THE ROLL CALL
The Roll Call ON MEN AND MEASURES Shall "Involuntary Servitude" Continue Under Our Laws? President Taft Killed the Bill to Free the Seamen From Bondage and Oppression, Let Every Citizen Demand...
...McLean...
...Clark, Wyo...
...The economic effect of this will be to equalize the cost of operation as between American and foreign ships, in that it will create a condition under which foreign ships coming to American harbors will have to come up to American standard in order to keep their crews...
...To benefit the Nation...
...Whereupon Burton protested that, "I certainly did not want it to go in if it is going to impose any hardship on seamen or make it possible for a master to use it as an instrument of oppression...
...Kavanaugh...
...Brandegee...
...Johnson, Me...
...Gallinger...
...That was over the provision inserted by the committee to compel seamen to stay on board the boat when in port, if the master of the vessel so desired, on pain of punishment by imprisonment—unless the seaman wished to quit his job...
...Bryan...
...Foster...
...Briggs...
...du Pont...
...Richardson...
...Webb...
...This amendment having failed, Senator La Follette endeavored to put some meaning into the section and make it of some little use by moving to make the local government inspectors legally entitled to judge the qualifications necessary for so-called life-boat men, rather than to leave it wholly within the power of the master of the vessel...
...The Senate committee practically destroyed its good provisions and inserted bad provisions...
...McCumber...
...that the profits of ship owners should stand in the way of abolishing this law-sanctioned slavery under the American flag...
...AGAINST GOVERNMENT INSPECTION -Bradley...
...McCumber...
...Perkins...
...It would have placed these seamen in the inland navigation in a worse condition than they have been in since 1874...
...Away back in 1791 Congress passed the law giving to the ship owner the power to enforce contracts made with the seaman upon the seaman's body...
...Borah...
...Burton...
...We all understand that there must be a distinction when the vessel is at sea, for there are reasons which arise for increased severity under those circumstances...
...But so was negro slavery referred to as "involuntary servitude" in our constitution, laws and state papers...
...Smoot...
...Page...
...Not one of the changes made by the Senate Committee was designed to give additional protection and freedom to the seamen...
...But a roll call was refused on this amendment...
...The bill went to President Taft but it was allowed to die in the White House...
...Williams...
...Catron...
...I think it is a cruel and inhuman punishment for that offense...
...Tillman...
...Borah...
...Fletcher...
...Simmons...
...Gardner...
...Richardson...
...The civilization of the time, the common voice of humanity, required the United States to take away the criminal punishment from desertion so far as our own coastwise trade is concerned...
...Meyers...
...I cannot understand just why the committee thought it necessary to go to the extreme length that is embraced in this part of the bill...
...Smith, S. C...
...Clark, Wyo...
...A Vote Against Safety...
...The seamen "respectfully submit" that "we are persons" and that "Congress should repeal all laws and abrogate all treaties under which we are subject to arrest, detention, and delivery to any man in order that he may compel us to labor for his benefit...
...Fall...
...Is that so unreasonable^—and this "the land of the free...
...Lodge...
...Perkins...
...every one of them was in the interest of the shipping trust...
...Wetmore...
...In my opinion it will be found to be the ready instrumentality for the coercion of every seaman by criminal penalties in every part of the United States as well as every part of the world in which a merchant vessel of the United States may find itself...
...The seamen have been turned away by Congress...
...Watson...
...Lodge...
...Bryan...
...Richardson...
...Johnston, Ala...
...Smith, Ariz...
...Martine, N. J...
...The question was again put to a vote and the amendment was adopted...
...Dillingham...
...Gamble...
...Yet it true...
...It will tend to build up the American merchant marine and to bring into existence a greater body of native American seamen...
...Pomerene...
...Works...
...Borah...
...This amendment was adopted...
...Bryan...
...Works...
...Clapp...
...Johnson, Me...
...Burton weakened and when Senator Cummins presented an amendment to strike out this provision—an amendment which Senator La Follette had risen to offer but waived when the Cummins amendment was presented—Burton capitulated with the following remark: "To save time, I will state that I shall not object to the amendment to the amendment...
...Gronna...
...Gardner...
...The fight is not yet ended...
...Crawford...
...Crane...
...Burton...
...Kern...
...Clapp...
...The Senate rejected it upon a roll call as follows: FOR A HIGH STANDARD Ashurst...
...Clark, Wyo...
...Jones...
...Root...
...Perkins...
...And after the Civil War, when the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, still the seamen were not set free...
...Penrose...
...The Supreme Court in 1896—over the protest of the late Justice Harlan—decided that this amendment did not apply to seamen...
...Other Senators assailed this vicious provision...
...Page...
...When, at last, this law will have passed, giving freedom and justice to the seamen and a greater measure of safety to passengers and goods, it will stand as a monument of Fureseth's untiring labors of two-decades...
