Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1912-05-29

carrying as needless sacrifice of nc
Bile women and brave men as eve
clustered about the Judgment Seat il
any single moment of passing time.
1--WE shall leave to the honest judg
ment of England it's painstakin:
chastisement of the British Board o
Trade, to whose laxity of regulation
and hasty inspection the world j!
largely indebted for this awful fatal
ity. OF contributing causes there
were very many. In the face of warn
ing signals, speed was increased ant
messages of danger seemed to slim
ulate her to action rather than to per
suade her to fear.
"The Titanic rushed onward on he1
true course-one recognized as ap
propriate and agreed upon by mari
ners as the international highway fol
Westbounu vessels, yet dangerous al
this season of the year, when the
Labrador current may be bearing
vast masses of ice across the track
Of ships-scores of these towering
glaciers planted themselves in the
very pathway of this ship and were
50 large and so numerous that. in
the absence of fog, they should have
been easily discernible by the look,
out, if, as he says in his testimony,
he had been supplied with glasses.
Capt. Smith knew the sea and his
clear eye and steady hand had often
guided his ship through dangerous
paths; for 40 years storms sought in
vain to vex him or menace his craft.
His Indifference to danger was one
of the direct and contributing causes
of this unnecessary tragedy, while
his own willingness to die was the
eXpiating evidence Of his fitness to
live; those of us who knew him we'll
not in anger, but in sorrow-file
one specific charge against him, ov-
erconfidence and neglect to heed the
oft-repeated warnings Of his friends;
but, in his horrible dismay, when his
brain was afire with honest retribu-
ton, we can still see, in his manly
bearing and his tender solicitude for
the safety of women and little chill
dren, some traces of his lofty spirit.
1.-THE mystery of his indifference to
danger, when other and less preten-
tious vessels doubled their lookout or
stopped their engines, finds no reason
able hypothesis in con conjecture or
speculatiOn; science in shipbuilding
was supposed ito have attained perfec-
ton ind to have spoken her last word;
mastery of the ocean had at last been
achieved; but overconfidence seems
to have dulled the faculties usually
so alert. With Mhe atmosphere liter
ally charged with warning signals and
wireless messages registering their
last appeal, the stokers in the engine
room fed their fires with fresh fuel,
registering in THAT dangerous place
her fastest speed.
Mature gave a warning of APP
preaching peril SO significant that
passengers in stateroom and Storage
shut out the chill and spoke to one
another of the sudden cold. Sailors
off the Grand Banks know the i'm
portance of the thermometer, which
is almost as necessary to their safety
as is the compass Even the quarter
master, Kitchens, who regularly took
the temperature of the water from
the sea. said: 1T suddenly became
bitter cold and added that the first
orer received by him from Second
Officer Lightcller at O'Clock Sunday
evening was to take his compliments
down to the ships carpenter and in
form him to look to his fresh water,
T. = %<
Senator Smith declared that the
command of the officer Of the watch
to avert the disaster actually exposed
the most vulnerable part of the
Titanic to the ice when the shock
came.
"Distracted by the sudden appear
ance of danger" said the speaker,
he sharply turned aside the prov.
The part best prepared to resist COL
ision. exposing the temple to the
bow; at the turn of the blige the
steele encasement yielded to a glanc-
ng blow so slight that the impact was
not felt in many parts Of the ship, al
hough representing an energy of more
han million foot tons, said to be-
he equivalent Of the combined broad !
sides of 20 of the largest guns in
,ur battleship feet fired at the same |
with blow SO deadly many |
# the passengers and crew did not
wen know of the collision until tardl-
y advised Of the danger by anxious
friends, and even then official state
nents were clothed in such confident
ssurance of safety as to arouse no
ear.
Senator Smith said that the awful
orce Of the impact must have indi-
ated to master and builder that the
hip was doomed. He commented
austiscally upon the failure of the
hips officers Immediately to give gen.
raj alarm or to establish some order.
y routine. Concerning the conduct
f the ships officers he said:
"Haphazard. they rushed by one
mother, on staircase and in hallway,
7hile men of self control gathered
ere and there about the decks, help
essly starting at one another or CIV
lg encouragement to those less cour-
egous than themselves. Lifeboats
ere finally adjusted to all and the
feboats were cleared away, and al