150.071 Control/108

The French Chargé ( Henry ) to the Secretary of State 35

[Translation]

The Chargé d’Affaires of France in the United States, acting in compliance with the instructions of his Government, has the honor to invite the attention of His Excellency the Secretary of State to the provisions of a bill which was filed in the office of the United States Senate by Senator King, and which has already been passed by this Body and is under study by the House of Representatives. This Bill, known under the name of “Alien Seamen Act of 1931” would, in case it should be adopted by Congress in its present form, cause inevitable loss to French merchant marine interests.

1. According to the terms of Section 6 of this Bill, foreign steamships would be authorized to leave American ports only if they have on board a number of seamen at least equal to the number they had on their arrival, except in case of sickness of one or more men of the crew.

The effect of this provision would be to oblige the French Companies, in case of desertion or impossibility of recruiting French [Page 820] seamen on the spot, to embark foreign seamen. Such a measure would involve most serious disadvantages. It would entail great expense for French Companies, not only because of the necessity of engaging foreign seamen whom it would be necessary to pay according to the rates in effect in the United States, but also and especially because of the possibly long delays which might affect the regular time of departure of their steamships, and which would not fail to result from Section 6 of the “King Bill.”

Furthermore, it is quite evident that the presence on board of foreign seamen receiving higher wages than those of the French seamen, although engaged in the same tasks, could not fail to result in most unpleasant consequences from a disciplinary point of view.

Aside from cases of desertion and sickness, it may happen that owing to unforeseen and inevitable circumstances, and in no wise as the result of an intention to violate the immigration laws, certain French seamen belonging to the crew of a steamship flying the flag of the French Government may not be able to rejoin their ship on time. Under such conditions it may seem excessive to require the company to replace such seamen, whose presence on board is not indispensable to carrying on the service and who can be embarked a few days later on board one of the ships carrying on the regular weekly service between France and the United States.

2. Section 3 of the “Alien Seamen Act of 1931” provides that if the local immigration authorities find, on the arrival of a foreign ship in an American port, that a foreign seaman was not engaged “in good faith,” this seaman shall be taken to the nearest immigration station. If he is definitively considered an undesirable, he must be deported at the expense of the company which engaged him, but on another ship than the one which brought him to the United States.

This provision necessarily implies that the American authorities at the port of arrival of the foreign ship will have the right, not only to examine the ship’s roll, but to examine the conditions under which the latter was made up by the proper authorities of the foreign government. It tends to bring into question the good faith not only of the seaman, but of the agents of the foreign government under whose responsibility the ship’s roll was prepared.

Moreover the power thus conferred on American immigration inspectors to decide the status of the personnel which had been embarked is of a nature to result in the greatest difficulties so far as French navigation companies are concerned. The personnel embarked on board passenger ships flying the French flag which ply regularly between Le Havre and New York includes in fact not only seamen properly so-called, but also the men who have charge of the engines and the civilian employees (cabin boys, deck boys, etc.).

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The latter do not appear on the ship’s roll which is visaed by the French Commissioner of Marine Registration and under such conditions run the risk, if Section 3 of the “Alien Seamen Act of 1931” should become law, of finding themselves deprived of all protection in case of a dispute as to the legality of their embarkation between the local immigration agents and the officials of the navigation company to which they belong.

3. Finally, amended Section 7 of the “Alien Seamen Act of 1931” which prohibits the entry into American ports of any seaman who is a “citizen, subject or inhabitant of any colony, dependency or mandated country the nationals of which are excluded because of race from the territory of the United States” is also of a kind to cause serious loss to French navigation companies. The latter now rather frequently engage for the service of the engines men coming from the Continent of Asia, who are better adapted than Europeans to the high temperatures of the magazine and boiler rooms. The effect of the adoption of this article would be to require the French navigation companies to change the composition of their engine personnel and to increase the wages paid up to this time to this class of employees.

It seems, however, that the presence in American waters or on American soil, for a period rarely exceeding three days, of men of color coming from the Continent of Asia, would not be of a character seriously to hinder the application of the immigration laws.

In submitting the above considerations to the kind attention of His Excellency the Secretary of State, the Chargé d’Affaires of France would be very grateful to him if he would be good enough to communicate to him his point of view as to the possible application of the “Alien Seamen Act of 1931” which, in its present form, has already given rise to reservations on the part of foreign governments, especially those of Great Britain and of Italy, and also on the part of American shipping interests.

Mr. Jules Henry is happy to avail himself [etc.]

Washington, October 6, 1931.

  1. Copy transmitted by the Department to the Chairmen of the Senate Committee on Immigration and the House Committee on Immigration and Naturalization.