Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters Part 34

MESSAGE PROM SPAIN

King Alfonso and Queen Victoria sent the following cablegram to President Taft:

"We have learned with profound grief of the catastrophe to the t.i.tanic, which has plunged the American nation in mourning. We send you our sincerest condolence, and wish to a.s.sure you and your nation of the sentiments of friendship and sympathy we feel toward you."

A similar telegram was sent to the King of England.

The many expressions of grief to reach President Taft included one signed jointly by the three American Cardinals, who were in New York attending the meeting of the trustees of the Catholic University. It said:

"TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:

"The archbishops of the country, in joint session with the trustees of the Catholic University of America, beg to offer to the President of the United States their expression of their profound grief at the awful loss of human lives attendant upon the sinking of the steamship t.i.tanic, and at the same time to a.s.sure the relatives of the victims of this horrible disaster of our deepest sympathy and condolence.

"They wish also to attest hereby to the hope that the law-makers of the country will see in this sad accident the obvious necessity of legal provisions for greater security of ocean travel.

"JAMES CARDINAL GIBBONS," Archbishop of Baltimore.

"JOHN CARDINAL FARLEY," Archbishop of New York.

"WILLIAM CARDINAL O'CONNELL," Archbishop of Boston.

HOUSE ADJOURNED

Formal tribute to the t.i.tanic's dead was paid by the House of Representatives when it adjourned for twenty-four hours.

The prayer of the Rev. Henry N. Couden in opening the House session was, in part:

"We thank Thee that though in the ordinary circ.u.mstances of life selfishness and greed seem to be in the ascendancy, yet in times of distress and peril, then it is that the n.o.bility of soul, the G.o.dlike in man, a.s.serts itself and makes heroes."

The flags on the White House and other Government buildings throughout the country were at half-staff.

ROME MOURNED MAJOR b.u.t.t

A special telegram from Rome stated that one of the victims most regretted was Major b.u.t.t, whose jovial, bright character made many friends there. Besides autograph letters from the Pope and Cardinal Merry del VaI{sic?} to President Taft, the major had with him a signed photograph of the Pontiff, given by him personally.

Cardinal Merry del Val had several conversations with Major b.u.t.t, who declared that the cardinal was "the first gentleman of Europe." Shortly before he was leaving Rome, regretting that he had not a signed picture of Cardinal Merry del Val, Major b.u.t.t entrusted a friend to ask for one. The cardinal willingly put an autograph dedication on a picture, recalling their pleasant intercourse.

LONDON NEWSPAPERS CONDEMN LAXITY OF LAW

British indignation, which is not easily excited, was aroused over the knowledge that an antiquated law enables steamship companies to fail to provide sufficient life-boats to accommodate the pa.s.sengers and crew of the largest liners in the event of such a disaster as that which occurred to the t.i.tanic. It will be insisted that there be an investigation of the loss of life in the t.i.tanic and that the shortage of boats be gone into thoroughly.

The newspapers commented adversely on the lack of boats and their views were emphasized by the knowledge that no attempt has been made to change the regulations in the face of the fact that the inadequacy of boats in such an emergency was called to the attention of Parliament at the time of the collision between the White Star liner Olympic and the cruiser Hawke. It was pointed out at this time that German vessels, much smaller in size than the Olympic, carried more boats and also that these boats were of greater capacity.

T. W. Moore, Secretary of the Merchant Service Guild, when seen at the guild's rooms in Liverpool, said:

"The t.i.tanic disaster is an example, on a colossal scale, of the pernicious and supine system of officials, as represented by the Board of Trade. Modern liners are so designed that they have no accommodations for more life-boats. Among practical seamen it has long been recognized that the modern pa.s.senger ship has nothing like adequate boat capacity.

"The Board of Trade has its own views, and the shipowners also have their views, which are largely based upon the economical factor. The naval architects have their opinions, but the practical merchant seaman is not consulted.

