The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1896-12-31
THEY CALL FOR HELP.
san Tranclsco's Appeal 70 Brace Up
Her Dangerous Harbor.

II would seem, from the foli0wins ar
lcle. which appeared In a recent Issue
Of the San Francisco journal Of Com
meroe. that now Is Astoria's time 10 de-.
yelop her wonderful harbor. II by her
own admissions San Frnnelsco n los
Ing prestige with ship maRters and ship
owners. Astoria ought TO be- able 10
hcn tho breach by bringing the vessels
here:
robert u. Hogue. OF 22 California
street representing James and AleKan-
der Brown. Of Newcastle, sydney and
London. owners " the Duckenfleld
colleries, and who have handled hum
dreds OF thousands Of tons OF coal. n
resident OF this city for the past six
years, and who also represents one VI
the largest BhlpOwnera Of Great Britain.
Andrew Weir d CO.. Of Glasgow. Is "A
gentleman more than usually well In
formed on shipping affairs. Mr.. Hogue
says;
"shlpowners look upon San Fran
cisco nS a very expensive port 70 come
20. sly experience is that II costs a
ship generally 81 a ton carrying capa-
city 10 come In and out OF this port,
including cost Of ordinary stores, which
IL far In excess of the charges Of any
other port thar 1 am acquainted with.
Amongst the leading items Of expense
are tonnage dues. towage and pilotage.
Towage comes the highest here because
OF the cost Of maintaining tugs In a
place like this where the fuel Is 80
high Then comes the question Of
wharfage, which always cuts a very
high figure with ships. The custom
In this port IN 10 discharge 100 tons
OF coal a day. and II that custom is
adhered 10 the ship has 10 pay a very
heavy wharfage bill think that max
ing these charges against vessels on
rainy days. Sundays and holidays Is
Outrageous. Ships are also placed un-
der half wharfage while waiting for
stlffenlng. II seems q fair and reason
able thing 10 me that when ship
Is idle through no fault Of the ship that
no wharfage should be charged The
principle to be aimed at should be to
strive TO offer encouragement In some
way for ships 10 come here, but actually
shipping is subject TO the same gen.
eral expense nowadays. when freights
20 Europe rarely exceed 50s and are
commonly very much lower, as It was
when rates were lOs and higher.
There was a time when shipowners
looked upon San francisco as q prodt-
albe port 10 come TO. because they could
always rely upon getting payable rate
home. Now II Is different. II frequent
ly happens that ships are either CON-
PEELED TO accept rates which VIII not
pay working expenses, or else lay up
for an indehnite period In the too often
vain hope OF Improvement consider
that the altered conditions OF the port
Of San Francisco demand that more
consideration should be shown 10 ship
owners and the expenses materially re-
duced. know that other governments
In other ports OF the world have made
reductions 10 meet the altered condi-
tlons and we ought to do something
likewise. A vessel can go In and out
Of the port OF sydney for something
like half OF what II costs in San Fran
cisco"
Speaking Of the decadence Of Amer
lean shipping. Mr., Hogue says that he
remembers the time when the American
hag was as common in the port OF New
castle as that OF any other nation. II
this country wishes TO regain her COM
mercial supremacy she must resort to
steel shipbuilding.
The firm represented by Mr.. Hogue
are among the greatest coal dealers
In the world Their speciality is steam
coal, They are owners OF the colheries
mentioned in this article supplying a
high grade OF steam GOAL as II is a
great help to our manufacturers in
their competition with Eastern and
foreign goods In our market The Duck
enfield coal is we'll known by all users
OF steam in this city and port. and
generally is esteemed as the best.