ENGLAND'S INDIGNATION AND GRIEF OVER THE " TITANIC "

H E C O N S T E R N A T I O N and m o u r n i n g which reign t h r o u g h o u t t h e U n i t e d States over t h e crushing disaster on t h e b a n k s of N e w f o u n d l a n d h a v e found a s y m p a t h e t i c response in t h e m o t h e r c o u n t r y . Such a catastrophe, as Disraeli said of t h e assassination of President Lincoln, " t o u c h e s t h e h e a r t of n a t i o n s a n d appeals t o t h e d o mestic sentiments of m a n k i n d . " Among those who perished in t h e ice were people of cosmopolitan character a n d r e p u t a t i o n . Their loss, as t h e L o n d o n papers remind us, is a loss to civilized society. The Evening Standard and St. James's Gazette blames reckless gambling on b o a r d t h e great liners as infecting officers as well as passengers, a n d inducing carelessness which spreads from t h e saloon to t h e chart-room, and we read:

c o m m a n d e r of an Atlantic liner. C a p t a i n F l a h e r t y , of the R e d Star Line, told m e once t h a t , in t h e dead of night, while he stood on t h e bridge of his ship, he sighted a b a r k in close proximity to his vessel. H e reversed engines, b u t was unable to avert disaster. T h e ship crashed into t h e bark, which crumbled like matchwood. T h e c a p t a i n told m e t h a t this experience so harrowed his m i n d (he h a d 1,100 sleeping passengers on b o a r d ) , t h a t w h e n he arrived in port, which h a p p e n e d t o be N e w York, he resigned his post. " T h e lives of travelers, across t h e ocean are certainly endangered a t this time of year b y steering a course so near drifting icebergs. " B u t in t h e Titanic's case it occurs to me t h a t h a d she been iifteen feet shorter she might h a v e cleared t h e b e r g . " The Pall Mall Gazette (London) urges on t h e authorities t h e necessity for a searching inquiry into t h e causes of t h e wreck, a n d observes i n d i g n a n t l y :

" W e h a v e a d u t y to t h e living to perform. T h e public has been living in a fool's paradise. W h a t a g h a s t l y mockery t h e phrase 'practically u n s i n k a b l e ' has become! W e are unable to u n d e r s t a n d t h e a r g u m e n t t h a t it is necessary to provide for p a r t of t h e h u m a n freight a n d unnecessary to p r o vide for t h e rest. I t is a clinching proof J o s e p h C o n r a d , t h e v e t e r a n a u t h o r and of t h e Board of T r a d e ' s unfitness to superm a s t e r in t h e m e r c h a n t service, writing in vise affairs of t h e sea. The Budget (London), says t h a t too m u c h " I t is t h e n a k e d t r u t h t h a t t h e great m a is sacrificed in liners to speed a n d size, a n d jority of our huge liners, rendered careless r e c o m m e n d s t h e use of smaller vessels t r a v b y i m m u n i t y from accident, drive across t h e ocean w i t h a mere handful of men who Copyrighted by Underwood & Underwood. eling in pairs. T o q u o t e his w o r d s : deserve t h e n a m e of sailor. M r . I s m a y h a s LORD MERSEY, declared t h a t his c o m p a n y welcomes a n " T h e i m p a c t of a liner of 45,000 tons in Who will conduct the British inquiry inquiry. into the Titanic disaster. c o n t a c t w i t h a submerged iceberg is b o u n d " H e will be t a k e n a t his word. There to prove fatal. This would be less likely are searching questions regarding t h e design if t h e vessel were only of 20,000 tons disof t h e ship. W a s t h e scantling sufficiently strong? W a s t h e placement. Safety is sacriiiced to speed these d a y s in t h e system of w a t e r - t i g h t c o m p a r t m e n t s a d o p t e d on t h e best building of m a m m o t h ships. expert advice or did o t h e r considerations overrule t h e " I t is a question of size, n o t of t h e n u m b e r of life-boats T h e counsel of experts ? These are questions which m u s t be trouble is there were too m a n y people aboard t h e ship, I t is answered." a b s u r d to say t h a t a ship such as t h e Titanic is unsinkable. I t was criminal neglect, says Such large b o a t s necessarily ent h e London Daily Mirror, t h a t d a n g e r t h e lives of more p a s sengers in proportion to smaller sent t h e helpless passengers to vessels. T h e large b o a t s are able t h e b o t t o m , a n d it proceeds: t o hold more'passengers a n d crew " T w e n t y - s i x survivors, to forein proportion t o t h e smaller. stall all sensational a n d exag" A s to t h e solution: I t h i n k gerated s t a t e m e n t s , m a d e this t h e increase in ocean travel and s t a t e m e n t n o t exaggerated, b u t t h e enormous n u m b e r of persons y e t surely as well qualified t o w h o cross t h e ocean every year m a k e t h e blood r u n cold as a n y w a r r a n t s t h e scheme of dispatchinvention of the sensationing t r a n s a t l a n t i c liners across t h e monger' There were n o t enough ocean in pairs. I n s t e a d of sendboats to save t h e people on ing one b o a t of 40,000 tons, send board.' ; two b o a t s of 20,000 tons each. " T h a t for t h e m o m e n t is L e t t h e m c o n s t a n t l y be within enough. Details after t h a t do easy call of each othersay, not matter. T h e fact comes a b o u t forty miles a p a r t . T h u s from those who know. This is t h e y could keep in constant no false rumor, n o lie. W e h a v e t o u c h b y wireless, a n d should to face it. Slowly, w i t h infinite a n y t h i n g of a perilous n a t u r e reproach, t h e whole world t u r n s arise, this would be an inestitoward those responsible a n d mable advantage. asks t h e m w h y . " T h e big ship is a mistake ex" T h e r e is no t o n e of vulgar cept from a commercial viewrecrimination, no calling of n a m e s point. I h a v e sailed in ships for LUXURIES, OF MODERN TRAVEL and bringing u p of useless bitteryears a n d know w h a t strain a n d But not enough life-boats. Montreal Herald. ness. I n this gesture it is simply responsibility is t h r o w n on t h e