"The t.i.tanic disaster is a complete substantiation of the agitation that our guild has carried on for nearly twenty years against the scheme that has precluded practical seamen from being consulted with regard to boat capacity and life-saving appliances.

HOUSE OF COMMONS INVESTIGATION

Immediate and searching inquiry into the t.i.tanic disaster was promised on the floor of the House of Commons April 18th, by President Sidney Buxton, of the Board of Trade, which controls all sea-going vessels.

Buxton, in discussing the utterly inadequate life-saving equipment of the big liner, declared that the committee of the board in charge of life-saving precautions had recently recommended increased life-boats, rafts and life-preservers on all big ships, but that the requirements had been found unsatisfactory and had not been put in force. He frankly admitted the necessity for increased equipment without delay.

The board, he said, was utterly unable to compel the transatlantic vessels to reduce their speed in the contest for "express train" ships.

He also said the board could not force ships to take the southerly pa.s.sage in the spring to avoid ice.

The regulations under which the t.i.tanic carried life-boat accommodations for only about one-third of her pa.s.sengers and crew had not been revised by the committee since 1894. At that time the regulations were made for ships of "10,000 tons or more." The t.i.tanic's tonnage was 45,000, for which the present requirements are altogether insufficient.

WORK OF RAISING RELIEF FUNDS PROMPT

Several foreign governments telegraphed to the British Government messages of condolence for the sufferers. The King sent a donation of $2625 to the Mansion House fund. Queen Mary donated $1310 and Queen Alexandra $1000 to the same fund.

Oscar Hammerstein proffered, and the lord mayor accepted, the use of his opera house for an entertainment in aid of the fund.

The Shipping Federation donated $10,500 to the Mayor of Southampton's fund, taking care to explain that the White Star Line was not affiliated with the Federation.

Some public inst.i.tutions also offered to take care of the orphaned children of the crew.

Large firms contributed liberally to the various relief funds, while Covent Garden and other leading theaters prepared special performances to aid in the relief work.

INDIGNANT GERMANY DEMANDS REFORMS

All Germany as well as England was stunned and grieved by the magnitude of the horror of the t.i.tanic catastrophe. Anglo-German recriminations for the moment ceased, as far as the Fatherland was concerned, and profound and sincere compa.s.sion for the nation on whom the blow had fallen more heavily was the supreme note of the hour.

The Kaiser, with his characteristic prompt.i.tude, was one of the first to communicate his sympathy by telegraph to King George and to the White Star Line. Admiral Prince Henry of Prussia did likewise, and the first act of the Reichstag, after rea.s.sembling on Tuesday, was to pa.s.s a standing vote of condolence with the British people in their distress.

GERMAN LAWS ALSO INADEQUATE

The German laws, governing the safety appliances on board trans-oceanic vessels, seem to be as archaic and inadequate as those of the British Board of Trade. The maximum provision contained in the German statutes refers to vessels with the capacity of 50,000 cubic metres, which must carry sixteen life-boats. The law also says that if this number of life-boats be insufficient to accommodate all the persons on board, including the crew, there shall be carried elsewhere in the vessel a correspondingly additional number of collapsible life-boats, suitable rafts, floating deck-chairs and life-buoys, as well as a generous supply of life-belts.

A vessel of 10,000 tons was a "leviathan" in the days when the German law was pa.s.sed, and it appears to have undergone no change to meet the conditions, imposed by the construction of vessels twice or three times 10,000 tons, like the Hamburg-American Kaiserin Auguste Victoria, or the North German Lloyd George Washington, to say nothing of the 50,000-ton Imperator, which is to be added to the Hamburg fleet next year.

The German lines seem, like the White Star Company, to have reckoned simply with the practical impossibility of a ship like the t.i.tanic succ.u.mbing to the elements

PERSONAL ANXIETY

Although Germany's and Berlin's direct interest in the pa.s.sengers aboard the t.i.tanic was less than that of London, New York or Paris, there was the utmost concern for their fate.