The Washington herald., 1916-03-26
NEW GERMAN U-BOAT CRUISERS
DESIGNED TO RULE ALL. OCEANS

| shipping mas Witnessed enormously
| greater demands on its carrying ca
| pacity. And in this fact will probably
be found the governing consideration
! that makes the new German campaign
< inevitable. Its object is no longer &c
/ terrify Great Britain into letting food
enter Germany. Its object is to prevent
food entering France.
To Cut Sea Communications.
TO cut off Che sea communications OF
an enemy, to keep them open for our
selves and our friends, are the equal
and immediate objects of commanding
Of this object in the case of France has
been may be gathered from the single
fact that $3.50. OOO 600 worth of goods left
New York for France in 1916 while in
normal years Sl50OO0.0OO represents the
total exports Of America to that country.
French imports from other countries are
no doubt as strikingly increased. The
imports of all belligerent countries, and
especially those that Russia is getting
from Japan, must be fabulous. While,
then, Germany feels every day the grow
showing every day a growing strength
from their sea supplies. 1t is to sap
this form of strength that the new sea
campaign will be directed"
From Mr.. POllen's analysis ii will be
seen that Germany Is now recommending
the campaign that she was forced to
abandon in the North and Irish seas last
autumn because she lost most of her
submarines, or because Of President Will
sons diplomacy, or both. 1t will be
evident also that the submarine cam
paign Is a vital one for Germany, and
that II the Kaiser has reason to believe
that instead of 600 ships in nineteen
months his new terrors can account for
three a day, or LOO in a year, he can
afford to risk even a break with the
United States in pursuing a course that
might, conceivably, give Germany the
draw for which she is now struggling.
Figures supplied by Mr.. Runciman, pres
ident of the British board of trade.
show that about $50 out of 1900 British
ships are now used solely for military
or naval purposes. Owing to the press
Of naval work. very few new merchant
ships are being built, and the loss OF a
considerable percentage of the ships re-
naming would be very serious. The con-
slant rise in freights, which has resulted
in ton OF coal costing $50 in Italy in
stead Of IS, shows how the wind Is
blowing.
One InsoIubIe Problem.
At dpl III Ltll AiiB
Washington and London about the arm
ing of merchant ships seems, in the
quieter naval atmosphere of Paris, a
very simple matter. but the problem,
though simple, is probably insoluble. 1t
is perfectly easy to produce a formula
which ought to satisfy both sides, and
President Wilson did so in his proposal
to the allies that merchant ships give
up the right of arming for defense If
the Germans promised not to sink with
out warning and to safeguard life. The
past record of German submarines,
which have attacked. according to a
British authority, 20 ships without
warning, does not inspire confidence,
since most OF the ships so attacked were
not armed. The Germans work them
selves into a state of wrath over this
matter equal to that of the British,
citing instances where merchant ships
attacked submarines that were giving
them warning, or time to get their crews
off, and the unfortunate BaralOng Incl
dent will not down. In that case, the
German press continues to point out, the
submarine was sunk and her survivors
murdered while she was waiting for
the muleteers to leave their ship, and
the U-bOat, had she torpedOed without
warning would have escaped her fate.
While in London interest is centered
on the submarine campaign itself and
the rumOred methods being adopted to
deal with it, in Paris the American
phase of the situation excites even more
interest than the possible exploits of the
REPRESENTATIVES,. 1t Is taken for grant
ed that, sooner or later. more American
lives will be lost. through attacks upon
helpless merchantmen, and debate CEN
ters here as doubtless at home on What
will Wilson do?"
1t would be useless to conceal the fact
that the great mass of FrenChmen and
Englshmen regard America as a coward
ly nation which has lost its honor be-
cause it threatened to hold Germany to
strict accountability" and thereafter
permitted it's citizens to be slain I'M
avenged Such people frankly sneer at
the President and the United States, and
express their belief that America, under
no circumstances, will do anything, in a
fashion that has made more than one
American desire to lay aside his neu-
trality for the moment. I know one
American, a Republican at that, who
IOOsened two teeth in the mouth of a
taxi driver who had insuIted Wilson in
the Strand because he didn't think his
tip was big enough. The American was
arrested, fined next morning and the case
kept out of the newspapers.
Many Differences.
Thee sharp line of demarkation
in his Ter between the opinion of the
man in ;hc street and that of persons
who know something about the Ameri-
can, or at least the administration, point
Of view The latter appreciate the diff
iculties in the Presidents way, although
most of them do not approve Of mis-
course. Three or four paCifist members
of Parliament, a French Socialist and
the editor Of a great liberal journal in
London are the only allied citizens who
have told me they considered the Presi-
dent ought to keep out OF the war. l
found In a diplOmatist of a neutral Eu-
roPean country here an impartial point
of view about the German-American
situation which may be of interest
1T Is obvious said this man, that
England will not disarm her merchant
shirs. She will not do so because the
req or suspected presence of guns on
board leads the submarine to fire while
submerged, to fire from a greater dis
lance than would otherwise be the case,
and so to afford the threatened ship a
greater chance of escape. The nature OF
the instructions issued by the admiralty