The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-04-11
WEDNESDAY, APRIL IL, 1866.
Steamship Racing.


across the ocean. This will no doubt be grail
flying to the pride of the owners OF the steam
ship that wins but travellers will fiud in it
warning to keep out OF vessels that indulge IN
such hazardous pastimes." '...-
THE above paragraph is clipped from morn
ing contemporary paper. We read it with
regret, as every person must have done who
feels any concern for human life and the in
terests of ocean steam navigation. The pre-
meditated race between the vessels will
doubtless be contested with all that mad
spirit of rivalry which, for so many years,
characterized similar struggles upon our
Western waters, aud which resulted IN so
many appalling disasters. 1t will be fortunate
Il no accident shall occur in the present case,
though, If we should hear Of the destruction of
both ships, under the circumstances, we will
regard it as only natural event, fitted to ex-
cite no special wonder. II, however, neither
steamship shall be blown up or set on fire, the
fact will not excuse the criminal rashness of
those who have planned the race, nor should
it prevent prompt and rigorous investiga-
tion of the matter by the directors or owners
of the lines to which the ships belong, pro-
vided they have not, as is TO be hoped, sane
toned any such trial of speed as that contem-
plated. If they did not, then their officers
and agents are guilty OF a gross abuse of
authority, which ought to dsentitle them to
all further trust, and be punished at once by
dismissal from their exceedingly responsible
charge. Hy
=. One such example Of wise and righteous
reproof would go far to prevent any future
trihing with the property of steamship COM
panies and the lives Of passengers aboard
their vessels whereas impunlty in this instance
will probably encourage steamship racing
on the ocean, and lead ultimately to the most
fearful and melancholy caIamities. Before
the steamers leave port many OF the men,
women, and children will have taken passage
without any suspicion of the peril to which
they will afterwards be exposed. But even if
all are privy and sconsenting to a precon-
certed arrangement for pitting one ship
against the other in a desperate encounter of
speed across the Atlantic, we yet assert that
those having the management of ocean
steamer lines should never allow the extreme
folly of several hundred infuriated people to
outweigh all considerations OF humanity, the
rights and security OF the general public, and
the eminently important interests of COM
merce as involved in safe and reliable inter-
course by steamships between Europe and
America.
We devoutly trust that the racing of
steamers will never grow into practice. The
inevitable consequence would be frightful
destruction of life, while our improved means
of navigation upon the great waters sepa-
rating the Two hemispheres-whch is an in
valuable acquisition in behalf of civilization
would become a source of increased risk,
anxiety, and disaster to the world. The natu-
raj tendency to the evil is great enough to
deter all consderate and benevolent persons
from doing aught to aggravate it; and the
press especially should be careful to restrain
that spirit Of competition which is so prone,
upon the slightest provocation or excuse, to
forget all the obligations and checks of dis
cretion and duty. Any one who observed, a
few years ago, the defiant and bantering tone
in which the friends respectively of the Col
Inns and the Cunard lines of steamers were
accustomed to exasperate each other touch
ing the relative merits and powers of The
rival vessels, must have feared the growth
OF perilously competitive spirit in
the speed Of voyages. In May, 1858,
that very spirit led to an occurrence
which was thus narrated at the time in a
telegraphic summary OF the foreign news:-
"The last trip of the Arogo and SarOniG
across the Atlantic was neck -and-neck race.
They left New York at the same hour on the
LIST of May, the SdroniG taking the lead. On
the fourth day out the ArGgo passed the
SaIoniG, and fired two guns in triumph A
few days afterwards the SarOnid resumed
the lead, firing three guns, and kept it to the
end, arriving at Southampton four hours in
advance of the Arago." When two steam
ships start off from port on either side of the
Atlantic for a race to the other side, with all
steam crowded on, keep up the contest for
two thousand miles upon the wide and wild
Ocean, excite their crews to madness by
= firing guns as they pass and repass eact
other in the terrible strife, and maintain sc
close neighborhood for the whole distance
as to reach port only four hours apart, We
may well protest earnestly against any pro
posed repetition of such reckless and afro
cious trifing with human lite.
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A CURRENT RUMoR.--It is understood