The Washington herald., 1917-02-05
The First Phase.


future is not yet open to u.s..
The definite plunge may come at
any hour. American ships are plow-
ing through the waters which Ger
many has forbidden them; they and
their crews may all be victims of the
wasp-like U-boats. A state of war
must be resolved before the nation
can find itself in the new conditions
which have been forced upon 1t.
We are pledged by the President
ito the reasonable defense of our un-
doubted rights" How far does this
reasonable defense" go? Does it
involve merely the arming of ships
and the conveying OF them through
the prohibited area, or does it mean
entrance into the struggle on a more
imposing scale? Does it mean send
ing huge armies to European battle
fields or cooperation with the Brit
ish grand sea fleet?
So far as we know it does not in
volve either of the latter proposals.
The President made it sufficiently
clear in his address to the Senate
that he contemplated an armed de-
fense for our shipping and nothing
more. The future, of course, is rich
with new problems and possibilities.
We may go into the war up to the
shoulder instead of to the ankle. But
there Is no sign of it on the horizon
yet, and the public should have no
misapprehension on that score.
The protection of our ships and
American lives thereon is what we
are seeking. The ways in which we
can enforce such protection are linz
tied. The submarine is a new prob
lem and no really adequate defense
has been found for it. When it is
freed from the burden of warning
and visit and search, the sub has
only one vulnerable spot, only one
point where it can be attacked; the
periscope. The periscope is visible
only at. about two or three miles, and
a torpedo can be dispatched accu-
rately at a much greater distance. It
is little wonder that the U-boat has
had such marked success in its cam
paign against British shipping, despite
the wonderful fleet OF destroyers,
trawlers, and motor launches that
Britain has arrayed against it
By conveying our ships we put a
curtain of armed force around them;
not a netlike curtain, but one which
under normal conditions is fairly ef-
fective. BY arming them we give
them a chance to indulge in the
dangerous sport of "periscope pot
ting" which British ships have prac-
ticed with some success. Just what
degree Of success they have gained is
a secret locked IN the breast of the
British admiralty The London cen
sor has never allowed single item
to be published regarding the de-
struction of submarines by British
merchant ships.
Should America devise some new
and effective defense against the
U-boat peril she will contribute her
full share to the war. Here is an
opportunity for some brilliant Amer
lean inventor, man who will do for
this particular matter what the Wright
brothers did for aviation or Maxim
for machine guns. 1t is by no means
impossible that some scientific genius
OF the nation will solve the narrowing
problem with which Britain is bat
tling more or less helplessly.
Such an invention would be worth
scores Of army divisions trained for
work in the trenches of France, and
round two dozen of super-Dread-
noughts which America might con-
tribute to the mighty British armada
which is slowly starving the central
powers into submission and surren-
der