Chapter 28 of the Sinking of the Titanic in Great Sea Disasters. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This reading by Allison Hester of Athens, Georgia. The Sinking of the Titanic in Great Sea Disasters. Edited by Logan Marshall. Chapter 28. Time for Reflection and Reforms. Speed and luxury overemphasized. Space needed for lifeboats devoted to swimming pools and squash courts? Mania for speed records compels use of dangerous routes and prevents proper caution and foggy weather. Life more valuable than luxury. Safety more important than speed. And aroused public opinion necessary. International conference recommended. Adequate life-saving equipment should be compulsory. Speed regulations in bad weather? Cooperation and arranging schedules to keep the vessels within reach of each other? Legal regulations. It is a long time since any modern vessel of importance has gone down under nature's attack. And in general, the floating city of steel laughs at the wind and waves. She is not, however, proof against disaster. Danger lies in her own power and attends of thousands of horsepower with which she may be driven into another ship. Or into an iceberg standing cold and unyielding as a wall of granite. In view of this fact, it is of the utmost importance that the present day vessels should be thoroughly provided with the most efficient life-saving devices. These would seem more important than fireplaces, squash courts, and many other luxuries with which the Titanic was provided. The comparatively few survivors of the ill-fated Titanic were saved by the lifeboats. The hundreds of others who went down with the vessel perished because there were no lifeboats to carry them until rescue came. Survivors urge reform. The survivors urged the need of reform. In a resolution drawn up after the disaster, they said, We feel it our duty to call the attention of the public to what we consider the inadequate supply of life-saving appliances provided for the modern passenger steamships. And recommend that immediate steps be taken to compel passenger steamers to carry sufficient boats to accommodate the maximum number of people carried on board. The following facts were observed and should be considered in this connection. The insufficiency of lifeboats, rafts, etc. Lack of trained seamen to man some. Stokers, stewards, etc. are not efficient boat handlers. Not enough officers to carry out emergency orders on the bridge and superintend the launching and control of lifeboats? The absence of searchlights. The Board of Trade allows for entirely too many people in each boat to permit the same to be properly handled. On the Titanic, the boat deck was about 75 feet from the water and consequently the passengers were required to embark before lowering the boats. Thus endangering the operation and preventing the taking on of the maximum number the boats would hold. Boats at all times should be properly equipped with provisions, water, lamps, compasses, lights, etc. Life-saving boat drills should be more frequent and thoroughly carried out and officers should be armed at both drills. There should be greater reduction of speed and fog and ice as damage if collision actually occurs is liable to be less. International Conference recommended. In conclusion, we suggest that an international conference be called to recommend the passage of identical laws providing for the safety of all at sea. And we urge the United States government to take the initiative as soon as possible. That ocean liners take chances with their passengers, though known to the well-informed, is newly revealed and comes with a shock of surprise and dismay to most people. If boats are insinkable as well as fireproof, there is no need of any lifeboats at all. But no such steamship has ever been constructed. That it is realized that lifeboats may be necessary on the best and newest steamships is proved by the fact that they carry them even beyond the law's requirements. But if lifeboats for one-third of those on the ship are necessary, lifeboats for all on board are equally necessary. The law of the United States requires this, but the law and trade regulations of England do not. And these control the Titanic and cause the death of over 1,600 people. True, a steamship is rarely crowded to her capacity, and ordinarily accommodations and lifeboats for a full list would not be needed. But that is no argument against maximum safety facilities. For when disaster comes, it comes unexpectedly, and it might come when every birth was occupied. So there must be lifeboats for use in every possible emergency. Places must be found for them, and methods for handling them promptly. Suppose a vessel to be thus equipped would safety be ensured? In calm weather, such as the Titanic had, yes, for all that would be needed would be to keep the small boats afloat until help came. The Titanic could have saved everyone aboard. In heavy weather, no. As at present arranged, if a vessel has a list or in a non-nautical language has tipped over on one side, only the boats upon the lower side can be dropped, for they must be swung clear of the vessel to be lowered from the davits. So there is a problem, which it is the duty of marine designers to dissolve. They have, here to for, turned their attention to the invention of some new contrivance for comfort and luxury. Now let them grasp the far more important question of taking every soul from a sinking ship. They can do it, and while they are about it, it would be well to supplement lifeboats with other methods. We like to think and to say that nothing is impossible in these days of ceaseless and energetic progress. Certainly, it is possible for the brains of marine designers to find a better way for rescue work. Lewis Nixon, shipbuilder and designer for years, is sure that we can revolutionize safety appliances. He has had a plan for a long time for the construction of a considerable section of deck that could be detached and floated off like an immense raft. He figures that such a deck raft could be made to carry the bulk of the passengers. That may seem a bit chimerical to layman, but Nixon is no layman. His ideas are worthy of every consideration. Certain it is that something radical must be done, and that the maritime nations must get together, not only in the way of providing more life-saving facilities, but in agreeing upon navigation routes and methods. Captain William S. Sims of the United States Navy, who is in a position to know what he is talking about, has made some very pointed comments on the subject. He says, The truth of the matter is that in case any large passenger steam ship sinks by reason of collision or other fatal damage to her floatability, more than half of her passengers are doomed to death, even in fair weather. And in case there is a bit of sea running, none of the loaded boats can long remain afloat, even if they succeed in getting safely away from the side. And one more will be added to the long list of the ships that never return. Most people accept this condition as one of the inevitable perils of the sea, but I believe it can be shown that the terrible loss of life occasioned by such disasters as overtook the Burgone and the Titanic, and many other ships can be avoided or at least greatly minimized. Moreover, it can be shown that the steam ship owners are fully aware of the danger to their passengers, that the laws on the subject of life saving appliances are wholly inadequate, that the steam ship companies comply with the law, though they oppose any changes therein, and that they decline to adopt improved appliances. Because there is no public demand for them, the demand being for high schedule speed and luxurious conditions of travel. In addition to installing efficient life saving appliances, if the great steam ship lines should come to an agreement to fix a maximum speed for their vessels of various classes and fix their dates and hours of steaming so that they would cross the ocean in pairs within supporting distances of each other on routes of clear ice, all dangers of ocean travel would practically be eliminated. The shortest course between New York and the English Channel lies across Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Consequently, the shortest water route is overseas where navigation is dangerous by reason of fog and ice. It is a notorious fact that the transatlantic steam ships are not navigated with due regard to safety, that they steam at practically full speed in the densest fog. 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 their scheduled time, regardless of the risks indicated. Prompt reforms. The terrible sacrifice of the Titanic, however, is to have its fruit and safety for the future. The official announcement is made by the International Mercantile Marine that all its ships will be equipped with sufficient lifeboats 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 lifeboats, though the German Marine as a whole is sufficiently deficient at this point to induce the rakes tag 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. For 30 years since Plymso's day, every intelligent passenger knew that every British vessel was deficient in lifeboats and 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 lifeboats 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 sacrifice. Under modern conditions, life can be made as safe at sea as on the land. It is heartrending to stop and think that 32 more lifeboats 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. There has never been so great a disaster in the history of civilization due to the neglect of so small an expenditure. It would be idle to think that this was due simply to parsimony. It was really due to the false and vicious notion that life at sea must be made showy, sumptuous and magnificent. The absence of lifeboats was not due to their cost, but to the demand for a great promenade deck with ample space to look out on the sea with which a continuous row of lifeboats would have interfered and to the general tendency to lavish money on the luxuries of a voyage instead of first ensuring its safety. End of Chapter 28, Chapter 29 of the Thinking of the Titanic in Great Sea Disasters. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This reading by Allison Hester of Athens, Georgia. The Thinking of the Titanic in Great Sea Disasters. Edited by Logan Marshall. Chapter 29, The Senatorial Investigation. Prompt action of the government, Senate Committee probes disaster and brings out details, testimony of ISMA, officers, crew, passengers and other witnesses. Public sentiment with regard to the Titanic disaster was reflected in the prompt action of the United States government. On April 17, the Senate, without a dissenting vote, ordered an investigation of the wreck of the Titanic with particular reference to the inadequacy of life-saving boats and apparatus. The resolution also directed inquiry into the use by the Titanic of the northern course over a route commonly regarded as dangerous from the icebergs. Besides investigating the disaster, the committee was directed to look into the feasibility of international agreements for the further protection of ocean traffic. The Senate Committee on Commerce, in whose charge the investigation was placed, immediately appointed the following subcommittee to conduct the gathering of evidence and the examination of witnesses. Senator William Alden Smith of Michigan, Chairman. Senator Francis Newlands of Nevada. Senator Jonathan Bourne, Jr. of Oregon. Senator George C. Perkins of California. Senator Theodore E. Burton of Ohio. Senator Frenifold Simmons of North Carolina. And Senator Duncan U. Fletcher of Florida. The Senate Committee began its investigation in New York on Friday, April 19, the morning after the arrival of the Carpathia. Smith May, the first witness, came to the witness chair with a smile upon his face. He was sworn and then told the committee that he made the voyage on the Titanic only as a voluntary passenger. Nobody designated him to come to see how the newly launched monster would behave on the initial trip. He said no money was spared in the construction, and