The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1889-02-05

MIR. EDWARD OOOklnBNdBl i1ICScHbCu
the position of the 0. r. d \. Go. This
corporation has no intention Of doing
away with pilotage either on tho river or
bar. 1t recognizes its necessity. In
June last manager Holcomb met a COM
mittee of the board of trade, and a re-
duced tariff was agreed upon, which 1t
was thought would equalize the two to
four cents difference between the price
of wheat at Tacoma and Portland. Last
wear Tacoma shipped $4,000 tons of
wheat, Portland $1,000; next year it will
be the other way, unless something IS
done.
During the five months the reduced
tariff has been in effect the company's
towage receipts have aggregated S25,0J0.
The expenses for this time of operating
the bar and river tugs have been 1000.
This makes no account of repairs, lnSur-
ance, taxes, the depression in value of
the property used, or interest on the in
vestment. No one can say that the .. Il.
d n. Co. has done anything initiating
against the port, or refused to do any
thing it could to bring business here. If
trade continues to be diverted to Tacoma,
the o. r. & n. will have to build there
and Portland will be way station. We
want pilotage on the bar and river.
J. b. Montgomery-"Wil you, in event
of the passage of this bill, add the charges
which now go to the pilots to your tow
age service?"
To this Mr.. Cookingham replied that
it was evidently to the interest of the
company to make its charges as light as
possible. Replying to the statement that
if towage and pilotage were both con-
signed to the company, it would load
ships light and increase their lighterage;
he said there was nothing in lighterage
at fifty cents a ton, 1t includes twice
handling and carrying. One handling
sometimes costs thirty-tve cents per ton.
Mr.. Cookingham here advances
some excellent arguments to do away
with all this trouble by building a
railroad to deep water somewhere
how does Astoria strike him?
II. W. Corbett seemed to be little
inclined that way, blundering toward
a great truth in saying:
A railroad to Astoria might be the only
way to compete with Tacoma. Until
this is done, pilotage should be made
very low by the state, if it has to pension
the pilots. Towage should be regulated
by law, and can be. No, do not care to
state my authority. The question is
whether we shall make, by law, Portland as
cheap port as Tacoma, or plug up the
river and turn our attention II sJme-
thing else"
The following is rich:
A PORTLAND ARGUMENT FOR TACOMA.
Mayor DeLashmutt read number of
disbursement sheets Of ships which had
been here the present season, showing a
difference of from S400 to S5l0 in favor
of Tacoma on the port charges, The
towage is less, the pilotage much greater.
OF the Andretd'S 81 l,140-sheet, Sf23 was
for pilotage alone, This evil must be
remedied. The claim of Astoria, that
other items of an exorbitant character
swell these port charges, was considered.
The commission men were ready to take
oath that their charges were the same as
at Tacoma and San Francisco. Steve
dore rates are not more than ; cents more
per ton than at Tacoma, and will soon
be as low.
j. B. Montgomery-"Iti is question OF
pilotage alone. 1t is unnecessary. We
never want pilots for our ships"
Mr.. Cookingham ION being ques-
tioned)-"We always have pilots for our
ocean steamers. We pay Capt. Brown
$500 per month, who divides it with
Capt. Smith, his assistant. Captain
Bolles has sailed up the river in our en-
ploy for nine years."
Mayor DeLashmutt hero appears
in an effort to play Hamlet with
Hamlet left out. And this is the
trouble with any attempt even by
presumably fair minded men in Port
land to discuss the situation. With
them it is Portland, Portland, Port
land, and
NOTHING BUT PORTLAND.
They can't see that Portland cuts no
imortant figure in the matter at all;
that no comparison can be instituted
between Portland and Tacoma as
rival shipping points that will be
favorable to Portland. Because Port.
land is not and cannot be a seaport
The real question is "Shall the Co.
lumbia's shipping interests be sacri-
feed in an effort to keep Portland
supreme, or shall they go to sea-
port?"
The answer to this is, "Let them
concentrate at a seaport. Let them
come to Astoria"