Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-10-17
RESPONSE luITY
Continued from page -

$1,000
heads; and if these fail 10 perform their
duty they must be held accountable
He must. however. exercise as thorough
Il supervision as the means at MS d1S-
posal allow. In order that 1 may be
Informed as to the exact condition OF
the service i'm all its parts. | direct you
to order a searching investigation, III
continuance of the investigation OF the
commission, into the conduct OF the
central office and of every outslde
subdivision of the service save that IN
New York
You will also make such changes IN
the regulations as are recommended ny
the commission and you will therefore
call a special meeting of the board OF
supervising inspectors for this purpose.
You will also lay before the Congress a
request that the law be changed in the
various particulars recommended by
the commission. | wish particular en-
phasis laid upon the proposal of the
commission that there be created ny
law a Snecial body thoroughly to lnNes-
tigated the laws which are supposed 10
provide for the safety of passengers on
steamboats,, especially on excursion
bolts. where the prime causes OF dat-
ger are the overcrowdinG and the
tlimsy ana highly intlammable charac'
ter OF the superstructures.
Very truly yours.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
Hon. Y. H. Metcalf,
Secretary of Labor and Commerce,
On June %, 1901. eight days after the
disaster. the United States Commas
sion of Investigation upon the Disaster
to the Steamer General SlOcum' was
appointed by the then Secretary OF
Commerce and Labor. George r. Cor
tely0u. The commission was constl-
tuted as follows: Lawrence o. Murray,
assistant secretary of Commerce and
Labor: Herbert Knox Smith deputy
commissioner of corporations: George
I'hltr, supervising inspector general of
the Steamboat Inspection Service;
Big. Gen. John NJ Wilson, L. :. A.,
retired: and Commander Cameron
MGR. Winslow L.. S. n. Mr.. Murray
was named as chairman Of the COM
mission. Mr.. Smith was chosen secre-
tary.
The commission was directed by
Secretary Cortelyou to make a thor
ou@h Investigation of the disaster to
the General Slocum and of other mat
| tiers bearing upon the safety of pIS-
senger traffic on the naVigabe waters
| of the 'nlted States and to make a full
report. accompanying such report 10y
recommendations for such department.
a. or legislative action rs might be r.
| 11ljrp1 the hpttar r,rct prtjnn NJ life
ana property. Since its appointment
the commission has been at work al
most uninterruptedly The hearings
! before he commission were held prin-
cipally in New York City but much of
| its work was done in Washington. The
| testimony in the case covered about
| two Thousand typewriter pages and
! included more than forty exhibits. The
commission was wholly without COM
| pulsOry powers to enforce the attend
| ancc Of witnesses for the production
of evidence. This condition proved at
| times a serious hindrance to the pro-
g:ess of the work.
The report of the commission is elab-
crate ana exhaustive. consisting of a
| pamphlet of SiXty-twO printed pages.
containing about thirty-two thousand
words. it is divided into five cha pte.s
| in which are considered the appoint
ment and proceedings of the commits
sion the disaster: departmental action
as to the steamboat inspection service
previous to the Slocum disaster; the
steamboat inspection scrvica AanGF the
recommendations of the hfssion.
AS an appendix to the rep I state
ment is made by the del fnent of
justice of the criminal pr9d Udings con-
nected with the Sl2cunI disaster and
! the life preserver CT
In the account he disaster it is
shown that the 81 n was owned by
the knickerbocka eamboat Co, a
New York cor ion, which alsa
owned the ste, Grand Republic
The company paid no dividends
during the Il years. The slocum
was inspect 1t by Henry Lund-
borg am. John w. Fleming. May 8
1904, AID the current certificate of in
speGSion at the time of the disaster
waseissued on May C. by James A. Du-
monU inspector of hulls, and Thomas
H. Barrett. inspector of boilers. the
board of local inspectors at the port
OF MN YORK. An elaborate dcSCrip-
tion/Of the Slocum is given in the
cou"se of which it is stated: "All the
upper works Of this vessel We're CON
styucted Of light wood and had been
painted and FURNISHED many times and
Were. therefore. in a highly in
Cnammable condition. In the ccnstruc-
I ton of the vessel there We're no safe
guards against fire other than compli-
ance with the regulations as regards
the proximity of woodwork to boilers.
The vessel had no fire-proofr matches
or bulkheads and was built entirely of
wood"
THE General Slocum was a vessel
| built to carry a large number Of ex-
cursiOnists (2l00 allowed by law, and
in her design there Was apparently no
consideration whatever given to the
question Of infammability. In such a
vessel, Il fire, once having obtained fair
Roadway, could not be controlled and
the vessel would be quickly consumed.
as exemplihed in the case of the Gem
eral Slocum. There are many similar
| vessels doing service in the waters of
the United States, the construction of
which is quite as dangerous as that of