of the subject to direct the trend of
their inquiry. The newspapers of two continents have noted the remarks
of the President of the Senatorial Commission with comments which I will
not reproduce here, having a scant respect for the "organs of public
opinion," as they fondly believe themselves to be. The absolute value of
their remarks was about as great as the value of the investigation they
either mocked at or extolled. To the United States Senate I did not
intend to be disrespectful. I have for that body, of which one hears
mostly in connection with tariffs, as much reverence as the best of
Americans. To manifest more or less would be an impertinence in a
stranger. I have expressed myself with less reserve on our Board of
Trade. That was done under the influence of warm feelings. We were all
feeling warmly on the matter at that time. But, at any rate, our Board
of Trade Inquiry, conducted by an experienced President, discovered a
very interesting fact on the very second day of its sitting: the fact
that the water-tight doors in the bulkheads of that wonder of naval
architecture could be opened down below by any irresponsible person. Thus
the famous closing apparatus on the bridge, paraded as a device of
greater safety, with its attachments of warning bells, coloured lights,
and all these pretty-pretties, was, in the case of this ship, little
better than a technical farce.
It is amusing, if anything connected with this stupid catastrophe can be
amusing, to see the secretly crestfallen attitude of technicians. They
are the high priests of the modern cult of perfected material and of
mechanical appliances, and would fain forbid the profane from inquiring
into its mysteries. We are the masters of progress, they say, and you
should remain respectfully silent. And they take refuge behind their
mathematics. I have the greatest regard for mathematics as an exercise
of mind. It is the only manner of thinking which approaches the Divine.
But mere calculations, of which these men make so much, when unassisted
by imagination and when they have gained mastery over common sense, are
the most deceptive exercises of intellect. Two and two are four, and two
are six. That is immutable; you may trust your soul to that; but you
must be certain first of your quantities. I know how the strength of
materials can be calculated away, and also the evidence of one's senses.
For it is by some sort of calculation involving weig
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