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August 10,1912 T H E L I T E E A E Y D I G E S T 209"He was ab le to dispel the myste rythat hung about his of&oe yet keep it, asi t were, intact . He might have Dr.Elio t or Mr. Taf t at luncheon as theypassed through Tokyo andbehave likeany other polite host and not end theawe with w hich his people regarded him.The legend persisted. He existed inlight ineffable. No one smiled whengenerals or admirals ascribed victories,won th rough the skilful use of recentinven t ions , to ' the virtues of the E m peror. ' "

ENGLAND'S "TITANIC"REPORT

m *" \ ^S E N T I M E N T s e e m s

among American editors thatthe court of inquiry of the

British Board of Trade in its decisionupon the Titanic disaster states in over-mi ld te rms the same ideas that theBritish press r idiculed in Senator S mith 'srepor t . The divergences between thetwo reports are judged to be chiefly onpersona l i t ie stha t the Lord Merseydocument exonerates instead of censuring Cap ta in Smith , J. Bruce Ismay, andSir Cosmo Duff-Gordon. Toplace theb l a m e on excessive speed, add t h a t aproper watch was not kept, that arrangem e n t s for manning boats were insufficient, and t h a t the liner Californianmigh t have saved every one concernedif she had tr ied, impresses some of themost conservative of our papers as anexcess of caution in language. The Bosto n Transcript speaks of the inquiryas a " c o m p r o m i s e , " and t h a t "a t first blush it reads rather l ikeexcusing." The New York Evening Post admits tha t the

THE NEW MIKA DO.

repor t is free from rhetoric, but a d d stha t the re are t imes when a bit of honest indignation is not altogether out ofp lace. Th is journa l th inks ' tha t theAmerican inquiry established the sameconclusions as the British and in lesst ime; t h a t the tone of the Merseydecision is "excessively judicial ," and" r a t h e r an incongruous garment for theterrible array of facts it covers . " TheNew York Tribune speaks of the suggestions of the British court as " m e r eechoes of Senator Smith 's report andthe comments which it inspired."

From these editorials of compara t ivemodera t ion the in tens i ty of feelingamong press writers grades on in tocharges of "whi tewash ing . " The NewYork Times summarizes the repor t asmeaning tha t "nobody is to b l a m e , "and characterizes it as preposterous.It satir ically observes:

"T he most lucid conclusion reachedis that if the Titanic had b e e n a n u n -sinkable b oat she would not have sunk.She might have been m ade safer by awater-tight deck, but Lord Mersey isnot sure. She might have iloated if sh ehad been divided into longitudinal in-stead of t ransverse wa te r - t igh t compar tments . The Board of T r a d e is ad vised to investigate these and o therplans to make ships safer, and the boardis rebuked for not revising the sh ip ping rules of 1894. Bu t the high speedkep t up in the ice-field was due to no-body's negligence or ignorance, and thetrack followed was reasonably safe withproper vigilance."

T h e New York World's view is also that "in its s tud iedmodera t ion the Mersey report comes near to being a white -

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P R I N C E T E L N O M I Y A ,Aged 7.

T H E R I S I N G G E N E R A T I O N OF J A P A N E S E R O Y A L T Y .The three sons of the new Emperor, Yoshihito.

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210 T H E L I T E B A R Y D I G E S T August 10, 1912washing afia ir ." The dooument, i t is argued, s ta tes facts tha twere perfectly well known for months, but doesn ' t ask why.."Was no one responsible , neither the captain nor the managersof the company? Can aU the blame be shifted to the Brit ishBoard of Trade, whom Lord Mersey alone seems to considerdeserving of blame because it has not re\dsed the shipping rulessince 1894?" The New York American, too, can see nothingso apparent as "whitewash" and a decis ion s tupid , feeble ,and evasive:

