Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-08-24
Another word Abou, the Pilots Bin

Another Word About the Pilots Bill
1t is expected that the Dart pilotage
bill will be considered by the House TO-
morrow. The merits OF the bill have been
/ fully presented in the public prints, and
! it is probable that majority of the mem
bers have had their attention called to 1t
by either its friends or enemies.
The Board of Trade OF this city on Sat
urday, at a meeting at which twenty
three members voted, expressed itself as
1 hostile to the bill. The members Of the
/ Legislature, however, ought not to allow
/ this action OF the board 10 influence them
against the bill. They ought to
deal with it on its merits.
The most active Of the opponents of the
bin who attended the Board OF Trade
meeting on Saturday have a direct pecu-
MARY interest in having it defeated. II
must not be forgotten that the
pilots have had no experience in, and
have no qualifications for, the kind OF
work that is required to get Legislators 10
give measure their careful atten-
ton. In this respect those who are d.-
recJng the night against the Dart bill have
a very great advantage Of them.
Those who oppose the Dart bill are
opposed to compulsory pilotage. Their
talk at the Board OF Trade meeting indi-
Gates that. Why, then, do they not boldly
take steps to abolish itf What justice 10
there in having law that provides that
tho pilots shall do certain things, and
that fees shall he paid them under certain
~ =
In the matter of their fees, while 1t is
effective so far as their duties are
concernedi 1t certainly isn't just,
because Of the obscure wording of the
law, to allow the courts to nibbe away
the rights Of the pilots while the obliga-
lions resting on the pilots are as binding
and as onerous as they were before any
question relative to the intent Of the pilot
age laws was raised.
The compulsory pilotage is either a good
or bad thing for this port. II it is a bad
thing why not abolish It. If 1t is a good
thing, and the experience Of more than
bali century Gems to indicate that it is,
why permit it 70 be destroyed to sub
serve the interests of few men who own
coasting schooners2
The talk about the fees of the pilots be-
ing too large is not relevent to the Issue.
The pilots have nothing to do with fixing
the fees. That is done by commissioners
who have no more sympathy with the pi-
lots than they have with the owners OF
the coasting schoOners: neither is the
talk about the number Of pilots relevent,
nor the charge that the pilots want to get
fees from the little vessels that bring wa
termelons, fruit, &c. into our ports. All
these things are matters that are present
ed for the purpose of drawing attention
from the real points of the bill.
What are these points? We have stated
them several times, and we repeat them
in order that no member OF the Legisla-
ture may be able to say that he did not
understand them when called to vote
on the bill. The first point is this; The
exemption in the law relative to vessels
trading between the ports of this
State, and those of South Carolina and
Florida is stricken out because it is a
question whether SUCH exemption does
not render the pilOtage law unconstitu-
tloDal. The second point is that the bill
makes clear the intention of the law rela-
tive to the fees of pilots. Until very
lately the pilots were paid inward
and outward pilotage fees where
they offered their services to
the vessels when inward bound
oven though their services were refused
The law by some is now interpreted to
mean that if the services Of a pilot are
refused by a vessel inward bound, such
vessel Is not required to pay outward
bound fees. The bill proposes to give the
law the Interpretation that its trainers
gave it and which was unquestioned for
more than fifty years.