The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-10
ENGLAND PASSING
 THROUGH CRISIS Germany Rejoices Over In-
 ternal Troubles 2 WANT MORE WAGES
Foreigners Think Present Troubles Will Gradually Sap the Conner cial Life of Island-Build-
 ing Submarine Vessels
By PHILLIP EVERETT

| a very serious crisis England is passing
 through at present. The havoc wrought
 by the great strike of sailors and fire
 men during the coronation is as noth-
 ing compared to the great strikes or
 dockers and railroad men that followed
 and which ended in victory for the Worh-
 CTS. Out of the victory arose the present
 situation which threatens British shlp-
 ping and industry in the most alarming
 manner.
 1 The demand for higher wages like an epidemic among the British workers who,
 encouraged by the success of the recent
 strikes with enthusiasm stop the indus
 tries in which they are employed and
 with evident joy attack policemen and oppose the troops.
 | With unconcealed joy a certain part or
 the German press has watched recent
 events in England. country which TOT years has been Germany's only dreaded rival and which only a few weeks ago
 prevented her from humiliating France. | The strikes have revealed to the World l the weakness of the British empire ana never again the German jingo press an nounces is the German eagle to allow | itself to be intimidated by the Brltsh | lion.
 | But also in another less sensational | part of the German press is there re- | joicing. The papers in the great indus | trial centres of Germany are Jupllant | because the strikes are sapping the strength of British industry, which al | ready had all 1t could do to hold US own in competition with the German. | During the last generation British in- IL. 1a11
 wall everywhere by the samtr energetic frugal German. who have understood how to manufa cture thousands of necessary articles little more elegant and cheap CT than the English. It will then be very severe test for the British indus try suddenly to have to shoulder heavier
 burdens not only in the shape of higher wages, but also of increased domestic freight rates. Many are the captains of
 industry in England. therefore, who hold that Great Britain stands face to
 face with great catastrophe, that many factories and corporations will nave 10
 shut down, simply because they are un-
 able to continue with profit under the new conditions
 In English industrial circles the liberal
 government is being sharply criticized because it did not at once crush the lastrike tendencies with iron hand. Se- rious accusations are saised against the government because it for party reasons
 dares not oppose the labor party. It is a very great question. however, whether stern reprisals would have done any good or If they would not rather have tended to increase the calamity. It Is very easy to talk about ''crushing the workers by the use of police and troops but the results that follow such crushing on the part of government are very seldom gratifying.
 That the condition in England is very serious anybody must acknowledge, but the question is whether the responsibii- ty for the miseries must not be sought elsewhere but in the love of grumbling
 and cupidity of the working men. The
 sins of the past many impartial observ- CTS here willingly admit, are to blame for most of the miseries of the present crisis. While all the rest of the world progressed, England alone remained sta- tionary, especially industrially, and per
 mitted herself to be left hopelessly far
 behind. In the modern race of industrial and commercial competition in winch the Germans easily got head and neck ahead of all other European nations,
 England felt too proud to take part but
 remained satisfied in living on her own traditions Now the scales are falling from our eyes and we are suddenly be- ginning to reNlize that these, our old
 
 | out, that, like China, we have been asleep on our little island and the result is | that British industry, commerce and shipping are not strongly enough pre- | pared to meet the demands of modern times in regard to higher wages. | This is the real crisis in English eco | nomical life at present and it is a crisis
 which is of the utmost seriousness anu
 importance.
 1
 1 Heroic efforts are being made by the British admiralty to outclass any other | power. in the world in the number and efficiency of submarine vessels. | The most modern submarines now beingf
 built here. known officially as the "E''
 class. dsplace 800 tons they are in fact
 though not in name small cruisers, ca | pable of travelling either on the surfave
 or under the water.
 | They are 176 feet long, with a maxi
 mum breadth of 23 feet. In the original type of submarine the speed, both on | and under the water, was slow. but as l result of the cooperation of the ad- miralty with Messrs. Vickers Sons and
 Maxim. who have been so largely re- sponsble for many of the improvements | in the design of British boats, speeds
 have been increased. The new "E'' class will be able to travel on the surface at | 15 knots as fast, in fact as our swiftest | cruiser of a few decades ago-while be-
 heath the surface the rate will be con- | slderably higher than has hitherto been | attained. The "E' boats are being giv- en the most powerful engines ever yet put into submarines, and they are of a new type using heavy oil under condi- ! tions of absolute safety. There can be no repetition of the disastrous gas ex- plosions which occurred In the earlier vessels.
 | There are 75 British submarines built | or building. The later ones are such good
 sea boats that they can make long voy-
 ages. One fotila has recently been dis
 patched to Malta, and the other has just
 arrived at Hong-Kong, a matter of 300 | miles-after a storming passage, during | which the craft were not damaged and | the daring crew suffered no injury The ! submarine is now a most valuable naval | arm, for use not merely in coast. de- | fense, but for oversea operations The
 success already achieved has given pur-
 pose and direction to the efforts to rem
 der these amphibious craft even more devilish in their warlike qualities. Slow ly ship is being created, stage by
 stage, which will render destroyers of the old types obsolete.
 | The vessels of the "E'' class mark the apotheoss of the submersble ship They will have more torpedo tubes than
 the craft now in the service, and the
 torpedoes will be of far greater capacity
 "a higher speed and greater endurance
 allied with far heavier explosive
 charge. The "E' craft will have decks somewhat resembling the decks of ordi- nary above water vessels; on the decks
 serviceable guns will be mounted so as to
 not to intefere with the facility of the I al t. L. ti. l.. f.-