63D CONGRESS,
1st Session.
_______________

S. 2337.
_________________

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES.

May 26, 1913.

Mr. Townsend introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the committee on Commerce.

________________

A BILL

To create the Coast Guard by combining therein the existing Life-Saving Service and Revenue Cutter Service.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled.

That there shall be established in lieu of the existing Revenue-Cutter Service and the Life-Saving Service, to be composed of those two existing organizations, with the existing offices and positions and the incumbent officers and men of those two services, the Coast Guard, which shall constitute a part of the military forces of the United States [emphasis added] and which shall operate under the Treasury Department in time of peace and operate as a part of the Navy, subject to the orders of the Secretary of the Navy, in time of war or when the President shall so direct. When subject to the Secretary of the Navy in time of war the expense of the Coast Guard shall be paid as a part of the Navy Department.

SEC. 2. That in the Coast Guard there shall be a captain commandant, senior captains, captains, first lieutenants, second lieutenants, third lieutenants, engineer in chief, captains of engineers, first lieutenants of engineers, second lieutenants of engineers, third lieutenants of engineers and constructors, cadets and cadet engineers, warrant officers, petty officers, and other enlisted men, all of said offices, of the Revenue-Cutter Service, which are transferred to the Coast Guard, and all the present incumbents, officers and enlisted men, are also transferred to corresponding positions in the Coast Guard; a general superintendent, assistant general superintendent, district superintendents, keepers, and surfmen, which offices and positions shall be transferred from the corresponding positions in the existing Life-Saving Service and be made like positions in the Coast Guard, and all incumbent officers and surfmen shall be transferred to such corresponding positions in the Coast Guard, in which the superintendents shall be commissioned as such, keepers shall be warrant officers, and surfmen shall be enlisted men, of which enlisted men the number one surfmen shall be petty officers.

There shall be in the administrative service of the Coast Guard two chiefs of division, with annual salary of $3,000 each, together with such clerical and technical positions and the incumbents therein as it may be necessary to transfer from the two existing organizations to the Coast Guard, abolishing such clerical positions as may not be needed. There may be such other clerical and technical assistance as may from time to time be authorized by Congress.

Except as herein modified all existing laws relating either to the present Life-Saving Service or the present Revenue-Cutter Service shall remain of force as far as applicable to the Coast Guard and the offices, positions, operations, and duties shall in all respects be held and construed to impose the same duties upon the positions and their incumbents in the Coast Guard as are now imposed upon the corresponding positions and incumbents in the said two existing organizations.

All duties now performed by the Revenue-Cutter Service and Life-Saving Service shall continue to be performed by the Coast Guard, and all such duties, together with all duties that may hereafter be imposed upon the Coast Guard, shall be administered by the captain commandant, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, and all funds and appropriations now provided by law for the Revenue Cutter Service and all funds and appropriations now provided by law for the Revenue-Cutter Service and all funds and appropriations now provided by law for the Life-Saving Service shall be available for like purposes under the Coast Guard hereby created.

SEC. 3. That all existing laws affecting pay and allowance for the present offices and their incumbents shall apply to the corresponding positions in the Coast Guard and the officers and men transferred thereto and their successors.

The provisions of sections four, five, six, seven, and nine of the Act of April twelfth, nineteen hundred and two, providing for the retirement of officers of the Revenue-Cutter Service, are hereby extended to include commissioned officers, warrant officers, and enlisted men of the Coast Guard. A commissioned officer, warrant officer, or enlisted man who has served thirty years may, upon suitable application be placed on waiting orders and receive seventy-five per centum of the pay and allowance of his grade or rating: Provided, That such commissioned officer, warrant officer, or enlisted man may be assigned to such duties as he may be able to perform. The commissioned officers, warrant officers, and petty officers of the Coast Guard shall receive ten per centum increase of pay for every five years of service, such increase not to exceed forty per centum of the pay of their grade or rating subject to the limitations of existing laws governing longevity pay: Provided further, That in computing length of service all creditable service in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Revenue-Cutter Service, and Life-Saving Service shall be included, counting part of a year as a whole year where stations were operated only part of a year: And provided further, That no person shall receive for the same time retired pay and the extra pay allowed under section seven of the Act of May fourth, eighteen hundred and eighty-two. The provisions of section three of the Act of March twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred and eight, increasing the efficiency of the personnel of the Life-Saving Service shall apply to the death of any officer, warrant officer, or enlisted man on the active list in the Coast Guard: Provided, That no pension shall be allowed or paid to any commissioned officer, warrant officer, or enlisted man in the Coast Guard either on the active or retired list.

SEC. 4. That hereafter, whenever a vacancy occurs in the grade of keeper of a life-saving station or house of refuge, it shall be filled by promotion and appointment from the grade of surfman, and whenever a vacancy shall occur in the grade of district superintendent the vacancy shall be filled by promotion and appointment from the grade of keeper.

As soon as the organization of the Coast Guard is completed the President is authorized to retire the general superintendent on seventy-five per centum of his present salary, and no further appointment shall be made to such office. At the same time the office of assistant general superintendent shall be abolished.

SEC. 5. That the captain commandant of the Coast Guard shall submit to the Secretary of the Treasury, for transmission to Congress, an annual report of the expenditures of the moneys appropriated for the maintenance of the Coast Guard and of the operations of the Coast Guard during the year.

SEC. 6. That this Act shall become effective on the first day of the fourth month next following the date of its passage.

SEC. 7. That all Acts or parts of Acts inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


This bill passed the Senate on 12 March, 1914. The bill then passed the house, on the recommendation of President Woodrow Wilson, on 20 January, 1915. President Wilson signed the Act on 28 January, 1915. It went into force via 38 Statutes at Large, 800.