time and a half basis for work over 40 hours a week. The House managers will move to recede and concur in the Senate amendment with clarifying amendments. CLARENCE CANNON, LOUIS LUDLOW, R. B. WIGGLESWORTH, Managers on the part of the House. O MARCH 30, 1944.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. BLAND, from the Committee on the Merchant Marine and REPORT [To accompany H. R. 4163] The Committee on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 4163) to amend section 2 of Public Law 17, Seventy-eighth Congress, relating to functions of the War Shipping Administration, and for other purposes, having considered the same, report favorably thereon, without amendment, and recommend that the bill do pass. PURPOSE OF BILL The purpose of the bill, H. R. 4163, is to amend section 2 of Public Law 17, Seventy-eighth Congress, relating to functions of the War Shipping Administration and for other purposes, in three respects. The over-all objective of section 2 of Public Law 17, Seventy-eighth Congress, was relief of hardship suffered by seamen and to carry out the intent of Congress in its expressed desire to provide adequate compensation for those members of the merchant marine who have suffered, in playing an important role in the prosecution of the war. PARAGRAPH 1 The first amendment to Public 17, will waive recovery by the War Shipping Administration of money paid on account of insurance provided under section 2 (b) of Public Law 17 or under the War Insurance Act, from any person, who, in the judgment of the Administrator, is without fault, and when in the judgment of the Administrator, such recovery would defeat the purposes of benefits otherwise authorized or would be against equity and good conscience. This amendment will avoid injustice to dependents of seamen who have received benefits under mutual mistake of fact by allowing War Shipping Administration to waive recovery in appropriate cases of payments made on account of loss, disability, detention, or other casualty. This first amendment is designed to take care of problems arising as a result of insurance paid by War Shipping Administration on the lives of seamen presumed to have been dead, but who later are discovered to be alive. Payments of war-risk life insurance money effective on the lives of officers and members of the crews employed on United States or foreign flag vessels operated or controlled by the War Shipping Administration have been made in approximately the sum of $500,000 wherein seamen reported to be missing as a result of enemy action and subsequently declared by the Maritime War Emergeney Board to be presumed dead have been found to be living and prisoners of war. Additional releases of the names of prisoners of war may add to the total amount of money paid by the War Shipping Administration in cases of this nature. Recovery or attempted recovery of payments made to the beneficiaries or dependents of seamen erroneously reported to be dead might result in an injustice, and recoupment by the War Shipping Administration might be against equity and good conscience. The War Shipping Administration believes that it has the right to determine whether such payments made under a mutual mistake of fact should be recovered, but it believes that express statutory right to waive recovery thereof should be vested in the Administrator, War Shipping Administration. The War Shipping Administration reported favorably on a similar provision originally considered in H. R. 3262 (which is embodied in this amendment) and the report is appended hereto. PARAGRAPH 2 (C) This is the second amendment proposed to Public Law 17, and is designed to meet the problems arising as a result of inadequate insurance coverages of permanent total or partially disabled seamen. There are special problems relating to seamen's benefits as to which it seems desirable, as a matter of policy, by expressly supplementing existing statutory authority, to provide for certain cases of seamen's disabilities. This proposed new subsection 2 (c) is intended to accomplish these objectives. There are approximately 20 cases which are pending before the War Shipping Administration, wherein claims have been filed by or on behalf of permanently totally disabled seamen who have lost arms or legs, or an arm and leg, or have suffered other permanent injuries as a result of enemy action. The problem of providing adequate financial compensation for these disabled seamen for the duration of such disability arises as a result of the limited insurance coverage provided members of the merchant marine in the earlier days of the war. Permanently totally disabled seamen are entitled, under existing law and insurance provided by the War Shipping Administration to be paid $5,000 for such permanent total disability, if payment is to be made in a lump sum, or $7,500 for such injuries if the seamen are willing to accept compensation in installments. This coverage is considered inadequate in those cases wherein, because of the age of the seamen, the disability will without doubt last after the aforesaid payments have been made, and it is felt that the War Shipping Administration should be able to provide adequate compensation for the duration of the disability which, in many instances, will be for the life of the injured person. As to future cases of permanent disability, total or partial, it is not possible to predict what the extent of such casualties will be. That depends on the fortunes of war, especially enemy attacks against our shipping. The authority, therefore, must be flexible and will naturally be carried out with reference to the benefits provided for seamen by the decisions of the Maritime War Emergency Board which is the agency which determines the scope and amounts of benefits which are provided for seamen during the present war. For these reasons, this provision will probably prove temporary, for it emphasizes the necessity of a comprehensive survey of the entire field of disabilities, large and small, permanent, total, and temporary, with a view to making proper provision for these men who will have contributed so heroically and so fearlessly to the ultimate victory. But in any case reasonable provision should now be made to meet the existing problem. Paragraph 2 (c) of the bill authorizes the Administrator to continue to make payments which would adequately compensate seamen suffering from permanent total or partial disability as long as such disability exists resulting from cases relating to the war effort. This paragraph provides retroactive coverage in those cases wherein permanent total or partial disability has occurred from causes related to the war effort prior to the enactment of this section. PARAGRAPH 2 (D) Paragraph 2 (d) of the bill relates to the problems arising with respect to a duplication of payments of benefits wherein the War Shipping Administration assumes payments of these payments and later the seamen might undertake by litigation or otherwise to attempt double recovery from the same obligation. There is a possibility that returned seamen who have been prisoners of war may endeavor to claim from their employer full wages during the entire period spent in prison camps irrespective of the payments made for their account by the War Shipping Administration under the pattern provided by Public Law 784, Seventy-seventh Congress, as amended, which provides for payments of benefits for interned civilians. It is not known. whether such a suit would be successful but such a contingency should not be ignored. There seems to be no basis for the views expressed on behalf of certain operators to the effect that this provision may be used to give the War Shipping Administration an absolute subrogation right. The Administrator's representative has indicated that where the owners participate in the payments to the seamen by providing 1 or 2 years of benefit with the Government merely providing the balance, payments can be made by the owners for the first 2 years and by the United States thereafter, thus avoiding the subrogation question and establishing an equitable and final division of the cost of these benefits as between the Government and the operators. Paragraph (d) provides that the War Shipping Administration shall have the right of intervention and a lien and right of recovery in these cases and to the extent of any payments paid and payable under this section, or under Subtitle-Insurance of the Merchant Marine |