The Hawaiian gazette., 1917-12-14
SHIP COMPANIES
ARE BLAMED FOR
INFERIOR SERVICE
Coast Shipper Says Boats Left
Without Handling Goods, Des-
pite Contracts For Delivery

SAN FRANCISCO, November IS -
President Frederick J. Roster Of the
chamber Of commerce win name the
port committee Of the organization to-
morrow to work with the harbor com.
missioners TO remedy the faults Of San
Francisco harbor that are sending so
much business to Seattle. .....:t,
The intention il to give the San
Francisco system a thorough examna-
ton. Pilotago, dockage charges as
compared with the Seattle system of
charging no dockage, the policy of
renting piers exclusively to permanent
tenants, the needs Of the port in the
way of new piers, the establishment
a special facilities for handling cargo,
the operation Of the Belt Line, the
futility of allowing importers to use
the piers as warehouses - these and
other subjects will be investigated, all
with desire TO get more efficiency out
of the hnrbor facilities. Hearty CO
operation is assured everywhere.
Meanwhile complaints that San
Francisco business is being driven
away to Seattle by superior facilities
and handling of freight continue to
come in. .. y.
Shipper Complains
How this diversion is being accom-!
plished, both through congestion of
freight and by the operations of the
freight brokers, is told by w. ]. Moy-
Ian, traffic manager of Dill -Crosott,
Inc, who condemns the operations of
some of the steamship companies oper-
ating from here. This is what Moylan
says: ..... ." ~
Q. ave have just booked $500 tons of
freight over the Chicago, Milwaukee
4 st. Paul railroad, through Seattle
and thence TO the Orient. AS soon as
il reaches Seattle there will be - as
there have always been - steamers
there TO take it. There will be no
delay and we are certain of the ship.
ments. WhyS Because the steamship
men at Seattle are absolutely fair and
do not Overlook their vessels. That
is the vital point.
Ship Men Blcned "
"What has been our experience
hcTo9 / have several hundred tons of
resin in San Francisco and this freight
has been here from the East for two
months. hold in my desk a definite
written contract with n steamship COM.
pany, entered into before ordered the
resin. When the resin arrived what
happenedi Steamer after steamer OF
that line left port, carrying freight at
the choicest rates--secured by freight
bTokers-while freight contracted for
delivery is utterly ignored
at is useless to go to law because
the government would not permit US
to tie up a steamer pending litigation.
awe have had goods here to go to
Japan since August 10. under contract
with another steamship line-not the
Togo Kisen Kaisha. That does us no
good. The Japanese purchasers have
now refused to take the goods.
"There is no such condition and no
such congestion at Seattle, and no such
methods among the steamship men.
The business men in Seattle pull to-
gether and would not tolerate it.
Business Diverted
"The Exporters and Importers As
ISOLATION is forming TO correct such a
state of affairs, il 1t is possible. 1t
may be able to do something. If not,
You may rest assured that the import
ers and exporters will favor Seattle,
much as they would rather do business
through here. l suppose that at least
eight out Of ten Of these men are al
ready preparing to switch their bust
ncss north, if they have not already
done so.
"There are steamship men in San
Francisco who live up to their con
tracts, particularly the Pacific Mail
and the Togo Kisen Kaisha. There
are others who do not, and their at
titude hurts San Francisco.
"Our people have been practically
bOycOttcd in certain circles here be
cause I have made statements like
these among shipping men, but that
does MS no injury as long as we are
handling everything through Seattle.
"The jam Of cars in the terminals
here is not so much to be laid at the
doors of the railroads as with some of
the steamship people. BY the system
in vogue, ears are delivered to the state
Belt Line at the command of the dock
superintendent. / know Of instances
where money has been paid by ship
pers to get their ears out of the jam
and their goods into the holds Of the
steamers.
Freight Tied Up
"Our position is that we have 2S00
tons of freight tied up in San Fran
cisco, which has been accommodating for
the past there months. We brought
it here on steamship contracts to load,
prior to making the purchase of the
goods. There are more than 100 local
exporters in the same fix, with vary
inG amounts of freight.
"Do YOU blame us for going else
where7 What else can we dos We are
not going out Of business, and if we
cannot get service here we will have
to do business where we can. San
Francisco is losing it's business; it Is
losing the advantage of employing hun.
dreds of freight handlers. The system
is wrong