as she was built on commission, there was no need for the builders to slight the work for their own benefit. The accident had happened on Sunday night, April 14. I was in bed asleep, he said. The ship was not going at full speed, as has been printed, because full speed would be from 78 to 80 revolutions, and we were making only 75. After the impact with the iceberg, I dressed and went on deck. I asked the stewards what the matter was, and he told me. Then I went to Captain Smith and asked him if the ship was in danger, and he told me he thought she was. Smith May said that he went on the bridge and remained there for some time and then lent a hand in getting the lifeboats ready. He helped to get the women and children into the boats. Smith May said that no other executive officer of the steamship company was on board, which practically made him the sole master of the vessel the minute it passed beyond the control of the captain and his fellow officers. But Smith May, seeming to sent the drift of the questions, said that he never interfered in any way with the handling of the ship. Smith May was asked to give more particulars about his departure from the ship. He said, the boat was ready to be lowered away, and the officer called out if there were any more children or women to go on, or any more passengers on deck, but there was none, and I got on board. Captain Rostran's testimony. Captain Rostran of the Carpathia followed Mr. Isdme. He said the first message received from the Titanic was that she was in immediate danger. I gave the order to turn the ship around as soon as the Titanic had given her position. I set a course to pick up the Titanic, which was 58 miles west of my position. I sent for the chief engineer, told him to put on another watch of stokers and make all speed for the Titanic. I told the first officer to stop all deck work, get out the lifeboats and be ready for any emergency. The chief steward and doctor of the Carpathia I called to my office and instructed as to their duties. The English doctor was assigned to the first class dining room, the Italian doctor to the second class dining room, the Hungarian doctor to the third class dining room. They were instructed to be ready with all supplies necessary for any emergency. The captain told in detail of the arrangements made to prepare the lifeboats and the ship for the receipt of the survivors. Weeps as he tells story. Then with tears filling his eyes, Captain Rostran said he called the purser. I told him, said Captain Rostran, I wanted to hold a service of prayer, thanksgiving for the living and a funeral service for the dead. I went to Mr. Ismay. He told me to take full charge. An Episcopal clergyman was found among the passengers and he conducted the services. Titanic was a lifeboat. Captain Rostran said that the Carpathia had 20 lifeboats of her own in accordance with British regulations. Wouldn't that indicate that the regulations are out of date? Your ship being much smaller than the Titanic, which also carried 20 lifeboats? Senator Smith asked, No, the Titanic was supposed to be a lifeboat herself. Wireless failed. Why so few messages came from the Carpathia was gone into. Captain Rostran declared the first messages, all substantially the same, were sent to the White Star Line, the Kunard Line, and the Associated Press. Then the first and second cabin passenger lists were sent when the wireless failed. Senator Smith said some complaint had been heard that the Carpathia had not answered President Taft's inquiry for major but. Captain Rostran declared a reply was sent, not on board. Captain Rostran declared he issued orders for no messages to be sent except upon orders from him and for official business to go first, then private messages from the Titanic survivors in order of filing. Absolutely no censorship was exercised, he said. The wireless continued working all the way in, the Marconi operator being constantly at the key. Guglielmo Marconi, the wireless inventor, was the next witness. Marconi said he was chairman of the British Marconi Company. Under instructions of the company, he said, operators must take their orders from the captain of the ship on which they are employed. Do the regulations prescribe whether one or two operators should be aboard the ocean vessels? Yes, on ships like the late Titanic and Olympic, two are carried, said Marconi. The Carpathia, a smaller boat, carries one. The Carpathia's wireless apparatus is a short distance equipment. Titanic well equipped. Do you consider that the Titanic was equipped with the latest improved wireless apparatus? Yes, I should say it had the very best. Did you hear the captain of the Carpathia say in his testimony that they caught this distressed message from the Titanic almost providentially? Asked Senator Smith. Yes, I did. It was absolutely providential. Is there any sign for the operator if he is not at his post? I think there is none, said Marconi. Aught it not be incumbent upon ships to have an operator always at the key? Yes, but ship owners don't like to carry two operators when they can get along with just one. The smaller boat owners do not like the expense of two operators. Second Officer Testifies Charles Herbert Leitholer, Second Officer of the Titanic, followed Marconi on the stand. Mr. Leitholer said he understood the maximum speed of the Titanic as shown by its trial tests to have been 22.5 to 23 knots. Senator Smith asked if the rule requiring life-saving apparatus to be in each room for each passenger was complied with. Everything was complete, said Leitholer. In lifeboats of which four were collapsible were on the Titanic, he added. During the tests, he said, Captain Clark of the British Board of Trade was aboard the Titanic to inspect its life-saving equipment. How thorough are these captains of the board trade in inspecting ships? Asked Senator Smith. Captain Clark is so thorough that we called him a nuisance. Titanic Killed Rapidly After testifying to the circumstances under which the lifeboats were filled and lowered, Leitholer continued. The boat's deck was only 10 feet from the water when I lowered the sixth boat. When we lowered the first, the distance to the water was 70 feet. If the same course was pursued on the starboard side as you pursued on the port and filling boats, how do you account for so many members of the crew being saved? Asked Chairman Smith. I have inquired especially and have found that for every six persons picked up, five were either firemen or stewards. Codham Tells His Story Thomas Codham of Liverpool, the Marconi operator on the Carpathia, was the next witness. Codham said that he was about ready to retire Sunday night, having partially removed his clothes and was waiting for a reply message to the Parisian when he heard the Cape Cod trying to call the Titanic. Codham called the Titanic operator to inform him of the fact and received the reply. Come at once. This is a distress message. CQD. What did you do then? I confirmed the distress message by asking the Titanic if I should report the distress message to the captain of the Carpathia. How much time elapsed after you received the Titanic's distress message before you reported it to Captain Rostron? About a couple of minutes, Codham answered. Codham recalled. When the committee resumed the investigation on April 20, Codham was recalled to the stand. Senator Smith asked the witness if he had received any messages from the time the Carpathia left the scene of the disaster until it reached New York. The purpose of this question was to discover whether any official had sought to keep back the news of the disaster. No, sir, answered Codham. I reported the entire matter myself to the steamship Baltic at 10.30 o'clock Monday morning. I told her we had been to the wreck and had picked up as many of the passengers as we could. Codham denied that he had sent any message that all passengers had been saved or anything on which such a report could be based. Codham said he was at work Monday and until Wednesday. He repeated his testimony of the previous day and said he had been without sleep throughout Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and until late Wednesday afternoon when he had been relieved by Bride. Did you or Bride send any message declaring that the Titanic was being towed into Halifax? No, sir, said the witness with emphasis. Marconi explains, In an effort to determine whether the signal CQD might not have been misunderstood by passing ships, Senator Smith called upon Mr. Marconi. The CQ, said Marconi, is an international signal which meant that all stations should cease sending except the one using the call. The D was added to indicate danger. The call, however, has now been superseded by the universal call SOS. Bride on the stand Harold S. Bride, the sole surviving operator of the Titanic, was then called. Bride said he knew the Frankfurt was nearer than the Carpathia when he called for assistance, but that he ceased his efforts to communicate with the former because her operator persisted in asking, What is the matter? Despite Bride's message that the ship was in distress, time after time Senator Smith asked in varying forms why the Titanic did not explain its condition to the Frankfurt. Any operator receiving CQD and the position of the ship, if he is on the job, said Bride, would tell the captain at once. Marconi again testified to the distress signals and said that the Frankfurt was equipped with Marconi wireless. He said that the receipt of the signal CQD by the Frankfurt's operator should have been all sufficient to send the Frankfurt to the immediate rescue. All appeals received. Under questioning by Senator Smith, Bride said that undoubtedly the Frankfurt received all of the urgent appeals for help sent subsequently to the Carpathia. Investigation carried to Washington. The first witness when the investigation was resumed in Washington on April 22nd was P.A.S. Franklin, Vice President of the International Mercantile Marine Company. Franklin testified that he had no communication with Captain Smith during the Titanic's voyage, nor with Ismay, except one cable from Southampton. Senator Smith then showed Mr. Franklin the telegram received by Congressman Hughes of West Virginia from the White Star Line, dated New York, April 15th, and addressed to J.A. Hughes, Huntington, West Virginia, as follows. Titanic proceeding to Halifax. Passengers probably land on Wednesday. All safe. Signed the White Star Line. Telegram a mystery. I ask you, continued the Senator, whether you know about the sending of that telegram by whom it was authorized and from whom it was sent. I do not, sir, said Franklin. Since it was mentioned at the Waldorf Saturday, we have had the entire passenger staff examined and we cannot find out. Asked when he first knew that the Titanic had sunk, Franklin said he first knew about it at 6.27 p.m. Monday. Mr. Franklin then produced a thick package of telegrams which he had received in relation to the disaster. About 20 minutes of two on Monday morning, said he. I was awakened by a telephone bell and was called by a reporter for some paper who informed me that the Titanic had met with an accident and was sinking. I asked him where he got the information. He told me that it had come by wireless from the steamship Virginia which had been appealed to by the Titanic for aid. Mr. Franklin said he called up the White Star Docs but they had no information and he then appealed to the Associated Press and there was read to him a dispatch from the Cape Race advising him of the accident. I asked the Associated Press, said Mr. Franklin, not to send out the dispatch until we had more detailed information in order to avoid causing unnecessary alarm. I was told, however, the story had already been sent out. The reassuring statements sent out by the line in the early hours of the disaster next were made the subject of inquiry. Tell the committee on what you based those statements, directed Senator Smith. We based them on reports and rumors received at Cape Race by individuals and by the newspapers. They were rumors and we could not place our finger on anything