Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1912-05-28
SENATOR DISCUSSED
TITANIC DISASTER
Navigation Laws are Roundly
Denounced as Anticipated
Collection Of Statutes
British Board Of Trade Laws
Do Not Provide Sufficient
Safety

WASHINGTON, May 28.-Discus'
sing the Titanic disaster In the senate
today, Senator Rayner OF Maryland
denounced the United States admiral
ty and navigation laws as "an incon
gruous collection of antiQuated stat
rutes, which should be repealed and re.
enacted so 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 Titanic disaster should have
t ught and asserted THAT the country
needs severe lessons that will
strenthen tine pillars and affairs Of It's
faith.
On this point the Senator said:
we are to g. large extent today de-
flying the ordinances Of God, and the
sooner we waken to 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
society into casts, with fabulous for
tunes upon the one side and dest1'
tuition and poverty on the other. 1t
takes "a terrible warming to bring us
back to our moorings and our senses.
We are abandoning the deVout and
simple lives of our ancestors, and the
fabric of our tiresides is weakening
at the foundation. If this disaster
teaches no lesson or points no moral
then let us pass it by with stoical In
difference, until the next disaster
comes, and in the meantime let the
carnival go on May the heart1rend-
ing scenes upon this night of anguish
and of Woe give us faith and lead us
back to the altar of our fathers. l
will not lhearse the agonies OF this
midnight sacrifice. can not afford
to dwell upon them or listen to the
"details THAT almost distract the mind
and break the hart. 1t is the lesson
and the moral that am searching
for"
Senator Rayner urged legislation THAT
would make the controlling officers of
corporations criminally responsible
for the careless and negligent manage
'ment of the corporations they control.
After a discussion of the present
methods of corporation organization,
S nator Rayner said:
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-
sibtlity. We must enact Legislation
that will make the controlling anu
superior officers of corporations with
in our own jurisdiction criminally re-
sponslble for the careless and megli-
gent management of the public-ser-
vice corporations which they control.
l have made this suggestion over and
over again, but repeat it now in the
most emphatic way that I can, that
it is a shame and an outrage that the
criminal statutes of this land permit
the men who are really responsible
absolutely to escape from the penal
ties of the law, and inaict penalties
and punishments upon those who are
simply acting under their superior
orders"
Discussing the causes of the disas-
ter the Senator said:
1T seems DO be universally cOnced-
ed that this ship was not equipped
W TIN sufficient number of Mfeboats
ito provide for the safety of it's passen-
gers. There may have been a suffi-
cient number in accordance with the
rules Of the British board of trade, but
it is a fact that the great loss of life