Arizona republican., 1917-11-02
ERIC
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IRepubIican A. P. Leased Wirel

LONDON, NOV. l.-Slr ETC GeuueS, who recently succeeded Sir Edward
 Carson, as first lord of the admiralty, made his first address in parliament today and gave some interesting and anxiously awaited figures on the work of the navy and shipping in general
 His declaration that between forty and fifty per cent of the German sub marines operating in the North sea, the Atlantic and Arctic oceans had been sunk was not the least interest ing of his announcements, and there was an indication of the unceasing war the British and American patrols are making on the submarine in his statement that during the last quarter the enemy had lost as many subma- rines as during the whole of 1916. The first lord. speaking of his de- partment said that. in addition to an increase in the personnel, the services of younger officers had been requisi- toned to add strength to the eXperi- ance of the older officers on the naval staff
 Referring to the question of publish ing the tonnage of the British merch- antmen lost through submarines, he said he had made most careful in- NeSllSdtlOn anu ildu dppiOdCueu liIe subject with the idea that it was de- sirable and it ought to be possible 10 give the public figures, because, he ad- ded it is hardly conceiva hla thar ',' ! enemy does not know what he is sink ing
 He regretted to say, however, that he had not found it possible to ar rive at any form of publication which would not convey most valuable in formation to the enemy, which he did not now possess, if information were given in regular sequence for specific periods.
 T have studied from a variety of sources said the first lord, the state ments made from time to time by the enemy as to tonnage and position and have come to the definite conclusion that not only does he not know what is being sunk, but that he would like very much indeed to know what is being sunk regularly, month by month, or week by week or even exactly for a oeriod'
 Sir Eric, supplementing the recent statement by Premier Lloyd George in | Albert Hall, said that he could give certain information which would show | that we are making reasonably satis- factory progress in overcoming the menace of the enemy's submarine ac- 1 tivities'
 | He added that the house would req lize that however great the loss of mercantile tonnage is-and the figures are still very formidable-we cannat 1 at this stage of the war pick any one item to deduce therefrom that the war, | even any phase of the war. is going well or badly
 The kaleidoscopic change which goes on in actual warfare he added, is con-
 tinulily occurring in workshops and | shipyards. To the uninformed observer
 1t must appear sometimes that there i.
 no method in the madness of thos,
 who control these matters.
 But he said T would appeal tt
 the country for confidence. There is a method in what we do.
 The general situation. regarding
 submarine warfare. can best be de. termined by the following figures:
 Since the beginning of the war be. tween forty and fifty per cent of the German submarines operating in the
 North sea, the Atlantic and the Arctic
 ocean have been sunk. During the las
 quarter the enemy has lost as man,
 submarines as during the whole o | 1916
 | As regr rrds the sinkings of Britisl
 merchant tonnage by submarines. tn
 German official figures for August ar
 S0S.000 tons of all nationalities The
 sank little more than third o
 that amount of British tonnage and
 little more than half of all municipalities
 For September their official figure
 were 679,000 tons. They sank far les , than one-third of that amount of Brit
 ish tonnage and less than one-half o : that amount of all nationalities. , The Germans claim that our ton ! mage is falling so low that there ar } not enough ships on the sea to enabl
 their submarine commanders to main tain their bag. Let me give you tn
 facts. In April last the heaviest mont } of British losses by enemy submarine
 since the war began, our trade Howe presumably in satisfactory volume fo the enemy submarine. In Septembe | last, his lowest month of sinkings, ou . overseas sailings of all ships or ove 1900 tons were twenty per cent in mum
 Der and thirty per cent in tonnage highe than in April The enemy must, there fore, find another and better explana U tion for his lack of success. 1 ca supply it.
 The explanation is that the lon . | arm of the British navy reached dow 7 | into the depths and thus the harve. reaped is poorer and the number z German submarines which do not It
 turn is increasing.
 . Since April, the highest month fC