It is understood that a very definite demand for the performance of quarantine services at night exists locally in the larger ports, such as New York, Seattle, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Charleston, and Norfolk. It does not appear that provision is necessary for nation-wide performance of quarantine services after the hours of sunset at all of the 126 maritime ports of entry.

At present national quarantine stations are manned with but sufficient personnel to perform quarantine services during daylight hours only and the extension at any port of the present sunrise to sunset hours for the performance of quarantine services (averaging 12 hours per day the year around) will require proportionately increased funds for the employment of necessary additional personnel. It is noted that this bill authorizes to be appropriated the sum of $100,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, to carry out its provisions. Preliminary estimates of the cost of providing extended quarantine services at night at ports at which it is anticipated that warrant therefor can be shown approximates the sum of $100,000 authorized to be appropriated.

The Treasury Department concurs in principle in the secondary purpose of this bill, to make applicable at the port of New York the rate of charges now prescribed for quarantine services rendered at all other quarantine stations, thus making uniform charges for quarantine services at all United States ports and bringing to an end the rates now prescribed for the port of New York only, which are discriminatory against that port. In this connection it should be noted that the collections for quarantine services rendered at the port of New York which are turned into the miscellaneous receipts fund of the Treasury would be reduced, it is estimated, by approximately $50,000 a year were the rate for quarantine services rendered at the port of New York the same as that charged at all other United States ports.

With respect to the minor purposes of the bill, the department is in agreement. One purpose would be to permit quarantine officers to retain one copy and the collectors of customs to retain the other copy of each bill of health obtained in duplicate by vessels in every foreign port of call. This instrument is primarily for the information of the quarantine officer but under existing law both copies are required to be filed with the collector of customs at time of entry. The change proposed in this bill is advisable.

The other minor purpose of the bill is to correct a discrimination that now obtains under existing laws. At the present time personnel of the Public Health Service employed in the care and navigation of some 70 vessels of the Public Health Service are the only persons so engaged on American vessels, either privately owned or Government owned, who are not entitled to free medical care and hospital treatment in case of sickness or injury. The employees of other Government vessels and of the American merchant marine are beneficiaries of the Public Health Service, and this feature of the bill would permit the Public Health Service to take care of its own seamen on a basis of equality with the care it is permitted to furnish seamen employed on other Government vessels or on the American merchant marine and merits favorable consideration.

It is the view of the Treasury Department that this proposed legislation merits favorable consideration with the object of making available improved quarantine services which will be of benefit to shipping in general and American shipping in particular.

It may be added that the Director of the Bureau of the Budget advises that the expenditure contemplated by the proposed legislation is not in conflict with the financial program of the President.

Very truly yours,

Hon. JAMES S. PARKER,

A. W. MELLON, Secretary of the Treasury.

Chairman Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce,
House of Representatives.

CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

In compliance with paragraph 2a of Rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, those provisions of the act of February 15, 1893, as amended, to which specific reference is made in the new sections added to such act by the bill, appear below in roman, and the new sections proposed to be added are shown in italic. The pro

vision of the act of June 5, 1920, proposed to be repealed by the bill, is shown in black brackets.

SEC. 2. That any vessel at any foreign port clearing or departing for any port or place in the United States or its possessions or other dependencies or any vessel at any port in the possessions or other dependencies of the United States clearing or departing for any port or place in the United States or its possessions or other dependencies, shall be required to obtain from the consul, vice consul, or other consular officer of the United States at the port of departure, or from the medical officer where such officer has been detailed by the President for that purpose, a bill of health in duplicate, in the form prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury, setting forth the sanitary history and condition of said vessel, and that it has in all respects complied with the rules and regulations in such cases prescribed for securing the best sanitary condition of the said vessel, its cargo, passengers, and crew; and said consular or medical officer is required, before granting such duplicate bill of health, to be satisfied that the matters and things therein stated are true; and for his services in that behalf he shall be entitled to demand and receive such fees as shall by lawful regulation be allowed, to be accounted for as is required in other cases.

The provisions of the preceding paragraph shall not apply to vessels operating exclusively in trade between foreign ports on or near the northern frontier of the United States and ports in the United States; but the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized when, in his discretion, it is expedient for the preservation of the public health, to establish regulations governing such vessels.

The President in his discretion, is authorized to detail any medical officer of the Government to serve in the office of the consul at any foreign port for the purpose of furnishing information and making the inspection and giving the bills of health herein before mentioned. Any vessel clearing and sailing from any such port without such bill of health, and entering any port of the United States, shall forfeit to the United States not more than $5,000, the amount to be determined by the court, which shall be a lien on the same, to be recovered by proceedings in the proper district court of the United States. In all such proceedings the United States district attorney for such district shall appear on behalf of the United States; and all such proceedings shall be conducted in accordance with the rules and laws governing cases of seizure of vessels for violation of the revenue laws of the United States.

