Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-04-10
=, oompetency and PnrsImony.

~. now n week since the Inflated
,h.ntic went down in the surging sea,
.,,,oet IN sight of land. 1t may seem
,ate day-and In one sense it probably
TO '' comment particularly thereon. 1t
>. ,over too late, however, to remark on
..ass WRONG utter incompetency, their
gus, .nsoo and consequences. Some days
. ,inco in Speaking, generally, of disas-
.u-s NV soa and land, we said that there
..ao GREAT wrong somewhere, and that
renedy ought to be found. Inviting
" norbaps. we struck the keynote of
~, ORIGINAL cause of this terrible de-
.,.,,ction of human life, when we said,
a.. ~ snbstance that profits upon invest
.,ts were as nothing in comparison
Nth the safety of human life. When
40 said this, we little thought that we
,r.ro briefly and forcibly announcing the
,,n.c Of this particular disaster. Every
,,.crmstance that has developed itself
.,oce Wednesday has tended to this con-
,r,.ion. One fact, brought to our notice
ritbin the past few hours, confirms this
,tov Parsimony ruled and has ruled the
,,b,lc transactions of the "White Star
limo if not at all times, certainly in
.onrection with the trip of the Atlantic,
from the very inception of its last yoy-
,ra down to the present hour. We do
no, intend. at this time, to do any more
than rccapitulate, in the briefest man.
oer possible, five facts connected there
NTH each and every of which go to
.how beyond the possibility of doubt,
,b,t parsimony and incompetency have
marked every step in the Atlantic's his
,orv. before the embarkation, during the
Trim and at the time of and since the
wreck. Four of these facts are already
known and have been the subject of
more or less cOmment-favorable and
rofayorable to the lne-and we shall,
therefore, simply state them, accom-
panied with a passing remark. The
other fact is. as we have said, as yet,
generally unknown. 1t will need no
comment. 1t carries its own weight and
argument with it. To commence. The
steamer was allowed to leave Liverpool
with an insufficient supply of coal. The
company and their agents have attempt
ed to explain away this fact But it is
ndispumblc, that she left Liverpool on
the Goth day OF March, the most stormy
and tempestuous period of the year, with
nine hundred and seventy-eight souls
aboard bound for New York, with coal
insufficient to make the voyag, The
necessary amount Of coal for such a
voyage, at any season Of the year, is Il
simple matter Of calculation aided by
experience. Practical, experienced,
competent men can make the CalCula
ton to that exact nicely which almost
fuot quite, approaches demonstration
That this can be done and is done is not
matter of opinion, it is fact known
20 nearly every child, even, who ha,
read Of ocean steamers. We know thai
the Atlantic did not have sufficient coal
and was putting into" Halifax for :
fresh supply. The conclusion is irresist
able that the agents and officers OF the
line, at Liverpool, were either grossly
incompetent or crimiually parsimonous
Again. A trained and capable crew
was not shipped. Instead Of bein!
manned 10y gallant hardy 'tars,' he
crew was picked up from the docl
loafers and poor houses of Liverpool ant
its vicinity. Another vessel has arrived
within the week with a similar crew
We need say nothing of Incompetence.
on this point. There was no pretenc
Of competency. We can infer-il
fact, from our knowledge of human na
lure, we know-why such a crew wa
shipped II was cheaper \ raupe
from poor house, would work for les
wages than a competent seaman. 1t
always cheaper, 80 far as mere dollar
and cents are concerned, to employ un
skillet rather than skilled labor. AS +
the captain and under officers we have
on a former occasion, incidentally refer
red Indeed they confess their own in
competency, when they say they made
mistake in their calculations 1t wa
not necessary, even, for them to ADM
it, The wreck itself proved it. If W
are 70, greatly mistaken. Captain Wi
lams is not the regular captain of tn
Atlantic. He was only supply BIZ
he was in command during the voyage
and was, from physical causes, incapac
tated from active duties. Why emplo
such officers The answer suggests il
self. This fearful wreck has taken place
hundreds of bodies were rescued lifeles
from their watery graves. Who is t
enshroud, coffin and bury them2 Man
of them were poor and friendless, an
had left Europe to seek home in Amer
lea. Their friends, whom they ha
left in a distant land, were inaccessibl
and without means. The little all of til
poor emigrant had been swept away wit
life. The last sad rites must be pc
formed by stranger hands. 1t migl
have been supposed that the company, I
whom they. had paid their earnings, an
through the ignorance of whose office
their lives had been sacrificed, woul
have contributed this slight boon. o
uo-profts upon investments, dividend
to stockholders would be lessened in a
inhnitessimal degree. With unbluship
effrontery, they confess their parsimony
and 20 before the Dominion Parliamer
for an appropriation to bury their deaC
Might we not have naturally expecte
such a course? 1t is in character wit
their whole course from the beginnin
even up to now. 1t will be remembers
that the passenger list was lost with Ii
vessel. Immediately after receipt of I'll
intelligence of the wreck here, and ii
fact that Mr. and Mrs. Fisher were pa
sengers thereon, it was thought that
might aid in the search for their bodit