48 REPORT OF AMERICAN MERCHANT MARINE COMMISSION.

at the time of the taking, or a fair rate of hire to be agreed upon.
And if there shall be a disagreement as to such fair actual value or
fair rate of hire between the United States and the owner or owners
of such vessel, then the same shall be determined by two impartial
appraisers, one to be appointed by each of said parties, they to select
a third, who shall act in such appraisement in case the two shall fail
to agree.
Second. That said vessel shall carry, free of charge, the mails of the
United States, if the Postmaster-General shall so require, for the whole
or any part of a voyage for which subvention shall be claimed.
Third. That upon each departure of said vessel from the United
States at least one-sixth of the crew shall be citizens of the United
States, or men who have declared their intention to become citizens.
Fourth. That a vessel employed in the foreign trade shall maintain
during the period so employed at least class Al if a steam vessel and
ab least class Al} if a sail vessel, as such classes are now established by
either the Record of American and Foreign Shipping or the United
States Standard Owners, Builders, and Underwriters’ Association, or
equivalent classification in any other register of shipping of at least
aqual merit.
Fifth. That all ordinary repair or overhauling of said vessel shall be
made in the United States, except in cases where drydocking is necessary
 and no dry dock of sufficient capacity shall be within a distance of
five hundred miles of the location of the ship when the repairs shall be
desired.
Sixth. A vessel shall not be entitled to the subvention above provided
 for unless during the period of employment in the foreign trade
or deep-sea fisheries the following proportions of the crew of the vessel
 after the dates specified shall have been enrolled in the naval volanteers:
 After July first, nineteen hundred and seven, one-eighth;
after July first, nineteen hundred and eleven, one-sixth; after July
first, nineteen hundred and sixteen, one-fourth: Provided, That if the
foregoing stated proportions of naval volunteers can not he obtained
at a foreign port with reasonable effort, as certified by the consul, other
persons may be substituted until the first return of said vessel to the
United States without forfeiture of the subvention,
Sec. 4. That the contracts provided for in section three shall be for
a period of one vear, and shall be renewed from time to time; but no
vessel shall receive a subvention under the provisions of this act for
a longer period than ten years. At the expiration of each annual contract
 the owner of the vessel shall be required to prove to the satisfaction
 of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, in such manner as the
said Secretary shall prescribe, that it obligations each and all have
been satisfactorily complied with. The Secretary of Commerce and
Labor shall thereupon certify to the Secretary of the Treasury the
amount of subvention to which said owner shall be entitled in fulfillment
 of said contract and of the provisions of this act, and the Secretary
 of the Treasury upon proper audit shall thereupon pay the
subvention due.
Sec. 5. That the Postmaster-General is hereby authorized and directed
to enter into contracts, for a term not less than five nor more than ten
years in duration, with citizens of the United States for the carrying
of mails on steamships hereafter built and registered in the Unite