Imperial Valley press., 1914-08-31
WARS MYSTERY is
THE GREAT FLEETS

London, Aug. 29.-What has been
going on in the North sea? That is
the greatest mystery of the war, the
problem most difficult to solve. 1t is
now four weeks since the announce
ment was made that the English feet
! had left Portsmouth under sealed or
| ders to meet the German fleet The
! Iinpenetrable veil of the censor, sitting
here in London and controlling the
encmy's news as we'll as his own, was
lifted for the bare statement. Then
it dropped again and nothing authenti !,
| has since been heard of the men-o'-war r
in the North sea. The outside world
cannot pierce the veil. There are no
correspondents aboard the warships of
either England or Germany in the
North sea to send back even censored
dispatches.
Of the fighting on land, the public
hears something. At the start there
were correspondents in Belgium and
every day some news more or less
authertic, of the fighting in Belgium
and in Alsace and Lorraine has been
published. But of the naval doings
in the North sea, not word. At first
Heavy firing was said to have been
heard at sea off various English coast
towns. One story said that German
Zeppelin with bombs had destroyed a
British warship every night. But all
of these reports were effectively de-
MED. 1t issa fact that the world has
learned nothing from the North sea
since the English and German fleets
Put to sea there. Has there been a
battle!
1t seems reasonable, if the Germans
lad met with actual reverses upon the
sea, that the British censor would be
ready and willing to publish them
On the other hand, if the Germans
have had successes, the London cen
sor would hardly be expected to ad-
vertise them, but the fact would sure
| ly have been given out in Berlin and
have reached the world by this time
The two fleets now in the North sea-
in their intricacy of construction and
their death-dealing facilities, the
finest product Of all ages of maritime
warfare, which is as old as the sea
and as old as mankind.
These fleets are to fight the most
important battle of the war, for the
supremacy of the sea is perhaps the
greatest prize of the great conflict
England has held the leadership of the
ocean. Germany wants it. Germany
is fighting to control The balance of
power of Europe and to control the
colonies of @he world If she would
command the land, Germany must con-
troll The sea.
So it is that vital, if not the
most vital issue of the great war,
hangs on the outcome of affairs in the
North sea and that is the one thing
about which the public has not the
slightest inhling. Everything is fair
in love and war, the old adage has ii.
Love is always with the world. There
are daily reminders of its existence,
but the world is now learning again
that all is fair in war, also.
1t was three hundred years ago that
Francis Bacon told the English, "He
that commands the sea is at great
liberty and may take as much or as
little of war as he will, whereas those
that are strongest by land are, never
theless, often in difficulties"
Germany, under Wilhelm H., is am
bilious for supremacy in Europe. She
is now engaged in great fighting in
Belgium. If Germany loses this land
battle her ambition can Yet be salts