But the companies cannot properly
be blamed for this practice, because if the `blue liners' slow
down in a fog or take a safe route, clear of ice, the public will
take passage on the `green liners,' which take the shortest
route, and keep up their schedule time; regardless of the risks
indicated."
PROMPT REFORMS
The terrible sacrifice of the Titanic, however, is to have its
fruit in safety for the future. The official announcement is
{illust. caption = A diagrammatic map showing how...}
made by the International Mercantile Marine that all its
ships will be equipped with sufficient life-boats and rafts
for every passenger and every member of the crew, without
regard to the regulations in this country and England or Belgium.
One of the German liners already had this complement
of life-boats, though the German marine as a whole is sufficiently
deficient at this point to induce the Reichstag to order
an investigation.
Prompt, immediate and gratifying reform marks this action
of the International Mercantile Marine. It is doubtless
true that this precaution ought to have been taken without
waiting for a loss of life such as makes all previous marine
disasters seem trivial. But the public itself has been inert.
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