Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1915-07-23
THE SEAMEN'S BILL

Chicago Public: There can be little
doubt that the shipowning interests
have entered uDon a systematic cam
paign to discredit the La Toilette Sea-
mans Bill. The cry is raised upon
every hand that its provisions regard
ing the employment of expert seamen
and the safety of passengers and crew
will prove an insurmountable bar to
the development Of an American mer-
chant marine. Charles L. Dering, pres
ident of the Chicago Association of
Commerce, is quoted as saying: Gas
an instrument aimed at American COM
merce on the ocean and on the great
lakes, it was so vicious in effect that
we cannot find words to fttingly char
acterize it.. Some are demanding
that the Objectionable FEATURES be elm
mated before the law goes into effect
in November; many demand it's repeal.
The American Chamber of Commerce
has undertaken to poll the chambers Of
tensibly to determine whether or not
the law is too drastic. A similar poll
of holders seventy years ago re-
garding the Abolition movement. or
Of millowners yesterday as to the en-
plovment Of young children, would
have produced results similar to what
may be expected from this one-sided
inquiry. .
1t is possible that changes in the
law may be found necessary after it
has been put into operation; but the
principle involved is sound; and there
should be no notifications Of the law 3
provisions until an honest effort has
been made to give it fair trial. It
has been claimed by the shipowning
interests that the provisions for life
boats are excessive. To make such a
claim in face of the constantly repeated
ed losses at sea seems little less than
pure impudence. If vessels expecting
to be torpedoed, with boats swung from
the davits, and every means Of lifesav-
ing made in Advance, cannot get pas
sengers away, what can be expected in
time Of sudden collision, except repe=
tition Of the Titanic and Empress of
Ireland disasters? If the bondage un-
der which seamen serve, and which has
resulted in driving the better class of
men from the sea, is not abolished, how
shall we lay claim to being nation of
freemen? The new law offers prac-
ticable means of raising the standard
Of seamenship and increasing the safe
ty of human life at sea. It is the re-
suit Of generation of earnest investi-
cation. Is it to be abandoned before
even an attempt has been made to meet
its provisions?
Much has been made of the Attor-
ney Generals opinion that certain pro-
visions Of the new law leave unrepeal-
ed parts Of the old law that initiate
against American shipping. Should
this prove to be true, the remedy lies
not in repeating the new law, but in
wiping out the old one. The claim that
foreign ships will be exempt from pro-
visions laid upon our own is the merest
subterfuge. Foreign ships can come to
American ports only in conformity
with American laws. The new law
makes provision even for the
changing of treaties that may conflict.
Foreign shipowners have no right either
to reduce American seamen to unendur-
able conditions, nor to destroy wanton-
ly American life at sea through made
quate provision for its safety. This
cry raised against the Seamen $ bill is
nothing new. Scarcely law has been
passed in the interests Of Labor, wheth-
er increasing the age of childworkers,