The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1851-06-14

speech of the Hon. b. H. Payne,
At the General Council Meeting, on Thursday
Night last.
Mr.. Payne on rising, said that in offering tne
ordinance for the establishment Of system oil daily
wharfage. he would preface his motion with lew
remarks, which he hoped the Council would listen
to with patience and attention, as they would be
important to the interests of the CITY, Under the
existing law. it was we'll known to him, to men,
beers of that Council and to all captains OF vessels
trading between New Orleans and other ports
that vessels were often called upon to pay unJusty
under the present wharfage system, and that tney
had to pay dues for sixty days, although they only
stayed in the port ten or twelve days. He was OIL
opinion that they had more right to charge yes
sells for longer period than they stayed at thelf
wharves than the boarding house keeper had to
charge his boarders for sixty days, when they only
stayed ten. Under the ordinance now IN exlstence'
vessels had been taxed that 1t was not 10 the'r
interest to remain in the port, not even to be
repaired, and hence the live oak, which grew at
their own doors almost, had been taken North to
build and repair vessels which work could equally
as well have been done here, and would have con-
tributed to the building up OF the interest OF the
city. But the vessels could not lie here, the
expenses of the port were too great for them, ana
the ship building and repairing trade had been
wished to have it understood, that at me end OF
sixty DAYS, no wharfage dues would be required,
unless the vessel was in actual occupancy OF a
wharf.
But the more important fact which had led'him
to draw up this new wharfage bill, was the present
condition of the commerce OF the city. lie ao-
mited that some persons were of the opinion, that
the commerce was on the increase, and he wished
that such was the fact; but, he was sorry to say,
that the pile of papers he had before him would
show that it was not, and that the commerce was
yearly diminishing. He had made record of the
commerce of the port OF Neworleans for the las,
four years. and had found that great alteration had
taken place, and this record, or statistical account,
he would read to the Council, as follows:
From the Custom-house, we learn that there ar
rived from sea, the past four years:
Ships and Tons.
From April l. 1873 March 81 1874 $50 753
From April l1s5o, March 81, 1881
Showing a diminution of llOs ships and $1,000
tons of tonnage.
The steamboat arrivals
In ls41 and is4s neutrality-suspicious.. 2sr7
In 1919 and 1850
Showing a falling off of nearly 100 steamboats,,
annually, while fatboats, in the same time, fell
from over 5000 to less than 700 the last year.
With these facts before them, it was plain that
NewOreans, instead of occupying the position as
a commercial city, that her great natural advan-
tages entitled her to, fast falling Off And the
decline of her prosperity was as perceptihle in the
enumeration of her population, as it was in the re-
duced number of ships visiting her harbor. The
of 1910 showed her to rank the third city
in the Union in point of population NewY0rk
then stood first, Philadelphia second, and NewOr-
leans third but now, according to recent records
in the Marshal's Office, she was the seventh city
with regard to her number Of inhabitants. That
matter, taken in connection with the changes in
hpr rel al n n hari in.
habitants, or they would soon lose the proud title
the city enjoyed, and she would no longer be called
the Queen City of the South. He ould proceed
to show the causes of this declension and he
wished to be understood that his object was not to
censure the gentlemen filling the places to which
he should have occasion to advert. The offices
they filled were created by law, and no blame
could attach to them for filling them.
The law, as it now stands, gives to pilots 80 SO
per foot for all vessels drawing ten feet of water
and under; all over that, SO so per foot in and
out of the Mississippi" According to the annual
statement of the Price Current for 1s4S, ls49 and
1850, there arrived in these three years:
s' ships & So S a,sfass say nd Of 70 sos each
dss ,te.m'h.ps each 81 ,s4s oG
g fss s sarss y fee, each is, go g
1917 choeners, feet, DO each 500 90
s5 vessels Pilots fees by law years. 5l 20
BY an accurate calculation of the exact tonnage
If the vessels for one year. we find the ships to
md schooners, l04 tons. The towboats receive
hem from the pilots, and, according to their pub
islled rates, 1S50,) these ships paid towage up to
he city, as follows:
So banks each BARK %
9s eIgs ls tons each sleo each brig sac %
= And down To the bar:
1896 ships above sls5 each
1874 herk' 500 o62 90
sI7 seSoonsTs Sd IS SO IS
Three years towage sO7,3S6 %
The towboats deliver them to the harbor- masters.
The law regulating harbor-masters' fees reads as
ollows:
Three per allowed the harbor-master every
that the Of New Orleans and load
he do extend to chaan,, fat or kselboats."
These same three years there were
In 1913 ....".......'tons, sos SCI
In 1850, ..tons, s5I 6sI
Total ......tons asa 3l-a cents per ton s1sso Sc
OF steamboats,, there WERE
In lsis., arrivals, 2s71
In 1879, ..+,....,t.... arrivals, 2ss3
In 1885,. arrivals. 1854
Total ............,.t..,.,S6ii
Equal to 81 0s TONS three cents per ton SIS 1872 4
HarbOr.maat fees Tor three sl5i52 O
The ha-hor master now hands them over to the
port wardens. The law regulating port wardens
fees reads thus:
"Porwerns authorized demand and each
vessel arriving port from five dollars whether they be called
on for any service or not"
But this gives them, as well as the harbor- mas.
tiers, fees for all the services they may be called
upon TO perform, besides the rates here set down
This sum of five dollars on those 1885 vessels, for
nothing, in the same three years amounts to
$50 ,625.
The port warden now turns them over to the
hands of the collectors of Levee and wharfage
dues, and
the three years they collect e9il 273 81
To this let add the pilot SIS l52 OF
Inc " ss6 y
Harbor masters. 1854 152
Portwardeps. 1858 o.
Total 81 ,055 1Ss 6t
To this we must add the following additional
allowances: Pilots are allowed extras BY law
towboats are allowed extras by regulation har-
bor.masters, extra by law; port-wardens, extra
by law; and, when all these extras ale put on, we
safely suppose this enormous sum is sweed 10
81 500 900 for the three years. being an average oil
a million-and ahalf Of dollars annually levied on
our commerce to get to our wharves
He would ask If it was matter of wonder that
the commerce of the city was leaving her, when
such heavy charges were upon it, or that Charles
ton or Mobile should be complaining of these
charges on shipping at New Orleans, and giving
that as areason why those ports better adapted
for trade Charleston was already beginning to
draw off this trade, and of the strongest rea.
sons for building the Charleston and Memphis
Railroad, was the argument that it would deprive
New Orleans OF 100000 bales of cotton per an
mum, and would tap the commerce of the Missis
sppl River. They allepe that Western nrodn,o