Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1911-01-05
CAR OF HIS snip
The Captain Of an Ocean Liner
Is a Real Autocrat.
HIS WORD IS ABSOLUTE LAW.
Hs May, If He Deems It Necessary.
Put a Passenger In Irons or Clap
Him In Cell. and In Cases Of Emer.
gency Is Empowered to Take Life.

I, Put a Passenger In Irons or Clap
Him In Cell. and In Cases Of Emer.
aency Is Empowered to Take Life
Imagine a mayor or Judge of a
circuit court or county sheriff or a
| town marshal of q village of $500 pop
ulation stepping out into the street
and on general and self imposed au-
thority picking up citizen. ordering
him to cell and clapping irons on
| him for safe keeping.
Wouldn't the bird of American lib
erty set up a scream? Wouldn't the
old aud badly cracked Liberty bell
resonare in discord?
| After one OF the great transatlantic
passenger steamships leaves the three
| mile limit of New York the passenger
is in foreign territory on the high seas.
| English, French. German-w whatever
the flag at the masthead the ship is a
section of it's fatherland, floating in the
hlSh seas. where only maritime laws
| regarding its transit in times of peace
may mold check upon the czardOm Of
the ships commander. on or off the
bridge
No c.-..s has more power within his
territory than has the captain Of the
great Atlantic liner on the high seas
He is on an island of his countrys
ownership-a floating island. having q
population of 800 employees and look
Ing after the welfare and safety of per
/ haps 5000 passengers He is prac
tically the administrative. executive
and judicial single individual, such as
exists rarely on the map of present
day civilization. Aside from his au-
thority over mankind he may have
81 100000 of vessel under him, to say
nothing of the international mails and
millions in gold in transshipment
There's the captain" is a whispered
bit of comment made a million times
year in the beginning of the pas
sages of great ocean steamships. And
generally the captain looks the part.
Ii is not so much his uniform either
Ordinarily the captain is not young
There is gray in his hair. mustache
or beard. That young man in his
twenties. no matter what his school
ing for beginning the work. isn't called
at moments notice to the captains
bridge He must have his maximum
OF training for six or seven numbers
below before he is called to the foot
of the ladder
On the British passenger vessels
most OF the beginners at navigating
an ocean vessel Of the first class will
have had lieutenant's commission
from the navy It is from the royal
navy reserves that the lowest officers
vacancy is filed Filling it, be has his
chance TO rise to the position of cap.
tain
AS to the captains authority: One
midnight. when in a fog the White
Star Baltic struck the German oil
steamship Standard. the Baltic needed
it's captain. and be was there His
ship carpenters were rushed to the
bow of the vessel and began the work
of patching up the hole in the Baltic's
steel sheathing.
Suppose that in a stampede of the
Baltic's crew its employees had rushed
up to Gil its boatsf 1t was within the
captains power to have shot down the
leader-to have brought about war tc
the knife, revolver and rife in the in
terests of his vessel and it's passen
gers, Or had some passenger or pas.
sengers become panic stricken and
against orders menaced the welfare of
the majority on the ship death would
have been dealt with the same rigid
discipline which requires of the cap
tain that he be the autocrat at his
post:
There are no forms of writs or war.
rants necessary There is no court al
which the passenger or the seaman
may give bond. In that instant of
sudden great emergency which arises
the captains word is more than writ
ten law; it is the unwritten common
law of the high seas. in the spirit Of
which the vigilance committee of the
wild west of the United States roat
lawlessly lawful
Today the captain of the great liner
may step into the palatial cabin and
command order. He may go into the
smoking cabin and stop the game Of
cards at which the sharper is playing
for his stakes. In case of refusal that
ancient land right Of mo deprivation
of liberty without due process of law
becomes farce The cell room or
even the iron manacles of the cap.
tains authority may be used upon the
individual who has paid $500 or $1,000
for his suit of rooms and his passage
On the high seas the captains ship
becomes an autocratic democracy. The
individual in the first cabin and at the
captains table must share with the
immigrant far below those equities
that are granted to each in his place
Don't buck the captain" said an
official in the offices of great steam
chip line. He is all there is of author
tv Ho IS rho c,,rvov,oo o,,t;%- ~ h;