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MTNA COR i NTN MULL AT ATT TT { VOL. 45 CLEVELAND SEPTEMBER, 1915 NEW YORK No. 9 Revision of All Our Maritime Laws by Non-Partisan Experts and Complete Over- hauling of Government Departments Demanded—Stability Tests to be Required sized at her dock on Saturday morning, July 24, carrying approximately a thousand people to their doom, one more link—we hope it is the last— was forged in the chain of evidence proving the incapacity of the federal government to protect the maritime interests of this country. In the destruc- tion of EASTLAND, with its accompaniment of human misery, the steamship interests of the United States have been dealt a blow from which it will take many months to recover. We do not refer to direct losses in passenger revenue, which undoubtedly will be in- consequential, but to the disrupting effect of the aftermath of hysteria that inevitably follows an affair of this kind. In such cases, the innocent always suffer with the guilty and the owners and operators of legitimate, safely and conservatively managed steamship lines will be punished along with the few, reckless black sheep from whom both the public and the steamship interests have a right to expect pro- tection by the government. While the EastLanp disaster was very likely due to the incompetent manipulation of water ballast in a boat known to be deficient in metacentric height and therefore tender, fundamentally the responsibility rests on the government. Shackled by Absurd Laws We do not wish to be misunderstood in this asser- tion. The Marine Review does not share the popular conception that all of the officials of the steamboat inspection service are criminally negligent, reckless and incompetent. We believe these men, in the main, perform their duties conscientiously and effectively, as far as the law permits them to go. a The difficulty is much deeper seated. Absurdities, contradictions and hiatuses are no more pronounced in the law governing the steamboat inspection service NV z-. the excursion steamer EASTLAND cap- 319 ‘than in our other maritime and navigation acts and recent legislation, including the seamen’s act, has only added to the confusion. In brief, the basic trouble is that the great mass of our people, dwelling in the interior of the country, know nothing and care less about our maritime affairs. Some of the newspapers in the central west that are now clamoring the loudest for revenge, whose eyery effort is to “get”? somebody, have been foremost in the fight against a sane, intelligent mer- chant marine policy for the United States. As a result, marine legislation has become a football of politics and the prey of such self-abnegating states- men as Senator La Follette. Revenge Saves No Lives It is not so important to find who is to blame for the EasTLAND catastrophe and to mete out vengance, as to find out why the accident occurred and to take steps to make its reoccurence impossible. Although the suggestion is trite, what we need to do is to take the whole merchant marine subject out of politics and place it in the hands of a non-partisan body of qualified experts. If the work were turned over to men of real standing and experience in maritime affairs, our present laws could be codified and amend- ed so that they would foster and protect our merchant marine and reduce disasters to a minimum. The navy department recently..has seen the light and from now on is to have thg benefit of the advice and direction of a board of wilian experts. The department of commerce woud do well to follow this example in dealing with our merchant marine. Such a board should include the most eminent men in maritime affairs in the country; men of less ability and experience would be unacceptable and unless the appointments were lifted absolutely clear of political considerations, the plan would be a failure.