Rylander

Rylander, United States Shipping Commissioner for San Francisco, refuses to acknowledge and certify shipping articles (see 46 U.S.C.A. § 565 ) unless the seamen desiring to sign them first produce their “continuous discharge books” authorized by 46 U.S.C.A. § 643 . This action is justified by him under a regulation of the Secretary of Commerce to that effect. (See Rules & Regulations for Issuance of the Certificates of Service and Efficiency and of Continuous Discharge Books, promulgated by the Secretary Of Commerce December 26, 1936, section 2.)

Plaintiffs, who are seamen, seek in this equitable action to secure a mandatory injunction to force the commissioner to acknowledge and certify the articles regardless of whether they have the books.

I. Jurisdiction.

Defendant has moved to dismiss the bill because the Secretary of Commerce has not been made a party. If the Secretary must be joined, then it is true the failure to do so requires a dismissal.

The issue thus clearly presented is a difficult one owing to the confusion of the cases. Warner Valley Stock Co. v. Smith, 165 U.S. 28 , 17 S.Ct. 225 , 41 L.Ed. 621 , Gnerich v. Rutter, 265 U.S. 388 , 44 S.Ct. 532 , 68 L.Ed. 1068 ,…