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38 Int'l Lab. Rev. 190 (1938)
Maritime Labour in the United States: I - The Seamen's Act and Its Historical Background

handle is hein.journals/intlr38 and id is 192 raw text is: Maritime Labour in the United States: I The Seamen's Act and its Historical Background by Elmo Paul HOHMAN Associate Professor of Economics, Northwestern University In the United States during the last three or jour years problems of the shipping industry have been (and still are) continually to the fore as a subject of public discussion and controversy, often of an acute kind. The whole position of the industry in the national economy has been reviewed thoroughly by Congress, and far reach- ing measures aJecting it have been passed. In the foreign trade in particular, shipping policy has been revised; new plans have been put into operation for the reorganisation and rehabilitation of the merchant marine under Government direction and control; and a new Government agency, the United States Maritime Commission, has been created, with wide powers and functions, for carrying out a big programme of planning of the industry and seeing that an adequate and well-balanced merchant marine, manned with a trained and efficient citizen personnel , is developed and maintained on the high seas. Parallel with these developments in the economic field, big events and rapid evolution have also been taking place in the improvement of the position of the seagoing personnel. Important legislative and administrative action has been taken to better working and living conditions on board ship, to raise the status and efficiency of the seamen, and to improve employer-employee relationships. Nor has the need of co-operation in international egorts to ameliorate conditions at sea been overlooked. In 1936 the United States ratified the London Convention of 1929 for the Safety of