The weekly soliphone., 1917-04-19
PARAGOULD CITIZENS HOLD MEETING TO CONSIDER HOW PROBLEMS PROJECTED BY WAR MAY BE SOLVED; PLEAS FOR AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT ARE MADE BY w. F
 KIRSCH A. G. CLOVES AND A. A. KNOX; PLANS SUGGESTED
 FOR CONSERVATION AND INTENSIFICATION OF PRODUCTS

el of potatoes, corresponding bushel is released from the north ern markets for shipment to the people in France and Belgium who are today fighting the battles of the American people. We, the peo- ple of the interior states, have not fully awakened to the seriousness of situation that is fraught with even greater and more far-reach- ing possibilities. We are, to all Appearances, convinced that the German empire is crumbling be- fore the Anglo-French offensives. We are prone to believe that the British fleet will do our fighting at sea; that the people of England, France, Russia, Italy, Canada, Aus tralia, Japan, Portugal, Roumania, Servia, Montenegro, Albania and Belgium are going to annihilate the Kaiser's legions before time comes for actual American participation in a practical manner. The past two years have, in measure, hardened our sensibilities; we have grown accustomed to war as it is being fought out on the other side 1 of the Atlantic, and we had grown l to feel that we were thing apart 7, from the consuming ffatracidal tragedy We have not accepted the declaration of war under the Stars and Stripes as declaration for simple. Our inactivity is typical of the same hearted aid given the British government by the peo- pie of London, Birmingham, Liver pool, and other great English cen ters of population during the early days of the conflict. It took Zep- pelins and submarines to arouse the ,British from their lethargy;. it may require famine to shake off the spirit of security common to the en- tire south and west today. Our idea that Germany is falling be- | fore the Allied onslough is without foundation in fact. Our hope that cooperation upon the part of a sickly Us S. Atlantic fleet will re- store the balance in favor of our Allies and guarantee importation of the necessaries of life and war l to those who are actually making
 world-history, may be doomed to disappointment.
 The Scientific American, whose editors, perhaps, are more thor oughly informed regarding matters of this kind than are newspaper :! writers upon whom most of us de pend for technical information, in it's issue of April 7th writes plainly with reference to the submarine menace. That journal estimates that at the time the new war zone was announced, which result led in severance of diplomatic re- lations between the United States and the Central Powers, Germany had two hundred submarines. Heads of the imperial German navy, ac- cording to the Scientific American, following the battles with Admiral Beatty's fleet off Jutland, came to the conclusion that it would be physically impossible to destroy the British blockade by an engagement between the British and German high sea fleets. Immediately the
 empires entire shipbuilding re- sources were mobilized and work on submarines begun. It is esti- mated-and these estimates are based upon data of reliable char actre-that one thousand U-boats of can be under construction at the same time in Germany's shipyards. Five months time is required to complete the boats. Easing its cal culations upon known facts, and as suming that the Central Powers are devoting their entire naval energies to the work of building subsea boats, the American feels justified
 in issuing a warning that within a comparatively short period of time
 anywhere from five hundred to one thousand additional German submarines may be launched It is
 also estimated that the German
 navy, now inactive, with its 150, ,000 man-power. can supply the men nee essary for operating these craft.
 If, with two hundred U-boats, Ger many can create the havoc wrought
 during the past sixty days, what, then, may be expected when five
 times that number are launched? If we are content to remain inact- i've while Great Britain, France and
 Russia labor to solve these prob lens, in all probabilities we will be compelled to fight without all lies.
 These facts are recited merely for the purpose of showing that the government at Washington realizes the serious aspects of an increas- ingly serious situation. We are | |.