New-York tribune., 1880-06-17

bv the visitation of God" In few weeks
everybody Except, perhaps, few women IN
black here and there) will have forgotten al
about this affair, and the Sound steamers VIII
run rejoicing on their way with rusty daVi's'
plugless and oarless boats, and llfe-preserVers
full of holes and nobody will have the rlgnt OF
the wish TO interfere.
Before the matter is forgotten, however, there
are two points to which we call attention:
F,rst-The enormous loss of life caused by
individual panic A party of burly Germ ans
each strapped three or four life. preserVers
around their bodies, and refused to give any OF
them lid to helpless passengers who had none.
The captains of both vessels If all accounts e1-
cent their own are true, were demor-
allied with terror, and gave no personal nelp,
nor even tho rational customary orders WhfdtE
would have been effective in saving many ilVes.
Many of the victims, actually insane with frlgnt'
threw themselves into the water and were
drowned. One man, who had two children, put
them in the care of total stranger, and then,
crying out wildly that he could not swlm
drew a pistol and blew his brains out. In
MANY cases men safe on RATS sJruck down help
less women who held by the edge. These men
III Iobaby were not bIutes by natuIe-they were
simply made madmen by fright. On the other
hand, an old woman of seventy, who cOOlly
took time to put on fe-preserver, was saved;
SO was a one-lcgged man who kept his wits
about him; common sense proving OF more
value than limbs, even in this emergency.
Boys and women who could swim calmly be-
took themselves to the water and escaped.
Now, every man and woman can be taught to
swim, and can teach themselves, at least in
some degree, to keep their senses in time of dan
GER These two accomplishments may not serve
to preserve their lives against careless officials
and their wholesale slaughters, but they will
help to do it, II is worth while 10 remember
that whatever the cause of an accident. there
never is any possible chance of escape in the
face of it for idOtic cOwardice
Sccond-Thc damaged condition of boats, life
preservers, etc, and the inefficiency of their
officers, are rcferable to a cause which the news
papers seldom touch, but which is we'll know n
to the members of every railway and steamboat
corporation in the country. Economy is prac-
tsrd by them in details to degree which risks
the safety of the passenger i'll order to protect
the pocket OF the stOCkhOldcr. "Why are not
railway bridges constructed nowadays to last
as the mans built their bridges7' WAS
asked OF an influential railway magnate after
the Tay disaster. "The Romans built for
post"rity we build for our dividends" was
the smiling answer. IF we put up enduring
bridges, and run the road on the same liberal
scale, accidents would perhaps be fewer, but we
could pay no dividend during the present gener-
ation.' There is the secret in a nutshell.
Money issaved in every trifling letaIl. The sal
aries and numbers of the empC Jes are reduced
on some lines to the lowest point; those who
are retained are the kind of men willing to
work for starvation wages (nOt the best quality,
as a matter of coursc) and they are OverwOrked
to such condition that they are not lit to
guard the lives of passengers. On one most I'M
roItant railway engineers and brakcmen are
kept on duty seventeen hours in the twenty
four and to these men, dazed with sleep, is given
daily the responsibility of hundreds of lives.
Whatever tie result of the present investiga
ton, here is the real secret of the disaster. Let
the burden Of responsibility fall on the right
shoulders,