Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1912-04-17

heads protect her, may plunge head lcng against a wall of ice without grave results. Tha general opinion is that the Titanic's equipment was put to an extraordinary test which no vessel could have withstood.
 Under ordinary circumstances these water-tight compartments will preserve ship from sinking" said A. l.. Hopkins, president of the New port News shipbu lding and Dry dock Company, ill New York, but smashing in.o an iceburg could pro- duce shattering effects that would render ship helpless beyong the protection Of any design yet known. In fore and aft collisions where the compartments are punctufed Ehe low ering of ef,her end of the ship pro- duces an increased strain on the other com partments."
 Grant ng that only the forward bulkhead of the Titanic had been crumpled by the impact with the ice berg, MT. Hopkins was inclined to think that the relative buoyancy of remaining compartments would have been. sufficient to save ',he vessel. lnasmuch as he was not familiar W tn the relative division ofl the Titanic's compartments he could not estimate how many compart- ments mus't have given way under the impact of the collision. ].
 Robert Stocker, naval constructor of the Brooklyn navy yard, said:
 "In the case of the Titanic, am inclined to believe that her sinking was due to the effect of grounding rather than to the impact of tfla collision. Frequently a ship strikes what is known as Pinnacle Rock ripping open her Keel The ice borg against which the Titanic smar,.ed her bow may have had some such submerged protection which did damage to the keel. If the for ward bulkheads of the vessel had he'd '5fter the impact which smashed the bow. ii. certainly seems that the relative bouyancy of the remaining compaf tments, would have been sui ficient to keep the ship af1eat. I am colupelled to bsaisye 1hla'sl. a great many Of; her confpartm,erts .nihst have heep punctured or sImung.'''
 Lewis Nixon, the eminent naval ar c,.itect is inclined 50 think the Tit anic was either travelling at full full speed or perhaps crashed into a berg so tremendoGss that there was practically no gice. eff the Titanic afs one of these gshat ice masses" said MT. Nixon, "It is f'kely that she struck one that had no more give than a rock. Under these circum- stances something had to give way, but as the icebreg did not '.he great ship had to crumple up. It s con ceivablc that an impact of this sort might have buckled 3heT longitudinal plates from end to- end, shearing off and starting rivets and opening up the water-tight compartments throughout the length of the vessel"
 For many years steamship men have asserted that fhe safest place Is to be on well equipped ocean liner. Tn proport on to the number carried, statistics shcw that there is less loss of life and less chances of injury on board modern liner than there is in any other means of transportation. Fleets come and go from New York and other ports with the regularity of the tides, and those carrying mails maintain schedule wh oh almost equals in punctuuality tha' of rail- road mail trains.
 Trans Atlantic steamers travel ill well defined routes, known as steamship James," the westbound and the cas- bound. This reduces sO a minimum the chances of collision w tn each other. But icebergs have no respect for tl.ese rules, and float into the paths CT wallow across them to their dire menace in lime of fog or very thick weather. There is no way to give warning until too late. Out of a smother Of fog pallid shape may ha glimpged over the bows to be followed hal minute later by .he crash of the bows against the mass of ice.
 BIENNIAL REFORM