The Portland daily press., 1870-05-20
Our shipping Interests.


| A meeting of shipowners, sbipmasters and
iect now before Congress for the ameioration
| of the condition of seamen and TO relieve both
| them and shipowners from the abuses now
prevalent, and to which they are subject, was
held at the Board of Trade rooms yesterday
afternoon. Woodbury. S. Dana, Esq, was
elected Chairman, and Capt. Washington
Ryan Secretary of the meeting. Mr.. Dana
then introduced to the meeting Captain G. G.
Duncan, of New York.
Capt. Duncan said that for many years he
| had been connected with the Seamen's Friend
| and other societies of q like nature in New
York. and that consequently he had been
| brought into contact very extensively with
| sailors, but he had not till lately ascertained
! what numberleSs infections and swindles the
! sailor hal to contend with in the form of dis
| honest shipping masters and landlords of sail
| or boarding houses. He stated that now a.
| days, rs soon as a ship arrived at her dock in
| New York. and he supposed it was the same to
| a less extent elsewhere in the country, the
crew are carted of to sailor boarding houses.
| AS soon as their luggage is in the house the
men are booked and then got in state of in
| toXcation by the landlord, who, having accom-
| plished his end, induces them to sign paper
| handing over their wages to him, and are then
! continually kept in this state till they have
| also signed away their advance pay for new
| voyage, in other words, thoroughly plucked.
| If a seaman having family manages to elude
these sharks and wants to ship he finds that it
| is utterly impossible to get vessel until he
goes to one of these boarding hou SEES and gets
| into debt to the landlord. The captain of a
| ship, TO- instance, wants crew. These land
loEgs are all on terms with each other and they
| inquire how many men the shipping master
wants for that captain. Suppose he says five
| Then the land ords picks out the FIVE men that
have been most thoroughly plucked, give them
| five dollars apiece and send them abroad, and
when they arrive the captain don't know
| whether he has got soldiers sailors for his
| crew. And the shipping masters are so under
| the control of these landlords that they dare
not, as general thing, engage any men that
| are noe furnished them by the landlords. Some
time ago an effort was made in New York to
| remedy these evils. A law passed the Legisla-
ture of New York putting the matter in tb e
bands OF five commissioners, but it didn't work.
| The runners were arrested and so were the
landlords, but the police judges discharged
| them. Then the Superior Court indicted them
and the State Attorney didn't dare to prose-
cute. AT last the people of San Francisco
sent bill to their Senator in Congress to rem
| edy the evil and the Senator sent it to apt.
Duncan. 1t is the same bill which is now be-
fore the House, having passed the Senate
| unanimously. Ii is a transcript OF the Eng
lish shipping act, by which England has saved
her ships for many years, and every clause Of
| which has been tested in Court and holds
water. 1t protects shipowners and seamen
AMI is unanimously approved by the shipown-
ers and merchants of New York
Capt. Duncan then read the bill, of which
he had printed copy, and the principal points
of which were contained in our Yesterday
mornings impression.
Mr.. Farmer said he didn't see that this bill
touched upon any points that were not already
protected by the United States Courts. He
,1F,'l rpt- tt,5 bn
merce, it was advisable TO put any new restric.
tons on it. lie didn't think new law would
help New York any more than the old o ne
since Capt Duncan had shown that the mer
supposed to be the purest, such as their Judges
American. who now only owns third of the
commerce aioat, 90 to New York to place
himself under new restrictions? He didn