The Calumet news., 1912-05-28
DENOUNCES LAWS
OF NAVIGATION
Rayner, in Speech Today, Declares
Statutes Antiquated and
Should be Repealed
RE-ENACTMENT is NECESSARY
Should Meet Necessities of Ocean
Intercourse of Today
Dwells on Lessons of the Titanic
Disaster and Calls For
Action.

Washington. May 2S.-Discussing
the Titanic disaster In the Senate to-
day senator Rayner of Maryland de-
nounced the United States admiralty
and NAVIGATION laws as "an incongru-
Gus collection OF antiquatod statutes.
which should be repealed and re-en-
acted 50 as To meet the necessities of
ocean intercourse of the present day.
Senator Rayner dwelt at length on the
lesson of religious faith that, the Ii
tanie disaster should have taught and
asserted that the country needs "se-
verc lessons that will strengthen the
pillars and affairs Of its faith"
ON this point the senator said:
we are TO a large extent today de-
fylng the ordinances Of God. ana the
sooner we awaken 90 realizing sense
of our responsibility the better it will
be for the spiritual elevation Of the
country. We are running mad with
the lust OF wealth and OF power, and
of ambition. We are separating socie-
ty into casts. with fabulous fortunes
upon the one side and destitution and
poverty on the other 1t takes terri
bile warning to bring us back TO our
moorngs and our senses. We are
abandoning the devOut and simple
lives of our ancestors, and the fabric
OF our dresides is weakening at the
Foundation. II this disaster teaches no
f,s -.
pass it by with stoical indifference un-
Ill the next disaster comes, and N the
meantime let the carnival go on. May
the heart -rendipg scenes upon this
night of anguish and OF woe give us
faith and lead US back TO the affairs of
our fathers. will not rehearse tho
agonies of this midnight sacrifice.
can not afford to dwell upon them or
listen 10 the details that almost dis
tract the mind and break the neart
1t is the lesson and the moral that
am searching for"
Senator Rayner urged legislation that
would make the controlling officers of
corporations criminallp responsible for
the careless and negligent manage
ment of the corporations they control
After a discussion of the present meth
DDS of corporation organization Sena-
tor Rayner said
Corporation Responsibility.
There is another lesson that this
disaster teaches us and which ought
TO be one of general application. and
that is the lesson of corporate respon-
sibility. We must enact legislation
that will make the controlling and su-
perior officers of corporations within
our own jurisdiction criminally re-
sponsible for the careless and negli-
gent management of the public service
corporations which they control. l
have made this suggestion over and
over again. and repeat il now in the
most emphatic way that / can, that ii
is a shame and an outrage that the
criminal statutes of this land permit
the men who are really responsible alb
solutely To escape from the penalties
of the law, and inhict penalties and
punishmcnts upon those who are sim
ply setting under their superior or
ders'
Discussing the causes of the disas-
ter the Senator said;
"The failure of foreign steamships
TO carry searchlights is utterly mex
cusable. and if a proper searehhght
had been upon this vessel. i'm my judg-
nent. the accident could have been
avoided. The failure TO supply the
proper officers with binoculars was un-
uuestionably an act of negligence, es-
pecially as gather from the testimony
that n demand had been made by the
proper officers for them, and the de-
mand had heen refused.
There was not the proper attention
paid To the wireless messages that the
ship received. This appears to me to
have been an inexcusable act of negli-
gence.
"The speed of the vessel was not
lowered as IL should have been, when
notice was received that she was In
DANGEROUS zone. Ny own Judgment
therefore is that there was negligence
in this case and that the disaster was
attributable TO the want OF due care
upon the part of the company and of
those i'm charge of the ship. The prop
cr tribunals will determine upon this
question unaffected by any conclusion
that we may arrive at in the prem
ises."