Evening journal., 1912-04-17

NEW YORK, April 1.-THE women
and children first always, and after
them-hell'
This was the way the "rules of the
sea" were explained by Capt Charles
Polack. commander of the biggest Ger
man liner aaoat, the George Washington
OF the North German Lloyd He was
asked to explain in detail Just what
would take place on big steamer when
the order to abandon ship" had been
given As the drills on each line are
practically the same, the description fits
the condition that prevailed on the Ii
tanic last night.
"On the deep sea we use force, If nee
essary," continued the German skipper,
"to keep back the men and let the
women and children get the first chance
nj the liieboats. But once they have
been loaded, then it becomes case Of
each man for himself, and while the Of
fcers and crew would try TO keep a sem
blance of order, they have no right to
give preference TO any one. The first
ones in line are the ones to get on the
boats. Perhaps they have fought and
struggled TO get in line-we have moth
ing to do with that"
AItD 4 lut NiU fNtN anu lHt Hltk men
put of first before the healthier ones -
he WAS asked.
''No Sick Aboard When Danger Calls"
"Not unless the healthier and stronger
ones deliberately give up their places"
he answered "There arc no sick aboard
when danger calls; all are supposed TO be
well enough to look out for themselves.
And so far as the old men go-thcro is
nothing in that. They are certainly not
given the preference. In fact, the con
trary is more often the case, and
don't know why il shouldn't be. Old
men have lived their lives let the young
men have the chance TO live theirs. This
is the way il is looked on at sea. Be
sides, young men can be OF help in
boat, while an old man just makes that
much more dead weight.
"You must remember that when such
p gigantic calamity faces you the little
fnenesses OF life are thrown aside. Men
become animals; brutes with the first
instinct-that of self preservation. Some
arc stronger than others and put this
desire under control Others yield to il
and become wild beasts, fighting and bit
ing and clawing their way to help.
Sometimes we have TO shoot this kind
--shoot them down like we would mad
does-if they try to interfere with the
orderly first steps when the women and
the young are being looked after. But
later. when IL becomes free for all,
then this type has fuller play. You can
not blame them. Life is sweet and they
are justified in doing all they can to
save themselves. All we seek to do is
10 stop them from interfering with
those who cannot protect themselves
and SO have not the same chance of be.
ing saved
The detail of the drill TO load tho
women and children on the boats was
gone over by Capt. Polack II was sub
stantiated at the White Star Offices The
description of the manner in which men
seek TO save themselves is one that
might have been true to the letter of
the Titanic because, as shown in an
other column, that ship did not carry
enough lifeboats TO handle the number
of passengers and crew aboard her.
There were life-saving accommoda-
tions for less than one-half the total
number. Recently an agitation was be-
gun in England to do away with the
practice of having life boats and RATS on
the big ships. The plea advanced was
that the new aud big ships are unsink.
able and so the small boats Just clut.
tered things up without doing any good