The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1896-07-09
COMMERCE is CALIFORNIA;
HOPE
Errors Which should be Eradieated
From Our Pilot Laws.

one end of the State to the other. has
taken up the work of promoting the
commerce of California, by AN en-
deavor to remove the many harsh bur-
dens authorized by our State laws
under which our shipping is now strug.
gllng; and by securing Just proper.
ton of National appropriations for the
improvement of our harbors and other
waterways, and thus doing our share
toward the restoration Of the suprem.
acy Of the American Merchant Marine.
The United States Commissioner of
Navigation, in his annual report. sup
plies some facts and figures which
will prove interesting in this connec-
ton, and among other things the fol d.
lowing statements are quoted from
him:
If heavy State and local taxes are
to be maintained, any development of
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
failure to exert their influence in law
making bodies, as well 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. I"
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 Compagnic Generate Transatlantic
to their respective governments Euro
pean), their combined shipping COM
prising upward of 700, 900 tons of the
best steel and iron steamships in the
world, valued at upward of SOS, 000,-
000."
1t 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-
tiles 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 l. 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
tons, 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 in 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
1t 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
pilot whom ne does not use. But
this is the law; it is un-American and
must be changed, for such stand and
deliver policy, that is patterned after
the custom prevailing during and pre-
yious 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
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.
Ito be continued.)
1t Has a Potent Charm.