authentic. First, definite news. At 6.20 or 6.30 Monday evening, Mr. Franklin continued, a message was received telling the faithful news that the Carpathia reached the Titanic and found nothing but boats and wreckage. That the Titanic had foundered at 2.20 a.m. and 41.16 north and 50.14 west. That the Carpathia picked up all the boats and had on board about 675 Titanic survivors, passengers and crew. It was such a terrible shock that it took me several moments to think what to do. Then I went downstairs to the reporters. I began to read the message holding it high in my hand. I had read only to the second line, which said that the Titanic had sunk when there was not a reporter left. They were so anxious to get to the telephones. Safety equipment. The Titanic's equipment was in excess of the law, said the witness. It carried its clearance in the shape of a certificate from the British Board of Trade. I might say that no vessel can leave a British port without a certificate that it is equipped to care for human lives aboard in case of accident. It is the law. Do you know of anyone, any officer or man or any official whom you deem could be held responsible for the accident and its attendant loss of life? Positively not. No one thought such an accident could happen. It was undreamed of. I think it would be absurd to try to hold some individual responsible. Every precaution was taken. That the precautions were of no avail is the source of the deepest sorrow. But the accident was unavoidable. Fourth Officer testifies. J.B. Boxhall, the fourth officer, was then questioned. Were there any drills or inspections before the Titanic sailed? He was asked. Both, said the witness. The men were mustered and the lifeboats lowered in the presence of the inspectors from the Board of Trade. How many boats were lowered? Just two, sir. On each side of the ship? No, sir. They were both on the same side. We were lying in dock. The witness said he did not know whether the lowering tackle ran free or not on that occasion. In lowering the lifeboats at the test, did the gear work satisfactorily? So far as I know. In lowering a lifeboat, he said, first the boat has to be cleared, chocks knocked down, and the boat hangs free. Then the davits are screwed out to the ship side and the boat lowered. At the time of the tests, all officers of the Titanic were present. Boxhall said that under the weather conditions experienced at the time of the collision, the lifeboats were supposed to carry 65 persons. Under the regulations of the British Board of Trade, in addition to the oars, there were in the boats water beakers, water dippers, bread, balers, mast, and sail, and lights, and a supply of oil. All of these supplies, said Boxhall, were in the boats when the Titanic left Belfast. He could not say whether they were in when the vessel left Southampton. Now, repeated Senator Smith, suppose the weather was clear and the sky unruffled, as it was at the time of the disaster, how many would the boat hold? Really, I don't know. It would depend largely upon the people who were to enter. If they did as they were told, I believe each boat could accommodate 65 persons. Boxhall testified to the sobriety and good habits of his superior and brother officers. No trace of damage inside. Boxhall said he went down to the steerage, inspected all the decks in the vicinity of where the ship had struck, found no traces of any damage, and went directly to the bridge, and so reported. Carpenter found leaks. The captain ordered me to send a carpenter to sound the ship, but I found a carpenter coming up with the announcement that the ship was taking water. In the mail room, I found mail sacks floating about while the clerks were at work. I went to the bridge and reported, and the captain ordered the lifeboats to be made ready. Boxhall testified that at Captain Smith's orders, he took word of the ship's position to the wireless operators. What position was that? 4146 North, 1514 West. Was that the last position taken? Yes, the Titanic stood not far from there when she sank. After that, Boxhall went back to the lifeboats where there were many men and women. He said they had been provided with life belts. Distress rockets fired. After that, I was on the bridge most of the time sending out distress signals, trying to attract the attention of boats ahead. He said, I sent up distress rockets until I left the ship to try to attract the attention of a ship directly ahead. I had seen her lights. She seemed to be meeting us and was not far away. She got close enough, so she seemed to me, to read our Morse electric signals. Suppose you had a powerful searchlight on the Titanic. Could you not have thrown a beam on the vessel and have compelled her attention? We might. H.J. Pittman, the third officer of the ship, was the first witness on April 23rd. By a series of searching questions, Senator Fletcher brought out the fact that when the collision occurred, the Titanic was going at the greatest speed attained during the trip, even though the ship was entering the grand banks and had been advised of the presence of ice. Frederick Fleet, a sailor and lookout man on the Titanic, followed Pittman on the stand. Fleet said he had had five or six years' experience at sea and was lookout on the oceanic prior to going on the Titanic. He was in the crow's nest at the time of the collision. Fleet stated that he had kept a sharp lookout for ice and testified to seeing the iceberg and signaling the bridge. Fleet acknowledged that if he had been aided in his observations by a good glass, he probably could have spied the berg into which the ship crashed in time to have worn the bridge to avoid it. Major Arthur Puchin of Toronto, a passenger who followed Fleet on the stand, also testified to the much greater sweep of vision afforded by binoculars and, as a yachtsman, said he believed the presence of the iceberg might have been detected in time to escape the collision had the lookout men been so equipped. Had asked for binoculars. It was made to appear that the blame for being without glasses did not rest with the lookout men. Fleet said they had asked for them at Southampton and were told there were none for them. One glass and a pinch would have served in the crow's nest. The testimony before the committee on April 24th showed that the big steam ship was on the verge of a field of ice 20 or 30 miles long if she had not actually entered it when the accident occurred. The committee tried to discover whether it would add to human safety if the ships were fitted with searchlights so that at night objects could be seen at greater distance. The testimony so far along this line had been conflicting. Some of the witnesses thought it would be no harm to try it but they were all skeptical as to its value as an iceberg would not be especially distinguishable because its bulk is mostly below the surface. One of the witnesses said that much dependence is not placed upon the lookout and that those lookouts who use binoculars constantly found them detrimental. Harold G. Lowe, fifth officer of the Titanic, told the committee his part in the struggle of the survivors for life following the catastrophe. The details of the struggle have already been told in a previous chapter. Authorized to Sell Story In great detail, Guglielmo Marconi on April 25th explained the operations of his system and told how he had authorized Operator Bride of the Titanic and Operator Cottom of the Carpathia to sell their stories of the disaster after they came ashore. In allowing the operators to sell their stories, said Mr. Marconi, there was no question of suppressing or monopolizing the news. He had done everything he could, he said, to have the country informed as quickly as possible of the details of the disaster. That was why he was particularly glad for the narratives of such important witnesses as the operators to receive publication, regardless of the papers that published them. He repeated the testimony of Cottom that every effort had been made to get legitimate dispatches ashore. The cruiser Chester, he said, had been answered as fully as possible, but was not known at the time that its queries came from the President of the United States. The Salem, he said, had never got in touch with the Carpathia operator. Senator Newland suggested that the telegrams, some signed by the name of Mr. Samus and some with the name of Marconi, directing Cottom to keep his mouth shut and hold out for four figures on his story, was sent only as the Carpathia was entering New York Harbor, when there was no longer need for sending official or private messages from the rescuing ship. There had been an impression before, he said, that the messages had been sent to Cottom when the ship was far at sea, when they might have meant that he was to hold back messages relieving the anxiety of those on shore. Saul Distress Rockets Ernest Gill, a donkey engineman on the steam ship Californian, was the first witness on April 26. He said that Captain Stanley Lord of the Californian refused later to go to the aid of the Titanic, the rockets from which could be plainly seen. He says the captain was apprised of these signals, but made no effort to get up steam and go to the rescue. The Californian was drifting with the flow. So indignant did he become, said Gill, that he endeavored to recruit a committee of protest from among the crew, but the men failed him. Captain Lord entered a sweeping denial of Gill's accusations and read from the Californian's log to support his contention. Cyril Evans, the Californian's wireless operator, however, told of hearing much talk among the crew, who were critical of the captain's course. Gill, he said, told him he expected to get $500 for his story when the ship reached Boston. Evans told of having warned the Titanic only a brief time before the great vessel crashed into the berg that the sea was crowded with ice. The Titanic's operators, he said, at the time were working with the wireless station at Cape Race, and they told him to, quote, shut up and keep out. Within a half hour, the pride of the sea was crumpling and sinking. Members of the committee who examined individually the British sailors and stewards of the Titanic's crew prepared a report of their investigations for the full committee. This testimony was ordered to be incorporated in the record of the hearings. Most of this testimony was but a repetition of experiences similar to the many already related by those who got away in the lifeboats. On April 27, Captain James H. Moore of the steamship Mount Temple, who hurried to the Titanic in response to wireless calls for help, told of the great stretch of field ice which held him off. Within his view from the bridge, he discerned, he said, a strange steamship, probably a tramp, and a schooner which was making her way out of the ice. The lights of this schooner, he thought, probably were those seen by the anxious survivors of the Titanic in which they were frantically trying to reach. Women at Hearing Weep Stuart Crawford also related a thrilling story in regard to loading the lifeboats with women first. He told of several instances that came under his observation of women throwing their arms around their husbands and crying out that they would not lead the ship without them. The pathetic recital caused several women at the hearing to weep, and all with an earshot of the steward's story were thrilled. Andrews was brave. Stories that Mr. Andrews, the designer of the ship, had tried to disguise the extent of danger were absolutely denied by Henry Samuel Etches, his bedroom steward, who told the committee how Mr. Andrews urged women back to their cabins to dress more warmly and to put on life belts. The steward, whose duty it was to serve major butt in his party, told how he did not see the major at dinner the evening of the disaster, as he was dining with a private party in the restaurant. William Burke, a first-class steward, told of serving dinner at 7.15 o'clock to Mr. and Mrs. Strauss. And later, Mrs. Strauss' refusal to leave her husband was again told to the committee. A bedroom steward told of a quiet conversation with Benjamin Guggenheim, Senator