Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-12-16
THE LATE DISASTER
VIII il be Investigated or mot!
Echo, Not.
From the Pittsburg Post

=
Everybody, that is TO say, all the
newspapers, are hoping that a thorough
investigation will be made into the
causes of the terrible collision on the
Ohio river, by which so many lives were
lost, the other day. What good will It
do? We have had scores and hundreds
OF similar accidents on our rivers and
I railways, and thousands Of lives are fire.
| quently lost in consequence OF them.
/ Official Investigations are made into
them all-their causes are perfectly well
understood we believe there as not
! q single instance on record all Uhtch any
person has been held responsible or been
] punished. Coroners inquests, under
which form OF law these Investigations
are usually held, have come TO be uni
versally regarded as the emptiest and
most useless of all fcrmalitiesi but even
their yerdicts never lead TO any action,
and are generally forgotten within
week after they are rendered. What is
the reason of this strange and disastrous
neglect to enforce the law Is nobody
interested in it? Are there not officers
appointed or elected for the express pur-
pose of doing that very thing Then
Why, in the name of all that is sensible
and safe, is il never done?
1here is q constant clsmor for new
laws on these subjects.i Whenever 3
railway or steamboat disaster happens,
there is loud demand for new iegisla-
tion on the subject. But this Is not what
is needed. We have plenty OF laws
some Of them good and some very bad
laws on every conceivable sutjsct and
FOR the accomplishments OF every imagin-
able object. The. trouble is, they sre
never enforced. They are dead letters On
the statute book. Not one man in
thousand knows of their existence, and
not one in million shows by practical
action any care for their enforcement |
There are prosecuting officers every
where, whose special business 1t ia to ses |
that the laws are enforced, but they re-
quire complaint to be made by some |
body of their violation, and nobody takes |
Lha.trouble to make it. Now and then /
the widow or the children OF some poor |
man who has been crushed By some ille- |
gal railway collision, or blown to pieces |
by the explosion OF 3 steamers boiler, or |
a cargo Of petroleum, both of which were |
forbidden by law, sues for damages and |
gets them. But the chances of such |
contingency are comparatively small, |
and some companies, We understand, |
make them the subject of caleula-
tion, and conclude, on the whole, 1
that it is cheaper to run the risk Of
them, than to go TO the expense of such /
precautions as would prevent the acci-
dents out Of which they grow. This is
rather a cold blooded view of the sub
ject, it must be confessed-but it is
strictly q business view, and cur great /
corporations cannot, IN these days at
least, be expected to take any other.
We hope that the Ohio disaster will be
" investigated by sll means. 1t will
be some comfort 70 all parties to see a
a little fuss made about it. 1t will look
as if somebody cared something about it,
and will engage public attention week
or two, until the whole thing can be q1i-
etly and comfortably forgotten as 80
many similar slsughters have been be-
fore it. And Whist more can any good
citizen, who appreciates rhe blessing of
a quiet life and hates excitement, ask or
expect? Let it be investigated" GER
taiuiy; and let the investigation be
90 searching" and " exhaustive D--sOr
then il will take longer and will thus
give more time for the public feeling to
die sway.