The Labor enquirer., 1884-04-12
ruled in columns, bill-head Worde
something like this:
H STEAMER GREAT REPUBLIC.
JOHN SMITH, MASTER.
Pilots, John Jones and Thomas Brown.
Crossings. soundings. Marks. | Rem'ks.

40 VIC wy dSO ioSiOooSuJ ohu uOPOoio0s
Nin the several wharf boat boxes. Fo
instance, az soon as the first crossing ou
from st. Louis was completed, the item'
would be entered upon the blank, undel
the appropriate headings thus: &
"St Louis. Nine and a half (feet)
Stern on court house, head on dead cot
tonwood above wood yard, until yor
raise the first reef, then pull up square,
Then under head of remarks "Gc
just outside the wrecks; thisis important
New snag lust where you straighter
down i; 60 above it." i -' -
i The pilot who deposited that blank in
the Cairo box latter adding to it the de,
tails of every crossing all the way down
from st. Louis, took out and read half q
dozen fresh reports (from upward-bound
steamers) concerning the river between
Cairo and Memphis, posted himself thor.
oughly, returned them to the box, and
went aboard his boat again SO armed
against accident that he could not pos
sibly get his boat into trouble without
bringing Ehe most ingenious carelessness
to his aid
Imagine the benefits of so admirable a
system in piece of river 1900 or 1900
miles long, whose channel was shifting
every day The pilot who had formerly
been obliged to put up with seeing a
shoal place once or possibly twice a
had 100 sharp eyes to watch it
for him now, and bushels of intelligent
brains to tell him how to run it. His in
formation about it was seldom twenty
four hours old. If the reports in the last
box chanced to leave any mlsgivings on
his mind concerning treacherous cross
ing, he had his remedy; he blew his
steam whistle in peculiar way as soon
as he saw boat approaching the signal
was answered in peculiar way if that
boats pilots were association men and
then the two steamers ranged alongside,
and all uncertainties were swept away by
fresh information furnished to the in
uuirer by word of mouth and in minute
detail.
The first thing pilot did when he
reached New Orleans or St. Louis was to
take his final and elaborate report to the
parlors and hang it up there
after which he was free to visit his
family. In these parlors crowd was
always gathered together, discussing
changes IN the channel, and the moment
there was a fresh arrival everybody
stopped talking till this witness had told
the latest news, and settled the latest
Other craftsmen can "sink
the shop" sometimes, and interest them
selves in other matters. Not so with a
pilot he must devote himself wholly to
his profession and talk of nothing else,
for it would be small gain to be perfect
one day and imperfect the next. He
has no time or words to waste if he
would keep posted"
But the outsider had hard time of it.
No particular place to meet and exchange
no wharf f-bJat reports, none
but chance and unsatisfactory ways OF
getting news, The consequence was that
a man had to run sometimes 800 miles
of river on information that was week
or ten days old. At a fair stage of the
river that might answer but when the
dead low water came it was destructive
Now came another perfectly logical re-
suit. The outsiders began to ground
steamboats,, sink them, and get into all
sorts of trouble, whereas accidents
seemed to keep entirely away from the
association men. Wherefore even the
owners and captains of boats furnished
exclusively with outsiders, and pre-
viously considered independent of the
association and free to comfort them
selves with brag and laughter, began tc
feel pretty uncomfortable, Still, they
made a show of keeping up the brag
until one black day when every captain
of the lot was formally ordered to imme
diately discharge his outsiders and take
association pilots in their stead. Ano
who was it that had the dashing pre-
sumption to do that? Alas it came
from a power behind the throne tha
was greater than the throne itself. Il
was the underwriters
1t was no time to swap knives
Every outsider had to take his trunk
ashore at once. Of course it was sup
posed there was collusion between the
association and the underwriters, bu
this was not so. The latter had come tc
comprehend the excellence of the "re
port" system of the association and the
safety it secured, and 80 they had made
their decision among themselves ane
upon plain business principles.
There was weeping and wailing anc
gnashlng of teeth in the camp of thu
outsiders now. But no matter. Ther'
was but one course to pursue, and they
pursued it. They came forward II
couples and groups, and proffered thei
Sl2 and asked for membership. They
were surprised that several new bylaw
had been long ago added. For instance
the initiation fee had been raised to $50
that sum must be rendered and also II
per cent of the wages which the appli
cant had received each and every montl