The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-03-22
nrPEDImENTs TO TRADE.

A bill is now pending in the LegiSlatu re
requiring all foreign vessels sailing between
San Francisco and a foreign port, and all
vessels sailing under a register from San
Francisco to another port of the United
States, or arriving here from such port.
to pay full piotage if a pilot is en-
ployed, and half pilOtage if the captain
chooses to dispense with the services of a
pilot The object of the bill is to compel
every vessel arriving here to pay pilotage
fees, whether they are earned by pilots or
not. In other words, it proposes TO levy a
tax on the maritime trade of the port for the
benefit of a score of pilots and the owners of
a few tug-bOatS.
Against the bill the Chamber of Commerce
has entered protest on the ground that too
much has been done already to drive ship
ping from San Francisco. The pilots want
the bill passed, and with fra1knesS worthy
of all commentator their spokesman, ad
dressing CALL reporter. assigned as their
reason that they "were not in the business
for their health"
The plain citizen, who is neither pilot nor
ship-oWner, regards every impeachment
thrown in the way Of ships coming here as
injurious to the port. 10 the State. to the
mercantile community and TO the pilots
themselves. II is for the interest or mari
time trade that vessels should not be wrecked
at the entrance to the port, and therefore
that body of expert mariners. familiar
with the channel the tides, the shoals and
the currents, should stand ready to pilot
strange ships into the harbor, and should be
properly remunerated for their work. But
where a captain is familiar with the entrance
to the harbnr and is so confident of his
capacity to bring his ship in safely that he
is willing 10 je0pardize mis- Insurance by
dispensing with the services of a pilot, it is
not fair to compel him to pay half pilotage,
as the code does, much less TO place coasting
vessels sailing under a license on the same
footing as foreign ships sailing under a
register.
II was stated at the Chamber of Com
merce that the power of the pilots to influ-
ence legislation at Sacramento was such that
there was little prospect Of defeating the
pending measure. The CALL hopes that
this is not true. Certain it is that in the
past our State legislation has favored the
interests of the pilots and has initiated
against the interests of the port. The fact
has led to the suspicious which class legisla-
ton generally arOu,es. But these may have
done injustice to the Legislature. At any
rate, it is in the power Of Governor Mark
ham to block the passage OF bill which is
obviously calculated to enrich one small
class at the expense Of the port, and San
Francisco looks with some degree of conf
dence to him.
There are not perhaps more than four
days in each year when there is any diff
Guilty in plotting a ship in or out of San
Francisco Harbor. The channel is broad,
there is plenty of water on the bar, and,
when that is crossed, any able seaman can
steer his ship TO an anchorage by a simple
observance of the chart. No extraordinary
knowledge is required to qualify man to
be pilot The approaches TO the bay are
not difficult, as are the approaches to New
York or Boston harb0rs British men-cf-
war sail in and out of the port many times
each year. They are forbidden to take a
pilot, ard yet no war vessel has ever met
with an accident.
The present system NAV be judged by its
fruits. The tonnage of the port is not in
creasirg, but the pilots are popularity sup
posed to be in receipt of an annual income of
some $4,000 a year each and the owners
of the tug boats have grown wealthy. 1t
would seem that the time has come to repeal
some of the obligatory rules regarding pilot
age and to allow a captain TO take pilot or
dispense with one at his pleasure. If he re-
fuses to take a pilot he assumes a RESPONSE
bility which terminates his career if his ship
comes to grief. With this condition staring
him in the face he is not likely to act rashly.
But no sailor will assert that the steamers
which arrive here from Japan and Mexico
are safer in the hands of a coast pilot than
they would be in the hands of captains who
are skilled mariners and who have brought
vessels into the port for score of years.