...No higher duty ever confronted the Congress and the President of the United States than this duty to wipe forever from the statutes of the United States the antiquated law sanctioning involuntary servitude...
...FOR A LOW STANDARD Bradley...
...O'Gorman...
...The fight on the floor of the Senate, however, to have the vicious committee provisions stricken out and the needed provisions inserted resulted in the adoption of a number of amendments which improved the bill very materially...
...Pomerene...
...Dixon...
...To benefit the sailor...
...Myers...
...Senator Cummins said: "My criticism of this part of the bill is that it is a practical return to the involuntary servitude which has been so frequently mentioned here, and never mentioned without reprobation...
...Smoot...
...Kern...
...The president of their union, Mr...
...Jones...
...Johnston, Ala...
...Briggs...
...The amendment was adopted without a roll call Senator La Follette offered an amendment to insert election day among the holidays that a sear man would bo entitled to...
...Smoot...
...Fall...
...Lodge...
...Paynter...
...Newlands...
...McCum-ber...
...It passed the House, in good form, in the last session...
...Turned down, year after year, by a Congress that listened to the shipping lobby, he has never lost heart, but patiently, persistently, faithfully he has worked for his cause...
...Smith, S. C...
...Percy...
...Overman...
...Stone...
...Dixon...
...O'Gorman...
...Martine, N. J...
...AGAINST SHORTER HOURS Brandegee...
...Smith, Ga...
...But it was defeated and the ship owners may continue to carry Lascars, Cromen, Malays, Chinese, or any other men incapable'of understanding the orders of the officers...
...Brady...
...Kern...
...Stone...
...WHEN the bill came from the Senate commit-tee, the section which sets a standard of skill for able seamen was weak, the standard being made applicable only to a limited extent...
...Pittman...
...The vote was 17 to 37—17 for skill and safety, 37 for incompetency and hazard...
...Stephen-son...
...Second...
...Senator La Follette remarked, "The standard of efficiency provided by the House bill has been eliminated from the Senate bill and instead they are clothing the masters and the owners of vessels with power to continue in involuntary servitude the seamen...
...Kern...
...Catron...
...Fletcher...
...Brandegee...
...Crane...
...Burton asserted that this provision was designed merely to exact obedience from the seamen and would not have the effect of placing the seamen completely at the mercy of the vessel's master, both at sea and in port...
...Page...
...The amendment offered by Mr...
...Sheppard...
...Bristow...
...Gallinger...
...Percy...
...but to say that a seaman in port * * * must be present at a drill or suffer one year's punishment in jail and forfeit all his wages, impresses me as a violation of the Constitution of the United States...
...A roll call was demanded upon this amendment to give humane and enlightened hours of labor to the men who toil on board the ships, but it was lost by the following vote: FOR SHORTER HOURS Ashurst...
...La Follette...
...Cummins...
...The Lobby's Last Stand THE SEAMEN'S BILL was fathered in the House by Representative Wilson, who is now Secretary of Labor, and in the Senate by Senator La Follette...
...Bristow...
...AS THE BILL came from the Senate commit-tee, it contained a section which would have had the effect of legalizing the worst practices now existing and to relieve the ship owner of the only remaining liability to the traveling public...
...Simmons...
...Chamberlain...
...Root...
...Brady...
...Kavanaugh...
...Kenyon...
...Kavanaugh...
...Dillingham...
...If Senator La Follette's amendment had been adopted the ship owners would have been compelled to have a crew 75 per cent...
...Striving for a Good Bill SENATOR La FoLLette endeavored to have the bad provisions that had been inserted by the Senate committee stricken out...
...Foster...
...Gal-linger...
...This amendment was adopted 35 to 30 by the following vote: FOR GOVERNMENT INSPECTION Ashurst...
...Crane...
...It will promote safety of life at sea and on the Great Lakes by providing that a percentage of the deck crew on all vessels must be able seamen of three years' experience on deck—40 per cent the first year, increasing 5 per cent each year until a maximum of 65 per cent is reached...
...Catron...
...Taft Kills the Bill THE BILL which passed the House was the bill that should have passed the Senate without change...
...La Follette...
...The seamen have been patient for many, many years...
...Does that surprise you, reader—you who have thought the Civil War abolished forever the practice of holding human lives in bondage...
...Burton...
...It will promote safety of life at sea...
...Williams...
...Dillingham...
...and whereby foreign seamen in American ports are subjected to the same degrading treatment...
...Sheppard...
...Richardson...
...Crane...
...Root...
...Lodge...
...Sheppard...
...Burnham...
...and that passenger vessels must carry a crew sufficient to man each lifeboat with two men with a rating of able seamen or higher...
...Smith, Mich...
...Smith, S. C; Smoot...
