The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-06-25
MAN THE BOATS

 TIT IS GETTING to be of almost daily occur renee that, with our coffee and eggs we are thrilled and shocked by an account of collision between floating craft-sometmes with horrifying loss of life.
 Why is it that ocean and river travel which was justly considered the safest possi-s ble form of locomotion-has developed such narrowing possibilities of disaster that the pru- dent who cannot swim more than hundred and sixty miles, forego, whenever possible, the pleasure of going down to sea in a ship?
 Fogs are no more numerous during the last few years than they have ever been. Icebergs do not slip away from their Arctic accouchment any more frequently than they have done for hundreds of centuries Climatic and hydro graphic conditions are not materially altered Everything that science and the ingenuity of man has or can devise to render them safe is lavished upon the equipment of the floating cit ies of the sea.
 And yet they go to the bottom of the deep green waters with blood-curdling frequency carrying ometimes hundreds of human beings. most of whom have everything that conduces to make life sweet and desirable.
 The steamship companies blame the speed mania of modern civilization And yet, were it put to a majority vote how many would elect to chance the known dangers of a shorter run, among the fogs aid icebergs of the northern passage, to the slower southerly lane, free from bergs and comp mparativelys fogless? Who was there so idiotic that, for the sake of getting to Europe in six hours shorter time, would juggle and play at skittles with death
 Who would insist upon rushing through a fog-bound, berg-infested sea, where, for all any human might9do in avoiding collision, the cap- tain and the crew might as well be in their berths asleep, when by bearing few hundred miles to -the south those might be avoided?
 There is something beside public demand for speed behind this steamship reclzlessness. It can be summed up in one word- ROFTTS.
 Every hour that can be cut out of an ocean trip means a saving of hundreds of dollars to the steamship companies in labor food, coal, and the scores of items of overhead expense. To save this sum, the big liners take the short way For the sake of few thousand dollars extra profits they rush with the speed of iex- press trains, through the blanketing fog, and |chance sthe dangers Of bergs, or collisions with other vessels. If there should be an accident, the ships and their eargoes are adequately COW Tered by iRshHance
 But the passengers can recover, according to the ruling of the English Courts, sitting on the Tifanie wreck damage suits, only the amount epresented by the value of the wreck l-aslnk in two miles of water
 The coTnpany itself is exempt. The wreck alone is liable The actual value of wreck can be readily computed. Also the likelihood of collecting damages
 BlTt supposiT1g the companies were respon- sible to the full extent of their assets for dam ages and loss of life and personal property ? How long, think you would they continue the easiest way? How often in the future would the terror inspiring cry of Man the Boats'' be megaphoned from the captains bridge?
 Figure this out for yourself.