The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1912-05-02
THE WRECK OF The TITANIC

The suddenness and the magnitude
of the wreck Of the Titanic, the horror
that must have palled upon the victims
as they realized that the giant craft
was sinking. the conflicting radiograms
that bore news Of the disaster from the
deep and the terrible moments Of wait
ing definite information and the an
guish Of the relatives ashore, all have
caused the whole world to shiver and
shudder during the past week. The
exact cause Of the great wreck may
never be known. The most plausible
theory that has been advanced is that
the ship sighted the giant iceberg, and
its crew, thinking to steer around il,
ran with full speed upon the hummock
Of jutting spur underneath the water.
Il was like striking the sharp edges Of
a rock and the keel Of the hugh craft
was laid open as though by the slit Of
some enormous knife.
Whatever the exact cause. the man
agement of the White Star Line will
have TO submit, and II seems justly.
to the condemning judgment and eriti-
eism of the world for failure to prop
erly equip the big passenger vessel
with life saving apparatus. The world
had never known of and had never
thought before Of the possibility of
such an occurrence. 1t is only the ac-
tual happening of such a calamity that
causes shudders and thoughts Select
the same number of human beings
from any other section or nation of
the world and under the same crcum-
stances they would in all probability
have acted as the managers Of the III
tanie did, so perhaps the managers
should not be too severely condemned.
The wreck should be a lesson for the |
future in so far as supplying vessels |
with adequate life saving apparatus,
and thus rest free from eensure in
knowing that every possible human
agency was at hand to prevent disaster.
Indeed, il would be well that such
craft, dealing in an international traf-
fic, such as the Titanic, be regulated
by an international law with strict pro-
visions.
The wreck of the Titanic is a lesson
to US humans, that despite the fact that
we have advanced marvellously in the
realm of science, have conquered the
elements, have harnessed the currents
Of streams and make the very air we
breathe carry messages for us, still we
know not when all OF scientific learn
ing may be tossed and crushed by un-
expected and unforeseen phenomena of
nature. Man sails to the sky on wings
like bird twisting current of the
wind, however, may hurl him to a sud
len death. 1t seems that the disasters
are whims Of nature. to show us still
hat she is master. as Browning's
'Caliban" was wont to kill few of
the sea crabs that passed each day be-
fore the mouth of his island cave.
The great mass of the world will
think for the most part of the death of
men Of note, the first cabin passengers,
who met death in the disaster. They
ire in the minority. however. We
should remember the crew and the
second and third class passengers. Men
and women like to live and have
place to fill among homes and rela-
Ives. whether they have pennies or
iollars. Such time as that of the
great wreck is one where test may be
applied to mems courage. 1t is unfor-
-unate that the men, who really de-
serve to live, for whose continued eX-
stence, the world will be better are
he ones who make the sacrifices of
themselves for the weak. 1t is always
-he case. This is why long continued
wars have lowered the standard of
Of whole nations.