Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-03-17
Won TIRPITZISM

The resignation OF Won Tirpitr, father of
the submarine policy Of Germany, is taken
In some quarters TO mean the end of sea-
friEhtfuness. Won Tirptz showed to what
end the submarine. commerce raider.
must always lead. on account of the con-
ditons under which It operates. Germany,
In losing his services, loses Of the
spect Of the world
AFTER "a hours Of persistent rumor, official
1announcement was made yesterday that
Alfred Won Tirpitz, Grand Admiral and Min
lister of Marine for the German Empire has
/ resigned. The diplomatic kindliness which
cloaks his departure under the cover Of ILL
ness, and insists that his resignation did not
forestall dismissal will be accepted by many
persons with smile favored with Attic salt.
The departure of Won Tirpitz is as significant
! as the subsistence of Won Klucl>, as the dsap-
pearance of Won Hndenburg, almost symp.
tomato the breaks in Cabinet which have
affected Germany's enemies, and, far, have
| left her uninjured.
! Hopeful English commentators take the
! event to be confession that German "mili-
! tarism" is, after all to be crushed, and are
happy to recall that territorial differences can
be settled as soon as the downfall of prussian-
ism is complete. They are delightfully."- uncon-
scious of the ironic circumstances that Won
Tirpitz was the head of German navalisrn
and their very optimism indicates what a sur
prising power he welded
It is said, on the other hand, that the policy
of "frightfulness" will continue, and it is dark
ly limited that the for Won Tirptzs
fall was his insstence that the German fleet
remain safe at Kiel.
In these conJectures the United States takes
a secondary interest. Primarily, Won Tirpitz
is known here as the father of the submarine
policy, which, avowedly designed as an answer
to British blockades, came into murderous
conflict with this country on May Z, 1915. and
has since brought us frequently to the perilous
edge of war 1t is not necessary now to detail
again the achievements of this submarine pol
icy, but 1t is desirable to restate the conditions
under which those achievements took place.
The undersea boat, in its capacity of com.
mercedestroyer is designed to take the place
of cruisers which through some unhappy cir.
cumstances cannot keep the sea. Unlike
cruisers the submarine cannot with safety
approach it's enemy in the open, even if the
enemy be a merchantmen armed with but one
gun. and the difficulties of identification, the
dangers of mistake and the impossibility of
the practice of visit and search are obvious. !
Except in most unusual circumstances. the !
submarine cannot capture it must destroy. |
1t cannot give aid to passengers crew. |
It cannot distinguish between enemy and |
neutral. 1t is, except as "a weapon against |
enemy warships inherently and inevitably |
an inhuman device.
SO It is not to be wondered that the name |
of Won Tirpitz is to sympathizers with the |
Allies a byword and Kissing. If he was not |
directly responsible for, he did at least APP |
prove the transfer of the submarine from its !
destined purpose to the work of destroying |
merchantmen. Flushed with early successes |
a.
England threw about his country. he prose
cuted his new advantage until 1t became
bloody and wild. Because he fought his SUI
periors in mad defense of his work, because |
his talk became, at the end, loose and un-
controlled he became menace to the worlds |
humanity. None the less, he did the world
service, for he showed that either the laws
of warfare must be changed in favor of the
undersea raider, the submarine a men,
ace to commerce, must go.
So much was admitted by the German Gov
ernment in the memorandum of September /,
1915, in which Ambassador Won Bernstorff
assured this Government that liners would be
granted the ordinary rights Of the sea. In the
more recent controversy concerning armed
merchantmen, Germany has implied an admis
sion that the submarine is illegal. It has only
insisted that the law be discarded, and since
rine policy 10 its violent end. For Germany
that is sufficient TO render futile all the work
of Won Tirpitz.
Nor has the submarine been a conspicuous
success in any other way. So long as the
German fleet refuses 10 give battle, the sub
marine is responsible for German commerce,
for the destruction OF enemy commerce and
for the maintenance of blockade. In two very
important scenes the Black Sea and the Bal
tic Sea, Germany has held Russia fast, but
in neither has she depended upon the
submarine alone. The blockade Of England
has resulted in negligible loss of CONNER
cial tonnage The transport OF troops has
gone on with conspicuous but unlmportant
losses Britain's fleet, legitimate prey of the
submarine. is virtually intact. And Germany,
blockaded or not, can receive neither com
fort nor sustenance except through neutral
ports
II is not hard to understand why Won Beth
who is dedicated to no policy
except success, should have opposed exten-
sion of the submarines activities TO the point
where friendship OF neutral nations might be
the price.