The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-07-16

The arrival of a German submarine merchantmen in an American harbor, the continuation of the great offen- sive of the allies. and the announce ment by Premier Asquith of a tenn porary solution of the Irish problem through the early establishment of an Irish Parliament. constitute the three chief war events of the week.
 The sudden and startling appearance of a German submarine in Baltimore harbor gave Americans a fresh evil 'dence of the reality of the war and an opportunity to turn their interest away from the sanguinary struggle in Eu- rope to- an event full of the romance and mystery of the sea. The submarine and the aeroplane. after all. have been the most sensational agencies or the war, and it seems that the chapter Of their achievements is not yet complete.
 Ploughing her way steadily through the troubled waters of the war zone. this new creation of German efficiency finally emerged from the seaward mists and cast anchor in the calm or Baltimore harbor. The announcement that the strange visitor was a peace ful merchantmen. bent only on ex- changing German and American com-
 
 and the new type of blockade runner. will soon leave on her return voyage. The tourney is reported as unevent- ful and only 90 miles of the $500 were travelled under the surface of the sea. For one whole night the monster lay on the bottom of the ocean for fear of discovery by British warships. Ot course, the dangerous part of the voy- age was over. once the waters sur- rounding the British isles were cleared, for there was little chance of being captured by any of the few British warships patroling the commerce lanes of the Atlantic.
 The result of this submarine mer- chant service between Germany and Amefica will not materially affect the outcome of the war. The amount or freight these submarines will carry is so small as to be almost negligible, and if their number should increase sufficiently to threaten the effective ness of the British blockade no doubt the allies will be able to establish a vast system of steel nets in the narrow seas through which the coast of Ger many is approached and in this way cause the destruction of many of the daring freighters. It would take two dozen of these submarines to equal one average merchantmen and this fact alone is sufficient to show of how small consequence IS tH6 COfuIHeTCldl value of the new undersea wonder to Germany.
 The carrying out of the project is it. self a tribute to the effectiveness of the allied blockade. The, old adage, Necessity is the mother of invention" is here exemplified. During the civil war the south sought through the use of the submarinevto weaken the block ade which was paralyzing the strength of the Confederacy The boat was called a David" after her inventor. Three trial trips were made and each time she sank and failed to rise. the crews perishing before they could be res cued; the fourth trial was successful. and passing out of the harbor If Charleston she succeeded in blowing un the Housatonic. but could not get clear and was carried down by the sinking of that ship This was the first lime the submarine was used for actual warfare
 But the moral effect of the German achievement is not to be undercsti- mated Germans have shown marvel ous genius for celebrating victories and ignoring defeats This new &C., complishment will prove a source of great satisfaction to those Germans who have felt the galling pressure or complete isolation. The establishment of a regular freight service with Amer lea Tn spite or EnRlahuS plockaue VIII take away some of the sting of fer manys impotence on.Tthe sea. If Ger man newspapers dubbed the Kaiser "admiralof the Atla4tic'' because of the recent great sea victory which both England and Germany seem to have won, how much more ground for con graduation will be furnished by this new demonstration of Teutonic su- periority
 While Americans have been dis cussing the merits of the new sub marine development. the great offer- sive of the allies has continued unre- mittingly on all fronts. The big guns have continued to hurl death and de- us-'-- while vast numbers of mer ye os engaged. The Russians show no etidF ce of exhaustion and every iaS ha brought claims of fresh suc-