The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1896-06-25
COMMERCE is CALIFORNIA;
HOPE.
Errors which should be Eradicated
Prom Our Pilot Laws.

From Our Pilot Laws.
California is favored beyond calcula-
ton in the possession of land-locked
harbor unsurpassed in accessibility,
capacity, safety and beauty ON the face
of the globe. Her people, it would
seem, little appreciate what this fact
means to the greater California of the
future, and what advantages should
accrue to the present generation of Cal
ifornians by an intelligent use of this
valuable San Francisco harbor. Ii is
unfortunate, possibly for some reasons,
that it is called San Francisco" har-
Dor; because this title conveys to the
average mind, perhaps, by analogy, a
very narrow and limited idea of this
great inland sea harbor, which extends
practically the length of the entire bay
from Alyiso on the south, to Vallejo on
the north, distance of seventy miles
or more, and contains sufficient deep
water TO accommodate the fleets of
the entire merchant marine, together
with all the navies of the world. The
impression very generally prevails, we
fear, that San Francisco harbor means
the circumscribed portion of the bay
fronting the city by the same name,
and that it is part and parcel and
the property of the said city, but this
is mistaken idea. San Francisco
city is simply natural and an Incl
dental growth, an adjunct to the har-
Dor, and acts as the terminal landing
place-the avenue, as it were, leading
from the ocean to the whole State, and
being the shipping port for productions
from every part of California over the
highway of the ocean to the markets
of the world. The city and the
harbor belong to the people of the
entire State, and the harbor is under
State control. So, then, let us
consider it: 1--WE are the people,
the family; the State is our home, our
heritage; the Golden Gate is our
western doorway, Suppose we talk a
little about the entrance to our home
and the STAND and deliver" welcome
which meets the approaching ship
from DER the sea.
First, then, we have: Compulsory
Pilotage." Ship ahoy, there! Will
you take tug, Captain" Aye, aye,
sir; hook on your hawser, being ebt
tide we must have tug" Tug hooks
on and starts for the Golden Gate with
her valuable tow. Then appears an
other friendly helper who halls with:
ship ahoy, there! Captain, will you
take pilot?' mo, no." sings out the
master, no use of that expense; we're
in tow of good tug that will pilot us
safely into port. "All right" re.
spends the happy pilot, "but you
know that if you don't take pilot,
which would cost you $3.50, you will
have to pay half-rates, or 800; that is
the law of California. VERY we'll, =
replies the unfortunate captain, en-
pay half rather than all, because am
now paying one pilot (the tug captain
and certainly have no use for two
charge it up" And the play goes on
with ship after ship both coming il
and going out; the same story ovel
again: rake pilot ana pay the ful
limit allowed by law-even though yol
must have tug that will take yol
safely in or out-or, if you don't take
pilot, pay good round sum, anyway.
This is what is termed "compulsor.
pilotage," or paying for what you d.
not get nor have any use for.
Then comes in regular order the higl
charges for "dockage," tolls, an,
wharfage, beyond which, if the shiI
be owned in California, she is take,
as personal property; the foreign owne,
vessel having the advantage of payin,
no taxes either here or at home. Tn
producer who ships by water, and tn
consumer of goods imported by sea, pa,
all these excessive charges in the shap
of high freights.
Ito be continued,)