violation of any provisions of this section and the regulations established thereunder, and may require that any container or package which he has reason to believe contains explosives or other dangerous articles or substances be opened to ascertain the facts.

"(9) Before any regulations or any additions, alterations, amendments, or repeals thereof are made under the provisions of this section, except in an emergency, such proposed regulations shall be published and public hearings with respect thereto shall be held on such notice as the Secretary of Commerce deems advisable under the circumstances. Any additions, alterations, amendments, or repeals of such regulations shall, unless a shorter time is authorized by the Secretary of Commerce, take effect ninety days after their promulgation.

"(10) It shall be unlawful knowingly to deliver or cause to be delivered, or tender for shipment to any vessel subject to this section any explosives or any other dangerous articles or substances defined in the regulations of the Secretary of Commerce established hereunder under any false or deceptive descriptive name, marking, invoice, shipping paper, or other declaration and without informing the agent of such vessel in writing of the true character thereof at or before the time such delivery or transportation is made. It shall be unlawful for any person to tender for shipment, or ship on any vessel to which this section applies, any explosives or other dangerous articles or substances the transportation, carriage, conveyance, storage, stowage, or use of which on board vessels is prohibited by this section.

"(11) The Secretary of Commerce may exempt any vessel or class of vessels from any of the provisions of this section or any regulations or parts thereof established hereunder upon a finding by him that the vessel, route, area of operations, conditions of the voyage, or other circumstances are such as to render the application of this section or any of the regulations established hereunder unnecessary for the purposes of safety: Provided, That except in an emergency such exception shall be made for any vessel or class of vessels only after a public hearing.

(12) The provisions of this section and the regulations established hereunder shall be enforced primarily by the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation of the Department of Commerce and the Coast Guard of the Department of the Treasury; and the Secretary of Commerce, with the consent of the head of any executive department, independent establishment, or other agency of the Government, may avail himself of the use of information, advice, services, facilities, officers, and employees thereof (including the field service) in carrying out the provisions of this section: Provided, That no officer or employee of the United States shall receive any additional compensation for such services, except as permitted by law.

"(13) Any collector of customs may, upon his own knowledge, or upon the sworn information of any reputable citizen of the United States, that any vessel subject to this section is violating any of the provisions of this section or of the regulations established hereunder, by written order served on the master, person in charge of such vessel, or the owner or charterer thereof, or the agent of the owner or charterer, detain such vessel until such time as the provisions of this section and of the regulations established hereunder have been complied

or owner or charterer, or the agent of the owner or charterer thereof, may within five days appeal to the Secretary of Commerce, who may, after investigation, affirm, set aside, or modify the order of such collector. If any reputable citizen of the United States furnishes sworn information to any collector of customs that any vessel, subject to this section, is violating any of the provisions of this section or of the regulations established hereunder, and such information is knowingly false, the person so falsely swearing shall be deemed guilty of perjury.

"(14) Whoever shall knowingly violate any of the provisions of this section or of any regulations established under this section shall be subject to a penalty of not more than $2,000 for each violation. In the case of any such violation on the part of the owner, charterer, agent, master, or person in charge of the vessel, such vessel shall be liable for the penalty and may be seized and proceeded against by way of libel in the district court of the United States in any district in which such vessel may be found.

"(15) When the death or bodily injury of any person results from the violation of this section or any regulations made in pursuance thereof, the person or persons who shall have knowingly violated or caused to be violated such provisions or regulations shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both. "(16) The transportation by vessels of gasoline or any other inflammable or combustible liquid or inflammable gas when carried by motor vehicles using the same as a source of their own motive power, or motive power for driving auxiliaries forming a part of the vehicle, shall be lawful under the conditions as set forth in the regulations established by the Secretary of Commerce under this section: Provided, however, That the motor or motors in any vehicle be stopped immediately after entering the said vessel, and that the same be not restarted until immediately before said vehicle shall leave the vessel after said vessel has been made fast to the wharf or ferry bridge at which she lands. All other fire, if any, in such vehicle shall be extinguished before entering the said vessel and the same shall not be relighted until after said vehicle shall leave the vessel: Provided further, That the Secretary of Commerce, may, by regulation, permit the operation on board vessels of motive power for driving auxiliaries forming a part of motor vehicles, under such conditions as he may deem proper: Provided further, That any owner, charterer, agent, master, or other person having charge of a vessel shall have the right to refuse to transport motor vehicles the fuel tanks of which contain gasoline or other inflammable or combustible liquid or inflammable gas used as a source of power for the vehicle or its auxiliaries: Provided further, That the owner, motor carrier, and operator of any such vehicle in which all fires have not been extinguished or the motor or motors stopped as required by this subsection or regulations established thereunder, and the owner, charterer, agent, master, or person in charge of the vessel on which such vehicle is transported, shall each be liable to a penalty of not more than $500, for which the motor vehicle and vessel, respectively, shall be liable: And provided further, That a violation of this subsection shall not subject any person to the penalty provided in sub

SEC. 2. (a) Such provision to guard against and extinguish fire shall be made on every vessel which is subject to the provisions of subsection (4), (5), or (6) of Section 1 of this Act, or of any other section of title 52 of the Revised Statutes, as amended (sections 4399 to 4500, inclusive), or Acts amendatory or supplementary thereto, as shall be prescribed by the Board of Supervising Inspectors and approved by the Secretary of Commerce.