Guggenheim's brother after the accident and shortly before the Titanic settled in the plunge that was to be his death. On April 29th, Marconi produced copies of several messages which passed between the Marconi office and the Carpathia in an effort to get definite information of the wreck and the survivors. Marconi and F. M. Sammas, chief engineer of the American Marconi company, both acknowledged that a mistake had been made in sending messages to Bride and Cottom on board the Carpathia, not to give out any news until they had seen Marconi and Sammas. The senatorial committee investigating the Titanic disaster had served several good purposes. It has officially established the fact that all nations are censorable for insufficient antiquated safety regulations on ocean vessels. And it has emphasized the imperative necessity for united action among all maritime countries to revise these laws and adapt them to changed conditions. The committee reported its findings as follows. General Conclusions No particular person is named as being responsible, though attention is called to the fact that on the day of the disaster, three distinct warnings of ice were sent to Captain Smith. J. Bruce Ismay, managing director of the White Star Line, is not held responsible for the ship's high speed. In fact, he is barely mentioned in the report. Ice positions, so definitely reported to the Titanic just preceding the accident, located ice on both sides of the lane in which she was traveling. No discussion took place among the officers. No conference was called to consider these warnings. No heed was given to them. The speed was not relaxed. The lookout not increased. The supposedly watertight compartments of the Titanic were not watertight because of the non-watertight condition of the decks where the transverse bulkheads ended. The steamship, Californian, controlled by the same concern as the Titanic, was nearer the sinking steamship than the 19 miles reported by her captain. And her officers and crew saw the distress signals of the Titanic and failed to respond to them in accordance with the dictates of humanity, international usage and the requirements of law. Had assistance been promptly proffered, the Californian might have had the proud distinction of rescuing the lives of the passengers and crew of the Titanic. The mysterious lights on an unknown ship seen by the passengers on the Titanic undoubtedly were on the Californian less than 19 miles away. Eight ships, all equipped with wireless, were in the vicinity of the Titanic, the Olympic farthest away, 512 miles. The full capacity of the Titanic's life boats was not utilized because, while only 705 persons were saved, the ship's boats could have carried 1,176. No general alarm was sounded, no whistle blown, no systematic warning was given to the endangered passengers, and it was 15 or 20 minutes after the collision before Captain Smith ordered the Titanic's wireless operator to send out a distress message. The Titanic's crew were only meagerly acquainted with their positions and duties in an accident, and only one drill was held before the maiden trip. Many of the crew joined the ship only a few hours before she sailed and were in ignorance of their positions until the following Friday. Many more lives could have been saved had the survivors been concentrated in a few life boats and had the boats, thus released, returned to the wreck for others. The first official information of the disaster was the message from Captain Haddock of the Olympic, received by the White Star Line at 6.16 p.m. Monday, April 15th. In the face of this information, a message reporting the Titanic being towed to Halifax was sent to Representative J.A. Hughes at Huntington, West Virginia at 7.51 p.m. that day. The message was delivered to the Western Union office in the same building as the White Star Line offices. Whoever sent this message, says the report, under the circumstances is guilty of the most reprehensible conduct. The wireless operator on the Carpathia was not duly vigilant in handling his messages after the accident. The practice of allowing wireless operators to sell their stories should be stopped. Recommendations. It is recommended that all ships carrying more than 100 passengers shall have two searchlights. That a revision be made of steamship inspection laws of foreign countries to conform to the standard proposed in the United States. That every ship be required to carry sufficient lifeboats for all passengers and crew. That the use of wireless be regulated to prevent interference by amateurs. And that all ships have a wireless operator on constant duty. Detailed recommendations are made as to watertight bulkhead construction on ocean-going ships. Bulkheads should be so spaced that any two adjacent compartments of a ship might be flooded without sinking. Transverse bulkheads forward in a bath, the machinery, should be continued watertight to the uppermost continuous structural deck. And this deck should be fitted watertight. End of Chapter 29 and end of The Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters edited by Logan Marshall read by Allison Hester of Athens, Georgia.


Prime Minister, your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon and a very warm welcome to this 26th World Economic Forum on ASEAN. My name is Justin Wood, I look after the Asia-Pacific region for the forum and it's my very great pleasure to formally open this meeting. There are two significant milestones associated with our summit this year. The first milestone is the fact that we are here in Cambodia. The World Economic Forum has been staging an ASEAN summit for the past 26 years but this is the first year that we've ever held it here in Cambodia and we're delighted to be here. I think all of you know that Cambodia as a country has experienced some terrible atrocities in recent years. But the story today is much brighter. The economy is growing by about 7% a year and it's lifting millions of Cambodians out of poverty. Ten years ago, half this country was living below the poverty line. Today, that number has fallen to just 13%. Of course, significant challenges remain but we hope that by bringing our summit to Cambodia this year we can both highlight the positives as well as contribute to addressing the ongoing challenges. The second milestone concerns the wider region. This is the 50th anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and I think that back in 1967 when it all began nobody could have predicted what was to follow. A time of deep conflict and regional tension has given way to an era of peace and stability. A group of deeply diverse nations are coming together and forging a community of mutual interest. Economic development is creating a giant middle class. Trade, investment and integration continue to deepen between the ten nations of ASEAN. Today, this region is one of the brightest stars on the global stage and the ASEAN organization has played a very significant role in writing that story. But this summit is not a moment to glory in past achievements. Many ongoing challenges remain to be tackled. Many new challenges are still emerging. And so this summit is really an occasion to look to the future and to ask where the ten countries of ASEAN go from here. Against that context, the theme of our summit this year is one of aspiration and hope. Our theme is youth technology and growth. From a youth perspective the countries of ASEAN collectively have an extremely young population and this young population should promise really a golden moment in the economic development story of the region. As the working age population grows in number so it should boost spending but also increase savings and those savings in turn can be recycled into building infrastructure, power stations, cities and so on. If the region gets its policy mix right the young population should really deliver a very potent and muscular demographic dividend. The second part of our theme, technology, refers to the fourth industrial revolution. The number of people with internet access across ASEAN is increasing every day by 124,000 people. That's nearly one million extra internet users every week and it's forecast to keep growing at that rate for the next five years. Over that period, over those five years that's an extra 230 million internet users on top of the 320 million who are already online. And as this digital technology takes hold the fourth industrial revolution could bring huge benefits to the region, driving financial inclusion, boosting access to affordable healthcare, opening up new forms of education and creating new companies and new service sector jobs. In many ways these two engines of future growth, youth and technology really should feed off each other. Young people are much more open to embracing technology and technology in turn makes it much easier to engage young people and to include them in the economic story. But nothing is guaranteed. Without the right policies today the fourth industrial revolution could see jobs disappear. Automation is becoming ever cheaper and a young and growing population without jobs is a formula for stagnation and social unrest. So these are the issues that we want to focus on during our summit. As ASEAN celebrates its 50th anniversary how do government leaders and business leaders ensure that the demographic dividend and the digital dividend pay up as fully as possible? How does the region build the brightest future for its young people? Today and tomorrow, the two days of our summit we have a very rich program to explore all of these issues. I'm sure the discussions will be fascinating and the ideas creative. I wish you all a very fruitful and highly productive summit and let me now hand over to the host of this opening plenary Dr. Phillip Rosler, the managing director of the World Economic Forum. Philippe. Thank you Justin for giving us a framework for our this year's ASEAN Summit 2017. Honourable panelists, dear co-chairs, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, who are welcome from my end. My name is Philippe and I have now the honour to moderate our high level panel with our four heads of state, heads of government out of the ASEAN community. And what Justin mentioned, so our headline for this session is ASEAN 50 Years Young, which will certainly contribute to our overall theme of this ASEAN Summit, which is youth, technology and growth. So let's start and allow me, ladies and gentlemen, that I first introduce our high level panel. To my left side, certainly our host, Prime Minister of Cambodia, his Excellency Samdech Tech Hun Sen. To his left side, the Prime Minister of Laos, his Excellency Tong-Lung Sisulit, Excellency, you are welcome. And also to his left side, President of the Philippines, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, Excellency, you are welcome. And last but not least, the Prime Minister of Vietnam, Nguyen Suan Phuc, Excellency for you as well, you are welcome. And Excellencies allow me now to ask you to bring us your speech as a welcome and to open this summit officially on the lectern. Excellency, Prime Minister Hun Sen, the floor is yours. Thank you, Philip. Excellency, the President of the Philippines and the Chairman of ASEAN. Excellency, Prime Minister of Laos, BDR. Excellency, Prime Minister of Vietnam. Excellencies, Madam, ladies and gentlemen, Cambodia is extremely honored to be a host of this World Economic Forum on ASEAN under the theme of youth, technologies, and growth. Securing ASEAN's digital and demographic dividend. On behalf of the royal government and people of Cambodia, I would like to extend our warmest welcome to your Excellencies, Madam, ladies and gentlemen, head of state and government, ministers and delegates, and all the distinguished guests who have come to this ancient land of ASEAN. Indeed, this event is happening along the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of ASEAN Establishment that provides an excellent platform for all national, regional, and international stakeholders to discuss and exchange views on emerging trends related to three important topics, ASEAN