" R e f o r m e r s h a v e declared t h a t gambling a b o a r d t h e big liners is responsible for m u c h recklessness. T h e traveling world h a s fallen i n t o t h e delusion t h a t every big ship is a life-boat herself. Theoretically t h e Titanic m a y h a v e been unsinkable. Practically she was n o t . T h e B o a r d of T r a d e has h a d a r u d e a w a k e n i n g from its d r e a m of security."

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THE LITERABY DIGEST

May 4, 1912

the sorrowful turning of all those who sympathize toward those who might have known. There is absolutely no answer to give. " N o doubt the Titanic was wonderfully made. There were living roses on board and wonderful rooms and racket courts and concert-rooms and ballrooms. And there were more boats to take people off, remember, than the Board of Trade required. With that we have to be contented, bowing our heads." The London Standard eulogizes the wonderful fortitude of the ship's musicians, observing: "We are usually an undemonstrative people, but the incident of the string band of the Titanic, its members gathered together to play the hymn, 'Nearer, My God, to Thee,' as the great ship settled for her last plunge, left men speechless with pity. It is a great incident of history, worthy to rank with the last parade on the Birkenhead." "The pity and pathos of it is almost more than any human heart can bear," says the London Daily Telegraph. But The Morning Post (London) believes that in the gallant behavior of all on board "the two nations have thus some comfort in their sorrow." The London organs generally defend Ismay "as being unjustly made a scapegoat for the disaster" in this country. While The Chronicle asks that a strict inquiry be made into the circulation of false news with regard to the safety of the great ship, "never again," says this paper, "must there be such an orgy of falsehood as raged in America on this occasion."

and invasion. "The duty of self-assertion," we read, "is by no means exhausted by the mere repelling of hostile attacks. It includes the need of securing to the whole people which the State represents the possibility of existence and development," which he interprets as meaning "the right of conquest." "Might is right," he thinks, and this can be decided only by war. "Wars which were deliberately undertaken with statesmanlike intent were always productive of the happiest results," he believes. A country may initiate ENGLAND AND GERMANY ABB GETTING a war for its own TOGETHEB. Fischietto (Turin). "highest purposes," in which case it may employ means which are unjustifiable in an individual. On this point we read: " I t has, however, to be considered that the relations between two States must often be regarded as a supprest state of war which for the moment is being carried on only in peaceful competition. Such a state of things justifies the use of peaceful means cunning and deceptionjust as war itself does, because in such a case both parties are prepared for the use of such means. On the whole I believe that a conflict between personal and political moraUty can be avoided by clever and prudent diplomatic behavior, if one is perfectly clear about the goal which one desires to reach and always remembers that the means which one employs must ultimately correspond with the moral character of this goal." Coming down to the specific enemies that Germany must 'be prepared to attack, the General remarks: "We must always keep in view the possibility of war with England, and take our political and military measures accordingly without regard for any peace manifestations of politicians, publicists, and Utopians " I n one way or another we have got to settle with France, if we desire to obtain elbow-room for our world policy. That is the first and most unconditional requirement of a healthy German policy, and, as French hostility can not be disposed of once and for all by peaceful means, it must be done by force of arms. France must be so completely overthrown that she can never again get in our way." This writer proceeds to discuss in the clearest and most matter-of-fact way "the coming naval war with England." He states his position as follows: "The conception of our naval duty points directly to the fact that it is the English Navy which must give the measure of the extent of our armaments for naval war. War with England is probably the war which we shall first have to fight out. The possibility of victoriously repelling an English attack must therefore guide our war preparations, and, if the English continue to increase their Navy, we can not avoid following them even beyond the limits of our existing Navy Law." Lord Esher, who is considered in England one of the highest authorities on military matters, speaks in 'the London Times with something like horror of the German general's gospel of blood and iron, saying: " I t is hardly conceivable that after 2,000 years of Christian teaching, and in the midst of a people from whom have sprung some of the loftiest thinkers and some of the greatest scientific benefactors of the human race, such opinions should find expression. They emanate, too, from a soldier hitherto held in the highest respect by all who have studied war as an odious possibility, and not as an end desirable in itself. No one could have supposed that such ideas so crude and juvenile could have survived the awakening processes of recent times."

GERMAN VIEW OF "THE NEXT WAR"

VERY INFLUENTIAL military writer of Germany declares that Germany must win her place as a world - power through warfare. This is General Bernhardi, who in his new volume on " Deutschland und der Naechste Krieg" ("Germany and the Next War") practically throws down the gauntlet to Europe, and to England in particular. Never has the policy of Berlin been proclaimed so clearly and so fearlessly. The General's book gives a candid expression of the view that his country must fight its way to predominance regardless of the rights and interests of other people. This accepted authority on current strategical and tactical problems describes the peace movement as simply "poisonous." In one chapter he discusses

THE PBOGKESS O r PEACE.

-Pasquino (Turin).

t'The Right to Make War." A chapter follows on "The Duty to Make War." The peace propaganda of foreign Powers he denounces as sheer hypocrisy. He even advocates aggression

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