The provisions of this section shall not apply to vessels plying between foreign ports on or near the frontiers of the United States and ports of the United States adjacent thereto; but the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized, when, in his discretion, it is expedient for the preservation of the public health, to establish regulations governing such vessels.

SEC. 5. That the Secretary of the Treasury shall from time to time issue to the consular officers of the United States and to the medical officers serving at any foreign port, and otherwise make publicly known, the rules and regulations made by him, to be used and complied with by vessels in foreign ports, for securing the best sanitary conditions of such vessels, their cargoes, passengers, and crew, before their departure for any port in the United States, and in the course of the voyage; and all such other rules and regulations as shall be observed in the inspection of the same on the arrival thereof at any quarantine station at the port of destination, and for the disinfection and isolation of the same, and the treatment of cargo and persons on board, so as to prevent the introduction of cholera, yellow fever, or other contagious or infectious diseases; and it shall not be lawful for any vessel to enter said port to discharge its cargo, or land its passengers, except upon a certificate of the health officer at such quarantine station certifying that said rules and regulations have in all respects been observed and complied with, as well on his part as on the part of the said vessel and its master, in respect to the same and to its cargo, passengers, and crew; and the master of every such vessel shall produce and deliver to the collector of customs at said port of entry, together with the other papers of the vessel, the said bills of health required to be obtained at the port of departure and the certificate herein required to be obtained from the health officer at the port of entry; and that the bills of health herein prescribed shall be considered as part of the ship's papers, and when duly certified to by the proper consular or other officer of the United States, over his

official signature and seal, shall be accepted as evidence of the statements therein contained in any court of the United States.

Sec. 13. The original bills of health required to be obtained in duplicate in foreign ports under the provisions of section 2 of this act shall be presented to the collector of customs in accordance with the provisions of section 5 of this act, and the duplicate copies of such bills of health shall be presented to the quarantine officer at the time quarantine inspection is performed by him.

Sec. 14. The Secretary of the Treasury shall establish by regulation the hours during which quarantine service shall be performed at each quarantine station, and, upon application by any interested party, may establish quarantine inspection during the 24 hours of the day, or any fraction thereof, at such quarantine stations as, in his judgment, require such extended service; but the secretary may restrict the performance of quarantine inspection to hours of daylight for such arriving vessels as can not, in his opinion, be satisfactorily inspected during hours of darkness. Nothing herein contained, however, shall be construed to require a vessel upon arriving at the quarantine anchorage to undergo quarantine inspection during the hours of darkness unless the quarantine officer at such quarantine station shall deem an immediate inspection necessary to protect the public health; nor shall any provision of this act be construed to require uniformity in the regulations governing the hours during which quarantine inspection may be obtained at the various ports of the United States.

SEC. 15. The certificate of health required by section 5 of this act, shall, upon the arrival of any vessel from foreign ports at the anchorage or place established for quarantine inspection purposes in any port of the United States, be procurable at any time within which quarantine services are performed at such station from the quarantine health officer, following satisfactory inspection.

SEC. 16. The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to prescribe a schedule of charges for quarantine services rendered to vessels at each of the national quarantine stations, which charges shall be reasonable and uniform for all ports, including the port of New York. The quarantine officer in each port of entry shall promptly forward to the collector of customs at such port an itemized statement of the quarantine services rendered to each vessel at the prescribed charges, which charges shall be paid to the collector of customs by said vessel prior to clearance or departure from such port. All such collections shall be accounted for by the collector of customs and shall be covered into the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts.

The provisions of the act of June 5, 1920 (41 Stat. 875) relating to the schedule of fees and rates of charges to be adopted and promulgated by the Secretary of the Treasury at the New York quarantine station is hereby repealed.

Sec. 17. Any officer or employee of the Public Health Service on duty at any national quarantine station or on a national quarantine vessel, or detailed for duty in foreign ports, under the provisions of sections 2 and 5 of this act, who is suffering from sickness or injury incurred in line of duty, shall be a beneficiary of the Public Health Service and shall be entitled to receive all necessary medical treatment and other benefits authorized to be furnished to beneficiaries.

[The schedule of fees and rates of charges in effect at the New York quarantine station at the time of the transfer of the title thereto to the United States shall be adopted and promulgated by the Secretary of the Treasury as the schedule of fees and rates of charges for the operation of the said station under the jurisdiction of the United States.]