and changing global contact, ASEAN economic connectivity, and ASEAN youth dividend. This topic, or the deciding factors of ASEAN futures development, I'm delighted to note that this forum has brought together so many policies makers, CEOs of international cooperation, businessmen and Jews from all walks of life, both within and outside the region. This reflects great attention given to ASEAN as a whole and particular to Cambodia. Therefore, I believe that our discussion will be rigorous and realistic in providing policies, choice, and implementation measures, and practical projects for the long-term interest of ASEAN. Excellencies, madame, ladies and gentlemen, over the past five decades, ASEAN has undergone a complete transformation since its founding from a region with two blocs directed by conflict, misery, and poverty, to a region of peace, stability, and development, and a closely integrated community under a shared vision of ASEAN community, characterized by their high economic growth and deep structural transformation. Moreover, ASEAN has been positively responding to the resolution of all issues, both at regional and global levels, particularly in contributing to peace, security, safety, and stability for all nations in both Asia and the world. All these are all the contributing factors making ASEAN an indispensable strategic partner for all the regions, all the countries, the regional and international organizations across the globe. Undoubtedly, the newly changing global context in all aspects of recent geo-political, geo-economic, and political-social development, such as the rising anti-globalization movement and protectionism, rising nationalism and populist policies, rising temperatures in conflict across some regions, combined with a prolonged economic slowdown, have generated many new challenges for our national and regional development. Notwithstanding of these and incomparable reasons to all the regions, ASEAN has managed to maintain strong peace and security with good cooperation. While some other regional integration in the world is experiencing a setback, ASEAN is forging ahead with even stronger determination. It's passed for deeper integration in building ASEAN communities which is based on three pillars. Political security community, economic community, and social-cultural community. And through greater collaboration in all areas with our major partners. Though ASEAN is a regional grouping of 10 different countries, her past experience and efforts in building this community based on mutual respect, non-encheference in other's internal affairs and consensus and flexibilities in decision-making for everyone to contribute to the development of ASEAN known as the ASEAN way. Have shown strength and fundamentals of ASEAN resiliency over the long run. On this basis, we will be forging ahead together in carrying out tests with an wavering commitment toward a unified goal of building ASEAN community with one identity, ASEAN Unities in Diversity. Excellencies, Madam Ladies and Gentlemen. Nowadays, ASEAN is the third-largest economy in Asia and the seventh in the world with total GDP of about US $2.6 trillion in 2016. ASEAN has become one of the world's fastest-growing investment destination, accounting for 11% of total global foreign direct investment, FDI, inflow, as compared with just 5% in 2007. Moreover, ASEAN has also become one of the most attractive tourist destinations, both cultural tourism and natural tourism. With good security and high standard hospitalities. Looking forward, ASEAN has envisaged ambitious vision in building ASEAN Economic Communities 2025, which is a very highly integrated and co-ACU economy. With four key characteristics, including first, a single market and production base. Second, a highly competitive economic region. Third, a region of equitable economic development. And fourth, a region fully integrated into the global economy. To achieve this vision, I believe ASEAN has to continue its focus on important agenda as follows. First, continue strengthening and expanding cooperation to ensure full peace, security, safety, and stability through promoting a close dialogue, building trust as well as resolving regional issues with peace and based on the principle of international law. Second, continue ensuring that economic growth is robust, balanced, sustainable, and inclusive, with great attention given to reducing development gaps. Third, continue ensuring successful implementation of master plan on ASEAN Connectivity 2025 in every aspect, including physical connectivity, institutional connectivity, and people-to-people connectivity, aiming to promote competitiveness, development, inclusiveness, and academic resilience in the region. Fourth, continue promoting ASEAN centralities in regional cooperation and strengthening ASEAN capacities in resolving any problems at regional and global level. Thus, the first priority of ASEAN is to reach the conclusion of regional comprehensive economic partnership, RCEP, comprising of 16 countries with ASEAN as the backbone, which has a market size of 3.4 trillion people and GDP of US $22.4 trillion, or about 30% of the world's economy in 2015. Additionally, we also have to ensure that the adopted growth vision and agenda can effectively respond to the new context of rapid changing world, especially the strong momentum of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which creates a new growth dynamism characterized by high flexibilities, dependence on technologies and markets, yet at the same time could create obstacles and challenges to the society, including political and security, economic and social cultural aspects at both national and regional level. Without a doubt, this new technological revolution will reset development for industry, trade, labor market and education, as well as governance and social security system, which requires ASEAN to cope with the appropriate policies respond in order to support the process of structural change enhanced by this revolution. In this regard, ASEAN must have an integrated agenda aligning to this trend in order to seize the opportunities and to address unexpected problems by devoting great attention to promoting qualities of education, promoting skill development, addressing employment issues, formulating an effective social protection system, as well as addressing the issues of social inequalities and cyber security, et cetera. As responsible members, Cambodia is well-prepared to work with all stakeholders to undertake tests, aiming to achieve the ASEAN community's vision 2025, forging ahead together for long-term peace, security, stability, and prosperity for all nations in the region. Excellencies, madam, ladies and gentlemen, Cambodia is a small economy with high level of openness. This is a primary reason that we have attached great importance to regional integration and connectivity. As a result, Cambodia's economy is regarded as one of the new emerging economies, as well as one of the most successful post-war countries, which is based on robust economic growth on average of about 7.6 percent per annum from 1994 to 2016, and has maintained macroeconomic stability, attained manageable inflation, well-managed public debt, achieved remarkable poverty reduction, as well as increased GDP per capita 4.5 times from US $2,888 in the year 2000 to US $1,302 in 2016. Indeed, trade has played a crucial role toward development of Cambodia's economy. Becoming a member of ASEAN communities and World Trade Organization has promoted Cambodia's linkage with regional and global value change and production networks. For the medium term, Cambodia's economic growth is focused to be robust with growth around 7 percent per annum. In order to achieve its long-term vision, becoming upper middle income countries by 2030 and high income countries by 2050, Cambodia will unwaveringly and actively continue implementing open domestic policies through devoting a greater deal of effect on linking and integrating of all sectors into regional and global economy, speeding up structural reforms as well as to upgrading institutional capacities and human resources. Moving forward, Cambodia is envisaging a trend of technologies advancement. Similar to other countries in the region, Cambodia is rapidly absorbing advanced technologies, particularly in new industry sectors and among youth. In 2016, mobile phone penetration was more than 125 percent of the total population. And internet penetration was 47 percent while in 2008, mobile phone penetration was only 25 percent. And internet penetration was merely 0.13 percent. The new era of technologies is an opportunity for Cambodian youth to speed up development with greater momentum. In this context, the Royal Government of Cambodia has been paying great attention on youth and technologies development, especially through the reform of education system and training with great success on promoting skill development in science, technologies, engineering and mathematics, as well as promoting entrepreneurship and self-skill for lifelong training. Moreover, industrial development policies 2015-2025 has reoriented our efforts and opened for private sector engagement with an aim of supporting technology sector development in Cambodia. In this spirit, I appeal to all business people to join hands with the Royal Government of Cambodia to create a favorable environment for nurturing and developing these potential sectors. Cambodia is optimistic and we all have the view that eight-year century will definitely enable Asians to lead not only in driving economic growth but also in developing technologies and sectors. Finally, I wish the Forum's great success as a planet and wish Excellencies, Madame, Ladies and Gentlemen a pleasant stay with good memories about Cambodia. Now I wish to officially announce the opening of World Economic Forum on Asian 2017 from now on. Thank you. Thank you, Prime Minister Hun Sen for opening our Asian Summit. May I ask now the other heads-of-status of government to share with us your thoughts, your ideas in terms of the 50th anniversary of the Asian community. I would like to start with the Prime Minister of Laos, Dong Lung Sizulit. The floor is yours. Thank you, Justin. Your Excellency, some day come and ask it up, but I teach you Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia. Excellencies, President of the Philippines, Prime Minister of Vietnam and Son Phuc. At the outset, I would like to express my sincere thanks to your Excellencies, some day come and ask and the World Economic Forum for inviting me to participate in this World Economic Forum on Asian, as well as for the excellent arrangement made by our host. I do share the view expressed by Prime Minister Hun Sen just now, which highlighted the growth of ASEAN throughout the past five decades, as well as our vision to foster development and growth as a community which are insightful to us. This year marks the 50th anniversary of ASEAN throughout the past five decades. ASEAN has evolved and been contested through various challenges. Nevertheless, ASEAN has recorded significant achievements, for instance, in maintaining peace and security in the region, enhancing cooperation within the region, and with external partners, attaining a steady economic growth, as well as offering potential for being a single market and production base, which Prime Minister Hun Sen also highlighted with the combined GDP of $2.4 trillion in 2016. Nevertheless, at least the rapid changing complex and predictable regional and international environments, ASEAN must adapt and adjust itself in order to overcome the emerging challenges in the years ahead. This includes demographic transition, the imbalance between different age groups such as the younger and the older population. It is estimated that the percentage of aging population will increase rapidly in some ASEAN countries after 2020, which may cause direct impact on socioeconomic development in ASEAN. Distinguished delegates against this backdrop, ASEAN must adopt appropriate measures to ensure sustainability of its labor market. To this end, ASEAN has made tremendous