The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1883-02-17
Drowning and Burning.

The drowning and burning Of the
travelling public was praeticed with emf
nent success last week by German
steamship company and an American
railway company. The press is naturally
very indignant, and demands to know
how long passengers will be carried on
steamers which are sure to sink II they
are run into, and on railway cars heated
in such way as to insure the roasting
ofpassengers in case the train is wrecked
Such inquiries are always made when
ever any great steamship or railway dis
aster takes place, but they never receive
any satisfactory answer, The drowning
Of nearly four hundred people in the
German Ocean and the burning OF a
score of people in the California railway
accident were calamities that might have
been avoided by the use of proper means.
but it Is extremely improbable that there
will be any improvement made In the
construction of vessels or the heating of
railway ears in consequence of them.
No matter how much ships that sink and
cars that burn may be denounced by the
newspapers, the steamship and railway
companies will pursue the even tenor of
their way just so long rs no organized
and efficient effort to secure the safety of
the travelling public is made.
The Cimbria was undoubtedly MS well
built as most other ocean steamships.
That is to say, she had the usual worth
less water-tight compartments, which
are too large with the solitary and oc-
casional exception of the forward com
partment-to be of any real service. SO
long as steamers are provided with only
one screw the middle compartment. in
which the machinery Is placed, cannot
be divided longitudinally. and must be
large enough to sink the ship In case 1t
Is filled with water, and so long rs pas
senger steamers carry vast quantities OF
freight, which must be handled rapidly
at each end of the route, we need not
expectt to see them provided with enough
watertght compartments to render them
unsuitable.
II Is perfectly practicable to build
ship with so many water-tght compart-
ments that she cannot be sunk. This
has been done in the case of the great
Italian iron-clad the Italia. She can be
cut into three or four pieces, any OF
which will float for an indefinite period.
As soon as the freight and passenger
business are separated at sea as they are
on land, and as soon as the passenger
steamers are built with twin screws aud
longitudinal bulkheads, such disasters
as those of the Cambria or City OF
Brussels will be made impossible.
This has not hitherto been done
simply because there is no organized
demand for it. Steamship companies
find ii profitable To cling to the old
methods in spite of an occasional loss of
IA ship, and the public forgets disasters
at sea almost as soon rs they are over,
and exhibits no sign of discomfort with
steamers that are sure to sink like lead
when they are run into by other vessels.
We're there sufficient reason to suppose
that the public would patronize line Of
unsuitable steamers at prices which
would compensate the owners for their
inability to carry freight, such steamers
would be promptly built. II the travel
ing public is really determined not to
be drowned it has only to convince
steamship builders to that fact and
unsuitable steamers will at once be pro-
yided.
The railway men continue TO heat
their cars with stoves and to light them
with kerosene lamps, because the public
is at ordinary times perfectly satisfied
with stoves and lamps. Mr. Vanderbilt
once tried the experiment Of lighting his
cars with candles, but the travelling pub
lie abused him for his alleged parsimony
and demanded 10 have the kerosene
lamps put back. OF course, when car
,f hao ta1
an upset stove the railway companies
are violently abused for heating their
cars with stoves, but a month after the
tragedy is over the public is again per-
fectly satisfied with the stoves. A coal
stove heats a car to that unbearable de-
gree OF heat that the travelling American
citizen demands. No other method OF
heating would satisfy him, for without
the sight of red hot stove he could not
be convinced that he was comfortably
warm. Were the stoves TO be taken out
and the cars to be heated either with
steam from the locomotive or with hot
water, the majority OF passengers would
grumble. They would insist that they
were not warm enough, and that the
company was too parsimonious to pro-
vide its cars>with stoves. OF course. in
time, even the grumblers would become
convinced that they could be comforta-
Bile without soaring their eye-balls by
gazing on a red-hot stove, but the re-
moval of the stoves would at first be a
very unpopular measure. The railway
companies know this, and they natur-
ally continue to heat their cars with
stoves. They are far too intelligent to |
confound a temporary cutlery made by
the press just after the occurrence of a
railway accident with the real wishes of |
American railway travellers. Y.
Times