CLASSIFICATION OF CROW INDIANS OF MONTANA

FEBRUARY 12, 1931.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. LEAVITT, from the Committee on Indian Affairs, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 16863]

The Committee on Indian Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 16863) authorizing the classification of the Crow Indians of Montana, having considered the same, report thereon with a recommendation that it do pass with the following amendments:

Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert in lieu thereof the following:

That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe, to change the classification of any Crow Indian under the act of June 4, 1920 (41 Stat. L. 751), from incompetent to competent on the recommendation of a committee appointed for the purpose in accordance with section 12 of said act.

Amend the title so as to read:

A bill authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to change the classification of Crow Indians.

This is a measure requested by the Tribal Council of the Crow Indians. Members of that council appeared before the Committee on Indian Affairs and urged its early enactment. It has the approval of the Department of the Interior.

In 1926 an act was passed allowing competent Crow Indians to conduct the leasing of their own lands. The result of that law has been very beneficial to the Indians, the statement being made before the committee that the Indians have been able to secure more advantageous rates than formerly. The present classification of the Crow Indians, as between competents and incompetents, is over 10 years old. That classification was made under an act creating a commission upon which the Crow Tribe was represented. Added education and experience have brought many Indians to the point of competency, and the enactment of this legislation would allow their reclassification, thus giving them greater opportunity to conduct their own affairs, particularly with regard to the leasing of their excess lands. The amendments to the bill as introduced are those suggested by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The bill has received the approval of

the Secretary of the Interior as indicated by the following letter transmitting memorandum from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs: DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Washington, February 12, 1931.

Hon. SCOTT LEAVITT,

Chairman Committee on Indian Affairs,

House of Representatives.

MY DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: In compliance with your request of February 5, for a report on H. R. 16863, which is a bill that would authorize the classification of the Crow Indians of Montana, I transmit herewith a memorandum on the subject that has been submitted by Commissioner Rhoads of the Office of Indian Affairs.

After a review of the proposed measure, I agree with Mr. Rhoads.
Very truly yours,

RAY LYMAN WILBUR, Secretary.

Memorandum for the Secretary.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,
OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS,
Washington, February 11, 1931.

This will refer to H. R. 16863 authorizing the classification of the Crow Indians of Montana. Section 3 of the act of June 4, 1920 (41 Stat. L. 751), directs the Secretary of the Interior to prepare and approve complete rolls of the Crow Tribe as follows:

1. Unallotted members who died after December 31, 1905, and before the passage of the act.

2. Allotted members living six months after the date of the act and being heads of families but who have not received full allotments as such.

3. Unallotted members living six months after the approval of the act, entitled to allotments.

Section 12 of the act provides that the Indians whose names appear on said rolls shall be classified as competent and incompetent. Such rolls were duly prepared and approved by the Secretary of the Interior, all minors being classified as incompetent. By lapse of time since then, many of the minors have become of age and have the requisite competency to manage their own affairs; and also, no doubt, a considerable number of the adults carried as incompetent have acquired the necessary experience to justify a change in their classification to "competent.' However, the act does not provide for any change in the classification of enrollees; and this works an injustice on those Indians who may be now, in fact, entitled to a competent classification. In other words, as they now exist, the rolls constitute an "iron-clad" classification of the Indians which there is no authority of law to change. Aside from the stigma, if such it be, involved in carrying a perfectly competent Indian as incompetent, under the act of May 26, 1926 (44 Stat. L. 659), the Indians classified as competent may lease their lands and those of their minor children and collect the rentals independently of governmental supervision. Under present conditions this privilege is necessarily denied a number of Indians qualified to exercise it.

The object of H. R. 16863 is to remedy this anomalous situation by having a reclassification of the Indians based on conditions as they now exist. However, in its present form the bill will not accomplish the desired result except temporarily because in a few years exactly the same situation will have again developed requiring another reclassification. What is needed, therefore, is to make the present classification elastic and flexible by giving the Secretary of the Interior authority to change the classification of any member of the tribe from incompetent to competent whenever the enrollee demonstrates by actual experience that he is entitled to have the change made. It is, therefore, suggested that all after the enacting clause be stricken out and the following substituted therefor: "That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized, under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe, to change the classification of any Crow Indian under the act of June 4, 1920 (41 Stat. L. 751), from incompetent to competent on the recommendation of a committee appointed for the purpose in accordance with section 12 of said act."

In this event, the title of the bill should be changed to read, "A bill authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to change the classification of Crow Indians." If thus amended, it is recommended that H. R. 16863 be enacted.

O

C. J. RHOADS, Commissioner.