efforts in promoting quality education, aiming at developing labor skills in order to increase effectiveness and efficiency in production, taking into account its limited labor force. At the same time, ASEAN has also given particular attention to the aging population by promoting a decent healthcare system, improve access to healthcare services, disseminating healthcare-related information and strengthening pension schemes, as well as promoting lifelong learning of the older age groups, thus enabling them to keep up with the new technology and knowledge for continuing their work as appropriate even after the retirement age. It is also essential to create an environment conducive for public-private sector as well as families and the whole society to make greater contribution to providing proper care for aging population, both physically and in spiritual terms. As for the Laopida with 6.5 million people, the majority of whom are relatively at young age, which accounts for 60 percent, especially those under the age of 25, of the total population. However, the low level of education, labor skills remain a challenge, which to some extent have affected employment opportunities, start-up jobs and businesses and supply of educated labor force for development activities, including limited access of younger people to new technology and innovation. And their participation in social-economic development remains moderate. Therefore, in order to address the same challenges, the Lao government has continued to implement various human resource development plans and programs by focusing on providing greater access to education for all, for instance, ensuring net enrollment rate of 90 percent in primary school, 85 percent in lower secondary school, and 60 percent in upper secondary level, including 60 percent enrollment rate in vocational institutes and 5 percent in other professional trainings in order to meet the demand of labor market and national development need from now up to 2025. In addition, private sector and foreign investors have also been strongly encouraged to make greater contribution to development of education and health sectors in the country through improving the existing investment laws, easing barriers which have hampered social-economic development in order to better facilitate investments flow. Distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, in overcoming the current uncertainties and challenges, ASEAN will continue to strengthen regional economic integration as well as to engage with other regions of the world in accordance with the directions set out by ASEAN leaders aimed at ensuring a dynamic ASEAN economic community. On this note, I would like to call upon the private sector which constitutes a driving force for economic growth to continue improving and adapting themselves in order to increase competitiveness and relevancy in the age of innovation and the fourth industrial revolution. The public sector as well, on the other hand, must also chart out appropriate policies to promote the increasing role of the private sector. Thank you very much. Thank you, Prime Minister, and let's immediately move to President Duterte. Please share with you with us the vision for ASEAN maybe in the next 50 years. Your Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Thank you and the World Economic Forum for this opportunity to address you. ASEAN has long been here on-way since its establishment 50 years ago. We have overcome initial difficulties to become a more united region of great promise and substantial progress guided by common values and shared aspirations. ASEAN is at the core of regionalism in Southeast Asia. Asia's 10 member states now stand firmly at the center of the future of the ASEAN Pacific region. ASEAN is becoming a significant global player. It plays a key role in promoting peace and stability in the region, and it is an emerging economic powerhouse. The region is now the world's sixth largest economy, the third largest consumer base. It stands at the crossroads of global trade flows. ASEAN is home to more than 600 people, making it larger than European Union or North America. ASEAN has the third largest labor force in the world. Our young population is producing a democratic dividend. Understandably, there is increased investor confidence in our region. But while we celebrate ASEAN's achievement, we recognize that more needs to be done for our people. We continue to face many challenges. Integration and connectivity efforts have to be ramped up. Technical changes impact on the workforce, as well as the trade and investment and capital flows. Transnational crime threatened to undermine economic progress and development. GAPs threatened to hold us back from achieving the inclusive growth for our people. But we cannot stand by and let these challenges hold us back from achieving the future of our people, which deserve the changes. ASEAN Chair, the Philippine Reserves, aims to establish meaningful partnership for positive change as we engage the larger world. We aim to operate the ASEAN goal of achieving a vibrant, sustainable, and highly integrated economy. Our vision is an ASEAN economic community that is relevant, responsive, and transformative. We seek threatened channels for connectivity. We will intensify efforts to narrow the development gap across all areas. This, as we seek ASEAN's unity and solidarity at all times through a common, principled position that enhances its role and amplifies its voice in the international fora. We will continue to seize opportunities with our economic partners within and outside the region. But make no mistake, in pursuit of integration, it is distinctively ASEAN way that will guide us. What does that mean? It means achieving sustainable and inclusive development for a region according to our needs at our own pace and guided by our core values. The ASEAN has allowed us to get where we are now. It will take us forward furthermore. ASEAN is cognizant of the need for more inclusive participation in the community building process. We want to ensure that the benefits of integration are felt by all our people in the region. But we face a development gap that must be addressed while the region has been seen poverty levels decreased by half. In the last 50 years, development remains good. There remains a huge disparity in our GDP per capita from a low $1,200 to a high of nearly $53. One way to address this is to remain committed to ASEAN integration work plan 2. It is targeted to accelerate economic integration of our newer partners, namely Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam. Another is by promoting inclusive innovation led growth. The Philippines champions economic priority delivery bubbles that provide an amazing environment for the MSMEs to develop and become regionally and globally competitive. MSMEs, after all, are significant contributors to ASEAN community. By boosting MSME capacities, we support equitable development, competitiveness, and robustness in the region's economy. Certainly, our community can only become strong if it is well-connected and highly integrated region. The master plan of ASEAN connectivity of 2025 must not remain a vision, but a reality if you want to promote competitiveness, inclusiveness, and a greater sense of a community in the region. In this regard, we have to focus a sustainable infrastructure, digital innovation, seamless logistics, regulatory excellence, and people mobility. Most importantly, we should invest in human capital. Analysts point out that the Philippines, together with Southeast Asian countries, is a demographic sweet spot and is likely to post Asia's fastest economic growth rates in the coming years. The youth is certainly a key sector that we must invest in. The ASEAN Work Plan on Youth 2016-2020 encourages youth entrepreneurship, employment and employability, awareness, volunteerism, and resilience. The plan deserves our full support. The ASEAN youth are among the best and are most creative, intelligent, and innovative in the world. We must empower them to be the best version of themselves. But we cannot turn a blind eye on the scourge of illegal drugs that threatens our youth and the future of our societies. We need to take a committed stand to dismantle and destroy the illegal drug trade apparatus. We must reaffirm our commitment to realize a drug-free ASEAN community. Fifty years ago, the ASEAN founding fathers headed the call for unity and acted with dedication, determination, and foresight. Five decades hence, ASEAN has a compelling narrative of our world. ASEAN is now closer to achieving one vision, one identity, and one community. But the ASEAN story does not end here. This is a continuing tale that we must shape and build for the interests of our peoples. The Philippines will do its part. ASEAN member states will do their part as well. Join us together and let us be partners in an enduring engagement to bring positive change for our world and our region. Thank you. Thank you, President Duterte, as the President of the Philippines, but as well as the this year's 2017 Chair of the ASEAN community. Now allow me to ask Prime Minister Nguyen Suan Phuc to share with us your ideas in terms of the 50th anniversary of the ASEAN community. Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, San Blat Hun Sen, President of the Philippines, Mr. Duterte, Prime Minister of Laos, Tong Lun, Suzulit, Mr. Philip Rosler, Managing Director of WAF. Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to express my sincere thanks to Prime Minister Hun Sen and the Government of Cambodia for their warm hospitality, cordial delegation and excellent arrangements for the WAF on ASEAN by the host country and the World Economic Forum as we look back into 50 years of ASEAN development and move forward to the future. I share with you all the points we have raised and like to emphasize the following points, the Third Industrial Revolution with the Board of Internet contributed significantly to the impressive economic growth as over the past five decades, I believe, that the Fourth Industrial Revolution with new technologies will pose new opportunities and challenges to ASEAN. First, ASEAN is part of the Asia Pacific, the world's most dynamic growth region. I think that despite certain difficulties facing Asia Pacific, the region remains an important growth agent of the world. According to World Bank 2015, ASEAN was the world's largest economy and will be the fifth largest one by 2020. In the ASEAN, Vietnam is among the most dynamic economies with which we grow 6% in the last 30 years in spite of its growth from 6.5 to 7% in 2017-20 period. ASEAN's dynamic development is opening up opportunities for businesses and investors. Second, ASEAN is a market of more than 600 million people with rising income, 2,000 of them are under working age. ASEAN is one of the regions having the youngest population in the world. More importantly, the ASEAN people are hardworking, eager to learn and have the desire to rise with strong startup spirit. Really, a big market for businesses, for companies to invest, do business and implement innovative projects. In Vietnam, about 60% of our 93 million population are under 35 years old. They are able to access to new technologies quickly. 