The Grangeville globe. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho) 1907-1922, 1916-04-20

thursday April 20, 1916.
THE NEW sUBMARINE CRISIS.
Both the allies and neutras with new out
break OF German activity at In the nineteen days
March 70 to April H. inclusive German submarines have sunk
90 merchant ships compared with 945 in almost
twenty months from August 1914 to March 49, The
can fairly be cassed ships If the should con
tnue at the present rate for full year the will
the first twenty months of the war. -
Evidently Germany is using type Of submarine with
changed tactics The small results in comparison
with the terrible losses suffered by Germany in the first year
OF the submarine operations against probably
attributed to the Of small spheshes of old types which
had poor powers Of and which
fired torpedoes with defective The many hits scored
in the last month warrant the opinion that new pow
erfu type OF boat is used 1t may be able to fire
pedo while submerged conceal itself better higher
speed than the old type 1t may have solved the prob
em which many inventors have been working, Of adjust
ing torpedo so that the steel sides OF passing ship will
electrically attract the missile and thus become the agent of
its destruction
Whether allies can successfully cope with this new mode
of attack depends their ability devise schemes Of
combating it. We know afact which concealed at
the they had marked in capturing des
toyng submersbes of the older type We hear only
of the hits made by those of the type not of the price
paid for their by the Germans the shape of lost
boats Unless the allies able practically to clear the
of hostile submarines their Of communication
with each other and with the rest Of the world will be i'm
paired and will have become costly that their fighting
power will be seriously reduced and Britans ability to feed
its people will be in question.
The purpose of Germany obviously is to any weapon
any to retaate those who have hinged its
coast with evertghtenng blockade by nearly
sibe cutting them off from communication with
from those neutral countries whence they draw
plies The nearly draw the battlefield that 1t
has becme contest in economic exhaustion Britain Q
object reduce Germany of resistance by
stopping supplies of food material and manufacturing
material and by preventing any exports from the Teuton
pres Gemanys object to destroy British sea power and
thereby prevent British troops and munitions from reach
ing the continents stop neutral supplies of kind from
rival empire and those allies which depend it for the
snews of ssSs@Ss AsSs.
In pursuing these methods warfare Germany does not
hesitate to strike when neutral power will be incidentally
injured rights violated The main question is:
Will the enemy be hurt3 If the Affirmative the sub
marines strike Such incidents the sinking of the Tubanta
and Paembang best explained by the assumption that
orders to submarine commanders ares "When in doubt
whether ship neutral fire. don't take chances
of letting enemy ship escape The kaisers naval arm
strikes and leaves his diplomatic to square Its actions
with international law with pledges and to stand
off, indignant neutras while the proGeman propaganda
confuses neutral opinion with mingng of truth with false
hood benumbs it into passvity with the impression OF
German invincibility and frightfuness
German diplomats sometimes in hard straits to do their
part successfully They defended the Lusitanias destruction
by accepting true the statement OF perurer that the snip
was armeda statement which caused his conviction for
Jury When the Arabic affair seemed likely to cause an open
break with the United States they promised that unressng
unarmed liners would be exempt from attack and 1t was
loudly proclaimed that President Wilson had great dip
omac victory Having been for the time put its good
behavior by this from adding another to its
many enemies Germany then left Austria to carry on the WORK
of destruction the Ancona affair followed That country
was tied up with promises then the Persia sunk by
foe so we'll concealed that its nationality could not be esab
shed and all the suspected nations entered deniais
Then came the armed merchant ship episode Germany de-
the right merchant ships to arm for defense though
that right was well entrenched international law and the
German admittedly inspired by desire for an In
noyaon in law to accommodate the Teuton innovation
warfare In extreme anxiety for Americans i'm