Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 3).djvu/505

 which at present, either in the shape of novels or other works of a more pretentious character, evidently commands a large circulation among the light-reading public. But, besides its sensational character, it contains a great deal of information new to the ordinary reader, who, if he does not understand its technicalities, which Mr. Plimsoll himself does not seem to have very well understood, will be struck by its illustrations of decayed timbers, worm-eaten planks, and corroded bolts. It begins with a facsimile of a policy of insurance with the names and amount of risk attached, and the underwriters' "slip" on which the policy was based, with the signatures crossed out as they were subscribed to the policy. His object in giving the numerous names in detail, and the amount of the liability of each, was, as he states, "in order to show how the responsibility is so divided and spread as to leave no one individual a risk large enough to be worth fighting to escape, even if there were adequate grounds for disputing the subsequent claim," and, from these premises, he arrives at the conclusion that the interest of each underwriter is so small, that where a claim is made, it is not sufficient "to induce any one to fight a lawsuit in order to escape it," even when there is "more than a suspicion of its injustice."

Unfortunately his statement, on this point, is at variance with fact; for, though the risk of each individual may be small, their interest, as a body, in resisting unjust claims, and resisting them frequently in the most strenuous manner, is too great to allow such claims to be settled unquestioned. Mr. Plimsoll might not, however, have been aware that the