52% of population are internet users 2015. Vietnam ranks top 10 in Asia Pacific with 31Y on software manufacturing. And we want to be the top 10 worldwide by 2020 in the terms of software and digital content industries with 1 million IT workers. This is an important advantage and reality shows that major IT firms such as Fujitsu, Intent, IBM, Microsoft, GA, Samsung, C-Man, Accuten and others are expanding their businesses in Vietnam. Third, Vietnam is working with ASEAN members to establish a single market by 2025. Most barriers to trade, investment, or skilled labour movement will be removed. At the same time, we have signed 12 FTAs including high standard ones. In 2016, the World Bank said that we have jumped nine dots in terms of the investment movement. And we are the host of APEC 2017. We would like to welcome you all to APEC events to promote economic connectivity, competitiveness, and innovation in the digital age. You are fully aware of challenges facing ASEAN town. How to fully tap the potentials of the young worker force in the global context. To maintain its dynamic growth and competitiveness, we cannot rely solely on resources and young and unskilled labour. We need to generate new growth momentum coming from innovation and besides reforming economic governance. ASEAN needs to equip its people, especially young workers with necessary skills to master new technologies to meet new requirements for employment opportunities with that as such as where ASEAN considers to establish a working group to make policy recommendations on education, vocational training, promotion of start-up and innovation, establish a start-up market, and encourage companies to invest in or buy out the start-up of the ASEAN talents. As a dynamic member of ASEAN, Vietnam is striving towards sustainable development based on better growth quality and opportunities provided by the Ford Revolution to increase productivity, competitiveness so that we can move up to that in a global value chain. Vietnam is committed to building a neighboring government for development, to institutional reforms and favorable business environment for people, especially the youth. We will revitalize education, promote start-up, innovation, dynamism of the country. Ladies and gentlemen, throughout its 50 years of development, ASEAN is proud to be a successful model of regional integration with an increasing connected ASEAN community that plays an increasingly important role in reaching the world. Such achievements must be treasured and should be the basis for us to believe in a peaceful, stable and prosperous future of people oriented in rural space ASEAN. We will do our best to work with ASEAN and its partners for this noble goal. Thank you very much for your attention. So dear prime ministers, Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, first I would like to thank our honorable speaker for his speeches to open our ASEAN summit. And you all mentioned the role and the importance of the youth. And yesterday we had a remarkable open forum with more than 2,700 young Cambodians. And they could raise their vision, their ASEAN dream. And it turns out that they wanted to have an ASEAN based on values, freedom, democracy, rule of law, human rights, fight against corruption and certainly peace and stability. And listen to your speeches, I think that fits. Listen to the leaders of the ASEAN community. So ladies and gentlemen, again, a thank you to our honorable speaker and please a big hand to our heads of state and heads of government. And one wish was the question of inclusion and inclusive growth. On that note, I would like now to move to our Social Entrepreneur Award of the Year here in ASEAN 2017. I would like to call on stage Goy Foumin for the Schwab Foundation of Social Entrepreneurship. Goy, the floor is yours. Thank you, Philip. Distinguished panel, special guests, ladies and gentlemen, we are now pleased to present the 2017 Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Asia. With the Social Entrepreneurship Award, the Schwab Foundation recognizes and celebrates social innovation, inclusiveness, and social progress. We are happy to have many of the social entrepreneurs from the region with us today. Those who are participating in this meeting have all been distinguished for their contributions to improving the lives of thousands, if not millions of people. They are based throughout the Asia region, working in diverse fields, and are pioneers in developing new methods to tackling unemployment, agricultural productivity, rural development, homelessness, and more. Please join me in giving them a round of applause. Today we have the pleasure of recognizing the two Social Entrepreneurs of the Year from Asia, Gregory Dyer and Nga Trang, of medical technology and transfer services. MTTS radically reduced the cost of life-saving neonatal devices that otherwise would not be available to people in poor parts of the world. Such devices create conditions such as hypothermia, jaundice, respiratory distress syndrome, and others. As of 2016, over 1.3 million babies in Asia and Africa have been treated using MTTS devices. Unfortunately, Nga could not make it here today, and Gregory will be accepting on her behalf as well. So please join us in congratulating co-founders Gregory Dyer and Nga Trang. Thank you very much, and congratulations. Ladies and gentlemen, on that note I would like to close our opening plenary. I wish you fruitful discussion and fruitful sessions. Thank you very much.


Russian pilot reveals details of flying Mi-8 to Ukraine and persuading crew to surrender. Maxim Kuzminov, the pilot of the Russian Mi-8 helicopter that ended up in Ukraine, has revealed that during the final stage of the operation, he persuaded the crew to surrender to the Ukrainian side, but they got scared, turned aggressive and ran towards the border after landing. The Russian pilot spoke about this during a press conference in Kiev. I had two crew members with me, we did not have any weapons with us, our pilots fly unarmed. No one could resist me since the navigator had no helicopter piloting skills. I reassured the guys, telling them everything was fine, good people lived here and nothing would go wrong. But they got afraid, began behaving aggressively and eventually rushed out of the helicopter towards the border. I don't know their fate, but the media reports suggest they may have been killed. Kuzminov said. The pilot said he didn't just hijack the helicopter, he officially piloted it from point A to point B as the route and landing site had been agreed in advance. Kuzminov said they took off at 1630 from the Kursk airfield to Kharkiv Oblast, about 20 km from the border. Then, near Russia's village of Shebekino, he flew at an extremely low altitude, 5-10 meters, and in radio silence. As he crossed the border, he was fired upon. I can't say for sure who started it, but I assume it was the Russian side. I was shot in the leg with small arms. I then flew about 20 km away and landed at the designated location, the pilot said. He claims that he has only performed transport operations to move military personnel or cargo, not bombing. I was in Mariupol and Burdiansk. He supposedly fought in the war with tears in his eyes. Kuzminov is now considering joining Ukrainian aviation. He added that the initial information on the opportunity to surrender with a helicopter came from police officers and then the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine joined the operation. The pilot, he said, was promised payments under a special law, new documents and security for himself and his relatives. The helicopter is now part of the aircraft unit of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine.


What's your sense of the comparative differences between the two major party presidential candidates and their trade policies? To be sure, there are differences. There you go. But they're not that big. You gotta give that in the second paragraph, Peter. Yeah, it's true. Come on, play the formula. I just, I wanted to forefront the to be sure there because to be sure, they're kind of the same. This is the thing, right? Is to be sure they're kind of the same because what happened here was Trump put in place a bunch of very bad tariffs. And then that started a kind of a low-level trade war with China where there were retaliatory tariffs. Trump, of course, promised that his tariffs would be great for Americans and for American workers. And then of course, what happened was because of the retaliation, the tariffs were terrible for American workers. And in fact, there was a bailout of American farmers, I believe, some number of billion dollars that I have it right in front of me, but like because the Trump tariffs were so bad. And so they didn't help anybody. They made tensions worse with China. And then what did Joe Biden do? Joe Biden basically just kept them in place. And his administration has continued to defend those tariffs. It's not just the Center for American Progress. It's Biden's own trade rep, the cabinet official who was in charge of this, Catherine Tai, who as recently as this year, just a couple of months ago, was out there saying that trade, that tariffs are an important defensive tool for, and this is a summary from Bloomberg, for rebalancing unfair commercial relationships, especially with regard to China. So it's not even that they're arguing that they're necessary for national security. It's that the Biden administration is just saying that we are, that the Biden administration should be in charge of manipulating the economy through tariffs. And Trump is saying, well, so should I. He wants to do it like Catherine said, in a more aggressive and dumber and I think more obnoxious and probably more destructive way than Biden is doing it currently, but it is the same basic theory, which is that the president and that the administration should be in charge of the economy in a fundamental way and should be deciding about this stuff. It's also just really ironic. To be sure, the Center for American Progress report has a point about Trump's tariffs, like they're fundamentally correct. They are directionally correct about the problems that they would cause and about the ways that they would effectively serve as a tax hike and a price increase on American consumers. And it is just so ironic that if you look at Trump's, at the big economic messages that Trump and his MAGA World Republican Party associates have been spreading for the last year or two, that basically boils down to two big economic messages that Trump has been promoting. One is the economy under Joe Biden is bad because prices are high. And two is Biden will raise your taxes. And so what is Trump's response to that is a policy that will make prices higher and also effectively raise your taxes. It's just incredibly ironic all around to be sure. Nick, what do you make of the kind of all over the place public opinion on this stuff? Oftentimes individual tariffs, especially against red China are popular. Also increased prices are super not popular nor is inflation. What to make of it? What to do with it as far as you're concerned? One thing that's important to remember is that Trump also put tariffs on the EU as well as Canada and a couple of other countries that we had in Mexico or was trying to do so. Although then he did sign a new deal with Canada and Mexico, but it's not just that. Matt, the most fascinating thing about free trade as a kind of political football and everything like that as far as I'm concerned is that according to Gallup in 2020, 79% of Americans said that they thought free trade was good for America and that's like an all time high. During the heyday right after NAFTA was passed and things like that in the late 90s, early 2000s, it was only about 55%. And as it stands now, Gallup says it's like 61% of Americans are in favor of free trade, which is still much higher than it was 20 years ago. So we're actually weirdly in an era where Americans are on board with the idea that free trade is pretty good. This is another instance where they don't have any way of expressing that politically because you have two parties that are talking about increasing tariffs or commanding, directing the economy in various ways. The one thing that you can say for sure about Donald Trump is that he has turned the Republican Party into a party against free trade. Again, going to Gallup in 2022, only 44% of Republicans said that they thought that free trade was an opportunity to help the American economy by increasing exports. The number of Democrats I believe that was 72%. So you've seen this actual significant change and it's hard for us to kind of grasp or take seriously because for all of our lifetimes put together, added up on top of one another, the Republican Party has always been the party of free trade but it is not the party of free trade anymore. And yet Americans are in favor of free trade but we cannot express that through a vote for either of the