New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-09-14
FTeetiuR of SteamI,oar,na,.

laws 0y which the expenses of steamboat
are increased, Their business hampered anC
the steambOatmen, in self-defense, com
PEELED to exact rates of compensation fO1
ther business deemed onerOus by theil
patrons.
Captain George L. Kouns called the meet
ing to order, and, on motion of Mr.. Welton
Captain ]. T. Burdeau was elected chair
man by reclamation
Messrs. Harlow j. Phelps, T. P. Leathers
and George Pegram were chosen vice presi
dents, and Captain Reeder secretary.
A motion to proceed to the permanent
| organization of steamboatmen's assOcia
ton was laid over, Captain Kouns holding
that this meeting was held for specific pur-
| poses, the most important of which was to
| consider the newly proposed steamboat
law, and to send delegates to the Cleveland
| convention.
Mr.. H. j. Phelps stated that when in the
North last winter he had received his Gre
| dentials to represent the steamboat interest
before Congress. He, with, others, had
| worked there as diligently as possible, and
| their labor was before the meeting tonight.
| The people of this State are greatly in
debted to General Sheldon, member of
| Congress from this district, and also a
| member of the Committee on Commerce,
| for he had worked early and late and hard
to do for the steambOatmen what they re-
| quired. Mr.. Phelps submitted report of
| this committee, which was read by the sec
| Rotary. This report was by Thomas Sher-
! lock, of Cincinnati, chairman of this COM
mittee, and others, and set forth what steps
had been taken, progress made and embar-
| easements encountered by them.
The report animadverted rather severely
upon Secretary Boutwell,, Assistant Secre-
tary Richardson, Senators COnkling and
COrbett, Supervising Inspector Benjamin
Crawford and the ''patent right ring, and
was equally as complimentary to Repre-
sentatiVes Tegley and COnger, and Senators
Chandler, Blair, Stevenson and Thurman.
General L. A. Sheldon was called upon
to address the meeting He stated that he
had been unfamiliar with steamboat inter
ests; that Congress had had no clearly de-
fined policy on the subject. Steamboat
laws had been through much tinkering,
which finally resulted in the bill of 1871.
There were very few differences between it
and the old law, but these few were very
grave. The two great questions are safety
OF human life and money making. The old
law had one harmful feature-it gave dis
erection to the board of supervising inspec-
tors to attach such appliances as they
thought proper, and so they have loaded
you down with patent inventions, which
have harmed everybody except those who
made money by the sale of them. The peO-
pie of New Orleans have never sent
resent their interests in steamboat matters,
but / must say that through him (Mr
PhelpS) l have learned much of steamboat
ing and of your needs in that respect 1t
was very efficient committee the steam
bOatmen sent there. That committee la
bored necessarily. They had the matter
discussed. Congress discussed it: every
body discussed it; patent right men dis
cussed it. Through that discussion we
agreed to present bill that would give the
utmost protection to human life, and, in ad-
ditiOn, made everything as inexpensive to
steamboatmen, as possible. We put in a
provision thatnOthing should be forced into
use upon steamboats, that was not named in
the bill unless it had had six months test
on three vessels, had been approved by a
commission and by the Secretary Of the
Navy and the Secretary of the Treasury.
We had to contend with the recording
gauge, and finally pronounced it failure,
and rejected it; then there was
the lookup gauge, warmly urged, and on
discarded it, deeming it less safe to rely
upon inanimate machinery than upon an
animate and faithful engineer. SO we threw
all out. The first thing we did was to com
pei the buildingIof strong boilers, provide
that the iron should be of suita BILE strength,
bear the boilers strongly built, so as to
have a strong test. Then increase the mar
gin between the pressure it will bear and
the amount of steam it should carry. Then
we did another thing. 1t has been law of
nations for fifty years that the owners of a
vessel unintentionally lost shall be only
liable for the boat and pending freight
This rule is applied to steamboats,. These
are the great changes in the bill, and
/ think the committee will bear me witness
that, so far as the House is concerned, it
had very little trouble SO far as the Sen
ate is concerned, do not know who is re.
10 fnT ha H1fnut of Sba hill
by hearsay. 1t does require nerve to
fight these patent-right men, They are al
ways there in the lobby in strong force
And this steamboat Gill would never have
gone through as far as it has if the steam
boatmen had not sent honorable, intnhi-
gent and persistent men there TO represent
their interests.
The remarks of General Sheldon were
warmly received, and vote of thanks ten
dered him for his labors in Che steamboat
interest.
The meeting then proceeded to- select def.
egates to the convention.
Mr.. Welt0n moved that four be appointed |
Captain Aiken thought one was sufficient. !
and that he be appointed by the chair.
Mr.. Phelps moved that two be elected.
Mr.. Whitmore thought the fewer the bet
ter. One good man was enough, He stated |
briefly that the interest that was crOWding |
out the water transportation was the land |
rivalry; and that unless the |
business was relieved of many
OF its crushing burdens, sailing vessels |
would soon be tied up to the river banks, |
and the shrimps picking the 0akum from
the seams.
Mr.. Phelps explained that the bill which |
had been under discussion had been pre-
pared, acceptable to the steamboat inter |
est, had passed the House, and all that was
now was to put it through the |
Senate. That i'll sixty or ninety days it may
become law if this convention bring
proper influence to bear upon the members
of the Senate to accomplish this result. He
was in favor of two delegates being APP
pointed by the chair.
This proposition was finally carried,
The chair appointed Mr.. Harlow J. Phelps
and George L. Kouns.
The chair was authorized to appoint al
ternates.
Colonel William Burwen was then
called upon, and he delivered a long,
but brilliant and instructing address, ex-
hausting statistics to show that the real
cause of the decline in steamboat trade
would not be met By this new bill before
Congress. There was a more formidable
power than patent-right men to fght-the
great crOss-Toute railroads cutting across
the continent, and fed upon the capital of
New York, Boston, Philadelphia and of
Europe. This was power that could not
be resisted, but must be rendered cooper
alive. The speaker was on his favorite
theme, and made host of good points,
either one expansive enough for a column
eader. Space fOrbids US from from attempt
Dg to follow him in his argument. It was
well received, attentiyely listened to, and
was an intellectual treat such as men are
with rarely. On concluding he
vas loudly applauded, and was the re-
IF IF EbapIys