The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1916-03-10

empire which is necessary to her eX
istence.
Great Britain on her part, slow to
perceive the challenge. has now tax.
en it up as she took up the challenge
of Holland, of Spain, and of France
both under Louis NV and Napoleon.
In every one of these cases Britain
did not pause with victory or aban-
don hope when she was left alone to
fight She fought to the end and to
the destruction of her foes, so far as
their marine ambitions were con
cerned because she saw in these am
billions a peril of her own existence
Today she has accepted the German
challenge as Rome took that of Car
thaea. She is bending her energies
and her power, not to throw Germany
back within her own boundaries in
Europe, but to put an end for a gen
GRAFTON at least to all peril at sea.
She is fighting not TO destroy the
German nation, but to destroy Ger
many as a rival naval power and mar
inc competitor.
Absorbed in our study and interest
in the land operations, properly i'm
pressed by the magnitude of German
victories, We in America, as indeed
the Observers in the whole world,
have too little appreciated the truth
that the land operations have lacked
the character Of a decision; and the
fact that they have lacked this char
acter has given to the naval opera
tions an importance far in excess Of
those on shore. British muddling,
defeat, disaster on land have cap
tured the mind Of generation which
is too unfamiliar with British history
TO appreciate that the same things
hct and were fatal only in the case
of our own war of the revolution,
and then merely because Britain at
the decisive hour also temporarily lost
control of the sea.
On the map, the German conquests
make formidable showing, but how
much more impressive is the showing
of the British conquests if you color
the seas to indicate them. Some day
Europe will talk peace, but what
value will peace have for Germany if
it does not include in the terms the
right to use the seas? But how is
Germany to persuade Britain to con-
cede this right, if she can not con
quer it Does any one suppose that
Germany will be able to exhaust Brit
ain before she is herself exhausted?
This is absurd, because Britain is
still able to carry on portion of
her industrial life, and her resources
in capital far exceed German.
As for ruin, when peace is made,
if the British are able to compel the
Germans to give up their merchant
marine, even if they are only able to
'orbid German ships the right to use
heir harbors and their colonial ports |
md naval stations as ports of call |
n concert with their allies, German |
ihipping will be out of the race and |
he British VIII replace their only |
'iyal in the carrying trade of the
world, and find her new wealth to re,
,lace old.
Prophecy is idle and | do not mean
o prophesy. What do mean to en-
,hssize is that, eighteen months after
he outbreak Of the war, sea power,
layalism if YOU please, has so com
,lctely bested militarism that the
ituation that exists, unless Germany
an find some way to modify it, by
Uccess over the British, insures Ger
nan defeat exactly as Napoleon's de
eat was insured when he failed to
ispose of sea power and faced the
ointment in arms.