major party presidential candidates. And I think one of the things that we need to get back to is really making basic arguments about why free trade is good and why free trade is beneficial. And a lot of stuff, a lot of the things that get tariff slapped on them are things like aluminum and steel. And both Trump and Biden have talked about wanting to bring manufacturing of that back home but there's a fundamental economic mistake there which is that aluminum and steel are inputs in a lot of higher value products that Americans produce here, including things like cars and car parts and other types of kind of materials that get finished here. And the argument against slapping a huge tariffs on steel and aluminum is that a very small percentage of the American workforce is making those things here but so many other industries depend on them. It's like saying we wanna protect a small industry that will jack up the prices on everything else. And I think getting those kinds of basic economic arguments which I think we had one when NAFTA was being passed and when the WTO was being debated and things like that, we've gotta get back to making those arguments because people understand it but our understanding of why free trade is a good thing needs to be constantly refreshed and updated. Catherine, I'm reminded with Nick talking about that of the famous Al Gore Ross Perot debate, right? Yeah, on Larry King. On Larry King Live. Dubuque, hello about that. And that was a moment when like third-way Democrats were leading the charge of neoliberalism and such like back then. If you go and look back at all the state of the union addresses, which I do sometimes, you'll see a discussion by American presidents from both parties constantly about how we needed to complete the Doha round or whatever the Paraguay round of GATT or the precursor to the WTO. It was understood for many decades to be fundamental to American policy, to be the leader of the global tariff reduction regime as part of a way to build up the strength of the sort of free and democratic West. Don't really see that much anymore. Can you talk a little bit about the part of the Scott Linsicome t-shirt that warns about what happens between countries when we are in a tariff raising posture as opposed to a global tariff reduction posture? Yeah, I mean, I think this era that you're describing of the US leading the way in reducing tariffs and just kind of opening up trade whether through kind of multi-party trade agreements or bilaterally, it's true. There used to be just kind of in the laundry list of the state of the union, there used to be always a like, hey, just a reminder that we're still trying to finish the paperwork on whatever trade agreement is pending. That is the reason that people say like libertarians have been in charge for too long. Like that, I think like the most charitable interpretation of that weird sentiment that pops up sometimes when we libertarians are getting squashed between the two sides of the horseshoe is that our argument for the power of trade was ascended for a long time in a kind of moderately bipartisan way. And of course, the Scotland's a comb t-shirt reminds us that tariffs not only impose immense economic costs but also fail to achieve their primary policy aims and foster political dysfunction along the way. I have it in gray. It's a very nice, it looks nice in gray. Is it a gray wash, like a washed gray? No, it's just, it's, you know, it's got a nice, it's more of a saturated gray. I've got it in a see-through black mesh. Oh, God. Please, please erase my memory. So. The v-neck. The political dysfunction part of this is real. Like there is just absolutely this kind of like playground sense of fairness that happens when we stop moving toward openness and toward more trade and we start saying, oh, well, we're gonna impose costs on imports from a particular nation to punish them for being bad or whatever it is. You know, this has a natural result, which is retaliatory political dysfunction. And we're just gonna see a lot more of that. So much of this gets snuck into political discourse under the guise of being good for Americans, but it's not good for Americans broadly. It is occasionally designed, you know, occasionally it will prop up a very narrow group of Americans, a certain subset of workers. That is just true of all of the kind of Trumpian and Biden administration, industrial policy, and national economic policy. But this is also not new. And this is something that I do think we should think about here a little bit, is that this is not a brand new tendency that just popped into politics in 2024. Last week I talked about the old John Carpenter movie They Live, and that movie is about a drifter worker who shows up in Los Angeles because times are tough and he lost his construction job, you know, probably in Denver or something like that. And he's drifted into town and he finds construction work, you know, in a home, in a community with a bunch of other kind of drifter types who are down on their luck. And there's this big kind of, it's not a monologue, but it's a sort of quasi monologue discussion where Rowdy Roddy Piper, who plays the protagonist, the wrestler, right?  And they just talk about how the elites in America have screwed the average workers by offshoring work. You know, but they don't quite mention trade policy specifically, but it's very much this idea that they don't care about ordinary American workers. And so they've given the jobs to foreigners and they've preference foreigners and they've allowed foreign goods to come in and take American jobs and it's anti-American and it doesn't help them. But in fact, if this sort of protectionism and industrial policy, this kind of national economic policy doesn't help most Americans. Most Americans are worse off than we have seen that over the last several years where these policies have raised prices and contributed to inflation, which is the thing that people dislike most about the economy currently. That was a clip from the latest Reason Roundtable. If you wanna see more clips, go here. If you want to see the whole episode, go here. Make sure to subscribe at Reason's YouTube channel or wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks for listening, watching or both.


Welcome back for the third installment of our TNT series with myself Tyler Patner and Travis Patton over at airgun depot Today we're going to be talking about some of the best innovations in airguns in the last three to five years We're also going to touch on the big foot of the airgun world the Umarex hammer Okay, so a couple of things come to mind You know for me Probably the innovations in compressors. Yeah, big one is a is a big one. Absolutely You know the fact that you can now get I mean really affordable compressors you can give compressors that don't weigh 120 pounds Yeah, although those are still really good ones, especially if you absolutely need workers comp If you if you're gonna spend three grand I mean you could do a lot worse than a nice compressor for sure But yeah, just the fact that you can buy one for Anywhere near a thousand bucks, right? You know in that 13 13-14 hundred dollar price point is really incredible in the fact that we're now seeing a bunch of Manufacturers jump into that is also really good. I think it's gonna be a good thing for the industry the personal portable compressor thing I'm I Like the nomad. I'm not a hundred percent on board with the whole Portability thing I still have a tank. I'd rather have a tank. I mean if you if you like lift some weights It's only about 18 pounds, and I don't think you'll have any problem with that You're right. So don't don't let that put you off. It really is for most people. It's portable somebody told me to eat my Wheaties is that a thing does that help? I've heard that. Okay. All right. I'll give that a try to I'm lactose intolerant though, so I can't drink real milk. Oh, that's bone strength. It's paper thing Yeah, you know another thing that jumps to mine too is is the hammerless valve Okay, I know exactly how they work, right, but I it's kind of complicated to go into right now Absolutely too much detail for for your Huge brain to divulge yeah on camera right now and and the other thing I I think is is the smooth twist X barrels just the fact that you can adapt those liners so quickly and so okay So like so so the X system of changing the liners around sure. Yeah, it would be my top three picks interesting I had to agree with that. I think one of the things that that's really been impressive over the last couple of years Regulators have come quite a ways in terms of the affordability of putting them into guns used to be you know You couldn't get a regulated gun for under a thousand bucks now.  It's just you know manufacturers are getting more creative Which I think is a really good thing sound suppression technology has come quite a ways in the last couple of years as well Target systems have come quite a ways, you know, we've seen a lot of interesting targets come out recently And also like shot show you were there as well with the body very bottom bang I think that's gonna be a really cool target and just think they Having a game around a target and the potential to play with your friends across the country across the world I think that's really huge. Are there other targets you have in mind Well, actually, I mean if you look at most of what airventories come out with actually in the last like four or five years You got a lot of really neat targets I mean like an affordable field target, which for me was great because it actually works. Well It's not very complicated. There aren't a whole lot of moving parts that can screw up on you during a match So they work really well You have fun targets like the Medusa, you know that you can actually shoot without having a pull something or walk down range You can shoot a mine.  That's fine One day you'll learn how to shoot offhand But one day when you haven't poisoned me. Well, right, but that day won't be today And you don't have to worry about it. Definitely not today.  Yeah, I think the compressor one's probably the most important for The viewer though, I think that's really if there's one thing you take away from this video It's it's that compressors are now affordable That's a great question. And it's good that we've actually got a date now that we've got information right, I just got off the phone with the Umarex wrap And guys we got some good news for you. There you have it. I mean get your orders in now Right. I mean, I hope you guys are excited as we are super pumped Sorry for cutting that a little short on you guys Obviously at the time this was filmed back in June of last year Travis and I had no idea when the hammer was actually gonna be available But I have good news for all of you big foot does exist the hammers are shipping now We are shipping them out to you guys that had pre-orders as fast as we get them in the door from Umarex It's gonna take a little time to cover all of the back orders But the first orders are shipping out now So we are very pleased to say the hammer is a very real thing and if you want one you're gonna be able to get your hands On one very soon. Thanks for joining us on today's TNT video We appreciate the viewership as always if you're interested in more TNT content head on over to air gun depot They're gonna be releasing another episode next Saturday every other Saturday. We're gonna be releasing one So check them out over there. Make sure you're subscribed to both channels So you don't miss any of the content and as always don't forget to like the video Let us know how you felt about it down in the comments as well. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time


CREOEM studies reveal that reconstituting the pentameric ligand-gated ion channel, PLGIC, a linear ligand-gated ion channel, ELIC, in different nanodiscs produces distinct structures and molecular dynamic simulations indicate that the nanodisc plays a crucial role in determining ELIC structure. This article was authored by Vikram Dalil, Mark J. R. Keria, John T. Petrov, and others.