The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1913-10-31
Seaman Answers Objections
To Ships Safety Bill

lifeboats or In anything else than Is
necessary for safety. II Is entirely
up To the steamship owners to use
the kind of lifeboat that is most suit
able, provided II Is seaworthy; all
that the bill provides is that the YES
sci shall carry sufficient number
of boats to accommodate the total
number OF passengers and crew. The
capacity of lifeboats now In use runs
from 30 to 20 passengers. Any less
than two able seamen to a boat il
downright criminal There Is not a
boat on the lakes that would be re-
quired, under the bill as 1t passed the
senate. to carry more than ten more
men than they now carry. provided
they make the establishments In crew
which they could easily make. Many
of them would not have to carry any
more men than they now carry; the
only difference would be that they
would have to carry skilled men in
stead OF unskilled men. and that is
the real objection that they have to
this legislation"
THE only Americans who are left
In the merchant marine are those
who have such love for the sea that
they would not be driven from II.
they would not give it up; they could
not see entirely disappear that which
had been an ancient and honorable
calling" said Senator La Toilette.
when the seaman's bill was under
discussion In the senate There was
band of American seamen left after
all these years OF defeat and disap
pointment and battling and betrayal.
Their ranks kept thinning. but there
were some of them who held on.
There was this man. Andrew Feru.
seth. have known him, almost ever
since | have been in the senate. I
have seen old lines plowed deeper and
new lines deepen In his face in just
that time. He is Norwegian by birth
He loves the sea He Is perfect
sailor. He was referred to by the
senator from Ohio (Senator Burton)
as "A man who had been on pay Let
me tell you that he lived In a dry
goods box when he was trying to
wiring from you and your associates
some legislation. To liberate his as
sociates from bondage he lived. and
lives now. on the common fare of
sailor Although he Is president OF
the American Sailors union, he will
take from his union no more pay than
that which the common sailor re-
ceives. That is what he Is doing
here: and he and a few thousand
like him have saved nucleus OF
American seamen to preserve its ira.
ditions and around which may be-
builded merchant marine of strong,
powerful, and skilled sailors"
Senator John Sharp Williams add.
ed this tribute to Feruseth: Il want
to interrupt the senator from Wiscon
sin just long enough to say that
am informed, and ] believe, that Mr
Feruseth has never received any pay
Of any sort except what he himself
agreed to take, in spite of very much
higher offers, from the sailors anion
"a sailors pay. How much a sailors
pay amounts to I do not know accd-
rately. II amounts to his board, It
amounts TO his food, and il amounts
to some $13 month, I believe:
want to say further. that long before
the senator from Wisconsin knew Mr..
Feruseth | knew him, as Democratic
floor leader in the house OF represen-
tatiyes. / found out that the man
was not only representing real In
terest of humanity. but that he was
representing it fairly. l do not think
any compliment Is too high to be paid
to any man who comes to Washing
ton. not as a common paid lobbyist,
but as a representative OF real IN
-terest OF humanity and OF laboring
people"