California Shipbuilding. 



0. W. DICKIE. 



ALIFORNIA, in the Bay of San Francisco, possesses the finest har- 

 bor on the western side of the American Continent, central in 

 its position, and central also in the facilities of distribution. 



In a harbor like this, frequented by steamships from all ports 

 of the world, the shipbuilder and engineer is a necessity. The 

 shipbuilding industry has existed in San Francisco, more or less 

 active, for nearly fifty years, but iron and steel shipbuilding, combined with 

 engineering, as an establishment on our own water front was not an accom- 

 plished fact until the Union Iron Works Company built their present estab- 

 lishment on the south side of Central Basin at Potrero in 1 883. 



The steamship and sailing ship repairs executed in this port constitute 

 quite an industrial item, amounting approximately to over one million dollars 

 per annum, about seven hundred thousand of which is paid in wages, and in 

 order to meet sudden demands for large forces of men to execute quickly 

 important repairs, shipbuilding must be carried on to a certain extent to 

 form a base of supply. 



The fact that the United States Navy Department had entrusted the 

 building of twenty of the vessels of the New Navy to the Union Iron Works at 

 an aggregate cost of about thirty-one million dollars has given this industry 

 somewhat more than a local reputation. 



An important fact in connection with the shipbuilding industry is the 

 large proportion of the total value of the product that is paid in wages. This 

 is why shipbuilding communities are generally prosperous, although the 

 shipbuilder himself may not get rich at the business. The actual wages paid 

 to the men on the twenty Government vessels built by the Union Iron Works 

 will be about fourteen and one-half million dollars, and the same proportion 

 will be nearly correct on all other shipbuilding and engineering work, and the 

 earnings per man are also high in this industry. Some time ago, I computed 

 the average earnings per man, including apprentice boys, the average being 

 for a period of eighteen years, and found it to be eight hundred and seven- 

 teen dollars. 



This is an industry worth preserving. More than that, it is worth cul- 

 tivating, but it cannot be fed continuously on warships. San Francisco is 

 to be one of the great commercial cities of the world and must own fleets of 

 merchant ships and must build them to suit her special needs. Then let our 

 people see to it that no obstacle stands in the way of our being a great ship- 

 owning and shipbuilding center. The State can do much to foster this in- 

 dustry. The San Francisco shipowner, if he is ever so much in favor of 

 patronizing home industry, has to meet, first, a higher first cost, which, 

 instead of being offset by some remittance of tax burdens on the home-built 

 and owned vessel, the fact of being built and owned here is made the occa- 

 sion of imposing local tax burdens that foreign ships and ships owned in 

 other States are free from, thus directly throttling our industries and sup- 

 pression by law of all sentiment in favor of home industry. 



I have repeatedly pointed out the absurdity of taxing ship property 

 when the nature and use of the property taxed render it impossible for any 

 part of the taxes thus levied to be expended for the benefit or protection of 

 the property thus taxed. New York stands to the eastern coast of this 

 country as San Francisco stands to the west coast. In New York, by act 

 of the Legislature in 1881, all registered vessels and all earnings of regis- 

 tered vessel property were exempted from all taxes for State and local pur- 

 poses for fifteen years, and on May 17, 1892, this exemption was extended 

 for a period of thirty years. Can we blame a San Francisco ship-owner for 

 going to New York to buy a ship, have her registered there and then bring 

 her out for business on this coast, where she runs free of taxes because her 

 owner was wise enough not to patronize home industry? I would also 



