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merated 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 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 Com

merce.

Sec. 7.

The jurisdiction, supervision and control now possessed Feb. 14, 1903. and exercised by the Department of the Treasury over the Mar. 4, 1913. 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: 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 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 Labor may designate therefor. [NOTE.-Section 7, Immigration transferred to Department of Labor, March 4, 1913.]

The Secretary of Commerce shall annually, at the close Sec. 8. 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.

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All laws prescribing the work and defining the duties Sec. 9. 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 shall, so far as the

Sec. 10.

July 5, 1884.
Feb. 14, 1903.
Secs. 4., 10.

July 5, 1884.
Sec. 2.

Feb. 14, 1903.
Secs. 4, 10.

same are not in conflict with the provisions of this Act, remain in full force and effect until otherwise provided by law.

All duties performed and all power and authority now 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, or any business arising therefrom 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 appellate or revisory character or otherwise, shall hereafter be vested in and exercised by the head of the said Department of Commerce.

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 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 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.

462. Bureau of Navigation.

There shall be in the Department of Commerce a Bureau of Navigation, under the immediate charge of a Commissioner of Navigation.

The Commissioner of Navigation, under the direction of the Secretary of Commerce, shall have 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.

Sec. 3.

The Commissioner of Navigation shall be charged with July 5, 1884. 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.

Upon affidavit by a reputable shipbuilder of the United July 9, 1912. States that an unrigged wooden vessel of the United States has been rebuilt, giving the date and place of such rebuilding, is sound and free from rotten or doted wood in structural parts, properly fastened and calked and in strength and seaworthiness as good as new, the Commissioner of Navigation shall include in the List of Merchant Vessels a notation to that effect.

Sec. 4.

He shall also report annually to the Secretary of Com- July 5, 1884. merce the increase of vessels of the United States, by Feb. 14, 1903. building or otherwise, specifying their number, rig, and Secs. 4, 10. motive power. He shall also investigate the operations of the laws relative to navigation, and annually report to the Secretary of Commerce such particulars as may, in his judgment, admit of improvement or may require amendment.

Sec. 5.

The Commissioner of Navigation shall, under the direc- July 5, 1884. tion of the Secretary of Commerce, be empowered to Feb. 14, 1903. change the names of vessels of the United States, under such restrictions as may have been or shall be prescribed by act of Congress.

Sec. 6.

The Commissioner of Navigation shall be appointed by July 5, 1884. the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and shall receive a

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Sec. 10.

salary of four thousand dollars per annum. And the Secretary of Commerce shall have power to transfer Feb. 14, 1903. from existing Bureaus or divisions of the Department of Commerce 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.

R. S., 4501.

Sec. 27.

463. Shipping commissioners.

The Secretary of Commerce shall appoint a commisJune 26, 1884. sioner for each port of entry, which is also a port of ocean Feb. 14, 1903. navigation, and which, in his judgment, may require the Secs. 4, 10. Mar. 4, 1911. 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 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, 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, subject to the limitations now fixed by law. The Secretary of Commerce 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 expendiJune 19, 1886. tures by shipping commissioners shall be audited and adjusted in the Treasury Department in the mode and manner provided for expenditures in the collection of

Feb. 14, 1903.
Sec. 2.

R. S., 4502.
Apr. 26, 1906.

R. S., 4505.

June 26, 1884.
Sec. 27.
June 19, 1886.

customs.

Every shipping commissioner so appointed shall give 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, of not less than five thousand dollars, in such form and with such security as the Secretary of Commerce 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.

Any shipping-commissioner may engage clerks to assist Jan. 16, 1883. him in the transaction of the business of the shippingoffice, at his own proper cost, and may, in case of necessity, depute such clerks to act for him in his official 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 R. S., 4506. 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 evidence of the official character of such instrument, and of the truth of the facts therein set forth.

Mar. 3, 1897.

Feb. 14, 1903.

Sec. 10.

The Secretary of Commerce shall assign in public R. S., 4507. buildings or otherwise procure suitable offices and rooms for the shipment and discharge of seamen, to be known as shipping commissioners' offices, and shall procure furniture, stationery, printing, and other requisites for the transaction of the business of such offices.

June 19, 1886.

In no case shall the salary, [fees, and emoluments] of R. S., 4594. any officer appointed under this Title [R. S., 4501-4613] be more than five thousand dollars per annum [; and any additional fees shall be paid into the Treasury of the United States].

464. Customs officers.

At each of the ports to which there are appointed a R. S., 2621. collector, naval officer, and surveyor, it shall be the duty of the collector:

First. To receive all reports, manifests, and documents to be made or exhibited on the entry of any ship or vessel, according to the regulations of this Title [R. S., 25173129].

Second. To record, in books to be kept for that purpose, all manifests.

Third. To receive the entries of all ships or vessels, and of the goods, wares, and merchandise imported in them. Fourth. To estimate, together with the naval officer where there is one, or alone where there is none, the amount of the dues payable thereupon, indorsing such amount upon the respective entries.

Fifth. To receive all moneys paid for duties, and take all bonds for securing the payment thereof.

Sixth. To grant all permits for the unlading and delivery of goods.

Seventh. To employ, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, proper persons as weighers, gaugers, measurers, and inspectors at the several ports within his district.

Eighth. To provide, with the like approval, at the public expense, store-houses for the safe-keeping of goods, and such scales, weights, and measures as may be necessary.

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