"The Brit ish Board of Trade, i tse lf the prisoner a t the baras well as the judicial court of inquiry in the Titanic case,naturally whitewashes Ismay, whitewashes Captain Smith ,whitewashes the responsible directors and builders, and, ofcourse , complacently whitewashes itself."We find an approving comment, however, in the New Yorkmorn ing Sun, which believes tha t -"On the whole Lord Mersey 's report is a document markedby good sense and courage. It would be easy to point o utone or two th ings of a personal nature that might be regardedas blemishes, but they do not affect the soundness of the findings.As a result of the American and Brit ish investigations therewill surely be in ternational legis la t ion designed to m ake A tlantictravel as safe as it was assumed to be before the Titanic wen tdown with most of her passenger l is t ."The cable dispatches give a brief summary of the findingsof the Brit ish court . I t recommends"T ha t th e Board of Trad e should investigate the practicability of providing seagoing ships, in additi on to their wat ert ight transverse bulkheads, with a double skin , carr ied abovethe water- l ine , or with a longitudinal vert ical water- t ight bulkhead on each side of the vessel, or with both."That the Board should a lso investigate regarding the question of providing a water-tight deck, or decks, stretching alongthe whole or part of the length of the ship at a convenientdis tance above the water- l ine , and should investigate w hetherthe openings shou ld be water -tigh t doors, or some other device."That the Board should report upon the increasing protectiongiven by the subdivision of the vessel, with the object of keepingthe ship af loat with the greatest proportion of her length infree communication with the sea ."The Coxu-t , recommends that the Brit ish Board of Tradebe empowered to enforce its conclusions on the foregoing points,and to require that the designs of ships should be submittedto it during the early stages of their construction, and shouldhave a t , the same t im e power to d irect changes " to be m ade."Another recommendation is that the l ifeboat and raftaccommodations on seagoing vessels be based on the number ofpersons carr ied , instead of on the tonnage of the ship , and thatthey be sufficient for all on board."T he Court th inks changes may be necessary in the s izeand ty pe of boat s carr ied by ships and in the methods of s towingand launching them. Possibly i t may be necessary to reserveone or more of the decks for the carrying of boats and the drillingof the crew. I t is recommend ed tha t the lifeboats be providedwith s ignahng apparatus , with a compass, and with provis ions,and that the number each boat is in tended to carry should beplainly mark ed. The Cou rt a lso recommends a more searchinginspection of the boats, and more frequent drilling of the crew,enough of whom should be tra ined to man the boats ."Further recommendations are: S ight tes ts for ships ' lookouts, a police svstem for control in cases of emergency, a continuous wireless service, regulations for moderating speed oraltering the vessel's course in the ice region."The Court suggests that an in ternational convention becalled t agree on a common rule for the subdivision of ships,also as to life-saving apparatus, wireless regulations, speed in theice regions, and the use of search-lights."In conclusion Lord M ersey severely blames the Brit ish Boardof Trade for its failure to revise the shipping rules of 1894.United States Senator Will iam Alden Smith , who headed theAmerican investigation, describes the conclusions of the Britishcourt as "quite generally in accord with the findings of theS ena te commit tee . "

GRAFT IN DETROITC ADILLAC'S EMOTIONS , i f he had come back to f indcorruption rampant in the c i ty he founded, are beingimagined by more than one writer in the daily press .He did come back in pantomime, as Detroit 's "CadUlaquacelebration" was on, and the man who impersonated the Frenchexplorer was Andrew H. Green, Jr . , the wealthy business manwho financed the exploration of city corru ption a nd e xposureof the grafters. In his own day Cadillac himself was accused ofcrooked financial deals, say the historians, and he had a hard timeclearing himself, so i t is not easy to say precisely what h isfeelings would be if he had appeared just in time to be confronted by a Burns detective.

