150.071 Control/37
The British Embassy to the Department of State
Aide-Mémoire
The British Embassy desire to call the serious attention of the State Department to Senate Bill S–202 which, according to information received, has now been submitted to the House of Representatives for concurrence, having passed the Senate. The Bill appears to be identical with Senate Bills S–1941 and S–717 of the 70th Congress, and almost identical with S–3574 which failed to pass the House of Representatives in 1927.
It is the general international understanding and practice that when private ships of a foreign state are in port the territorial authorities refrain from interference with their internal economy. The bill in question, however, provides for interference with the composition of the crews of foreign vessels while in United States ports and is therefore in conflict with a well-established, well-recognised and useful international practice.
Further, the bill would in effect discriminate against foreign vessels trading in American ports. It would cause great embarrassment to all ships in which Chinese seamen and Lascars are employed, and in particular to British Tramp Steamers trading with American ports in the course of their world voyages. The technical difficulties of eliminating from the crews of tramp steamers the Asiatic elements against which this bill is aimed would be very great and might in practice compel the masters of such vessels to cut out American ports altogether from their sailing schedules.
Active apprehensions have been caused in the Legislative Assembly in India by the legislation proposed, and they have been in communication with His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom as to the extent to which the measure, if enacted, would constitute an unwarrantable interference with the employment of British Indians on foreign vessels not properly subject in such matters to American jurisdiction. It is pointed out at the same time that the bill would constitute a virtual discrimination in favour of Japanese and other Asiatic vessels at the expense of the merchant marine of Great Britain and all other maritime countries; for while vessels of these countries would be prevented from employing Japanese and Asiatic labour, Japanese [Page 816] or other Asiatic merchant vessels would be free to call at United States ports with crews of their own nationality on board.
Section 6 of the bill refuses clearance to vessels departing from the United States unless they carry a crew of at least the same number as they carried on arrival. This provision would be extremely difficult to comply with. It could not fail to lead to much unnecessary inconvenience and in many cases to long delays involving the alteration of sailing schedules and serious loss to business. Various other objections to the measure might be urged on practical grounds and it is understood that a detailed discussion of its technical aspects has been presented in previous years to the House Committee on Immigration by representatives of the shipping interests. Quite apart, however, from particular considerations of a practical nature such as those already mentioned, strong objection must be taken to the proposed legislation on the wide ground that it constitutes a direct interference with trade likely to lessen its volume in both directions. Its effect, if not its object, is to dictate to other countries in what manner they should send goods to and carry products and other supplies from the American market.