The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-02-07
The Committee on Commerce
Espousing the Shipping
Interest.
URDENED BY 0vERTAxATIoN.
Several Proposed Recommendations
Suggested for the Benefit of
This Harbor.

a meeting OF the committee on COM
merce was held in the rooms of the Cham
Der of Commerce yesterday afternoon.
Previous to the arrival of T. j. Parsons.
chairman of the committee, an informal
discussion was had over the question of
water rates to the shipping. ]. w Dickie,
chairman of the subcommittee ON sstax-
alton on shipping" had discovered that
the firm of Goodall & Perkins, who have a
monopoly of the water supply along the
front, are charging more than twice the
price for supplying the ships what they
themselves pay to the water company. 1t
was shown that this firm charges the State
for its tugs $97 so for the water supplied,
which they buy from the Spring Valley for
$34 80.
This subject will not, however, be
brought before the committee for consid-
Grafton until such time as the Harbor
Commissioners look into the matter.
The subcommittee on taxation of ship
ping submitted the following as its report:
In submitting their report your COM
mittee are fully conscious of the fact that
the question of the taxation of shipping
that we are asked to report on is one that
in one shape or another has recently been
acted upon by several of the States: 1t is
also a question of vital Importance to the
commerce of San Francisco, more so. per-
haps, than to any other port in the United
States, rs the shipowner of San Francisco
is in direct com petition with foreign ship
ping, built cheap and subject to no taxa
ton.
1--WE had hoped that there might be
some way whereby the burden OF taxation
on our shipping might be relieved short of
an appeal to the whole people of the State,
but these hopes present but little founda-
ton upon which to build.
"Your committee therefore decided to
recommend that the San Francisco COM
mittee on commerce center Its energies on
securing the passage OF a resolution by the
Legislature to amend the first section of
Article XIII of the constitution of the
State of California providing that all YES
sells registered or enrolled at any port in
the United States and any foreign port or
between ports in the United States, shall
be exempt from all local and State taxa
ton; and we further recommend that the
committee at once begin the work of edu-
eating the people OF this State as to the
necessity for placing our shipowners in
better position to compete with the I'M
taxed ships that are now doing the work
that our own ships should do.
ITO this end we recommend that papers
or tracts be printed and issued by the COM
mittee TO every voter of the State, showing
the iuStlCS dllu MlSQOlll vi SuCl1 du du1cIu-
ment; its necessity in order to secure the
commercial prosperity of the State; how
all interests depend on the prosperity
of our commerce; how other States
and voters free themselves of bur-
dens, and how hopeless it is to compete.
against free ships with taxed ships. BY
such means, aided by the newspa per press,
which we think should be patriotic enough
to keep this matter constantly before their
readers, not as party or sectional ques-
ton, but as great principal factor in the
welfare OF this commonwealth.
In this your committee sees the only
hope of relief for an oYerburdened ship
ping"
seriesof petitions were submitted by
the various sub-committees on matters to
them referred asking appropriations from
Congress for keeping the telegraph line
between this City and Point Reyes light
house in good working order. For this
service the sum of $4,000 was asked.
The sum of 100000 was asked for the
purpose of removing several dangerous OBJ
structons in the bay. Also for fair-way
signals entering the bay, and charts of the
various sections trayerSed by telegraph
and telephone cables.
On currents inside the Golden Gate the
sum of 5000 was asked to be appropriated
20 the geodetic survey.
For fog signal on the northwest Far
allon. 200, and to connect the south
east Farallon island with the main land
on this side, $4,000 was prayed for. The
sum of $4,000 was asked to build and
equip fog-signal vessel, with auxiliary
steam power, to be stationed outside of the
bar at San Francisco, in place of the ineffi-
Gent whistling buoy now stationed there.
In order to give additional strength and
force to the committees request for the
above appropriations, motion was made
and carried that the chair appoint COM
mittee of three to obtain the signatures of
other representative ORGANIZATIONS not
connected with the Cham Der of Commerce.
On this committee w. M. Bunker, Alfred
Bouvier and Captain Thayer were APP
pointed.