to permit the transportation, under rules prescribed by the board of supervising inspectors, of gasoline and other products of petroleum on steamvessels for use as a source of motive power for the motorboats, launches, and motor-driven life-boats of such vessels, or for the operation of engines to supply an auxiliary lighting and wireless system independent of the vessel's main power plant. The most recent legislation on this subject is the act approved March 29, 1918 (40 Stat. L., 499), which provides that kerosene and lubricating oils made from refined products or petroleum which will stand a fire test of not less than three hundred degrees Fahrenheit may be used as stores on board steamers carrying passengers, under such regulations as shall be prescribed by the board of supervising inspectors with the approval of the Secretary of Commerce.

In a very limited way do the foregoing provisions apply to the transportation of dangerous articles by freight vessels. An act approved May 30, 1908 (35 Stat. L., 554) made it unlawful to transport, carry, or convey liquid nitro-glycerine,