To the coolness and devotion to duty of John Binns, operator
of the “wireless,” and one of the actors in the shipwreck of
the _Republic_, was due the prompt assistance accorded
the stricken passenger-steamer by sister liners. As he himself
exprest it by wireless, Binns was “on the job” from the time the
_Florida_ crashed into the _Republic_ amidships until
the last passenger had been transferred to the colliding vessel.
It was a stretch of thirty hours, and every minute of that
time the telephone receivers, which are part of the wireless
apparatus, were strapped to his eager and listening ears. Seldom
has there been a more shining example of that calm courage that
goes hand in hand with a sound sense of business duty.
Almost until the _Republic_ went down Binns kept his ship
in touch with Siasconset and passing ships by the use of
accumulators, for the shutting down of the engines ended the
power of his electric dynamos that ordinarily give the power of
transmission to the wireless.
(1048)
* * * * *
According to dispatches from Hartford, Col. Jacob L. Greene, who
was the head of the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company
from 1877 until his death a year ago, left a fortune of only a
little more than $50,000. The smallness of his estate created
comment from the newspapers and much surprize in insurance
circles. It was supposed that he had taken at least some little
advantage of the many opportunities for money-making which his
position gave him.
The settlement of his estate seems to show that, during all the
time he was in the insurance business, he conducted himself
in strict accordance with the axioms which he had laid down
for the guidance of insurance men and insurance companies in
general. One of these axioms was, “A mutual company ought not to
be mulcted for the benefit of the agents.” Another was, “True
mutuality in life insurance does not seek to favor a few at the
expense of the many, nor to give to a few what many have lost.”
(Text.)
(1049)
=Faithfulness Before Rulers=--See MAGNIFYING A SACRED OFFICE.