Imperial Valley press., 1914-09-09
MINES DO GREAT DAMAGE
TO FRIEND AND FOE

conflict. Probably it will cause more
havoc than in the Japanese-Russian
war.
Already one British ship, the Am
phion. has been destroyed by North
Sea mine laid by the Germans, with
the loss of 120 men. 1t might be po-
etc Justice that the ship which placed
the mine, the Koenigen Luise, was
caught red-handed by a flotilla of
British destroyers and sent to the bot
tom. However, the Kaiser's mine
layer already had sown the seed Of
disaster and the North Sea may see
as many ships hit belong the water
line and sent to Davy Jones' locker
as were sunk by mines in the Yellow
sea in the Japanese Russian struggle.
Great Britain has now determined
to plant similar mines in all off-shore
Eaviyablc waters and it is creditably
reported that Austria Hungary, France
and Russia have done likewise.
To the peace lover this menace TO
shipping is woefully shocking and yet
it is substantially in keeping with the
international agreement entered into
at The Hague after the conflict in the
Far East This country cannot mince
matters; the United States was par
ty to that understanding.
This may seem extremely barbar-
Gus, or there was day when the
submarine mine was abhorred, as
Robert Fulton found out early in the
nineteenth century when he sought to
interest the British admiralty in this
manner of annihilating the most for
midahe of fleets. Since then the sus-
capabilities of civilized nations have
undergone a change and the subma-
rine mine is now an accepted and ac-
ceptahle engine of destruction.
England alone is said to have 20.-
900 Of these mines ready for serv-
ice But in military logic there is
rational excuse for the sowing of con-
tact mines in the open sea. Accord
ing to the old Roman law, territorial
rights in adjacent waters extended up
to the middle lines, just as two neigh
boring states upon a river have their
boundaries in the center of the stream.
Applied to oceans and seas, this was
deemed too extended field of con-
troll and accordingly the territorial
limit Of three miles, sometimes called
marine league, was set, because in
those days the range of artillery did
not reach beyond that.
Today the great guns of the new
est dreadnaughts have bombarding
range of nearly fifteen miles. There
fore, if the enemy can lombard coast
cities from that great distance out at
sea, why should not not be permissible
to mine the open waters that far off
the coast?
The Germans are not new at this
form Of coast defense and in this great
war they are but profiting by past
experience. The moral effect of SUBJ
marine mines was amply demonstrated
ir the Franco-Prussian war of 1870.
Then the Russians defended their prin-
cipal harbors in the North Sea and
the Baltic by means of mechanical
and electro-mechanical mines.
During the war no opportunities oc-
Cured to test the efficiency of these
mines, as the mere fact of their pres
ence prevented the French fleet from
undertaking operations.
The Kaiser's own people were the
first to reap the fruit of their own
planting On raising their mine field
after the War of 1870 the Germans
lost great many lives through un-
expected explosions.
In the present war since the loss
of the British ship Amphion, Ger
man torpedo boat was blown up by
German mine in the Baltic and an
Austrian steamship was blown up off
Pola.
The present type of submarine bomb
was perfected by the Italians. There
are two types Of contact mines, those
that explode when struck and those
which explode when tipped over by
a passing vessel, but only when an
electric current is switched on from
the shore These latter mines are
only for harbor defense. They are
harmless, so long as there is no cur
rent, but become active when the
electricity is turned on from shore.
Thus these mines are menace to
hostile ships, but offer no danger to
peaceful vessels.
The mines planted now in the North
sea are obviously not of the latter
type. They are in the open sea toe
Eua. r..ns.a anA Ln-no .,f oaaora t.arn. 41