Daily Kennebec journal., 1906-08-16

planned what the law was. He told his
hearers that the law provided that if a
vessel was entering any Of those ports
and she was hailed by pilot or seen by
pilot, whether she had the services of
said pilot or not, her owlcrs must pay Il
pilotage fee for the vessel entering that
hGrbor. More than that, pilots fee was
eXacted from the vessel when she left
the harpor. even though she was towed
to sea by Il tugboat on which there was
a licensed pilot. He objected to any such
unjust taxation of the sailing vessels of
| the country.
For the most part. he explained, the
captains end mates Of coastwise vessels
were thoroughly competent to take their
vessels into any Of these harbors. That
made no difference. If they did pilot
their ships into those ports they must
pay Pilots fee just the same.
Prior to 1905. explained the congress
man, under this law the coastwisc fleet
practically maintained a corps O. Al pi-
lots at Wilmington. n. .. That year the
law was repealed so far as that port was
concerned and today from six to eight
men are doing, with satisfaction to ALL
the work which "A previously did This of
itself was conclusive proof Of the arbi-
trary system which the law provided for
These II pilots were maintained by the
coastng feet and many Of them never
did bit of actual work during the year
He understood that at Norfolk. Va, the
pilots annually divided profits which
amounted to several thousands Of dollars
each. The most of this money they earn
ed by sitting around the Office, smoking
and telling stories, collecting fees from
vessels 10 which they had rendered no
services.
He was opposed to su@l; a law. His
idea was that if a. vessel required and
secured the services Of . pilot She should
pay for it; if such service WIS not re
l,ircd or secured the vcsseI should be
exempt from paying a piictaGe fee. \
law such as this would relieve American
cnaStwSr vessels from this wicked sys-
TEN nf graft.
The reason why Mr.. Gompers was op-
posed to his, the speakers. ant-compul-
sorry pilOtage law Was that about 80 pi-
lots on tie coast had banded together
and become affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor. of which Mr. Com
rcrs is president. They wanted this law
[" continue in effect that they might in
the future aS in the past. collect pay for
services which they did not render. there
by continuing this heavy burden upon
tho sailing vessels of the country That
was the reason Gompers was so strongly
in favor Of the compulsory plotagc law.
1t was why he was worKing so hard to
defeat the anti-pilOtage bill of Mr.. Little
field. I1 was why Mr.. Gompers used ali
prevented the bill being called Up in the
last House Of Representatives..
Had it not been for this attitude of Mr.
Gompers the bill would have gone
through the last House and been well
started on the road to become law and
to relieve shipping of this great draw
back.
Following along the same line Mr.. Lit
| tlefeld took up the matter Of ship subsi-
dies lie told the meeting that under ex-
| listing conditions it was the only thing
which could rebuild our merchant marine.
| We cannot compete with other countries
| for the reason that it costs us more to
| build our vessels and to operate them
| than it docs other countries. This was
! because we pay better wages to cur la
boring men. For this reason American
shipping cannot compete with that of tn /,
countries where wages are cheap and
where the cost of operating vessels il not
| only less by reason of the smalness of
| the wages, but because Of the cheapncss
with which the sailors arc fed.
What is it," he asked, that causes
| the gates of Castle Garden to always
swing inward and never outward?'
This he answered in one sentence.
Because we pay our laborers better
wages than any other ration"
This produced a burst OF applause
which lasted for several minutes.