...Shorter Hours Rejected IN THE SECTION dealing with the hours of labor at sea and in port the Senate committee had exempted vessels of less than 300 tons or on a regular schedule of 24 hours or less...
...Clark...
...Owen...
...Williams...
...Crawford...
...Hitchcock...
...Senator La Follette said, "I will ask for a division...
...Root...
...Moreover, slavery exists today under the sanction of the laws of the United States...
...Stone...
...To which Senator Burton replied: "It is not supposed that drills would be indulged in that were superfluous...
...The bill which the seamen ask of Congress is no more than should be freely given in the name of justice and humanity...
...As it passed the Senate it gave substantial relief to the seamen but was, nevertheless, far from satisfactory...
...Neither could Senator Burton...
...du Pont...
...Kenyan...
...But the law is not yet written into the statute books...
...Bristow;-Burnham...
...Senator La Follette moved to strike out the words "and property" so as to preserve the present law of salvage intact...
...When the question was put the presiding officer announced, "By the sound the noes appear to have it...
...Cummins...
...The courts gave the heirs of the victims of the City of Rio de Janiero the right to sue the company because the crew of the vessel could not understand and carry out the orders of the officers...
...Senator Burton defended the bill as it had been amended in his committee...
...Wetmore...
...Smith, Ariz...
...Owen...
...Paynter...
...Myers...
...Smith, S. C; Tillman...
...McLean...
...Johnston, Ala...
...Gamble...
...As the bill came from the Senate Committee the ship owner would be entitled to salvage...
...Stone...
...Overman...
...Later in 1911, this same Court in another case held that— "While Us immediate concern was African slavery, the thirteenth amendment was a charter of universal freedom for all persons of whatever race, color, or estate under the flag...
...Poindexter...
...Burton...
...Overman...
...He offered amendment after amendment with a view to strengthening the bill so that, like the House bill, it would give freedom to seamen and insure skill and safety at sea...
...Webb...
...This is the law of all nations and is based upon a recognition that unless there is a strong inducement property may not be saved...
...Exposing the Committee Changes THE BILL came before the Senate on March 2 and there was a spirited debate...
...Newlands...
...Wetmore...
...I DO NOT SEE WHY SEAMEN, WHEN THEY ARE IN PORT SHOULD NOT BE TREATED AS ORDINARY HUMAN BEINGS...
...La Follette...
...Crawford...
...Gronna...
...Brady...
...Pittman...
...Martine, N. J...
...Kenyon...
...Page...
...Further Oppression Approved AS THE BILL came from the Senate committee, the section relating to organized activities among the sailors for improvement of their condition would, if enacted, have had the effect of reimposing involuntary servitude upon the seamen in coastwise, lake and river trade...
...To benefit the traveling public...
...FOR FURTHER OPPRESSION Bradley...
...The existing law puts a premium upon risk taken to save property and gives the seamen a share, proportionate to his wages, of the value of the property saved...
...Gronna...
...Poindexter...
...Paynter...
...Brandegee...
...It will give him freedom, an opportunity to secure justice, and greater safety of life...
...And before the fire of criticism from Senators who insisted upon a good bill, the committee's bill could not stand up...
...Dixon...
...President Taft neither signed nor vetoed it before the end of the Congress...
...Burnham...
...McLean...
...Hitchcock...
...Gardner...
...Then the shipping lobby transferred its activities to the Senate...
...McLean...
...Paynter...
...Pittman...
...The Abolition of the last vestige of Slavery under the American Flag depends upon the passage of the Seamen's bill...
...La Follette...
...THE SEAMAN WHO DID THE WORK WOULD NOT...
...Jones...
...Chamberlain...
...Foster...
...Penrose...
...The House bill gave them unreservedly...
...Senator La Follette then offered another amendment to strike out the limitation just mentioned—300 tons and 12-hour schedule—but this was defeated...
...Clapp...
...A Low Standard Endorsed...
...Chamberlain...
...Webb...
...Yet for the failure to appear at the proper moment, in order to engage in a pre-arranged or pre-ordered drill, you impose a criminal punishment upon the man...
...Stephenson...
...It will give freedom to the seamen by repealing the laws and treaties under which American seamen on American ships in ports in the foreign trade who quit their jobs are now treated as runaway slaves, captured, and forced to work against their will or sentenced to a foreign jail as though they were criminals...
...Brady...
...These should be in the law...
...Kenyon...
...He would have to do this for his regular wages...
...President Taft Killed the Bill to Free the Seamen From Bondage and Oppression, Let Every Citizen Demand That This Law Be Enacted Without Delay SLAVERY still exists in the United States of America...
...The Senate bill gave them ostensibly but "with a string tied to them...
...Involuntary servitude" it is called in the records of Congress...
...Hitchcock...
...Perkins...