(b) Nothing herein contained shall prohibit the use by any vessel of motorboats, launches, or lifeboats equipped with engines using an inflammable or combustible fuel, nor shall anything herein contained prohibit such motorboats, launches, or lifeboats from carrying such inflammable or combustible fuel in their tanks: Provided, That no such inflammable or combustible fuel for the engines of such motorboats, launches, or lifeboats shall be carried except as may be prescribed by regulations of the Board of Supervising Inspectors with the approval of the Secretary of Commerce: Provided further, That the use of such lifeboats shall be under such regulations as shall be prescribed by the Board of Supervising Inspectors with the approval of the Secretary of Commerce.

SEC. 3. Section 4417a of the Revised Statutes (U. S. C., 1934 edition, title 46, Supp. V, sec. 391a) is hereby amended by deleting from paragraph 2 thereof the following proviso: "Provided, That the provisions of this section shall not apply to common carriers engaged in interstate or foreign commerce which transport such liquid cargo by water insofar only as such common carriers are subject to the regulations formulated by the Interstate Commerce Commission under the provisions of section 233 of the Act of March 4, 1909 (ch. 321, 35 Stat. 1135), as amended (18 U. S. C. 383)"; and by amending the second proviso in paragraph 4 thereof to read as follows: "And provided further, That no permit shall be issued under the provisions of this section authorizing the presence on board any vessel of any of the materials expressly prohibited from being thereon by subsection (3) of section 4472 of the Revised Statutes, as amended".

SEC. 4. Section 4424 of the Revised Statutes, as amended (U. S. C., 1934 edition, title 46, sec. 402), is amended by deleting the words "or whenever any passenger steam vessel receives or carries any gunpowder on board, not having a certificate authorizing the same, placed and kept as required, or shall carry any gunpowder at a place or in a manner not authorized by such certificate".

SEC. 5. Section 4457 of the Revised Statutes (U. S. C., 1934 edition, title 46, sec. 414) is amended by deleting the words "certificates authorizing gunpowder to be carried as freight by any steamer carrying passengers, and of".

SEC. 6. Sections 232, 233, 234, and 235 of the Criminal Code, as amended (U. S. C., 1934 edition, title 18, secs. 382 to 385, inclusive), are amended:

(a) By striking out "vessel" and "vessels" wherever appearing in sections 232, 234, and 235;

(b) By striking out "or water" where first appearing in section 233; and

(c) By striking out "or water" where last appearing in section 235. SEC. 7. Sections 4278, 4279, and 4280 of the Revised Statutes (U. S. C., 1934 edition, title 46, secs. 172, 173, 174); section 4288 of the

Revised Statutes, as amended (U. S. C., 1934 edition, title 46, sec. 175); the Act of August 26, 1935 (U. S. C., 1934 edition, title 46, Supp. V, secs. 178, 179); sections 4422, as amended, 4473, 4475, and 4476 of the Revised Statutes (U. S. C., 1934 edition, title 46, secs. 401, 466, 468, and 469) are hereby repealed.

SEC. 8. There are hereby authorized to be appropriated such sums of money as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act. SEC. 9. This Act shall become effective six months after the date of approval, except as to subsection (7) of section 1 hereof, which subsection shall become effective on the date of approval. Such initial regulations as may be necessary to make the Act effective shall be promulgated within ninety days from the date of approval hereof: Provided, however, That during any national emergency proclaimed by the President, he may, in his discretion, accelerate any or all provisions of this section.

SEC. 10. If any provision of this Act, or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the Act, and the application of the provisions thereof, shall not be affected thereby.

Approved, October 9, 1940.

[CHAPTER 838-3D SESSION]

[S. 4341]

AN ACT

To expedite national defense by suspending, during the national emergency, provisions of law that prohibit more than eight hours' labor in any one day of persons engaged upon work covered by contracts of the United States Maritime Commission, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That until otherwise provided by law, provisions of law prohibiting more than eight hours' labor in any one day of persons engaged upon work covered by United States Maritime Commission contracts for the construction, alteration, or repair of vessels shall be suspended: Provided, That the wages of every laborer and mechanic employed by any contractor or subcontractor engaged in the performance of any such contract shall be computed on a basic rate of eight hours per day and forty hours per week and work in excess of eight hours per day or forty hours per week shall be permitted upon compensation for all hours worked in excess of eight hours per day or forty hours per week at not less than one and one-half times the basic rate of pay.

SEC. 2. The United States Maritime Commission is hereby authorized to modify its existing contracts for the construction, alteration, or repair of vessels as it may deem necessary to expedíte national defense, and to otherwise effectuate the purposes of this Act.

SEC. 3. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to modify any contracts between management and labor in shipyards which provide for conditions more favorable to labor than the minimum provisions as to hours per day and hours per week and for overtime provided in this Act.

SEC. 4. The provisions of this Act shall terminate June 30, 1942, unless the Congress shall otherwise provide.

Approved, October 10, 1940.