The success of the Burns methods in uncovering the Detroitirregulari t ies fa i ls to rouse much surprize among newspaperobservers , who are now gett ing used to such results , and theypass on to discuss other phases of the casesuch as whethercommission government would prevent such scandals andwhether most o ther American cit ies are as bad as Detroit .In the local papers there is much discussion of the charactersof the accused leaders and praise for Mayor Will iam B. Thompson and Mr . Green. The Detroit News headed a subscrip tionto re imburse Green for the $10,000 he spent in the investigation,but he declined to consider accepting i t . "W ho gets credit isunim port ant ," was his comm ent. ."Tha t the work is done isall-suf&eient."

Around "Honest Tom" Glinnan, president of the council ,professedly a champion of people's rights, and E. R. Sehreiter,Jr. , secretary of the common council committees and also secretary of the American League of Municipali t ies , the l ight ofpublic ity shines most glaringly. Sehreiter pleads innocence .Glinnan has confessed, and with him one other a lderman.Three have made part ia l confessions. The Burns detective whotrap t th em b y pretending to be an agent of the Waba shrailroad seeking to have a s treet vacated, a l leges that the priceof four of the accused ald erm en was f 100 each, th at h e bou ghtthree others at $200 a head, one at $500, and that Sehreiter wasto get $500, but was fr ightened away. Glinnan was paid $1,000in marked bills in the detective's of&oe just before the arrest.He took them out, handed them back, sa t down and made complete confession. Th e De troit News, which had backed Glinnanas an anti-corporation champion, com ments sorrowfully on thecold-bloodedness of political graft.

"There are men in the l is t of whom anything might be expected; their past is so spotted tha t they have no future;their consciences are so war ped th at th ey suffer from m oralmyopia . Bu t Tom Glinnan had a fu ture; he had abil i ty ; hehad a grasp of public questions; he was able to d is t inguishbetween his duty to h is ward and his wider duty to h is c i ty ;he had a constructive mind ; he had the faculty of impressinghis fellow-citizens as a ma n of tho ugh t and sincerity. It isth is same Tom Glinnan whom we f ind arranging for the paymentof filthy bribes to his fellow-councillors. It is his voice th atassures them th at everything is al l r ight . I t is he who teUsthem how to vote and how not to vote . I t is he who hagglesover the price of barte red honor . It is he who boasts even inthe chamber of detection that he has fooled the president ofthe Board of Comm erce and the editor of The News in to believingtha t he is on th e squarelaughing about i t as a good* joke,when the very forces he thou ght he ha d hoodwinked w ere c losingin on him. I t was Tom G linnan who, knowing the value ofa moral front, put up the imm oral deal. Here was the capacityfor honorable service turned to the souUion-work of bribesoliciting."The Free Press sees an object- lesson in what a "re view thenames on the roU of d ishonor" reveals :"They are a l l names of men who have paraded themselves as'friends of the people. '."They are names that have been most flagrantly associated

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Aiiffust 10, 1912 T H E L I T E E A E Y D I G E S T 2 1 1

A N D R E W H. G B E E N ,The citizen who furnished m oney where-with to discover the grafters.MAYOR WI LLI AM B. T H O M P S O N ,W ho is taking a leading and active partin laying bare the corruption.

THOMAS B. G L I N N A N ,The reform politician who confesses thathe received a $1,000 bribe.L E A D I N G P E R S O N A G E S IN THE D E T R O I T G R A F T I N V E S T I G A T I O N .

with demagogic appeals to the poor against the weal thy, to theworkingmen against the employers, to the 'masses ' aga ins t the'c lasses. '" D e t r o i t is cursed wi th its full share of these fals^ publ icleaders." B u t t h e y are not typical of our civic life."This ci ty, l inked tho it is now with the cities whose namesare branded wi th shame, is not corrupt . It has allowed corrup-t ion to creep into its official life, but it is i tself sound at hear tand will not tolerate graft and br ibery . "The measure of Det ro i t ' s sin in comparison with other citiesis interesting some of the press writers as keenly as the story

itself. The Pi t t sburg Dispatch t h inks :" D e t r o i t is probably no worse and no bet ter than any otherci ty of its size where public opinion has not been aroused tovigilant interest in municipal affairs. The rapid growth of thecity in recent years was favorable to such conditions, introducing

new elements and disturbing old bal ances . "Burns himself offers some comfort in an interview whichquotes him as saying simi larly that Detroi t is not so bad offas many other ci t ies he knows of. The view of the Kansas Ci ty

