The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1912-05-30
ON OFFICERS Of
Liner IS BLAME
Committee Chairman Severe on
Report of Titanic Disaster.
PASSENGERS LEFT TO FATE
No Systematic Attempt to Warn Them
OF Imminent Disaster--Wo rkings
OF English Board of Trade Sub
jcct of Severe Criticism.

Washington, May 2S.-With the adj
mission that Captain Smith Of the tt
tanic, lost with the great majority of
his passengers and crew when his ship
went down, was not under the inf1u-
ence of intoxicants at the time Of the
disaster, the report of the senate com
mittee says:
The senate committee Of investiga-
ton into the Titanic disaster makes its
report. Senator William Alden Smith
! OF Michigan, the chairman of the COM
| mittee, also made a speech on the sub
| Ject of the committees report and on
!, the disaster as he viewed 1t.
The committee declares that infor-
nation that there was ice ahead of tho
destroyed steamship was transmitted
to Its captain. In its report it says
that no conference of officers was held
on the subject of possible ice danger
| ahead, that speed was not reduced,
| and that the only thing done was to
tell the lookout to report if the wealth
| er should become haZy and that, in
this contingency only, speed was to
| be reduced.
The committee finds that when the
| steamship struck no general alarm
was sounded and that there was no
| systematic attempt to warn passen-
! gers of their danger.
| The committee is convinced that
| there was an insufficient drilling of
| the crew prior TO the departure of the
/ Titanic from It's home port, that the
| ship was taken out for a trial, but not
at full speed, that lew circles only
were made and that its crew was
taken on virtually only at the last
hour. There is more than an implied
criticism of the English board Of trade
for granting sailing papers under such
| conditions.
| In the opinion of the members of
! the committee there was lack of
/ preparation for the proper loading of
the lifeboats with passengers and an
| other failure to utilize the boats to
their full capacity. 1t is the commit
| tees further belief that if the wealth
| er had been in the least heavy and the
water had been rough that under the
| conditions existing on the Titanic
many of the lifeboats would have been
smashed or overturned before their
lowering had been completed.
| Many Lives Sacrificed.
The committee seems to have had
/ no doubt that many more lives could
have been saved if the duty of the
men in charge of the lifeboats had
/ been we'll done, and they had returned
| to pick up passengers who had man
/ aged to keep afloat after the ship went
down.sIn the committees report there
| is no criticism of the conduct of J.
| Bruce Ismay, the managing director OF
| the steamship company, but Senator
! Smith in his speech gave a fairly di-
| rect criticism Of Mr.. Ismay, when he
| said in connection with speeding:
"The very presence OF the owner
and builder unconsciously stimulates
endeavor, and the restraint of organ
| lied society is absolutely necessary to
| safety
In its findings the committee pays a
| high tribute to Captain Rostron of the
| Carpathia, and this tribute was &C.
centuated and enlarged upon in the
speech of the committees chairman
! Senator Smith, who in contrasting the
| conduct of the Carpathia's captain
with that of the captain Of the Cali
fornian said this of the former:
by his utter self-effacement and his
own Indifference to peril, by his
/ promptness and his knightly sympa
| thy, he rendered a great service to hui
mainly He should be made to realize
/ the debt of gratitude this nation owes
/ to him, while the book Of good deeds
which had so often been familiar with
his unaffected yalor, should henceforth
carry the name of Captain Rostron to
/ the remotest period of time. With
most touching detail he ordered the
ships officers to their stations, dis
| tributed the doctors into positions OF
greatest usefulness, prepared com
| forts for man and mother and babe;
| with foresight and tenderness he lift
| ed them from their watery imprison
inent and, when the rescue had been
completed, summoned all Of the res
cued together and ordered the ships
/ bell tolled for the lost, and asked that
prayers Of thankfulness be offered BY
those who had been spared. It falls
| to the lot Of few men to perform a
service SO unselfish. and the American
congress can honor itself no more
! by any single act than by writing into
It's laws the gratitude we feel toward
this modest and kindly man.
The committee believes that che
steamship Californian was nearer to
the Titanic at the time of the disas
ter than was admitted and the con
| duct of the officers Of that ship is con
/ demned.
In these words Senator Smith
voiced his and his colleagues
opinion were in this matter
It is not pleasant duty to criticize
| the conduct or comment upon the
shortcomings of others, but the plair