New Britain herald., 1917-08-04
Henry Cleus
 Weekly Letter
Especial to the Herald.)

tSpec1al to the Herald.)
 New York, Aug. 1.-The war drags on with it's weary waste of life and property. Peace is still the subject Of active discussion; for it is the one end which all nations seek, and yet it's realization still remains remote. Ger many evidently wants peace and wants its badly: not only because of long continued exhaustion and threatened breakdown, but also because she would rather discuss terms while in a good position for making concessions and trades. So long as she holds DOT uons of France, Belgium, Russia and Southwestern Europe, she is better able to negotiate than when these are lost, as they must be ultimately. Our own preparations are being pushed upon a most vigorous and extensive scale, and the determination to do our full share will unquestionably grow time progresses, particularly when the reality of the struggle daWns upon that portion of our people who have not even yet awakened to the great issues at stake nor to the gravity of the situation. The greatest hope for peace at present rests in the possibi- ity of a collapse of some sort within the ranks of German militarism or in the withdrawal of some of the Gen. tral Powers from the war.
 Again the submarine campaign has met it's answer in our foreign trade returns. During the fiscal year end ing June 30, our overseas trade az gregated $S,953, 3,OOO,OOO, which was
 the largest total on record, and ex-
 ceeded the previous record of 1916 by
 over $2,40O,OOO 00O. The relative i'm
 potence of the submarine was further illustrated by the fact that our ex- ports, which are naturally objects of keener attack than imports, amounted to $6,294, 100000 or s196O,OOOOO more than a year ago, which was the previous banner year. The excess of exports over imports for the year was $3,635, 000,00O, against $2,135,OOO,O year ago. So much for the subma- rine, which was to destroy the com merce of Germany's enemies and frighten them into submission but has done neither. On the contrary, our commerce has grown enormously and that of Great Britain has been practically sustained at nearly normal figures in spite of the British loss of tonnage. The submarine policy in- stead of frightening Germanys ene- mics, has simply made them more de- termined, than ever to win this war and exact retribution for inhuraan methods. Another stimulus arising from the German submarine policy, | which is acting for our benefit and !, German detriment, is the wonderful l development of American shipping. In l July new shipping and shipbuilding concerns with an authorized capital 1 aggregating nearly $2O,O0O.0 900 were incorporated, making s33O,O0o, 900 | since the war began. The bulk of this l total, or 26,0O0,Oo0, has been an- nounced since January 1. Such ex- | traordinary development of American 1 shipping would not have been possible | within so brief a period but for the German submarine. Great Britain, the United States, Japan, Holland, Norway and Canada are building ships today at the rate of probably more than 5,OO0.0OO tons per annum, compared with losses of about 7,- 000,O00 tons or less. As the worlds tonnage is about 40,00O,000, the chances of submarine success are growing less and less in view of the rapid increase in shipbuilding and the more efficient methods of dealing with the submarines. Incidentally, it is worth noting that new shipbuilding is being accelerated much more ef- fectively by high freight rates than by any government action, since all efforts by the government toward regulating freights or keeping down rates promptly discourage private One other lesson in our foreign trade returns must also he noted, and that is the wisdom of this country having so liberally aided in financing the war. The enormous in- crease in our exports noted above Is almost entirely due to the liberal purchases Of our Allies which would not have been possible without the