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September, 1915 tors only after personal inspection of the vessel and a written report made. That inspectors require owners of vessels whose stability they have any reason to question to make “inclin- ing tests’ on such vessels. Secretary Redfield also has an- nounced a special board consisting of supervising inspectors to conduct a searching investigation of conditions for the past several years. This board is to consist of Supervising Inspectors N. B. Nelson of Cleveland and C. H. Westcott of Detroit, together with Hi. MM. Seeley, of New York; John A. Cotter, of New Orleans, and John K. Bulger, of San Francisco. As suggested on the first page of this issue of The Marine Review, it is believed that all of the maritime interests of the country should be placed under the control of a board of experts and this should certainly include the steamboat inspection ser- vice. Undoubtedly the steamboat in- spection service should be investigated but the public will have no confidence in an investigation by the service itself. Political Hot Air The following dispatch from Wash- ington regarding the political aspects of the EastLanp affair is exceedingly illuminating: “When United States Senator J. Hamilton Lewis, of Chicago, wired Secretary of Commerce Redfield that: it was believed in Chicago that the departments of commerce and justice were attempting to suppress the truth in the steamer EaAsTLAND matter and when he urged immediate activity in order to save the administration, he was showing something of the same hysteria that has already been evidenced by others. “Andrew Furuseth, president of the seamen’s union—all of whose men, FIG. 12—J. N. ERICKSON, CHIEF EN- GINEER OF EASTLAND THE MARINE REVIEW by the way, escaped from Easttanp— did likewise when he declared the accident was ‘due to the rottenness and inefhciency of the steamboat in- spection service’. “Senator La Follette’s personal rep- resentative, John Hannan, did the same when he charged that the tragedy was the ‘result of the vessel Indictments Returned Chicago, Aug. 10. (By wire) — The state grand jury investigating the EastLaNnpD disaster has returned indictments against six persons con- nected with the operation of the ill- fated steamer. George T. Arnold, president; Wiliam H. Hull, vice president and general manager, W. C. Steele, secretary-treasurer, and Ray W. Davis, assistant treasurer of the St. Joseph-Chicago Steam- ship Co., owners of EASTLAND, were indicted for manslaughter; Capt. Henry Pedersen, master, and Joseph M. Erickson, chief engineer were indicted for criminal carelessness. Arnold, Hull and Davis are resi- dents of Michigan and have an- nounced they will fight extradition. The state grand jury returned the indictments in spite of the fact that there is doubt if the state of Illinois has jurisdiction in the case. The federal grand jury has not yet re- ported. owners’ gambling with human lives’. “And Judge Landis—who jumped to fame by imposing the $29,000,000 fine on the Standard Oil Co., subsequently revoked by a higher court—is reported to have threatened to appoint a special prosecutor if the United States did not act. The government, it should be added, is acting most thoroughly. “The same sort of hysteria, polit- ical, propagandist and otherwise, is now prevailing as was noted after the Tiranic disaster, after the VoL- TURNO, after the Monrog, and after the Empress OF IRELAND. It is the same as followed the Sitocum disaster in New York. And it always will be the same. The demand, after every such catastrophe, will be “get somebody’.’ And in every such case there is some group, seeking some particular goal, who will seek to exploit the tragedy to their’ own ends. “In the present instance one of the efforts is to exploit the EastLanp dis- aster to prevent repeal of the seamen’s law. “The EASTLAND capsizing, however, has no more to do with the sea- men’s ‘law than had the terrible fire on the steamer GENERAL SLOCUM. “Even had the seamen’s law been in effect there would have been no different condition on EASTLAND. “The seamen’s law has nothing to say about fire prevention on_ ships, nor has it anything to say about hull construction. In other words it is mute on .all forms of safety save the matter of lifeboats and liferafts. On EastLanp lifeboats and liferafts were worse than useless. As the ship careened the lifeboats slid from their places and swept many per- sons into the river. Similarly the lifeboats were useless on SLocuM. Against these two forms of marine 327 disaster—fire and capsizing—the sea- men’s law is mute. “The seamen’s law has absolutely no bearing on a case like the East- LAND.” Another inspired citizen has made the statement that there isn’t a boat traveling on the Great Lakes that is as safe as it reasonably ought to be. Any one at all acquainted with the facts knows that such an assertion is viciously false. It is a fair exam- ple, however, of the loose, irresponsi- ble statements that are made by men who should have more discretion at times of great public calamities. Padded Bottle Who padded the water bottle? Dis- cover that and you will have dis- closed the navy’s latest and greatest mystery. This bottle was one of two. with which the superdreadnaught Arizona, launched from the New York navy yard, on June 19, was to have been christened, one containing wine and the. other, ds “a ‘concession. to “the prohibitionists, containing water. The wine bottle broke, but the other didn’t. Then, after it was all over, there were whispers that judi- cious padding had saved the water bottle. So it was to the great joy of the sailormen, and the equally great chagrin of the prohibitionists, that the giantess went overboard christened in the old way. An unbiased hand, that of young Miss Esther Ross, of Prescott, Ariz.,. swung the two bottles laced together,, against the bow as the great vessel! glided down the ways. So vigorous: was the swing that the champagne bubbled over a wide expanse. FIG. 13—WM. H. HULL, VICE. PRESI- DENT AND GENERAL MANAGER