...La Follette was to strike out the exemptions so that a 12-hour day for the seamen and an 8-hour day for the firemen would apply on ALL vessels...
...Oliver...
...Do you know that the "fugitive-slave law" that was washed with blood from our statute books was modeled after the "fugitive-sailor law...
...And the Senate without a roll call agreed to strike out the committee's provision...
...Simmons...
...Stephenson...
...Briggs...
...Burnham...
...Oliver...
...Hitchcock...
...Clapp...
...Works...
...Johnson, Me...
...Percy...
...Lobbyists for the shipping trust and their friends, some of whom held positions of great power and influence in the government, sought with desperation to prevent the passage of the bill by the Senate as it had passed the House...
...The words 'involuntary servitude' have a larger meaning than slavery, and the thirteenth amendment prohibited all control by coercion of the personal service of one man for the benefit of another...
...FREEDOM—QUALIFICATION—SAFETY...
...Oliver...
...I am really at a loss to understand how the Senator from Iowa places upon it the interpretation which he gives to it...
...The heirs of the victims of the Titanic were given the right to enter suits a short time ago...
...Fletch-en...
...Indeed Burton was driven from his position on one of the most important features of the bill and was forced to surrender...
...Since they knew the Senate did not dare to ignore or kill the bill this time, they exerted every effort to have it so weakened and emasculated and hedged about with cumbersome administrative features that it would be useless...
...Dillingham...
...Third...
...Newlands...
...Briggs...
...Cummins, "There is no other interpretation to be plased upon it...
...Kavanaugh...
...Fletcher...
...Jones...
...They have been knocking patiently at the doors of Congress for relief...
...La Follette offered an amendment which would permit the 300-ton limitation to stand but would make the regulation of the hours of labor applicable to vessels of more than 300 tons regardless of the regulation mentioned...
...A Twenty-Year Fight FOR NINETEEN—nearly twenty—years the seamen have been seeking emancipation...
...When this bill came over to the Senate it was referred to a subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Commerce, of which Senator Burton of Ohio was chairman...
...Simmons...
...Cummins...
...Senator La Follette moved to strike out the offending section and a roll call was ordered, but the amendment was defeated by the following vote: AGAINST FURTHER OPPRESSION Ashurst...
...of which would understand the language of the officers...
...Sheppard...
...Percy...
...Oliver...
...Borah...
...Bryan...
...Gallinger...
...Senator La Follette moved to strike out the limitation "carrying passengers for hire," so as to make the standard of skill and hours of labor at the wheel and on the lookout applicable to all vessels except those of 300 tons or less and those on a regular schedule of 12 hours or less...
...du Pont...
...Pittman...
...Whereupon Mr...
...Johnson, Me...
...I THINK SEAMEN SHOULD BE PERMITTED TO ATTEND ELECTIONS...
...Senator La Follette offered an amendment to strike out the provision by which a ship owner may send his vessel to sea with passengers and freight aboard and yet having a crew incapable of understanding the language and orders of the officers or without sufficient interpreters to make the orders promptly effective...
...Here, briefly, is what it aims to do: First...
...Hearings were held...
...Pomerene...
...Foster...
...You have in this bill made criminal a less offense than the offense of desertion...
...It will do this by recognizing the right of all seamen in American ports to ownership in their own bodies, giving them the right to quit their jobs when the vessel has arrived at a safe harbor...
...It is not to be wondered at under the circumstances should their patience be sorely tried...
...Poindexter...
...Bristow...
...Cummins...
...Gronna...
...O'Gorman...
...Wetmore...
...Works...
...Dixon...
...It provides that 75 per cent of the crew in each department must be able to understand the orders of the officers...
...Poindexter...
...Fall...
...Smith, Ariz...
...Myers...
...Williams...
...Said Mr...
...Even after it was practically rewritten on the floor of the Senate through the amendments offered by Senator La Follette it was still in such form that it would depend too much upon administrative discretion to be really effective...
...It will promote the upbuilding of the American merchant marine far more than any ship-subsidy scheme ever can or will, and that without taxing the public...
...Is that asking too much...
...Johnston, Ala...
...Chamberlain...
...McCumber...
...Let There Be No More Delay EVERY CITIZEN of the United States who abhors human slavery, who believes that justice demands decent conditions of labor for all under the American flag, who thinks that the shipping trust should be compelled to man its ships with seamen of sufficient skill and understanding to ensure reasonable safety to passengers and freight, should write immediately to his Representative and his Senators, urging them to lose no time in passing the Seamen's Bill...
...Andrew Fureseth, himself a sailor, has labored year after year with rare devotion and ability to get relief for his oppressed fellow workers...
...As the bill came from the Senate committee, the seamen would be compelled to risk their lives to save property on some other vessel or as represented in the other vessel itself other than that upon which he served...
Vol. 5 • March 1913 • No. 13