Star is t ha t it is the ward system of government t ha t is primari lyto blame, and it thinks that commission government would haveprevent ed bo th p lunder and scandal . The Phi ladelphia Recordment ions the same medicine, but in less enthusiast ic terms:"The on ly prevent ive measure is in the h a n d s of the voters .If they will exercise a reasonable degree of independence int h e use of their ballots, the bosses and machines will not dareto nominate crooks lest they should be defeated. The com-mission form of city government offers some substantial aids tot he vo t ers who wish good government , but it will not provideit unless they do thei r duty. The voters have got to be independ-e n t of the par ty names and be willing to defeat a man of sus-picious character, even if his n a m e be on the bal lot they are int he hab i t of vot ing, or grafting will continue a common thingin public of&ees."T h e St. Louis Repuhlic thinks that Detroi t 's three RepubHoana n d two Democratic mayors since 1899, elected upon local issues,prove that party pol i t ics have had l i t t le to do with its elections.

The Republic contemplates the Detroi t si tuat ion "wi th somethingakin to despa i r" and warns us t ha t"Any Ameri can c i t y is l ikely to have the experience thatDet ro i t is now having, and the count ry is never free frommunicipal scandal . In ci ty government this country has comei ts nearest to abso lute failure. There, is but one tangible" anddefinite movement on foot to bet ter ci ty goverimient , and t h a tis the movement toward government by commissions. It

behooves every American to watch and s tudy t ha t movementand to make up his mind to try it unless some weakness in itappears soon."

MR. TAFT'S PLATFORM'T H E E I G H T H C O M M A N D M E N T is becoming anissue in a President ial campaign. "T ho u shal t nots t ea l !" cry Colonel Roosevel t 's part izan s as they assem-bl e at Chicago, cal l ing upon honest Republ icans to join themon the plea that the Taft nominat ion was stolen. The R e p u b -l ican campaign managers reply to these charges of theft bysending out an elaborate defense of thei r act ion in seat ing theTaft delegates whose seats were contested; and the Pres iden tin his speech of acceptance takes up the thief issue by declaringt h a t if the promises made by either of his chief opponents "meananything, they lead di rect ly toward the appropriat ion of w h a tbelongs to one man, to another , " and by a t t ack ing Messrs .Roosevel t and Wilson as Socialists. The address which Mr. Taftread to the gent lemen of the notification committee, in the E a s tRoom of the White House last Thursday, is looked upon as hispersonal plat form, and editors generally agree with: the NewYork Press (Prog. Rep.) t ha t it is an " a p p e a l to the conserva-t ive voters of the United States, whether they have been in thepast Republ icans or Democra t s . " And it is for this Very reasont h a t the New York Herald (Ind.) and Sun (Ind.) praise it aswarmly as does the regular Republ ican New York Tribune.But from the papers opposing the President come shouts ofderision. The New York Evening Mail (Prog.) prints a columnof scathing editorial criticism of "the morass of apologies,negat ions, doubts, evasions, and special pleadings of Mr. Taf t ' sspeech of accep t ance . " The New York World (Dem.) finds."but a single sentence in this speech revealing the smallest ap-preciat ion on the p a r t of its maker of the personal and politicalshortcomings which have wrecked his Administ rat ion, dividedhis party, and brought the t hunders of the oncoming Democracywithin hearing of the Whi te House . " And it concludes that."every paragraph of this ut teran ce wi ll giv e" a new reasonfor the popular disappointment in Mr. Taft which "has beengrowing rapidly in the last two years . "

M u c h of the President 's address is devoted to a review of theacts of his Administ rat ion. He takes issue with the Democra t son the tariif, bel ieving that the only road to permanent p ros-perity lies through scientific revision by a tariff board, with the