The St. Johns herald., 1896-07-11
COMMERCE IS CALIFORNIA;
 HOPE.
Errors Which Should be Eradicated
 From Our Pilot Laws

SIfo IuuuSGrlal interests, scattered 1rOn
 one end of the State to the other, ha
 taken up the work of promoting tn
 commerce of California, by an en
 deavor to remove the many harsh bur
 dens authorized by our State law
 under which our shipping is now strug
 gling; and by securing just propor tion of National appropriations for tn,
 improvement of our harbors and othe water ways, and thus doing our shar, , toward the restoration of the suprem acy of the American Merchant Marine The United States Commissioner O.
 Navigation, in his annual report, sup
 plies some facts and figures which
 will prove interesting ill this connec tion, and among other things the fol lowing statements are quoted from
 him:
 ''If heavy State and local taxes arc to be maintained, any development oi our merchant fleets, which may be. come possible under changes in the Ma. tional Navigation laws, will be con- fined to Sttaes which remove undesir. able burdens from ship-owning inter. ests.'
 This is right in line with the work of the Committee on Commerce and emphasizes the necessity for such work. Again: ''That these interests have not already secured the removal of the burdens complained of, is evidence of a failure to exert their influence in law making bodies, as we'll as testimony to the existence of one cause which re- tards, and, until removed, will continue to retard, the attainment of our full measure of strength in navigation. '" As pertinent to our local interests the following is given: "San Francisco, California, levied taxes on her ship ping last year within six hundred dol lars of the combined taxes paid by the Cunard Line; the Hamburg American Line; the North German Lloyd, and the Compagnie Generale Transatlantic to their respective governments Euro pean), their combined shipping con- prising upward of 100000 tons of the best steel and iron steamships in the world, valued at upward of $58, ,00O,- 000."
 It is proposed to prepare bills to be presented to the next California legis- lature, which, if adopted, will relieve the situation in regard to our com merce, and thus give our producers the benefit of cheaper transportation facil ities from here to the other parts of the world, and the cooperation of all citizens throughout the State will be required to impress upon the legisla tors the necessity for the passage of said bills. Many bills are now before Congress on the subject of navigation, but Congress cannot legislate our burdensome State provisions off the books. See what the Commissioner says on this piont:
 ''In spite of any action which Con- gress may take toward the enactment of liberal and progressive shipping laws, American navigation must con- tinue at great disadvantage compared with the navigation of other countries, so long as many of the States tax their merchant marine much more heavily than the merchant marine of other nations is taxed" Some States are more progressive than others, and the following New York law is cited as an example:
 Section I. All vessels registered at any port in this State and owned by any American citizen or association, or by any corporation incorporated under the laws of the State of New York, engaged in ocean commerce between any port in the United States and any foreign port, are exempted from all taxation in this State for State and local purposes; and all such corpora tions, all of whose vessels are employed between foreign ports and ports of the United States, are exempted from all taxation in this State for State and local purposes upon their capital stock. franchises, and earnings for the period of thirty years.
 Many of the other States exempt shipping engaged in the foreign trade, while some States exempt all shipping. The above New York law was passed as experimental ill 1881 and found to work so satisfactorily in building up the commerce of the State that it was re-enacted in 1892 for thirty years as shown in the text. California cannot do better than to follow the wise ex- ample of New York and remove all taxes from her shipping interests. The compulsory pilotage outrage is one of the most obnoxious of our State laws, because it compels the payment for services that are not rendered. It is decidedly unreasonable, and contrary to all rules of justice, that captain be required to employ a pilot whom he does not need or pay for a pilot whom he does not use. But this is the law; it is un-American and must be changed, for such a ''stand and deliver policy, that is patterned after the custom prevailing during and pre- vious to the dark ages, is serious men, ace and injury to the reputation and business of our port and State, and vio- lation of the principles of equity that i should govern our mutual relations. Compulsory Pilotage," unusual and unjust taxes on shipping, and unreason- able port charges are all paid directly or indirectly by our producres and con- sumers, which assertion we will now proceed to prove.
 (To be continued)
 It Has a Potent Charm.
 That the life of the girl bachelor has