For thirty years, since Plimsoll's day, every intelligent passenger
knew that every British vessel was deficient in life-
boats, but neither public opinion nor the public press took
this matter up. There were no questions in Parliament and
no measures introduced in Congress. Even the legislation
by which the United States permitted English vessels reaching
American ports to avoid the legal requirements of American
statute law (which requires a seat in the life-boats for every
passenger and every member of the crew) attracted no public
attention, and occasional references to the subject by those
better informed did nothing to awake action.
But this is past. Those who died bravely without complaint
and with sacrificing regard for others did not lose their
lives in vain. The safety of all travelers for all times to come
under every civilized flag is to be greater through their sac-
rifice. Under modern conditions life can be made as safe at
sea as on the land. It is heartrending to stop and think that
thirty-two more life-boats, costing only about $16,000, which
could have been stowed away without being noticed on the
broad decks of the Titanic, would have saved every man,
woman and child on the steamer.
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