Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1880-04-01
RIVER INTERESTS.
Obnoxious Legislation 10 Crush
River Commerce.
A Threatened Strike Of all the Pilots in
the Southwest.


event will soon occur (if rightly in
terpret the signs Of the times) which
will shake the great commercial in
terests of not only the Missouri and
Ohio valleys, but the Mississippi val
ley from the source of the Father of
waters to the mouth of the same. |
refer to the contemplated strike of all
the steamboat pilots on all the re-
spective rivers, Itmust be apparent
to every man who has one grain of
sense, that the legislation of our
national congress for the past twenty
years has been in favor of railroad
monopolies and against that greatest
of all commercial agencies-the ton
mage or bottom ahoat on our numer-
GUS rivers. | look back to twenty
years ago, when | stood, beardless
youth, upon your wharf, and | see
lying at your leyee fifteen or twenty
steamers, nearly all of them two thou
sand tons burthen. A busy scene
presents itself to memory's eye. | now
stand upon your bluffs, and, looking
down on this mighty river which
sweeps murmuringly on toward the
Gulf Of Mexico, methinks | hear
heavy and heart-breaking means
arising from its turbid depths. Its
muddy, murmuring waves seem to
chant requiem over the
loss of its great steamers and its rap
idly dying commerce. What is the
cause ofall this? Why congress has
been run altogether in the interest of
railroads, and every piece of legisla-
tion enacted in regard to borne
commerce has been of such a de-
siructive nature that nothing but
curses and anathemas can now be
heard from those persons who are en-
gagged in the navigation of our respect
! i've rivers.
Millions Of dollars of the peoples
money and millions of acres of the
peoples land have been freely given
to TIE railroad kings of democratic
America, while all those persons en-
gagged in commercial pursuits on our
fwaters have been sorely taxed for the
privilege of pursuing their respective
avocations. The master is taxed for
acting as captain Of the vessel; the
| pilot is taxed for steering the vessel;
| the mate is taxed for overseeing the
roustabouts, and the engineers are
taxed for making the steam propel
| the vessel. Railroad trains can thun-
der across our continent from one
| side to the other and from one end to
the other, yet no superintendent of a
railroad is taxed, no conductor on a
railroad is taxed, nor is any
brakeman taxed, and Il am
not certain, but | do not believe
they do) railroad engineers pay nc
itax; yet all these men hold in the hol-
How of their hands as many valuable
and precious lives as do the officers
of steamboats,, And, another crying
shame to be added to tho list OIL
wrongs inflicted upon the steamboat
men Is tho wharfage tax charged by
all the cities and towns on our western
waters. When we take into eonsld
Grafton that one large steamboat car
carry more freight, and carry it far
ther at much cheaper rate than ter
or twelve railroad trains, va ere
forced to the conclusion that the
5 steamboat does more good in building
up cities than rail Dad train can eve
> do; because her rate Of freight is 81
much lower than that of the railroad
: that it enables the merchant to make
a larger profit on bis goods. Lad.
Macbeth is made by Shakespeare 10 say
I"Out damned spot" to that telltal
drop Of Dancap's blood which tor
tured her conscience, Had | tn
: power | would say TO the unjust ap,
8 criminal national legislation agains
q our water-borae commerce: "Out
! damned blot upon the statutes of ou
country" and steamboatmen 6boul,
d have that which IS due to them ap,
t Just. | could wFite columns on thi
@ subject, but ] fear | am trespassin
upon your valuable space.
But | must write a few lines O.
: this greatest of all the outrages.
c aIiude to the taking away the license
t of pilots on account Of the SO
called olor-blindness. ~ is
we'll known fact to all pilots that
i pale green signal lamp, at a distanc
e Of one mile and over shows whit
Q light at night, especially if it be rainy
mistv ar fnggv weather Therefore
would seem to be wisdom to abolis
II the green light altogether and to us
n only two colors-uatural glass ana re
y glass lamps-the natural light to b
q hung on the starboard, and the re
light on the larboard chimney. ]
would also seem to be wisdom to pa
% law that whenever an ascendin