Omaha daily bee., 1917-07-14
BRITISH NAVY TO
OPPOSE CRITICISM
For a Long Time Sailors Tol-
Grated Detractors, but Now
They Are Growing
Restive.


London, July 1.-The attitude of
the British navy toward its critics
among press and public was for a
long time one o. amused tolerance. OF
late it had grown more restive and
many naval leaders now believe that
the time has come when the navy
must present really belligerent front
toward its detractors.
1t would take me a long time to
answer the criticisms which are being
passed upon the work of the admiralty
and the British navy" said Sir Ed
ward Carson, first lord of the admir-
atty, the other day. Il can divide the
critics into several categories. There
are my political critics. l despise them
in the middle OF war. Then there are
critics who have been disappointed in
the past. There are many of them.
When you read criticisms of Sir John
Jellicoe, try to find out what is the
origin of them.
But, after all, it does not really
matter; there will always be grum-
blings and growlings. Let them
grumble and growl; let us get on
with our work. The work of the
admiralty, the work of the great Brit
ish navy, is done silently and courage
ously. 1t is done in the day, it is
done in the night. 1t is done every
hour and every minute, and | tell you
with all confidence, that l believe in
the whole history of the British navy
there never was time at which our
men displayed greater heroism and
courage then they do at the present
moment"
A group of naval men the same
afternoon were discussing some Of
the recent utterances of one of the
most acid of the navy's critics. "The
navy has failed US" was one of his re-
marks which they quoted, "there has
been lack of energy i'll tackling the
U-boat menace. New men are wanted,
and changes in the high command"
After remarking that one OF the
reasons for this particular critics op-
position to the present naval regime
was its failure to adopt a naval in
vention of his, the senior officer pres
ent said:
Criticism of this nature is partic-
ularly irritating to naval men, be-
cause it is so loose that it offers no
hold for refutation. Here is a state
ment, for instance, that their policy
before the war was mass of mater
ial against men and methods Now
what is meant by that? How policy
can be mass of material, or how
policy can be against men and meth
DDS, in the abstract, is beyond me.
Then he proceeds to suggest that we
should get rid of the old group, and
secure different school of thought
who would not be slaves of manu-
facturers and designers.
Nov, what does he mean by the
old group? Does he mean the group
who left the admiralty six months
ago, or does he mean the group who
took their places? If he means the
former, they have been got rid of al
ready; if he means the latter, he
might convey more to his readers if
he called them the new group But
it is an open secret that among this
new group are several men who at
an earlier period refused point
blank to be slaves to manufacturers
and designers.
Presents Other Ideas.
"Another naval critic presents an
extraordinary scheme for mining out
side German harbors so that U-boats
could not pass and repass. He sug-
gests that the carrying out Of this
scheme will lead to meeting be-
tween the battle-heets. As this is
presumably the height of our naval
ambition, and as it is apparently so
very simple, the reader is naturally
surprised that no one has thought of
it before. suppose the critic has
all equally simple method for dealing
with the mine fields, coast defense bat
teries, and submarines which would
certainly be encountered. If he has
not, then his statement amounts to
nothing. If he has, l am glad the
censor did not let him write about
it, because, of course, it will be acted
upon.
IF criticism cannot be logical, in
structive, constructive and single
purposed. the navy rightly resents it
as impertinent and mischievous. In
times like the present, TO scare
public somewhat ignorant OF this spe-
cial subject by mere meaningless
melange' of words, is an abuse Of the